Poverty : a study of town life / by B. Seebohm Rowntree.

  • Seebohm Rowntree
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Poverty : a study of town life / by B. Seebohm Rowntree. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    396/472 (page 360)
    of payment necessary to obtain certain benefits are based on actuarial tables published in the general rules of the Order. Each branch is at liberty to decide which scale of payment and corresponding benefit it will adopt. The actuarial tables are a safe guide to follow if certain conditions are adhered to, but unfortunately some of the lodges, whilst basing their scales of payment and benefits upon the tables, do not adhere to the conditions. For instance, they may become careless in admitting unhealthy members, or may neglect to keep adding a sufficient number of young members, and thus the average age of the members of the lodge, and consequently the average amount of illness, rises above that allowed for in the tables. In consequence, a lodge may find itself in financial embarrassment, and be obliged to decrease its benefits.1 Such a course may inflict considerable hardship, especially upon old members who have paid into the Society for many years, in the expectation of receiv- ing a greater benefit, when old age and its infirmities should come upon them, than unfortunately proves to be the case. As stated above, the subscriptions, and conse- quently the benefits received, vary in the different lodges, but those of the Albion Court of the Ancient 1 A balance-sheet showing the financial position of each “lodge” or “court” must be made once at least in every five years, in accordance with the Friendly Societies Act, 1875. In case the valuation falls below a certain figure in the pound, special levies must be made, or the relation of contribu- tion to benefit must be increased.