Friendly Societies. II. Provided nevertheless, That, notwithstanding the Repeal of Societies under the said several Statutes, every Friendly Society now subsisting, former Acts to which heretofore had been formed and established under the said continue. Acts or any of them, shall still be deemed to be and shall continue to be a subsisting Society, as fully as if this Act had not been made, unless and until such Society shall be dissolved, or united with some other Society as herein-after mentioned. trar. III. Provided also, That the Rules of every such subsisting Their Rules to Society hitherto formed and established, which have been hitherto continue in confirmed, registered, or certified under the said Acts or any of force, and Enthem, shall be deemed valid and in force until the same shall be rolments to be sent to Regisaltered or rescinded as herein-after mentioned; and all Transcripts of any of such Rules which are now filed with the Rolls of the Sessions of the Peace of any County, Riding or Division, City or Borough, Liberty or Place, shall be taken off the File, and shall be transmitted, on or before the First Day of November One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, to the Registrar under this Act, to be by him kept in such Manner as shall be directed from Time to Time by One of Her Majesty's Secretaries of State in that Behalf. IV. Provided also, That all Contracts and Engagements by or All Contracts, with any of the said Societies now valid and in force, and all Bonds, &c. to Bonds and Securities heretofore given by any Trustee, Treasurer, continue in or other Officer of any such Society, shall continue and be valid and in force notwithstanding the Repeal of the said Acts. force. under this Act. V. All such subsisting Societies, whose Rules have heretofore Their Exempbeen confirmed, registered, or certified under the said Acts or any tions, Powers, of them, shall, so long as they shall not hereafter effect an Assur- and Privileges ance to any Member thereof, or other Person, of any Sum exceeding Two hundred Pounds, or of any Annuity exceeding Thirty Pounds per Annum, enjoy all the Exemptions and Privileges by this Act conferred on Societies to be established under the Provisions of this Act, as fully as if they had been registered and certified under this Act as herein-after mentioned. Registrars. VI. For the Purposes of this Act, there shall be Three Registrars of Friendly Societies, One for England, One for Scotland, and One for Ireland, who shall hold their respective Offices during and by whom Registrars, how appointed. the Pleasure of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt; and upon the Death, Resignation, or Removal of any One of them, the said Commissioners shall appoint another, being a Barrister in England or Ireland, and in Scotland an Advocate, of not less than Seven Years standing, to the said Office. VII. It shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Their Salaries. Treasury to pay to the present Registrar for England a Salary equal to that which has been paid to him yearly in each of the Three last Years, not exceeding One thousand Pounds per Аппит, and to pay to any Registrar hereafter to be appointed for England a Salary not exceeding Eight hundred Pounds a Year, and to pay to the Registrars for Scotland and Ireland respectively a Salary such as the said Commissioners shall direct not exceeding One hundred and fifty Pounds a Year, every such Salary to be paid by Four equal quarterly Payments; and any of the said Registrars Q 2 Friendly Societies. Their Expenses of Office, &c. Societies, how and for what Purpose formed. For Payments on Death. For Relief in For other Purpose authorized by Secretary of State, &c. No Money to Death of a of Deaths. Registrars who shall be appointed, or who shall die, resign, or be removed from his Office, in the Interval between Two quarterly Days of Payment, shall be entitled to a proportionate Part of his Salary, and such Salaries and proportionate Parts of Salaries shall be paid out of such Monies as shall be provided by Parliament for that Purpose. VIII. The said Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall, out of such Monies as may be provided by Parliament for the Purpose, pay to the said Registrars respectively such Sum as will defray the Expenses allowed by the said Commissioners from Time to Time for Office Rent, Salaries of Clerks, Stationery, Computation of Tables, and for such other Expenses as may be incurred by them respectively. IX. It shall be lawful for any Number of Persons to form and establish a Friendly Society, under the Provisions of this Act, for the Purpose of raising by voluntary Subscriptions of the Members thereof, with or without the Aid of Donations, a Fund for any of the following Objects; (that is to say,) 1. For insuring a Sum of Money to be paid on the Birth of a Member's Child, or on the Death of a Member, or for the Funeral Expenses of the Wife or Child of a Member: 2. For the Relief or Maintenance of the Members, their Husbands, Wives, Children, Brothers or Sisters, Nephews or Nieces, in old Age, Sickness, or Widowhood, or the Endowment of Members or Nominees of Members at any Age: 3. For any Purpose which shall be authorized by One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or in Scotland by the Lord Advocate, as a Purpose to which the Powers and Facilities of this Act ought to be extended: Provided, that no Member shall subscribe or contract for an Annuity exceeding Thirty Pounds per Annum, or a Sum payable on