It will now be necessary to revert back to Royle's case, and to state, that a verdict having been given against the Lodge, the amount was paid; it is also necessary here to add, that Smith having made a claim for £10. 13s. Od. the same was paid him by the Lodge, but that contrary to the advice of the Officers of the Order and of the District.

Emboldened by this decision, and determined to get back his money, and to injure the Independent Order, Goulding next put the Nelson Lodge into the same Court for £5.; but the Lodge zealously determined to contest the matter, and authorized their officers to do so. The N. G. of the Lodge, who was ill at the time, deputed J. S. Myers to appear for him, who, together with P. G. Buck, made the necessary preparations to defend the case successfully; and in order that no difficulty might occur in proving that Goulding had been summoned to appear before the Committee who suspended him, and also that he had been furnished with a copy of his charges, the following notice was served upon him :

No. 227, IN THE COURT OF REQUESTS,

Between John Goulding, complainant, and Robert Buck and William Burrows,

defendants.

We do hereby give you notice to produce and shew forth to the Court and Commissioners present at the hearing of this case, the summons or paper-writing, under the hands and seal of the Manchester District Officers, summoning and requiring you to appear before a Committee of the said Manchester District, on Monday, October 31st, 1836, at the Earl of Oxford Lodge-house, the Navigation Inn, Great Ancoatsstreet, Manchester, to answer the charges therein contained and preferred against you, or otherwise parole, or other evidence will be given of the contents thereof; and you are further required to produce to the said Commissioners, on the hearing of this case, the silver snuff box paid for out of the Lodge funds of the Nelson Lodge. Dated this 11th day of February, 1837.

Yours, obediently,

To Mr. John Goulding, the above-named complainant, and to all whom it may concern.

ROBERT BUCK.
WILLIAM BURROWS.

The next consideration was, as to a notice of set-off to Goulding's claim, and which, according to his bill delivered, amounted to £10. 138. and common sense natur. ally struck them that Goulding was liable to his equal or proportionate share of the half-yearly expences of the Lodge-that is, for sick allowances, gifts, share towards travelling expences, funerals, Secretary's salary, and all other necessary expences.

On this principle-and which must strike every one to be a just and equitable one-a notice of set-off was drawn up, and of which the following is a copy:

No. 227, IN THE COURT OF REQUESTS,

Between John Goulding, complainant, and Robert Buck and William Burrows,

defendants.

We do hereby give you notice that we shall, on the hearing of this case, set-off against any claim you may make against us as the Officers of the Nelson Lodge, the following account. Dated this seventh day of February, 1837.

1826, June 20 to Aug. 1, To your share of current expences of Lodge.
Aug. 1 to Jan. 1827, To do.
do....

do.

5 31 0 16 4

1827, January to July 31, To your share of current expences of Lodge

July 31 to Jan. 29, To do.

1 1 74

0 13 34

075

1828, Jan. 29 to July 29, To do.

do.

do....

0 13 4

July 29 to Jan. 27, 1829, To do.

1829, Jan. 27 to July 28, To do. July 28 to Jan. 26, 1830, To do. 1830, Jan. 26 to July 27, July 27 to Jan. 25, 1831, To do. 1831, Jan. 25, to July 26, July 26, to Jan. 24, 1832, To do. 1832, Jan. 23, to July 24, July 24, to Jan. 22, 1833, To do. 1833, Jan. 22, to July 23, July 23, to Jan. 21, 1834, To do. 1834, Jan. 21, to July 22, July 22, to Jan. 20, 1835, To do. 1835, Jan. 20, to July 21, To do.

To do.

To do.

To do.

1835, October, To Silver Snuff Box allowed by yourself....
1836, Jan. 19, to July 19, To your share of current expences of Lodge
July 19, to Nov. 4, To do.

For the information of Lodges who may be placed in a similar state through expelled or suspended members, we will briefly state the principle upon which this notice of set-off was drawn up. The number of members good on the books of the Lodge was ascertained for each half year, and the whole of the expences for the half year been found, that amount was divided by the number of members; thus, the number of members good on the books at the first half-yearly Committee after Goulding entered, was ninety-six; and the expences were £25. 2s. 4d. and his ninety-sixth share of such expences, amounted to 5s. 34d., and so on of the rest.

