Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/818

 782 FKIENDLY SOCIETIES provisions of the Act. The barrister so appointed was Mr John Tidd Pratt ; and no account of friendly societies would be complete that did not do justice to the remarkable public service rendered by this gentleman. For forty years, though he had by statute really very slight authority over the societies, his name exercised the widest influence, and the numerous reports and publications by which he endea voured to impress upon the public mind sound principles of management of friendly societies, and to expose those which were managed upon unsound principles, made him a terror to evil doers. On the other hand, he lent with readiness the aid of his legal knowledge and great mental activity to assisting well-intentioned societies in coming within the provisions of the Acts, and thus gave many excellent schemes a legal organization. By the Act of 1829, in lieu of the discretion as to whether the formation of the proposed society would be useful and beneficial, and the requirement of the actuarial certificate to the tables, it was enacted that the justices were to satisfy themselves that the tables proposed to be used Acts of might be adopted with safety to all parties concerned. This 334 ami p rov ision, of course, became a dead letter, and was repealed in 1834 by 4 and 5 Wm. IV. c. 40. Thenceforth, societies were free to establish themselves upon what conditions and with what rates they chose, provided only they satisfied the barrister that the rules were &quot; calculated to carry into effect the intention of the parties framing them,&quot; and were &quot; in conformity to law.&quot; In 1846, by 9 and 10 Vic. c. 27, the barrister certifying the rules was constituted &quot; Registrar of Friendly Societies,&quot; and the rules of all societies were brought together under his custody. An actuarial certifi cate was to be obtained before any society could be regis tered &quot; for the purpose of securing any benefit dependent Act of on the laws of sickness and mortality.&quot; In 1850 the Acts 1850. yvere again repealed and consolidated with amendments (13 and 14 Vic. c. 115). Societies were divided into two classes, &quot; certified &quot; and &quot;registered.&quot; The certified socie ties were such as obtained a certificate to their tables by an actuary possessing a given qualification, who was required to set forth the data of sickness and mortality upon which h&amp;lt;? proceeded, and the rate of interest assumed in the calcu lations. All other societies were to be simply registered. Very few societies were constituted of the &quot; certified &quot; class. The distinction of classes was repealed and the Act of Acts were again consolidated in 1855 by 18 and 19 Vic. 18cK) - c. (53. Under this Act, which admitted of all possible lati tude to the framers of rules of societies, 21,875 societies were registered, a large number of them being lodges or courts of affiliated orders, and the Act continued in force till the end of 1875. Act of The law which now regulates friendly societies in Great ls75 - Britain was passed in 1875 (38 and 39 Vic. c. 60) and amended in 1876 (39 and. 40 Vic. c. 32). It still bears the permissive and elastic character which marked the more successful of the previous Acts, but it provides ampler means to members of ascertaining and remedying defects of management and of restraining fraud. The business of registry is under the control of a chief registrar, who has an assistant registrar in each of the three countries, with an actuary. It is his duty, among other things to require from every society a return in proper form each year of its receipts and expenditure, funds, and effects ; a return once every five years of the sickness and mortality it has experienced; and also once every five years a valuation of its assets and liabilities. Upon the application of a certain proportion of the mem bers, varying according to the magnitude of the society, the chief registrar may appoint an inspector to examine into its affairs, or may call a general meeting of the members to con sider and determine any matter affecting its interests. These are powers which have been used with excellent effect. Cases have occurred in which fraud has been detected and punished by this means that could not probably have been otherwise brought to light. In others a system of misman agement has been exposed and effectually checked. The power of calling special meetings has enabled societies to remedy defects in their rules, to remove officers guilty of misconduct, &amp;lt;tc,, where the procedure prescribed by the rules was for some reason or other inapplicable. Upon an application of a like proportion of members the chief regis trar may, if he finds that the funds of a society are insuf ficient to meet the existing claims thereon, or that the rates of contribution are insufficient to cover the benefits assured (upon which he consults his actuary), order the society to be dissolved, and direct how its funds are to be applied. This legislation was the result of the labours of a lloyal Re i Commission of high authority, presided over by Sir Stafford Co Northcote, which sat from 1870 to 1874, and prosecuted sio an exhaustive inquiry into the organization and condition of the various classes of friendly societies. Their reports occupy more than a dozen large bluebooks. They divide registered friendly societies into 13 classes. The first class includes the affiliated societies or &quot; orders,&quot; such as CL the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of Foresters, s &amp;lt;x the Rechabites, Druids, &c. These societies have a central body, either situated in some large town, as in the case of the Manchester Unity, or moving from place to place, as in that of the Foresters. Under this central body, the country is (in most cases) parcelled out into districts, and these districts again consist eacli of a number of independent brandies, called &quot; lodges, 1 &quot; courts,&quot; &quot; tents,&quot; or &quot;divisions,&quot; having a separate fund administered by themselves, but contributing also to a fund under the control of the central body. The Manchester Unity has (1878) 456 districts, 4121 lodges, 526,802 members, and 4,325,000 funds; the Order of Foresters 287 districts, 4414 courts, 521, 416 members, 2,497,000 funds. It may give an idea of the great utility of these societies to mention that the various courts of Foresters paid their members 3,197,366 days sick pay in a single year, and paid burial money on 4666 deaths. Besides these two great orders, there are about forty smaller affiliated bodies, each having more than 1000 members ; and the affiliated form of society appears to have great attraction. Indeed, in the colony of Victoria, Australia, all the existing friendly societies are of this class. The orders have their &quot;secrets,&quot; but these, it may safely be said, are of a very innocent character, and merely serve the purpose of identifying a member of a distant branch by his knowledge of the &quot;grip,&quot; and of the current password, &c. Indeed they are now so far from being &quot;secret societies&quot; that their meetings are attended by reporters and the debates published in the newspapers, and the Order of Foresters has recently passed a wise resolution expunging from its publications all affectation of mystery. The second class is made up of &quot;general societies,&quot; principally existing in London, of which the Commissioners enumerated *8 with nearly 60,000 members, and funds amounting to a quarter of a million ; these societies are managed at a cost, on the average, of about 10 per cent, of their income. The third class includes the &quot;county societies,&quot; of which there were 11, 10 of which had 221, 955 funds and 29,036 members, and 30 others approaching that type. These societies have been but feebly supported by those for whose benefit they are instituted, having all exacted high rates of contribution, in order to secure financial soundness. Class 4, &quot;local town societies,&quot; is a very numerous one. Among some of the larger societies may be mentioned the &quot; Chelmsford Provident,&quot; with 26,403 funds, and 2352 members ; the &quot;Brighton and Sussex Mutual,&quot; with 35,752 funds, and 824 members; the &quot; Cannon Street, Birmingham/ with 66,780 funds, and 8347 members ; the &quot; Birmingham General Provident,&quot; 37,997 funds, and 3379 members. In this group might also be included the interesting societies which are established among the Jewish community. They differ from ordinary friendly societies partly in the nature of the benefits granted upon death, which are intended to compensate for loss of employment during the time of ceremonial seclusion enjoined by the Jewish law, which is called &quot;sitting shiva. &quot; They also provide a cab for the mourners and rabbi, and a tombstone for the departed, and the same benefits as an ordinary friendly society during sickness. Some also provide a place of worship. Of these the &quot; Pursuers of Peace&quot; (enrolled in December 1797), the &quot; Bikhur Cholim, or Visitors of the Sick&quot; (April 1798), the &quot;Hoxier Holim&quot; (1804), and nearly 50 others, of which 4 are courts of the Order of Foresters, are on the register for