§ Mr. CLYNES (for Mr. W. Thorne)asked the President of the Local Government Board if he can state whether any distinction is made between sick pay received from a trades union and that received from a friendly society when a person applies for outdoor relief?
§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Burns)Section 1 (2) of the Outdoor Relief (Friendly Societies) Act, 1904, provides that, in granting outdoor relief to a member of any friendly society the board of guardians shall not take into consideration any sum received from such friendly society as sick pay except in so far as such sum shall exceed 5s. a week. The question whether a particular trades union was a friendly society within the meaning of the Act would probably depend on what was the main purpose of the association, as determined by their rules, and whether it was a benevolent or a trade purpose. I have, however, no authority to determine the question.