On Wednesday, February 8th, the case came on: Goulding, attended by Mr. Higinbotham and others,-and Myers and Buck attended for the Nelson Lodge, and the following is the account as published in the Manchester Guardian, of the 15th :—

GOULDING v. BURROWS AND ANOTHER.-In this case William Burrows, President, and Robert Buck, Secretary, of the "Nelson Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows," were summoned by the plaintiff, John Goulding, a member of the Lodge, for the sum of £5., paid by him into the Lodge since he joined it. He said he was now suspended from the benefits of membership, and he claimed the repayment of that sum, or his own re-instatement as a member.-In answer to an inquiry from Mr. Hill, Myers said that the plaintiff was suspended to the 15th of May next, for a breach of the laws of the Lodge, in bringing into contempt a decision of the Annual Committee.-Mr. Hill. These, I presume, are the same rules which I inspected before,-[Myers. Yes, sir,]—and which rules I said before and now repeat, even on more mature deliberation, are contrary to law. But I will go further. These rules are not only contrary to the Friendly Society Act, but also, as I said in the first instance, contrary to the Act of the 39th Geo. III., cap. 79. By this Statute it is enacted that every Society which shall be composed of different divisions or branches, or of different parts acting in any manner separately or distinctly from each other, or of which any part shall have any separate or distinct President, Secretary, Treasurer, Delegate, or other officer, elected or appointed by or for such part, or authorised to act as an officer for any such part, such societies, divisions, or branches, shall be deemed and taken to be unlawful combinations and confederacies. Nothing can be plainer, in my mind, than the words of this act. Again, in these Lodges there are secret signs to be observed, which is in fact a secret engagement between the parties. Now, in the clause of the statute, it is enacted, that after the passing of that Act all

:

Societies, the members whereof shall, according to the rules thereof, or to any provision or agreement for that purpose, be required or admitted to take any oath or engagement which shall be an unlawful oath or engagement within the intent and meaning of an Act passed in the 37th year, &c. (the Act for effectually preventing the administering of unlawful oaths,) every such Society, the members whereof, or any of them, shall take any such oath or engagement, shall be deemed and held to be an unlawful Society. I say that, acting as you do, one large body having a separate and distinct President, and acting separately from another, you are an illegal Society, within the meaning of this Act.-Myers. This case, Mr. Hill, stands on very different grounds from the last one, and we laid a case before the Attorney General, Sir John Campbell, who has given his opinion in our favour.-Mr. Hill. Very likely; any gentleman will get an opinion in his favour, if he takes care to draw up his case accordingly. I have a high opinion of the Attorney General; I believe there is no better lawyer in England; but it depends entirely on the case laid before him.-Myers. Then as to the illegality of the Society, I think you laid down that if a Society is illegal, parties cannot recover who are members of it.-Mr. Hill. What I say is, that you cannot enforce your rules, which are very numerous. and some of them very like freemasonry; but free masons are particularly excepted in the Act to which I have alluded.-Myers. But we'll take it on this ground, then; we'll consider, if you like, that this is an illegal Society then the plaintiff can't recover, as a member of it.-Mr. Hill. I am not here to argue a case with you, but to decide.-Myers. Well, then, the plaintiff has not proved that he has paid £5. into the Society.-Goulding. Does the Secretary deny that I have paid £5., aye, £14. in?—The Secretary admitted that he had paid £5., but denied a payment to the full extent that the plaintiff alleged. Mr. Hill asked if he had received anything, and long statements were entered into by both defendents, to the effect, that though Goulding had not received any benefit himself, he had sanctioned by holding up his hand, in voting for payments to other sick members, of which his share (of liability) amounted to £19. 5s.; that altogether he had paid in £14. 10s.; and that consequently, he had sanctioned the expenditure of £4. 15s. more than what he had paid in subscriptions. The expenditure was voted at half-yearly meetings of the committee, and when the Lodge contained 95 members, the plaintiff was debted with a 95th part of the expenditure.—Mr. Hill called on the defendants to prove these facts, but said he could not take the evidence of any member of the Lodge, as he must be an interested party in the matter.-Goulding was sworn and admitted having occasionally voted for the expenditure of money. He had been a regular contributor ever since June 1826, and he had not received anything from the Lodge, except one present for his valuable services.-[This was a silver snuff box, with the inscription "Presented by the Nelson Lodge of the I. O. F. to P. G. John Goulding, as a token of its esteem Oct. 27, 1835.]-They had suspended him until Whit Sunday, and then, when the Annual Committee or Parliament met, that body might suspend him for such further time as it thought fit.-Mr. Hill. I think they ought to reinstate you.-Goulding. Let them reinstate me, and I'll endeavour to aid the Society, if it's in any difficulty. -Mr. Hill. What has he done to be suspended?-Myers repeated that the suspension was for bringing into contempt the decision of a yearly meeting; but when asked in what way the plaintiff had brought it into contempt, Myers said, "I don't know whether I am authorised to state it here. I can prove that he was summoned, tried, and convicted.-Goulding. I deny that I was tried by the rules of the Society. It is reinstatement I look for, more than the money. I have paid ten guineas more than I have received or sanctioned of: when I joined the Lodge they had £30. in hand, and when I left they had £180.-Myers said that those members who ceased to contribute, such as those who leave the town, left their money behind.-Mr. Hill. Yes, and every member you expel, increases the money of the Society, for his share goes amongst the remaining members. I think the plaintiff is entitled to receive his balance after deducting what he has received, or sanctioned, being expended. He would ask Goulding on his oath, if he had sanctioned the payment of, and had received, more than would leave the balance of £5. due to him which he now claimed.-Goulding. By no means, Sir. Mr. Hill. Then there is no proof to the contrary. What is your motive for not reinstating him? Myers. His suspension will be up on the 15th May, and he has two appeals that he may make if he likes.-Goulding. Yes; and in the one case it would cost me £20., to take my evidence up to London; and if I appeal to the other tribunal here, it would be to my accusers.

