But can they be saved? Can they have what they have paid for? Are the old societies solvent? It is cruel to turn out old members, but it is also cruel to admit new ones into a society already condemned as unsound. It only shifts the burden to another generation. I venture then, after waiting nine months, that the managers of the old societies might have time for action, to ask what has been done to improve the condition of the Benfit(sic) Societies of Hastings, and whether they are now in such condition as to make it prudent for fresh members to join? I hope someone of the intelligent managers of these institutions will answer these questions, and most sincerely do I hope that the answer will be in the affirmative. Should it be otherwise the only wise course will be to form a new club for the borough founded on correct calculations and sound principles; and in support of which the rich and poor may stand together, and so fulfil one law of our holy religion by ‘bearing one another’s burdens’. I will venture to add, in conclusion, that no mere superficial reform will be sufficient to make the old clubs safe to new members. A Benefit Society based on a wrong principle or incorrect calculations must, sooner or later, be its own destroyer, just as a ship built with bad timber if freighted with its own weakness; there is in it ?(illegible) which paint may hide, but cannot cure – an original imperfection which, with a slow and silent process of consumption, eats out its strength. I shall rejoice to hear Mr. Tidd Pratt pronounce our old societies safe. But if this cannot be – if they are incapable of repair, then let us try if we cannot form another society which, being sound, shall secure to all its members the benefits for which they pay and thus help the working man to the wholesome pleasure of being independent. W. W. Hume” “Jan. 30, 1860”.
Mr. E. Vernon Harcourt was the next correspondent, and wrote as follows:- “Sir, - I observed in your paper a letter making remarks upon a circular to which my name among others, was attached and which invited attendance at a meeting to take into consideration the soundness of the constitution of Benefit Societies in Hastings. I am far from wishing to enter into a controversy on the subject, as we are, probably all agreed in wishing well to such societies. As to the wording of the circular I hold myself irresponsible, as I never saw it before it was issued. The first question then is, do the societies in Hastings meet the requirements laid down by Mr. Tidd Pratt as necessary to the constitution of really sound bodies? Some of them are free to confess that they are not; but at the same time assert that reform as impossible; and why? because, they say, we cannot persuade the members that it is better to pay a rather larger sum per annum, and -
