Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-20

:
seen in the fact that big slate clubs, like
those at Fulham, Chelsea and Hamp-
/ stead, have decided to substitute two
| fowls for the eight-pound or nine pound
turkey. and thousands have already been
| ordered.
| Norfolk birds are not so plentiful this
year. The Irish supply is good in guam
| tity and quality. the prices being, re-
| spectively. about Is per pound and from
| Sd to lid. Pheasants are cheap and so
are English hares. The goose Is COM
pletely busted from popularity, and with
| it the duck. though the English-reared
| birds are the finest In the market. Just
| ter however. is readily snapped up in
the provinces, London securing but
| small share OF the best.
| The "slate club at this time Of the
year is an institution Of vast Importance
to the poor. / do not know II they exist
in any form in America. Here they are
sort of friendly societies into which the
poor pay a few pence a week and at
Christmas the sum is divided among the
contributors In the shape of Christmas
cheer and household supplies Special ef-
fort has been made this year to stem the
sum of failures of these clubs whose sec
retaries or officers have in the past often
mismanaged the funds or in some cases
decamped with the subscriptions. which
frequently amount to thousands of
pounds.
The point is that under the act of 1878
any "slate club no matter how SMALL.
may be registered free and have alb
solute security of funds land incidentally
security for the suarantors) under the
rule insisting upon government invest
ments. There are, of course, other adj
vantages in being registered, such as the
preferential treatment in the case of the
death or bankruptcy of the guarantors
and the annual inspection of accounts by
| the registrar. The rejected budget had
fnr ptctnt- s0In .tl he nl
! friendly societies of that description in
| that in addition to carrying further the
exemption from the stamp duties it ex-
tended relief from the new land taxes for
| registered societies.
| In the whole of England it is estimated
| that there are no fewer than 10000 divid
| ing societies Or 'slate clubs with
membership of about one and half mil
lion, sharing out about one million ster-
| ling annually. Of these the Oldest is the
Brotherly of Wolverha mpton. registered
| in 1890. The largest is the New Taber-
| nacle. in London. with membership of
about 1900 in it's two sections, which
this year will share out the record sum of
914,000. The next largest is the Ebenezer
of Birmingham, of which Mr.. Joseph
| Chamberlain is trustee. which has about
| 11,0CO members. In various parts of the
| country there are also the dividing So
| ciety orders. somewhat on the lines of
| the Odd Fellows and the Foresters, which
make big "slate clubs payments at
Christmas time. One. the Caledonian,
| has some 1900 members, and the PrOvin-
cial has about Is, 600 members. distributed
| in lodges all over the country.
Famous Art Collection.
| Albert Durer Lucas. the octogenarian
| son of Richard Cookie Lucas. whose
name, for long forgotten, has been
| brought into prominence in connection
with the now famous Berlin bust, is TAX
| ing advantage of what is here called the
ninth wave. By the order Of Mr.. Albert
| Durer Lucas, Messrs. Christie will offer
for sale Monday week long array of
works in wax and ivory, etc. from the
| hand of his gifted and versatile father.
| The examples in wax include the versions
of some of the classical groups and fig
ures exhibited at the Royal Academy
! during the thirties and fOrtes of last CEN
| fury. Several of the Neptunes and Mi
| nervas are from the western pediment of
the Parthenon. and it may be remembered
that Lucas; reconstructed model Of that
| great temple is in the British Museum.
| There are also medallicns, among 9TH
ers of Lord Palmerston; busts of Consta-
| BILE and Etty, canoes of many prominent
| folk, including the prince consort, the
Marquis of Anglesey and Samuel Rogers.
| 1t Is improbable that Mr. Lucas expects
to obtain for the whole collection any
| thing approximating to the 99,250 said
| to have been paid by the Berlin Museum
| for the wax bust. from high up in which
| a piece Of early Victorian counterpart
has been extracted. But here is the op-
portunity to obtain Lucas with an in
disputable pedigree.
At Christies yesterday ninety lots OF
jewels from various sources. among them
| some belonging to Mrs. Hartmann, White
Lodge, Richmond. and the late Baroness
| de Braam, totaled G47. 291. Chief among
them were three valuable jewels belong
| ing to "a lady of title Her magnificent
| rope, composed of 1872 pearls of fine ORR
| ent, went to the we'll known Paris firm
| of Janesich at 10000. 4 five-row neck
lace of 40 pearls fell at ES,2OO (Mellor).
| another necklace of forty-nine graduated
pearls at G6,2O0 Barnes), brilliant
necklace of Mrs Hartmann's brought
| 21.4OO, two-row pearl necklace from
| another source 1900 guineas.
| At Sotheby's the very scarce original
/ edition. 1851 of THE Discovery Of New
Brittaine,' of which no other copy seems
! to have occurred since the Barlow In
| 1890 (f135,, sold with all faults, realized
! goo (Quaritch). 1t is of six items
| from the library of Lord Polwarth. Mer
| toun House, Berwickshire, dispersed
earlier in the year, in which defects have
| been discovered. The former auction price
was fc45. A Dickens collection belong
| ing to Mr.. c. r. Stewart, consisting OF
various first editions, etc, brought E14U.
L. II. MOORE.