ITO THE EDITOR. OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
9131,—It is strange to me to think that you should believe that what the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows cannot do should have been done with financial security by the Dunmow Friendly Society (Spectator, June 13th). The average weekly earnings from all sources of the agricultural labourer, leaving out the carter, the cowman, and the shepherd, as returned by illy. Wilson Fox, are for England 16s. 10d., for Wales 16s. 5d., for Scotland 188. id. For the county of Oxford, in which T live, the return is 14s. 6d., the lowest of all. Out of such wages it is not possible for him to provide for his old age; it would be selfish and cruel of him to attempt to do so. This is equally true of a large number of working men in the towns, Who earn £1 and less, and pay 5s., 6s., and 7s. per week rent. The Dunmow Friendly Society must have made extraordinary progress since 1884, when at December 31st, with a membership of 1,071, it had an actuarial surplus of only £132. I am fully aware that there are Friendly Societies and Trade-Unions which give pensions, but their funds are either financially unsound or their stability mats on the levy system. I would submit that the instance of the Dunmow Friendly Society, even if to the point, goes but a very little way to make good your statement that " the statistics of the Friendly Societies in town and country show that it is and has been well within the power of the majority of the working classes in Britain to maim provieion for their old age."—I am, Sir, &c.,
R. H. HART-Davis.
12471f Field, cancrskam, .13gading.
[We trust that the secretary of the Dunmow Society may feel inclined to deal with this point. —En. Spectator.]
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