Death, or on any other Contingency, exceeding Two hundred Pounds: And if such Persons so intending to form and establish such Society shall transmit Rules for the Government, Guidance, and Regulation of the same, to the Registrar aforesaid, and shall obtain his Certificate that the same are in conformity with Law as herein-after mentioned, then the said Society shall be deemed to be fully formed and established from the Date of the said Certificate. X. In any Society in which a Sum of Money may be insured payable on the Death of a Child under Ten Years of Age, it shall not be lawful to pay any Sum for the Funeral Expenses of such Child, except upon Production of a Copy of the Entry in the Register of Deaths, signed by the Registrar of the District in which the Child shall have died; and if such Entry shall not state that the Cause of Death has been certified by a qualified Medical Practitioner, or by a Coroner, a Certificate signed by a qualified Medical Practitioner, stating the probable Cause of Death, shall be required, and it shall not be lawful in that Case to pay any Sum without such Certificate; and no Trustee or Officer of any Society, upon an Insurance of a Sum payable for the Friendly Societies. the Funeral Expenses of any such Child, made after the passing of this Act, shall knowingly pay a Sum which shall raise the whole Amount receivable from One or more than One Society for the Funeral Expenses of a Child under the Age of Five Years to a Sum exceeding Six Pounds, or of a Child between Five and Ten Years to a Sum exceeding Ten Pounds; and any such Trustee or Officer who shall make any such Payment otherwise than as aforesaid, or who shall pay any Sum without endorsing the Amount which he shall pay on the Back or at the Foot of the Copy of Entry signed by the said Registrar, shall be liable to a Penalty not exceeding Five Pounds for every such Offence, upon Conviction thereof before Two Justices of the County or Borough in which such Death shall have taken place: The said Registrar shall be entitled to receive, upon Delivery of such Copy of Entry, for the Purpose of receiving Money from a Friendly Society, a Fee of One Shilling, and it shall not be lawful for him to deliver more than One such Copy for such Purpose, except by the Order of a Justice of the Peace. 6 the Benefits of XI. And whereas many Provident, Benevolent, and Charitable Benevolent So'Institutions and Societies are formed and may be formed for the cities, in what Purpose of relieving the physical Wants and Necessities of Case entitled to Persons in poor Circumstances, or for improving the Dwellings this Act. of the Labouring Classes, or for granting Pensions, or for pro'viding Habitations for the Members or other Persons elected by them, and it is expedient to afford Protection to the Funds 'thereof: Be it enacted, That if Two Copies of the Rules of any such Institution or Society, and from Time to Time the like Copies of any Alterations or Amendments made in the same, signed by Three Members and the Secretary thereof, shall be transmitted to the Registrar aforesaid, such Registrar shall, if he shall find that the same are not repugnant to Law, give a Certificate to that Effect; and thereupon the following Sections of this Act, that is to say, the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first, and Twenty-second, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third, shall extend and be applicable to the said Institution and Society, as fully as if the same were a Society established under this Act. to Societies under this Act or any repealed XII. The Act of the Thirty-ninth of George the Third, Statutes as to Chapter Seventy-nine, and the Act of the Fifty-seventh of George unlawful Oaths the Third, Chapter Nineteen, and also the Act of the Fourteenth not to extend and Fifteenth of Her present Majesty, Chapter Forty-eight, relating to unlawful Oaths in Ireland, shall not extend to any Society established under this Act or any of the Acts hereby repealed, or Acts. to any Meeting of the Members or Officers thereof in which Society or at which Meeting no Business whatever is transacted other than that which directly and immediately relates to the Objects of the Society as declared in the Rules thereof, and set forth in the certified Copy thereof: Provided, that the Trustees or other Officers of the Society, when required under the Hands of Two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, shall give full Information to such Justices of the Nature, Objects, Proceedings, and Practices Friendly Societies. Societies, how dissolved. of such Society, and in default thereof the Provisions of the Acts herein recited shall be in force in respect of such Society. XIII. It shall be lawful for the Members of any Society heretofore formed and established, or hereafter to be formed and established, at some Meeting thereof to be specially called in that Behalf, to dissolve or determine the same by Consent: Provided that no Society established under this or any Act relating to Friendly Societies shall be dissolved or determined without obtaining the Votes of Consent of Five Sixths in Value of the then existing Members thereof, including the honorary Members, if any, to be ascertained in manner herein after mentioned, nor without the Consent of all Persons, if any, then receiving or then entitled to receive any Relief, Annuity, or other Benefit from the Funds thereof, to be testified under their Hands individually and respectively, unless the Claim of every such Person be first duly