Mr. Hill. I don't see, in this case, so far as the evidence goes, any proof against the plaintiff. There is evidence that he has paid sums into the Society to the extent claimed, and therefore I am of opinion that there must be judgment for the plaintiff.Myers. Then the Society will follow up the advice of the Attorney General; and without any disrespect to the Court I must say, that it is the intention of the Society to apply in this case, to the Court of King's Bench for a writ of prohibition.-(Clapping of hands by Odd Fellows, and a cry of "Bravo.")-Mr. Hill. I can have no possible objection. Myers. Then, Sir, as a matter of course, we may consider that the execution will be suspended for a time.-Mr. Hill. Certainly; the execution shall be suspended for any reasonable time. How long do you desire ?-Myers. I shall consult Mr. Law who took the Attorney General's opinion for us.-Goulding asked if Mr. Hill would have any objection to his employing counsel.-Mr. Hill. None upon earth.— Goulding stated to Mr. Hill, after the case was disposed of, that he was suspended merely for asking that the accounts of the Lodge should be audited and examined by a public accountant.*

The Editor of the Guardian made also the following comments :

In our number of the 1st instant, we gave a short report of a case at the Court of Requests: in which the "Noble Grand" and the Secretary of the "Rock of Hope Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows' were summoned by an expelled member of the Lodge, for the amount of subscriptions paid by him thereto; and in our present number will be found a report of a somewhat similar case-the member being, however, suspended till May next, and not absolutely expelled-against the the President or "Noble Grand" and the Secretary of the Nelson Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Both these Lodges are within the Manchester District of the Manchester Unity of this Order; and we find, by a List of the Lodges for 1835, that the former Lodge at that time contained 130 members, the latter 229. Appended to the notice of the former case, on the 1st instant, were some observations of our own, on the evils of this system of secret society-ship, especially in reference to the intemperance resulting from its Lodge celebrations, Sunday tippling, &c. We have since had laid before us some printed documents, which, if they may be relied on, go far to corroborate what we then stated. As none but Odd Fellows can have an opportunity of ascertaining whether they are strictly correct, we of course do not vouch for their accuracy; but we have been assured by a party, on whose veracity we think we can rely, that they are substantially true.

From these documents it appears then, that a part of the system is the delivery, chiefly on Sundays, in the various Lodges, which are held at public houses, of a sort of lectures, which it is stated are extracted principally from the works of Volney and Voltaire, and from the Bible, "which lectures cost the Order £6371. per year in liquor only." This it may be said is a sweeping assertion; but the details are given to the following effect :-525 [in 1835 there were 890] Lodges hold their Lectures 26 times a year, and supposing only the officers of the Lodge attend, (and twelve in each Lodge must attend or be fined) 12 persons spending sixpence each in liquor, makes the yearly expenditure of one Lodge £7. 16s., or for the 525 Lodges £4090. Then 525 Lodges hold their Lodges and their Lectures 13 times a year, the money expended in liquor amounts to £2045; and there are 118 [now 121] Districts which hold four quarterly Lectures per year, at each of which, on a very moderate calculation, 20 persons attend, [in Manchester, we are assured at least 200 attend] and spend sixpence each, £236. These three sums make up the enormous amount already stated. Perhaps some light may be thrown upon the subject, by the statement that the Grand Master of the Order (so says one of the documents we have mentioned) is a tavern-keeper.— The same documents contain a great variety of charges of jobbing, against officers of the Lodges and of the Order, and accusations against other individuals of altering figures, deficiencies in their accounts, &c., into which we shall not enter, as they are wholly beside our present purpose, which is to show that much intemperance does at present exist in connexion-and so long as the Lodges are held in public houses, we fear it must be said in compulsory connexion-with the nonsensical observances and

*This is untrue; he was suspended for bringing into contempt the decisions of the A. M. C.-J. S. M.