416 
fhould be provided, towards which, each 
erdinary member fhould contribute 6d. 
the honorary members, 1s. and the extra 
éxpence to be defrayed out of the box. 
The quarterly fubfcription was fixed 
at 1s. 6d; the entrance money 5s. fub- 
ject tothe advance of 2s. for every year, 
which the age of thé*candidate, at the 
time of admiffion, might exceed thirty- 
five. For this, they were to’ be entitled 
to receive a weekly allowance of 4s. in 
any illnefs that confined the member to 
her bed, provided that each illnefs did not 
continue beyond the term of fix months 5 
in which cafe, or in the contingence of 
any illnefs, by which the fick member 
might not be wholly difqualified from at- 
tending to the duties of her family, 
though unable to contribute towards its 
faintenance, the allowance was fixed at 
2s. fubjeét, however, as in the cafe of the 
4s: payment, to the limitation of fix 
months; but with this farther advan- 
tage, that a weekly payment of 1s. 
fhould be continued in either cafe, until 
the termination of the tllnefs. We were 
obliged, however, to make an exception 
ef all thofe illneffes that are occafioned 
by child bearing, (except 1p very extreme 
cafes,when the fum of 10s. 6d. is allowed, 
and the ftewardeffes, for the time being, 
have the difcretionary power of contulc- 
ing an apothecary) and this is a defeét 
which, it is feared, muft always adhere 
to female benefit clubs; for were the 
claims of thee admitted, the demands on 
the fund would be much greater than 
could be anfwered, and, moreover, the 
benefits received by the married and un- 
marrjed members, would be extremely 
difproportioned. . 
Bet to return to the Berwick fociety 
in particular. Something was now done 
towards the relief of the members, in 
cafes of their own individual ficknefs ; 
but Gill, a numerous clafs of misfortunes 
to which, in their fituation, they are pe- 
cularly liable. were left unalleviated; it 
was fuggefted, therefore, that the hono- 
nary members fhould raife a little fund of 
their own, not fubjeét to any particular 
rules, and diftinguifhed from the other 
by the appellation cf Prevate Fund, fub- 
ject, however, to the following general 
laws, viz. that the money fo {ubfcribed 
fhould be appropriated folely to the ufe 
of that fociety; that a regular account 
fhould be kept of the money received, of 
the donations given to diftreffed members, 
_ together with fome account of the pecu- 
liar Circumftances of difirefs which had 
claimed fuch affiftance, and, moreover, 
6 
‘Account of a Female Benefit Clubs 
[Dees 
that the power of making prefents from 
it fhould be vefted in a majority of the 
honorary members prefent at a quarterly 
meeting. 
feo ear Sees 
The total amount of what at 
has been paid into the pub- 
lic fund, fince the firft infti- 
tution of the fociety, in 
1779, tothis time’ —_ - 13 9 6 
Total amount of payments to 
fick members and other ex- 
pences - - 335 133 @ 
Balance, ftock remaining 377 16 & 
Contributions and: benefac- 
tions fince 1779, to the pri- 
vate fund . - - 
195 4 1% 
Paid-in cafes of diftrefs, to’ 
which the general fund did 

not apply - i a 5 FT INR ie 
Remaining in hand = 64 8 4 

If it be true, as is ftated by J. K. in 
your Magazine for September, (page 
201) that a fair and complete trial can- 
not be made in lefs than forty years, it 
may not be admiflible to conclude, from 
the prefent profperous ftate of the public 
fund, that it will always be equal to the 
demands that may be made upon it; it 
may, however, I think, be fairly inferred, - 
that if fuch is the refult of nineteen years 
trial, where the contributions have borne 
fo {mall a proportion to the payments; 
there can be no doubt but that the cor- 
tribution of 3d. per week, as in the in- 
ftances mentioned by J. K.would be more 
than adequate to the allowance of <ss. 
were the fund under good managementy 
and no abufes allowed. 
One ruinous praétice very common in 
thefe focieties, does not feem to have 
fallen within the obfervation of any of 
your correfpondents; the praétice I 
mean, of dividing the joint ftock, in an 
interval of profperity, among themfelves. 
This, it might be unneceffary to mention 
now, as I underftand that the aét of par- 
liament relating to them, has provided 
againft the evil; but as its operation, fo 
long as it was fuffered, was nothing 
fhort of abfolute ruin, it ought to be enu- 
merated among the various caufes which 
have, in many inftances, defeated the 
good effeéts which would otherwife have 
refulted from thefe highly valuable infti- 
tutions. . 
It now remains merely to be esl 
Fe. 
