the system which has done its work needs a
change also. Machinery has altered the direction,
not the need, of labour, and the peasantry
are now proud of the implements which their
fathers leagued together to destroy. The farm
labourer is no longer morose and disaffected,
but is proud to possess claims to a better social
position than he hitherto has held. And if his
class does not take its due position so soon as it
ought, the difficulties which stand in the way
demand careful consideration, with a view to
their removal.

What is there in the nature of the farm labourer
to make him an exception among men of
other industrial classes? He, too desires to
better his condition, and has his ability for
honest work. He loves his wife and children,
and desires to see them safe from worldly harm.
What is there in his occupation to make it
impossible that he  should become as independent
in his sphere as the intelligent artisan or tradesman,
who labours year after year till he grows
old, retires from business, and supports his last
days on the interest of the money which is to go
to his wife and family when the time of his
departure comes?

There is nothing either in the nature of the
man or in his occupation to make his way an
exception to the common way of men. But
there are obstacles for which he is not responsible,
by which he is discouraged from setting
about his proper social work. Allow him the
same stimulus which others feel, and we shall
have him also, when prudent, turning all his
opportunities to right account. Permit him to
save something of his weekly earnings without
adding to his struggle the mischievous condition
that it ever pinched by poverty or sickness, his
pound or two in the next post-office savings-bank
will be in jeopardy ere he can touch the
rate. Let him ieel sure that the sickness and
superannuation pay of country clubs are not a
contrivance of the ratepayers for saving the
rates; but at the same time add, as the necessary
safeguard against poor-rate plunder, that he
shall pay his fair proportion as a ratepayer himself,
and thus be himself interested in seeing
that the idle and dissolute poor no longer throw
themselves at pleasure upon the union relief.
Concede to him, if you will, the privilege which
the ratepayers enjoy, as only Englishmen can,
of a grievance in vestry or a poll for the parish
officers. These qualifications will soon set the
farm labourer in a different and, we think, a
much better position. He will give up his
notion that the poor-rate is in the nature of his
rent-charge in lieu of part ownership in the
clods of the valley among which he scatters or
cuts the grain, his claim to which he must on no
account imperil by self-help.

It is stated on authority that provident
societies diminish the amount of the poor-rate
annually to the extent of a couple of millions.
In other words, about twenty-five per cent of
the amount required to relieve distress is
secured by the system of sick and burial clubs.
In England, "one person in nine is a member
of a benefit society of some kind or other; in
France, one in seventy-six."

In a tranquil country, in which food is cheap,
the labour market is improving, and the industrious
people are contented, the system of provident
societies will force its way against all
obstacles. Adverse legislation may impede its
growth, but the societies spread themselves over
the whole country, although they have taken, in
the case of the beer-house clubs, a misshapen
and sickly form.

There are upwards of twenty thousand
societies certified by Mr. Tidd Pratt, the registrar.
The advantages secured by their certificates are
principally that they are entitled to the benefit
of the act relating to friendly societies, they can
appoint responsible trustees, they can sue and
be sued, and have the advantage of the experience
and advice of the registrar, whose assistance is
in great request, judging from the number of
letters with which his last report is crammed. He
can punish fraudulent officers in such societies;
but it is no part of his duty, nor does it belong
to the profession of which the registrar of
friendly societies must be a member, to value
liabilities and assets. The valuation of an
insurance society is actuary's work. We may
observe, then, in passing, how usefully direct
legislation might help friendly societies if
actuaries were joined to the registrar's staff. And,
if the certificate were withheld in every society
declared by the valuer insolvent beyond hope,
much trouble and waste effort would be saved.
The valuer would quickly disclose results of a
kind not altogether looked for in certified
societies whose tables have received the approval
that the law requires.

But the certified societies are a small force
compared with the "Brummagem" or "sharing-
out clubs," which are under the sole sway of
publicans. By their means a thriving trade
is maintained for the beer-house. These cannot
be judged by any common and ordinary rules
hitherto applied. They must be taken, as
intelligent farm labourers know very well, in relation
to, and dependent upon, poor-rate relief.

The family likeness of these non-certified
societies is tolerably uniform.

Large societies, such as the Manchester Unity,
have "lodges" or "courts," as their branches
are termed, in different parts of the country.
Of these branches many are unsound, but they
are, generally speaking, in a better state than
the beer-house club, although in some respects
resembling it closely. They have the
advantage of advice and assistance from the chief
officers of their central body. It is impossible
to speak without praise, of the manner in which
the duties of such persons are discharged. By
their means an insolvent lodge obtains a skilled
opinion of its position, fairly and impartially
stated; the members are encouraged to look
their difficulties in the face, and are, if they be
retrievable, shown how to take measures to secure
their position. The instances in which this
advice has saved members from disaster are
almost beyond number.