346 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. [ Kovember 3, 1863. 



very time when the benefits promised were required. Decla- 

 mation upon declamation has been poured forth against 

 working men on the score of ignorance and imprudence in 

 this respect. Their faOirres were more due to the want of 

 sufficient experience on which to found such societies. Most 

 of the greatest blunders were made by the actuaries, who 

 were really incapable of framing tables for the safe guidance 

 of these societies ; but after long experience sufficient data 

 have now been obtained, showing the exact basis on which 

 such Societies should be founded. The data furnished by long 

 experience seem to point to four laws, which it would appear 

 ought to be borne in mind and acted upon, if the Society 

 formed be expected to meet all demands upon it, and remain 

 prosperous : — 



1st. The rate of contribution should be graduated accord- 

 ing to age. The young, because less liable to sickness and 

 death, should pay smaller contributions, as they are likely to 

 contribute much longer than the old. Others, because more 

 liable to sickness and death, therefore not likely to con- 

 tribute so long, must pay larger contributions. 



2nd. The contributions should be such as to leave an 

 annual surplus, which, being invested on good security, wovdd 

 act as a guarantee fund in times when disease and death are 

 unusually prevalent. 



3rd. Such societies ought not to consist of few members 

 in a lodge, for the expense connected with a small lodge 

 would be equal to that where the lodge was four times its 

 numbers. The strictest economy ought to be rigidly en- 

 forced in regard to the management of these societies. 



4th. The invested capital should be laid out at a reason- 

 able rate of interest, for when the rate of interest is liigh 

 we may be sure the security is bad. High rates of interest 

 on questionable security (of which they are indicative), are 

 to be avoided. 



When societies are framed on the conditions named, with 

 an efficient staff of members as officers, wholly or mostly 

 unpaid, a suitable meeting place, and the whole governed 

 by rules made or confirmed by the whole of the members at 

 a general meeting, there is no fear of the society not 

 working satisfactorily. 



Friendly societies, to take a retrospective view, have 

 greatly assisted in raising the social and moral condition of 

 working men. Since their formation the working classes 

 have made great progress in the arts and sciences. They 

 have also promoted habits of sobriety and industry, and 

 better than all, frugality, and been a direct means of dimin- 

 ishing the poor rates. Mr. Tidd Pratt, I think, calcidated 

 that no less a sum than .£2,000,000 sterling is annually saved 

 to ratepayers by the formation of friendly societies. This 

 sum is, no doubt, somewhat in excess of the real amount 

 saved ; but when we consider that three millions of working 

 men belong to these societies, that their contributions amount 

 to .£5,000,000 sterling annually, and that they have invested 

 capitiil to the extent of illl.OOO.OOO, we cannot but be pretty 

 weU sure that a very large sum is annually saved to rate- 

 payers, for many fcmilies that are now relieved by friendly 

 societies would otherwise be obliged to claim parish relief 

 when the head of the family was prostrated by sickness. 



Lord Brougham has calculated that working men have in 

 these societies a reserved capital of not far from .£20,000,000 

 sterling, .and in the savings-bank ^£40,000,000, or between 

 X50,000,«)0 and ^£60.000,000 in all, which is demonstra- 

 tive of the saving habits and self-reliance of British work- 

 men. The men who contribute to those societies are just 

 the men that seek to render poor rates unnecessary. They 

 strive to keep away from the last reftige of the prodigal 

 and unproviding. But aU these benefits are nothing when 

 comp;u-ed witli the moral influence exerted on society by these 

 saving habits, which not only benefit the members indivi- 

 dually, but the community generally, by teaching the young 

 self-reliance or dependance upon theh- own endeavours, ail 

 being taught the value of law and order. They also fit men 

 for more important positions in society, and ftirthei' man's 

 moral and intellectual advancement. 



Thus much good they do, but they might do much more. 

 ■They might make a special provision for the widow and the 

 fatherless children of a deceased member, not so much to 

 render permanent assistance, but temporary relief in special 

 cases. I allude to those members cut off in early manhood, 

 leaving, perhaps, h:vlf a dozen chUdi-en totally unprovided 



for. It is very productive of misery when it ooctirs, and the 

 removal of a widow with half a dozen helpless children to the 

 workhouse is a sight that has few equals in amount of 

 sorrow. 



