total incapacity is an object which vary few agricultural labourers secure. If the earnest interest of the upper classes in a parish could be manifested by taking a part in the management of benefit societies, very great good would attend them, and it would no longer be said that out of the 23,000 friendly societies which exist in England and Wales, there are not 20 solvent. By importing into the mode of management the agency of the post-office as a means of securing safety of deposit and of insuring allowances both in sickness and in old age, as has been proposed by the Rev. J. Y. Stratton, in some interesting articles written by him in All the Year Round (April, 1866), and in The Cornhill Magazine (February, 1864), the extension of such societies would follow. It was with a view to gain this advantage that the Kent Friendly Society memorialised the Postmaster-General last year, and I believe with good effect. All persons who have given their attention to the matter concur in objecting to the meetings of friendly societies at public-houses (see Appendix II and if the classes would really take an interest in them, the practice would be modified, if not discontinued. "Sometimes," says Mr. Tidd Pratt, "the club is sold with the goodwill of the house." Beer-house clubs are indeed a great abomination.
Some few existing societies are excellent precedents for the establishment of others. The Essex Provident Society has enrolled between 9000 and 10,000 members, and has a capital of between 70,000l. and 80,000l.; and the Hampshire Friendly Society has upwards of 3000 members and a capital of 35,000l. The Hitchin Friendly Institution, established in 1828, is, perhaps, based on as good a foundation as any in the country, as every member who insures against sickness
