4

INTRODUCTION.

under  the  poor  law,  until  they  become
actually  chargeable  to  the  parish  («).
4.  By  an  Act  of  the  26th  June,  1795  (35  Geo.  3,
c.  Ill),  the  provisions  for  securing  the  funds  of
a  society  were  extended  to  “benevolent  and
charitable  institutions,  for  relieving  by  voluntary
subscriptions  and  benefactions,  widows,  orphans,
and  families  of  the  clergy,  and  others  in  distressed
circumstances.'’'’
5.  By  an  Act  of  the  20th  June,  1809  (49  Geo.  3,
c.  125),  power  was  given  to  justices  to  enforce  the
observance  of  the  rules,  and  to  compel  payment
by  a  member  of  arrears  due  to  a  society  by  means
of  distress  and  sale.
6.  On  the  12tli  July,  1819,  an  Act  was  passed
(59  Geo.  3,  c.  128)  “for  the  further  Protection
and  Encouragement  of  Friendly  Societies,  and  for
preventing  Frauds  and  abuses  therein/-’  It  recited
that  the  “  habitual  reliance  of  poor  persons  upon
parochial  relief,  rather  than  upon  their  own
industry,  tends  to  the  moral  deterioration  of  the
people  and  to  the  accumulation  of  heavy  burthens
upon  parishes;  and  it  is  desirable,  with  a  view  as
well  to  the  reduction  of  the  assessment  made  for
the  relief  of  the  poor  as  to  the  improvement  of
the  habits  of  the  people,  that  encouragement
should  be  afforded  to  persons  desirous  of  making

(a)  The  great  number  of  Friendly  Societies  that  must
have  been  in  existence  in  1793,  when  this  first  Act  to
encourage  them  was  passed,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in
1879  there  were  still  in  operation  as  many  as  fifty-nine
societies  more  than  100  years  old,  having  been  founded
between  1687  and  1778.