The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-01 00:00:00

UNITED SOCIETY OF IRONMONGERS.

The following correspondence between Mr. William
Atherton, chairman of the directors of the Royal Liver
Friendly Society, and Mr. Tidd Pratt, Registrar of
Friendly Societies, London, has been published
"Royal Liver Friendly Society's Offices, 16, Prescot-street,
Liverpool, July, 7th, 1868.
_

" Sir,—ln the report which appeared in the London
Standard of the 2nd inst. of the proceedings which took
place at the forty-second anniversary dinner of the United
Society of Ironmongers, held at the Freemasons' Tavern
on Monday, the Ist instant, it is stated that in replying
to the toast of your health you made the following
assertions :

" 'His experience of friendly societies was very large, and
the Society of Ironmongers was one of the best conducted
that came under his notice ; there were many that were
downright swindles. Among the latter were to be classed
more particularly some burial societies which insured
people from one day to eighty years old. They had agents
throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. One
in Liverpool bragged that it had 500,000 members, and the
expenses of that society were enormous. It received yearly
in shillings and pence £130,000. The commmittee con-
sisted of eight members, and according to the return
made to Parliament, each of these gentlemen received
£454 a year, or 295. a day for his services. That statement
had since been corrected by a gentleman who said that
that amount had been increased to £520 a year, or £lO a
week. The treasurer received £650 or £670, and he (Mr.
Tidd Pratt) considered this a downright swindle of the
poor man, because it was utterly impossible that if the
society's affairs were wound up the various members could
receive what they were entitled to.'

" As one of the committee of management of the Royal
Liver Friendly Society, I have to request you will iuform
me whether you are correctly reported as having made the
above statement, and also whether the charges and insi-
nuations contained therein were intended by you to apply
to the directors or managers of the Royal Liver Friendly
Society, whose chief offices are in Liverpool. Awaiting
your reply, I am, Sir, otediently yours,

" WILLIAM ATHERTON.
John Tidd Pratt, Esq., Friendly Societies Offices,

Abingdon-street, London."
" London, July 9, 1868.
" Sir,-- In reply to yours of the 7th inst., I have to in-
form you that I am not correctly reported in the state-
ment you refer to, and that the publication in the news-
paper was not with my authority, knowledge, or consent.
I take this opportunity of requesting you to send me a
copy of your last annual statement, as well as the amount
of the existing liabilities of your society.—Yours faith'
fully, " J. TIDD PRATT.
" W. Atherton, Esq., Royal Liver Society, Liverpool."
" Royal Liver Friendly Society's Offices, 16, Prescot-street.
Liverpool, July 9th, 1868.
" Sir,—l am in receipt of your favour of the 9th inst.
It is to me a matter of great surprise that if you were
not correctly reported in the several newspapers in
which appeared the remarks imputed to you, and to which
I have in my former letter referred, you should for so
long a period have allowed them to pass uncontradicted,
thereby tacitly admitting their authenticity, and allowing
that which you now state to have been ' incorrectly
reported' to circulate widely on your authority to me an dmy
colleagues' serious injury. I cannot help remarking that
it is very unlikely that charges so grave should have been
gratuitously and without foundation reported as having
been made by you.
" Admitting your denial of these charges, I shall spare
neither cost nor trouble to trace to you their utterance, as
I do not feel at all disposed on your repudiation to attri-
bute to the newspaper press so wantonly cruel and
unfounded a charge of swindling as imputed to me and my
colleagues in the reports given of your after-dinner speech.
—I am, sir, obediently yours, " WILLIAM ATnE•'RTON.
" John Tidd Pratt, Esq., Friendly Societies' Offices,
Abingdon-street, London."

The retail price of flour and bread has been
reduced 2d. per peck and id. per loaf at Birmingham.

The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., and
Mrs. Gladstone and family, have left London for Hawar-
den Castle, Flintshire.
THE FINANCIAL REFORM UNION.—The Finan-
cial Reform Union has held one of its serial meetings in
the Town Hall, Woolwich. Mr. Richard Moore presided.
There was a very crowded attendance. Mr. Noble, Mr.
Baxter Langley, the chairman, and others addressed the
meeeing, and a branch of the association was formed for
Woolwich. The Financial Union has now in course of
circulation an address calling upon the representatives of
the people in the coming Parliament to inaugurate a reign
of financial economy. This address has, it is stated, been
most influentially signed.

The QUEEN'S VISIT TO THE CONTINENT.—WO
some time since mentioned the date of the Queen's de-
parture for a short residence: in Switzerland, under the
advice of Sir William Jenner ; but the details have been
necessarily open to modification. Her Majesty will, as
we stated, take her departure from Osborne on Wednes-
day next, will stop a day, or part of a day, in Paris,
and will reach her residence at Lucerne on the
Friday. The Queen, who will be accompanied by Sir
William Jenner, will maintain a strict incognito during
her residence, so that her Majesty may be enabled to
command a few weeks of comparative repose, which, with
change of air, is deemed highly necessary for her Majesty's
health. Lord Stanley will take his departure on the Gth ;
but will not " join" her Majesty in Paris. On the con-
trary, he will also spend a day in the French capital, pro•
bably seeing M. de Moustier, and will not arrive at Lucepo
until the Saturday. '4—