FRIENDLY SOCIETIES 



3353 



FRIGATE 



was strongest, to provide friendly 

 society benefits, and then con- 

 verted into the Prudential Assur- 

 ance Company of America, purely 

 for insuring sums payable at death. 

 Hence the development of other 

 industrial insurance companies 

 upon British lines. 



In France, voluntary organiza- 

 tions have long existed, and those 

 friendly societies which have been 

 officially approved as distinct 

 from authorised societies receive 

 state assistance towards the pay- 

 ment of old-age pensions as one of 

 their benefits. Germany presents 

 a much more complete example of 

 state domination, the voluntary 

 organizations having being over- 

 shadowed, although not neces- 

 sarily extinguished, by the schemes 

 set up under different imperial 

 statutes from 1876 onwards, for 

 compulsory insurance upon lines 

 which are largely followed by the 

 British scheme of National Health 

 Insurance, 1911. Belgium and 

 Holland have each a considerable 

 number of friendly societies. 



Bibliography. Friendly Societies 

 and Industrial and Provident Soci- 

 eties, F. Baden-Fuller, 1910 ; Official 

 Guide Book of the Registry of 

 Friendly Societies, 1920 ; Provident 

 Societies and Industrial Welfare, E. 

 Brabrook, 1898; Memorandum of 

 Sickness and Invalidity Insurance in 

 Germany, H.M. Stationery Office, 

 1911; Addresses and Papers on Life 

 Insurance (America), John F. Dry- 

 den, 1909. 



Friendly Societies Registry. 

 Office created in 1846 to look after 

 the accounts of friendly, building, 

 and similar societies which do not 

 come under the operation of the 

 Acts regulating public companies. 

 These make periodical returns to 

 the registrar, which are tabulated 

 in blue-books. The chief registrar 

 is a member of the four insurance 

 commissions and also of the joint 

 committee. His headquarters are 

 at Dean Stanley Street, West- 

 minster, London, S.W., and there 

 are branches of the registry in 

 Edinburgh and Dublin. 



Friends of the People. Society 

 formed in England in 1 792 by some 

 of the more advanced Whigs to 

 bring about parliamentary reform. 

 Sir Philip Francis was one of its 

 founders and helped to draw up its 

 original programme. The members 

 were influenced by the French 

 Revolution, but proposed to pro- 

 ceed by constitutional means. The 

 society had a short life, although 

 its supporters included Sheridan, 

 James Mackintosh, and Erskine. 



Friesland (Dutch, Vriesland). 

 Province of the Netherlands. The 

 Zuider Zee and North Sea form its 

 W. and N. boundaries, and it is con- 

 tiguous on the E., S.E., and S. with 



Groningen, Drente, and Overyssel ; 

 it includes the three islands of 

 Terschelling, Ameland, and Schier- 

 monnikoog. The flat and in parts 

 marshy country is mainly agri- 

 cultural, fertile and well watered, 

 but unsatisfactorily managed. Con- 

 siderable tracts are under sea level. 

 Dairy farming, stock rearing, horse 

 breeding, and peat cutting are im- 

 portant. At Sneek there is busy 

 trade in cheese and butter, and at 

 Franeker there was a university 

 until 1811. There are several large, 

 marshy lakes, with good fishing, 

 notably the Fleussen, Tjeuke, 

 Sneeker, Sloter, and Bergumer 

 lakes. There are good communi- 

 cations by rly., steam tramways, 

 and canals. The chief town is 

 Leeuwarden (q.v.) ; other centres 

 are Bolsward, Sneek, Dokkum, 

 Harlingen, Franeker, Stavoren, and 

 Hindelopen. The prov. sends four 

 members to the lower chamber, 

 and is marked by the prevalence of 

 the old Frisian dialect. In parts 

 the country is pleasant and pictur- 

 esque. Area, 1,243 sq. m. Pop. 

 384,779. 



East Friesland is the name of a 

 district in Hanover, Germany. 

 Lying between Groningen in the 

 Netherlands and Oldenburg, it is 

 also flat and marshy, and has agri- 

 cultural and fishery interests. Its 

 chief town is Aurich, others being 

 Emden, Norden, and Leer. A 

 canal runs from Emden eastwards 

 to Wilhelmshafen. Area, 1,211 

 sq. m. Pop. 241,024. See Frisians. 



Frieze. In architecture, the 

 middle member of the entablature, 

 between the cornice and architrave. 



veloped in Roman and Renais- 

 sance times, and when domestic 

 architecture assumed importance 

 the feature was applied both to 

 exterior and interior decoration. 

 The friezes in Inigo Jones's designs 

 are sometimes divided up by attic 

 windows. Tudor doors, windows, 

 and walls often have classic en- 

 tablatures with friezes.' Exterior 

 friezes are now mainly confined to 

 public buildings, but modern rooms 

 are frequently decorated with a 

 wall-paper frieze, and occasionally 

 with a frieze pattern in low relief. 

 The word, Fr. frise, Ital. fregio, 

 probably comes ultimately from 

 Lat. Pnrygium (opus), Phrygian 

 (work). See Parthenon. 



Frigate (Ital. fregata). Fore- 

 runner of the modern light cruiser. 

 A fast vessel of from 25 to 



Frigate of war under full sail 



50 guns, she was useful for either 

 the attack or defence of commerce 

 on the high seas, and for scouting 

 duties with the line-of-battle fleets. 

 The term was originally applied to 

 craft in the Mediterranean using 

 both oars and sails. The first 

 English frigate was the Constant 



Frieze. Example of ancient frieze from Trajan's Forum, Rome 



The Greek frieze in its simple form 

 was divided into panels or metopes 

 by triglyphs or channelled blocks, 

 the metopes being sometimes 

 sculptured with a floral design, and 

 sometimes, as in the Parthenon, 

 with figures. In the earliest temples 

 the metopes and triglyphs were 

 composed of separate blocks of 

 stone, artificially bonded ; but the 

 Ionic and later styles aimed at 

 making the frieze a continuous band 

 encircling the building, with the 

 joints concealed as much as possible. 

 Different varieties of frieze de- 



Warwick, designed by Peter Pett 

 for the earl of Warwick for use as a 

 privateer, built at Ratcliff, on the 

 Thames, in 1646, and purchased 

 into the navy in 1649. The desig- 

 nation was retained in the British 

 fleet for many years after the in- 

 troduction of steam, and it was not 

 until 1883 that it was replaced by 

 cruiser. In sailing days any war- 

 ship other than a stationary vessel, 

 storeship, or troopship was classed 

 as a cruiser ; but this term is never 

 applied now to any vessel built to 

 lie " in the line." See Cruiser. 



