Friendly Societies, State Action, and the Poor-law. 183 
and I lay some stress on the omission on the part of the Com- 
missioners to institute any examination into it, and report 
upon the same, with a view to its adoption. I further submit 
that such a system having been in satisfactory use in certain 
counties for considerably more than half a century is as well 
adapted to the whole of the country as to any portion of it, and 
may with advantage be so adapted. The defects in the Poor- 
law which the Commissioners noticed, relating to the inci- 
dence and collection of the poor-rates on cottage occupiers, are 
again urged on public attention. Certain facilities by which 
an improvement may be obtained in the mode of dealing with 
applicants for relief who are members of benefit societies, have 
also been pointed out. It is necessary to add that nothing has 
been done to carry out suggestions relating to the Poor-law and 
to the extension of insurance other than sickness-pay, through 
the Post-Office, which met with the approval of the Royal 
Commission. 
The appeal made in these pages for the support of those who 
may have viewed with groundless alarm efforts to extend the 
benefits of insurances suited to the labouring classes, will not, it 
is hoped, be altogether in vain. The claim for their assistance 
can be placed on no lower ground than the right discharge of 
our common duty to those whom we have always with us, " the 
poor, who will never cease out of the land." 
APPENDIX. 
At the Conference on Thrift, held at the Mansion House 
on the 20th of May, 1881, under the Presidency of the Lord 
Mayor, it was resolved " that it is desirable to use the existing 
machinery of the Post Office for providing, on sound economical 
principles, a cheaper, safer, and simpler means of industrial 
insurance than at present exists." The proposal to establish 
sickness-pay was not discussed on the occasion. 
Memorial as follows : — 
TO THE EIGHT HON. THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEIENDLY 
SOCIETIES' COMMISSION. 
The Memorial of the Undersigned 
Showeth, 
That in view of a strict and wholesome administration of the laws for the 
relief of the poor, together with the advancing rate of labourers' wages, the 
provision of a self-supporting system of Insurance for Sickness and Old Age, 
and for Burial Money is, in the opinion of your Memorialists, of importance 
to such labourers as are at present upon the verge of pauperism, and who 
