Friendly Societies, State Action, and the Poor-laic. 171 
But, admitting the excellence of the proposal to establish 
a system under the State supervision and control, and that, if 
attempted, it must be by means of the Post-Office, for reasons 
on which I need not now dwell, one or two objections remain 
to be disposed of, which, although noticed by the Commissioners, 
did not receive the attention they deserved. 
They say that the main difficulty against the provision of 
sickness-pay by the State is the risk of imposition on the fund, 
and especially would such danger exist if losses were to be 
made good from the Revenue. My answer to the objection is, 
in the first place, that no pecuniary assistance from the State 
was ever contemplated in my proposal, excepting that I sup- 
posed, perhaps not unreasonably, that the annual expenditure 
already incurred by Post-Office insurances might not be grudged 
for a few years. To devote public money to the sickness fund 
would be the poor-rate in aid of wages in its worst form, though 
under another name. 
The general impression is that the vigilance of the members 
of a small society is required in order to constitute a safeguard 
against malingering and fraud. Let us see what the value of 
such espionage is. It is allowed to be pretty strict, and un- 
pleasantly particular. If the sick man " does but pick up a 
cricket-ball," he is, ipso facto, " out of benefit." If he rocks 
the cradle to keep the squalling inlant still, while his harassed 
wife mixes the parish doctor's stuff for him to swallow if he can, 
and is detected by his neighbour whose duty is to watch him, 
he forfeits his pay. No Government supervision could look 
after sick members in this fashion. Nor is it necessary for the 
protection of the fund that such a watch should be maintained. 
The average number of sick persons in societies where this 
system of protection is relied upon is 27 per cent, in the year. 
On this statement being made a few years ago at the Society of 
Arts, an eminent actuary corrected the speaker by saying that 
40 per cent, was nearer the mark in the village clubs * than 27. 
Compare this with the average number per cent, of sick persons 
in the year in two of the County Societies, which employ a dif- 
ferent system, and one to be recommended for general adoption 
wherever the members are scattered over the country. The 
average of sick members in the County of Kent Friendly 
Society (established in 1828) is under 16 per cent, per annum. 
It used to be under 12 before the plan of Bounty grants was 
adopted, by which members, whose sickness-pay ceased on 
* In Neison's Preliminary Report, 'Eates of Mortality and Sickness' 
(published 1881) the number of members per cent, who claim sickness-pay in 
the year in the Foresters is 23 "44:9, and the average duration of sickness of each 
member is 5 • 8 weeks. 
