§ MR. WOODSI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Permanent Relief Society have made an application to the Registrar General of Friendly Societies to have the funds standing to the credit of the said society allocated to those who were dependents upon the funds of the society previous to the 1st of July 1898; that the Registrar has informed this society that before this application can be accepted the society must be dissolved, and has promised the officials of the society that he is prepared to consider the registering of a new rule which will prevent the dissolution of the society; whether he is aware that the funds of the society at the end of the year 1897 showed upon valuation a deficit of £34,000: and that the expenditure of the year 1898 has exceeded the income by over £8,500; and whether he will state what steps he intends to take in order to safeguard the widows, children, and disabled members who were on the funds previous to 1st July 1898.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (for Mr. HANBURY)The answer to the first three Questions is in the negative. The answer to the first part of the fouhth Question is in the affirmative and to the second part in the negative. The answer to the fifth Question is that the Registrar has no power to take any steps.