Villape Clubs and Associations. 9 



entirely by the nun-benefit members who had been responsible 

 for their establishment. The Wiltshire Societj^ which was one 

 of the best known, was governed entirely by honorary members 

 till 18iO, when the election of three members to each branch 

 committee was allowed, though even then all honorary members 

 of the t)ranch were entitled to be members of its committee. 



In 1874: there were eleven societies which could properly be 

 described as "county societies." The membership numbered 

 29,036, and the accumulated funds amounted to 221,955Z. If 

 several societies whose operations were confined to a definite 

 portion of a county be included this class of society had a 

 membership of about 40,000. They were largely confined to 

 the south-eastern, southern, and south-western counties. The 

 "Wiltshire society, which was somewhat typical, had 102 branches, 

 4,851 benefit and 821 honorary members in 1882. Since then 

 the history of the societies has been extremely varied. Some 

 have disappeared, others have been transformed, and others 

 still remain. The transformation has been generally a move- 

 ment to increase the amount of self-government on behalf of 

 the ordinary or benefit members. 



They were generally held to possess a better system of 

 management and finance than the village clubs, and for this 

 reason they had many warm advocates. But their finances 

 were not always so good as they appeared to be, and they 

 certainly did not give the villagers the same amount of self- 

 discipline and training in business and mutual action as was 

 provided by either the registered village club or a branch of 

 one of the larger orders. 



In this connection it must not be forgotten that the great 

 afiiliated orders have many successful branches in most 

 villages, and since 1880 these have been on the increase. 

 Amongst these orders are the " Foresters," the " Oddfellows," 

 the " Druids," and the " Shepherds." ' These societies provide 

 members with a full measure of self-government, while their 

 financial system is founded on recognised actuarial data. 



It is worthy of notice that nearly all rural friendly societies 

 have suffered because of the low i-ate of interest earned by 

 their capital. The actual rate received is often not more than 

 2 per cent., whilst it sometimes falls below this figure, and 

 is generally less than 3 per cent. The fall in the value of 

 land in the latter part of the nineteenth century frequently 

 accounts for this. Some of the capital of rural sick clubs 

 appears to be illegally invested, i.e. on personal security. This 

 is probably due to two reasons : a desire to help members who 

 are struggling to improve their positions, and a desire to earn 



' The writer himself has been an officer in a village court of Foresters 

 consisting of about 100 mernbnrs, about three-quarters of whom arc labourers. 



