TRADE-UNIONS 



Xo\v. as the actual subscriptions of the members amount 

 to only 4*. 4d. per month, it seems clear that the society, spend- 

 ing about half its income on trade purposes and management, 

 must be bankrupt. 



Mr. Allan in reply says, ' We have paid all calls upon us for 

 sixteen years, and our funds in hand increase rapidly. We had 

 ten years' experience in an older society, and may therefore count 

 twenty-six years' experience against your calculations. We have 

 also many sources of income that you do not count.' Mr. Tucker 

 rejoins, saying, ( Your members have increased so rapidly that 

 your soundness has never been put to the test.' Mr. Allan 

 hands in statements showing for each year the payment under 

 each head, and points out that one-third of the members leave 

 before dying or receiving superannuation allowance, and Mr. 

 Glen Finlaison has been called in to advise the Commissioners 

 further. 



On looking over the figures it is clear that the statistics on 

 which Mr. Tucker reasoned do not apply to trade societies. 

 Thus, from 1858 to 1866, the amount paid by the Engineers for 

 sick benefits amounted on the average to 8%d. per month per 

 member, and this payment per member was sensibly constant 

 during those nine years, being 8^d. for 1858 and 7frf. in 1866. 

 During the seven preceding years the benefit was a little 

 smaller, and the average per month per member was 6f d. pre- 

 senting the same stationary character. These amounts are about 

 half what Mr. Tucker would make a man of thirty pay. The 

 difference is partly accounted for by the fact that the 10s. per 

 week is reduced to os. after twenty-six weeks' illness ; but it 



