Mr. Chamberlain's advocacy of old-age pensions has been much abused,
but even his most prejudiced detractors must agree that it has had one excellent effect. It has forced the great benefit societies to turn their attention to the matter, and has made them try and induce their members to arrange for old-age benefits. The effect of the movement in favour of old-age pensions has been very apparent at the meetings and conferences of the Oddfellows, Shepherds, and Druids. The President of the Oddfellows at Bristol urged the need for a special old-age fund, and the Grand Shepherd at the conference of Shepherds at Newcastle-on-Tyne dealt with the subject in detail. He pointed out that so long as members got what is really an old-age pension in the form of con- tinuous sick-pay they will not subscribe for pensions. Bat these spurious old-age pensions, which are not paid for by the members, are a source of danger to the society. Mr. George Abbott, of Sheffield, in the discussion that followed, urged that the true policy is to make an old-age pension a compulsory benefit. That is the true policy for the societies to follow.
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