FRIENDLY SOCIETIES 



3352 



FRIENDLY SOCIETIES 



boats or fishing-nets, or of the de- 

 pendents of members in sickness, 

 old age, or widowhood, or, if 

 orphan children, during minority. 



Others assure money to be paid 

 on the birth of a member's child, 

 or the death of a member ; for the 

 funeral expenses of a member's 

 husband, wife, or child, or of the 

 widow of a deceased member ; or, 

 among persons of the Jewish re- 

 ligion, as allowance during the 

 period of confined mourning. 



Others insure against fire, up to 

 a value of 15, the tools used by a 

 member in his calling, or endow 

 members or their nominees at any 

 age, or guarantee societies or 

 branches that their officers and 

 servants perform their duties 

 properly. Collecting societies may 

 also insure money to be paid for the 

 funeral expenses of a member's 

 parent, grandparent, grandchild, 

 brother, or sister. 



A society with branches com- 

 monly gives sickness and mater- 

 nity, medical, funeral, and in some 

 cases unemployment benefits. Some 

 of these benefits are for members 

 only, some for wife or other de- 

 pendents. Control is by means of 

 delegates to an annual movable 

 conference. It operates through 

 local units, and organization is 

 largely voluntary. In many in- 

 stances a board of arbitrators of 

 high standing exists to settle dis- 

 putes. An example of this type of 

 society is the Manchester Unity 

 of Oddfellows, with over 4,000 

 branches in the United Kingdom, 

 and about 14,000 in the rest of 

 the British Empire. A centralised 

 society gives benefits similar to the 

 above, but it is without branches 

 or local organizations. 



Another type of society is repre- 

 sented by the National Deposit 

 Friendly Society. Deposit socie- 

 ties combine friendly society fea- 

 tures with savings bank features. 

 The Friendly Societies Act pro- 

 vides that the rules of a society 

 may permit the accumulation at 

 interest, for the use of any mem- 

 ber, of any surplus which may re- 

 main to his credit in the funds 

 after providing for liabilities. Such 

 societies are exempt from valu- 

 ation requirements. Dividing so- 

 cieties which provide by rule for 

 the periodical division of the whole 

 or part of the funds without regard 

 to actuarial solvency, are likewise 

 exempted from the valuation pro- 

 visions of the Act. 



COLLECTING SOCIETIES. There 

 are in Great Britain about 50 of 

 these, a few very large and the rest 

 relatively small. They are in the 

 main occupied with industrial in- 

 surance, i.e. insurance for in- 

 dustrial classes at weekly or other 



periodical premiums, collected by 

 paid agents from insurers. The 

 sums insured are usually payable 

 on death. Each of these has 

 a very large approved section for 

 national health insurance. Collect- 

 ing societies are a special develop- 

 ment. They are extraordinarily 

 popular, and of late have regarded 

 themselves not exclusively as 

 offices insuring funeral expenses ; 

 endowments for adults and juven- 

 iles and life policies up to 300 

 have grown in favour. Other types 

 of society coming under the same 

 official supervision and included in 

 the statement below, are cooper- 

 ative and building societies, annuity 

 societies, cattle insurance societies, 

 etc. The following are the figures 

 of the different types of society : 



Class of Society 



Members Funds 



2,897,434 



32,557,873 



28,876,538 

 14,842,763 



Orders and their 



Branches . . 

 Centralised societiesin- 



chiding deposit and 



dividing societies . . 3,893,614 

 Collecting societies . . 



Total 



All other types includ- j 



ing trading and 



building societies . . 10,401,466 148,105,646 

 Total of registered pro- 



vident societies .. 26,889,440 224.382,820 ^pelncIudTnglndustrial i^ 



surance companies. 



16,487,974 76,277,174 



bill led to friendly societies being 

 empowered to form associations 

 under the new Act. Collecting 

 societies are specifically excluded. 

 Over 28,000 societies, including 

 branches, under the Friendly 

 Societies Act, and about 8,000 

 societies under other Acts, are 

 supervised by the registry. It has 

 limited powers, but it is able to 

 take proceedings against defaulters, 

 refuse improper rules, etc. Thus 

 the registrar may appoint an in- 

 spector to investigate a society's 

 affairs, and may call a special 

 meeting of members ; he may also, 

 in certain circumstances, order the 

 dissolution of a society and the 

 distribution of its funds. Various 

 official inquiries have been made, 

 particularly into the section trans- 

 acting industrial life assur- 

 ance. From 1870-74 a royal 

 commission sat, and legisla- 

 tion resulted. Adequate legis- 

 lation, however, to prevent 

 the establishment of insub- 

 stantial societies, to which 

 the chief registrar has re- 

 peatedly called attention, is 

 even now still wanting. The 

 last such inquiry was held in 

 1919, under the chairman- 



ship of Lord Parmoor, its 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS. The 

 rapid progress of social reform in 

 Great Britain brought important 

 changes in friendly societies. The 

 National Health Insurance Act, 

 1911, involved the cooperation of 

 societies of all types. Originally 

 the exclusion of collecting societies 

 was intended, but the chancellor of 

 the exchequer (D. Lloyd George) 

 found it necessary to seek their as- 

 sistance, fearing that in the absence 

 of their extensive organization great 

 difficulty would be experienced in 

 bringing the Act into universal 

 operation. Hence collecting and 

 other societies were alike specially 

 empowered to transact national 

 health insurance, usually by means 

 of separate sections. 44 p.c. of 

 the total insured population of the 

 United Kingdom is comprised in 

 the organizations created by the 

 collecting societies and their kind- 

 red institutions, the industrial in- 

 surance companies ; while 45 p.c. 

 are included in other types of 

 friendly society. 



A similar position was reached 

 in the Unemployment Insurance 

 Act, 1920. The original bill ex- 

 cluded societies of all types from 

 operating this Act, the intention 

 being that the whole insured popu- 

 lation should resort to a labour ex- 

 change or trade union. Parliament 

 did not support the government's 

 intention, and modifications of the 



The friendly society movement 

 received its strongest impetus in 

 the earlier part of the 19th century, 

 while the opening years of the 20th 

 century brought singular difficul- 

 ties. Legislation appeared to 

 threaten their existence, but they 

 have survived. Generally their 

 special characteristics have been 

 scrupulously observed, alike by 

 Parliament and the courts. For in- 

 stance, legal provision has been 

 made for the conversion of a society 

 to a proprietary company, but the 

 courts in interpreting this decision 

 have made restrictions 



FRIENDLY SOCIETIES ABROAD. 

 In some parts of the British Em- 

 pire, the friendly society movement 

 has taken some root. * In Austral- 

 asia affiliated orders are active ; and 

 in Canada, also, various societies 

 are operating. Generally speaking, 

 the state supervision of societies is 

 strict, and the result of this may well 

 be the establishment of unregistered 

 societies. In the U.S.A. they are 

 mainly of more recent origin than 

 in Britain, and they have been 

 stimulated by extensive immigra- 

 tion, including many members of 

 British friendly societies, and by 

 severe economic distress. A typical 

 illustration is the Widows and 

 Orphans Benefit Society, originally 

 founded when distress had been 

 most severely felt, and the tra- 

 ditional horror of pauper treatment 