satisfied, or adequate Provision made for satisfying such Claim; and for the Purpose of ascertaining the Votes of such Five Sixths in Value of the Numbers as aforesaid, every Member shall be entitled to One Vote, and an additional Vote for every Five Years that he may have been a Member, but no One Member shall have more than Five Votes in the whole; and the intended Appropriation or Division of the Funds or other Property shall be fairly and distinctly stated in the Agreement for Dissolution prior to such Consent being given; and the Agreement for such Dissolution, duly signed as aforesaid, accompanied with a statutory Declaration by One of the Trustees, or by Three Members and the Secretary, taken before a Justice of the Peace, that the Provisions of this Act have been complied with, shall be forthwith transmitted to the Registrar, to be by him deposited with the Rules of the Society, and such Agreement shall thereupon be an effectual Discharge at Law and in Equity to the Trustees, Treasurers, and other Officers of such Society, and shall operate as a Release from all the Members of the Society to such Trustees, Treasurers, and other Officers; and it shall not be lawful in any Society to direct a Division or Appropriation of any Part of the Stock thereof, except for the Purpose of carrying into effect the general Interests and Objects declared in the Rules as originally certified, unless the Claim of every Member is first duly satisfied, or adequate Provision be made for satisfying such Claims; and in case any Member of such Society shall be dissatisfied with such Provision, it shall be lawful for him or her to apply to the Judge of the County Court of the District within which the usual Place of Business of the Society is situated for Relief or other Order; and the said Judge shall have the same Powers to entertain such Application, and to make such Order or Direction in relation thereto, as he may think the Justice of the Case may require, as herein-after is enacted in regard to the Settlement of Disputes; and in the event of the Dissolution or Determination of any Society, or the Division or Appropriation of the Funds thereof, except in the Way herein-before provided, any Trustee or other Officer or Person aiding or abetting therein shall, on Conviction Friendly Societies. Conviction thereof by Two Justices, be committed to the Common XIV. It shall be lawful for any Two or more Societies established under this or any of the Acts hereby repealed to unite and become incorporated in One Society, with or without any Dissolution or Division of the Funds of such Societies or either of them; or a Society formed and established under this Act or any of the said repealed Acts may be allowed to transfer its Engagements to any other Friendly Society, if any other such Society shall undertake to fulfil the Engagements of such Society, upon such Terms as shall be agreed upon by the major Part of the Trustees, and also of the Committee of Management of both Societies, or the Majority of the Members of each of such Societies at a General Meeting convened for the Purpose. Societies may unite with others, or One transfer its EnSociety may gagements to another. XV. A Person under the Age of Twenty-one may be elected Minors may be or admitted as a Member of any Society established under this elected as Act or any of the Acts hereby repealed, the Rules of which do Members. not prohibit such Election, and may and he is hereby empowered to execute all necessary Instruments and to give all necessary Acquittances: Provided always, that during his Nonage he shall not be competent to hold any Office of Director, Trustee, Treasurer, or Manager of such Society. XVI. It shall be lawful for the Trustee or Trustees for the Time being of any Friendly Society formed and established under this Act or under any of the Acts hereby repealed, with the Consent of a Majority of the Members thereof present at a Special or General Meeting of the Society, to purchase, build, hire, or take upon Lease any Building for the Purpose of holding such Meetings, and to adapt and furnish the same, and to purchase or hold upon Lease any Land not exceeding One Acre for the said Purpose of erecting thereon a Building for holding the Meetings of the Society, and such Trustee or Trustees shall thereupon hold the same in trust for the Use of such Society; and, with the like Consent as aforesaid, such Trustee or Trustees may mortgage, sell, exchange, or let such Building or any Part thereof; and the Receipt in Writing of such Trustee, or One of such Trustees for the Time being, shall be a legal Discharge for the Money arising from such Mortgage, Sale, Exchange, or Letting; and no Mortgagee, Purchaser, Tenant, or Assignee shall be bound to inquire into or ascertain or prove the Consent aforesaid, to verify his Title: Provided always, that any Building purchased or appropriated for the Purpose aforesaid already belonging to or in the Possession of any Friendly Society heretofore formed and established under the said repealed Acts or any of them may be holden and dealt with as if it had been acquired under this Act; and the Land or Buildings which may be vested in the Treasurer, Trustee, or other Officer thereof for the Time being shall thereupon vest in the Trustee or Trustees for the Time being of such Society, for the same Estate and Interest as the said Treasurer, Trustee, or other Officer may have therein, without any Conveyance or Assignment whatever: Provided Q 4 Buildings for the Purpose may be pur chased or leased. |
