The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-19 00:00:00

Another Friendly Society in Trouble.

At the Worship-street Police-court yesterday Mr William
Jones, of Gloucester-street, Heston, secretary to the Sons
of Britannia Birmingham Friendly Society, was summoned
before Mr. Leigh to show cause why he unlawfully refused
to receive the sum of 4s. Bd. from an elderly man named
Thomas Gross, that being the amount of two months'
contribution to the society of which he had long been a
member.

The case of the complainant, by trade a si,ik weaver, was,
that he had been a member of the society ,ever since its
foundation, five or six years ago, and reguisrly paid his
contributions until he had the misfortune to be seized with
a nervous debility which compelled him to claim th e bene-
fits of the society. These he acknowledged he received for
a very considerable time, when the last, and diminished
scale of allowance, was stopped, and he was told he must
undergo an examination by the medical officer. This was
of no use at all, as the doctor could not give him a so
itis-
actory certificate while he continued in the same stab ) of
health, and he had therefore tendered them the amount • of
contributions that would be duo from him, so as to contie 118
a member, but they had positively refused to receive it, a ad
he was consequently virtually turned out of the society.
Mr. Jones said the complainant had, in fact, exclude
himself from the society by not complying with the 9th
rule, which said that no person could be admitted a member
who had not been passed by the medical officer. Grosshl
been a member the length of time stated, and had been co) a-
sidered a good member up to last Christmas, but the fa et
was that his illness had been of such long duration that 3ae
had run out the whole benefits he could receive. For
weeks he had received the full allowance of 12e per week
as well as medical attendance; for 13 weeks more 6a per
week, or half-pay, and for the same, or a longer time, a
pension of 2s 6d per week ; and for five months past, in
fact, he had not paid a sixpence to the funds. The com-
plainant had never been medically passed, as they had no
medical officer when the society was formed, but now they
had, and if the complainant received a certificate from him
they were willing to re-admit him as a member. Ho had
been a most expensive member, for though he had received
this large amount of money he still seemed to expect the
same benefits, for he had never once declared off its funds.
He received the money, in short, till it was found that if he
were allowed to do so any longer it would be the means of
breaking the society up. A meeting was therefore called,
and it was determined to do away with the pension fund, or
it would do away with them.
Mr. Leigh said surely they had not excluded the man.
merely because he turned out to be a more expensive mem-
ber than they originally thought he would be. The mart
had been accepted, subscribed for five or six years; and
then, because he had fallen ill and become expensive, the
very purpose for which he joined them, they determined to
exclude him, He wondered that people could continue to
labour under the delusion that they would receive the be-
nefits held out to them by such societies. Was this one of
those which had appealed so strongly against Mr. Glad-
stone's bill.

Mr. Jones said no, it was not; but they were certainly
in a very unfortunate position. At one time they had as.
many as 140 members, but such a number of them turned
out sick members, and entailed such an enormous expense
that they were obliged to close the box, and resolved to keep
ii closed till they became possessed of a few pounds to.
enable them to go on again. The members had now
dwindled down to about 34, and it was obvious that if they
had only three such members as the complainant amongst
them they must be out of funds in less than a twelvemonth.
In the course of 12 months the complainant could claim OR,
on the box again; they were only anxious to do the beak
they could.

Mr. Leigh said that when poor people placed their money
in the Post-office savings banks they were not only sure to,
receive it all out again, bat with interest at the back of it,
whereas when they joined such societies as these they
seemed to have no such security. It was certainly not right
to exclude a man because he had an unfortunate illness,
and he could find nothing in their rules which would sane-.
tion it, though of course if there were no funds at all then,
was an end of it. He had no means to compel them to take.
the man back again, which could only be done in this case
by mandamus in the Queen's Bench; but the complainant
could in the meantime keep on tendering them his money
from time to time so as to keep himself in the right, and as
the responsible officers would have to take the consequences
of refusing the money, he would advise them to call a meet-
ing, try to come to some arrangement, and see what could
be done.

Mr Jones said the trustees ought rightly to have answered
the case, though he, as their servant and secretary, had
done so ; bat he would communicate to them the magi-
strate's opinion, and felt eure it would be not only taken
into serious consideration, but attended with as satisfactory
a result as it could be.