Now, supposing a fund raised by entrance fees and private 

 donations were specially set apart for this purpose, would 

 not the interest resulting therefrom afibrd relief to these 

 especial cases, and the capital itself form a guarantee fund 

 in addition? I think it would, and I should like to see a 

 fund, in connection with the Gardeners' Benefit Society, 

 specially set apart for the relief, temporary or otherwise, of 

 fatherless children and distressed widows of deceased mem- 

 bers. If members under twenty gave 10s., above that but 

 under thirty years of age £1, and so on, with the dona- 

 tions likely to flow into the exchequer from the many 

 amateur lovers of gardening, I am persuaded that we could 

 raise a fund that would do even more towards the object in 

 view than the most sanguine amongst us could credit. I do 

 not see the propriety of adding invested capital to invested. 

 I had rather see the interest devoted to a good puipose, than 

 derive any pleasure from the thought " we are becoming 

 rich." What is the use of money hoarded up to meet the 

 wants of the next generation ! Secure yom: solvency by a 

 guarantee fund at the commencement, and nothing short of 

 the grossest and most wanton negligence in the administra- 

 tion of affairs can affect your solvency thereafter. 



Allow me now to go into committee on the Gardeners' 

 Benefit Society, it being my object to sift it, and to debate 

 the whole question as if I were able to attend the prelimi- 

 nary meetings of the Society. 



I think the rate of contribution is too high for the benefits 

 promised. The Foresters, Odd Fellows, &c., give the same 

 pay in times of sickness as the Society proposed for the same 

 contribution ; and also ilO at the death of a member, and 

 £5 at the death of a member's wife, and yet these Societies 

 have an invested capital to the extent of several thousands 

 sterling each ; the Foresters being the richest, and the Odd 

 Fellows the strongest numerically of all societies of the 

 kind in this country. 



The examination-board, I think, is objectionable. Being 

 connected with gardening gives men no claim to act as ex- 

 aminers unless otherwise fitted for the ofiice ; and if they are 

 to be gardeners, I would just as soon stand before a Chinese 

 interpreter and be examined in that peculiar language. Ex- 

 aminers should have certificates of a high order themselves, 

 or I certainly could not expect anything like justice to be 

 done. 



On Eule 3 I beg to propose that " Benefit members 

 shall be those who contribute for themselves," omitting the 



words, "or others." Sir John , or her Ladyship, might 



contribute for her gardener ; he might leave, another come, 

 and they both be ill during the time they lived under Sir 

 John, and derive in that way more benefit from the Society 

 than those members who were not so niggar'dly as to let 

 their masters do what they ought to do with pride them- 

 selves. Employers' contributions ought to be given for the 

 general benefit of the Society. 



On Rule 18 I move to insert after the words, " Any person 

 wishing to become a benefit member of the Society, shall 

 satisfy the Directors as to his chai'acter," these words, " Give 

 proof of his having been a gardener for the last seven years, 

 if above twenty -five year's of age, &c." 



A conservative or protective scheme this ! Decidedly. 

 We want something to distinguish who are and who are not 

 gardeners. We must draw a line somewhere. If all men 

 that work in gardens are gardeners, we must be strong 

 numerically, and ought to have had at least 10,000 names 

 by this time. 



On Rule 19, I should like to see a clause inserted for 

 gardeners when out of emplojonent, relieving them from 

 contributing at such times, providing always that their non- 

 employment is not caused by carelessness, idleness, or cul- 

 pable negligence. I have known many gardeners out of 

 employment for two years, twelve montlis, and between that 

 and six months very commonly, through no faidt of their 

 own — I have myself been unemployed for nearly six months. 

 This, when a man has a family, and the low wages we 

 receive when in employment, prevent our laying by much 

 against rainy days ; and such small savings will hardly enable 

 a man to keep his family from starving, much less to contri- 



