496 



The Review of Reviews. 



June 1, 1906. 



THRIFT AMONG THE WORKING CLASSES: 



An Ideal Friendly Society. 

 The January number of Chambers s Journal con- 

 tains an article on the Holloway Benefit Society, 

 originally founded at Stroud in 1875 by George 

 Hoiloway. 



THE OLD SYSTEM. 



The writer, who compares the principles of this 

 benefit society with those followed by the older 

 friendly societies, quotes the following figures from 

 the official returns relating to the chief societies for 

 1904: — 



Membership. Total Funds. 



Oddfellows (M.U.) 1.018.685 



Foresters 929,720 



Hearts of Oak 277.461 



Grand United Oddfellows ... 540.986 

 Eechabites 339.500 



2.906,552 



£12.098,473 

 7.766,586 

 2.956.789 

 1.145,733 

 1,500,000 



£25.467,681 



He points out that no individual member of any 

 of these societies has any personal claim on the 

 accumulated funds, except in case of illness, and 

 asks whether the members are really thrifty. Is it 

 for occasional sick-pay and ten pounds at death that 

 the subscriber to the Oddfellows' Society pays his 

 regular contributions to a general fund ? 



THE ADV.\NTAGES OF THE NEWER METHOD. 



Under the newer method of the Hoiloway Society 

 ■we are told that each member's contributions are 

 paid into his separate account, that he receives sick- 

 pay in time of illness, and on reaching the age of 

 sixty-five, the whole of his accumulated capital, 

 with compound interest, is paid over to him in a 

 lump sum, or he may receive it in the form of an 

 annuity. If he dies before he is sixty-five, his 

 accumulated capital, with compound interest, is paid 

 TO his relatives. A healthy man may never require 

 to come on the club, and under the old system his 

 insurance fund would yield him nothing. 



The scheme of the Hoiloway Society is set forth 

 as follows : — 



Members are admitted into the society from fourteen to 

 sixty years of aee as share-members. Up to thirty years of 

 age a one-share'memlier pays a. penny a day: that is. two 

 shillings and fonrpence per lunar month. From the age of 

 thirty years onwards lie pays an extra halfpenny per 

 month for each year beyond thirty. That is to say. be- 

 tween thirty and thirty-one he pays two shillines and fonr- 

 pence halfpenny per month; from thirty-one to thirty-two 

 he pays two shillinsrs .ind fiyepence; from thirty-two to 

 thirty-three, two shillings and fiyepence halfpenny; and so 

 on, increasing one halfpenny per month for eyery year up 

 to sixty-five. 



As a man advances in years his liability to sick- 

 ness increases, and to meet this increasing drain on 

 the sick-fund the extra halfpennies are imposed. 

 The member who pays a penny a day is called a 

 one-share member, but a man may subscribe for 

 two or three shares, or only half a share, in which 

 cases the payments and the advantages would be in- 

 creased or decreased in proportion. 



At the end of each financial year a statement of 

 3iis share-account is furnished to each individual 

 member, so that he always knows exactly how he 



stands. The penny per day amounts to ;£i los. 

 4d. for a year, and as the sum of 5s. per annum is 

 estimated as the average cost of sickness for each 

 member up to thirty years of age, the member at the 

 end of the year has 25s. remaining to his account, 

 which is entered in his name in the society's books, 

 and remains earning compound interest. 



Among other advantages it may be stated that a 

 member can at any time withdraw part of his accu- 

 mulated fund and still enjov the benefits of mem- 

 bership ; and if he wishes to leave the society alto- 

 gether he can withdraw the whole of his accumulat- 

 ed capital except two years' appropriation. In fifty 

 years the member's capital will amount to ;^2o8 is. 

 8d., whereas the members of the old societies receive 

 nothing at the age of sixty-five. 



THE BARD OF THE PIANOFORTE. 



Chopin and His Music. 



In the January Contemporary Review Miss A. E. 

 Keeton has an interesting article on Chopin. 



Chopin, she tells us, was a man of moods, and to 

 the end of his career he seems to have been unable 

 to get accustomed to himself. He was also a pro- 

 duct of heredity, a compound of Pole and French- 

 man. As he wrote neither opera nor symphony, he 

 has been described as a lesser composer, but he 

 created a whole pianoforte literature. True, he pre- 

 ferred not the forms of the older masters, but his 

 etudes, ballades, nocturnes, etc., are as good models 

 of musical form as are the preludes of Bach or the 

 sonatas of Beethoven. Xo other instrument than 

 the piano could express so well what Chopin had to 

 say, and he always exhibits the piano at its best. 



Sir Francis Dralte in Verse. 



Blackwood for April contains the second book of 

 Mr. Alfred Noyes's English epic on Drake. It 

 carries one along with it on its easy flow. One 

 passage may be quoted from the story of the old 

 seaman, Tom Moone, which suggests the character 

 and confidence supposed to reign on board Drake's 

 vessel : — 



And once a troop of nut-brown maidens came— 



So said Tom Moone, a twinkle in his eye — 



Swimming to meet them through the warm blue waves 



.4nd wantoned through the water, . , , Shapely of limb 



They were; but as they laid their small brown hands 



Upon the ropes we cast them. Captain Drake 



Suddenly thundered at them and bade them pack 



For a troop of naughty wenches! At that tale 



X tempest of fierce laughter rolled around 



The foc'sle; but one boy from London town, 



A pale-faced prentice, run-away to sea. 



.\sking why Drake had bidden them pack so soon. 



Tom Moone turned lo him with his deeivsea growl. 



■ Because cur Cantain is no pink-eyed boy 

 Nor soft-limbed Spaniard, but a stannch-sonled Man, 

 Full-blooded; nerved like iron; with a girl 

 He loves at liome in Devon; and a mind 

 For ever bent upon some mighty goal. 



T know not what — but 'tis enough for me 

 To know my Captain knows." 



