be adopted by boards of guardians with advantage,[1] which we shall next consider.
Who does not see that a difference should be made in the treatment of the member of a trustworthy society and him of the club in which the rate is virtually the superannuation fund, when each is compelled to seek relief from the board of guardians? If the latter were enabled by the Registrar of Friendly Societies (who should be empowered to obtain and furnish information on which an opinion of the merits of the society might be formed) to distinguish the good from the bad, and were further aided by the Poor Law Board supplying the principle which to the best of their judgment they were to apply in such cases, they would render indirect but most powerful assistance in the reform of the friendly societies of the rural poor.
At present there is much confusion in dealing with applicants who belong to these institutions. By some boards, not perhaps so numerous as in bygone years, relief, other than the house, is denied; by others, an allowance dependent in part on the amount paid by the club is granted; in some, medical relief; but by none is enquiry made whether the club is good or good for nothing, in order to determine the amount, or the refusal, of relief.
The following suggestions, which may perhaps help to elicit better, are offered in order to obtain such alterations as will encourage self-reliance and promote the moral good of the labouring classes:—
(1) Boards of guardians to authorise relief to be granted to
- ↑ At present all have their own rule of dealing with members of friendly societies; for instance, at Canterbury, medical relief only is given to the member of a club.
At Hollingbourne, in addition to medical treatment, "in all cases where the club money does not exceeed 10s. a week, and does not exceed the amount of relief ordered for the families of able-bodied men not in any club, one gallon of flour for each child is given after the first month. Where the sickness pay exceeds 10s. a week, no relief is given beyond the medical order. Where the sickness pay does not exced 3s. a week, no deduction is made from the ordinary scale of relief in consideration thereof."
In Maidstone Union, "in the case of a man with wife and four children receiving 10s. from his club per week, the board will order 4 or 5 gallons of flour weekly, but no money. If the man were in no club, they would give him an order for the house; but if the illness is severe or of long duration, 3s. a week and five gallons of flour. In the first week flour only is given."
In the Mailing Union, whatever the man is insured for he has for himself, and the board relieves the wife and family on their scale, which is a liberal one. The three unions last named are adjacent.
In the union of Ashford an applicant member of a club with 10s. sickness pay, having a wife and four children, receives 5s. a week from the board. If not in any club, the board will give him 10s. a week. In some unions no rule is laid down.
