THRIFT.
rTO mils EDITOR OF THE " seseraven."1
SIR, —I have been much interested in your discussion of old- age pensions and cognate questions ; but there is a side of the "thrift" question which I have never seen touched upon. If it is wise for a healthy person to join a Friendly Society in order to provide against sickness, or, as it is termed, " a rainy day," how much more so is it necessary for a person who, whilst not an invalid, is what an insurance company would term a "bad life." Yet these are debarred from participating in the benefits of Friendly Societies. The writer is able to earn his living, and desires to make some provision against sickness. I applied to a Sunday School Society, but was declined. I saw a Grand Master of the Manchester Unity, and he said I should have to depend on my own efforts. Now, if mine were a solitary case, it would be presumptuous to trouble you. But there must be hundreds of similar cases, and the question I would like to put is this: Are there any means by which persons who, whilst not frequently sick, yet are not able, as we say in Lancashire, to "pass doctor," can provide against a rainy day ? If there are, can any of your readers inform me of them ? It seems ironical that sick clubs should be only for sound people. I quite recognise the wisdom from the societies' point of view ; but what is to be done with the weak who are desirous of helping themselves P—I am,
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