How are the Friendlies faring? This catch-phrase was born soon after the take-over of Approved Societies in 1948 and was bandied about in Friendly Society circles for the next two or three years. It is perhaps a pity that the question had not been asked 10 or 15 years earlier. Be that as it may, the answer to-day is fairly clear.

That the Friendly Society movement as a social institution of the country is fast declining is, I think, undeniable. The Registrar's Statistical Summaries show that the total number of Registered Branches and Societies, excluding collecting societies, declined from 19,429 in 1939 to 15,226 in 1950. This apparently alarming fall, 20 % in 11 years, is not, however, quite so bad as it looks—of the total wastage of 4203 Societies, 2590 relates to Branches of the Affiliated Orders and reflects various policies of centralization, amalgamation and reorganization; actually many of the Branches which have been deleted from the Register still exist as agencies instead of autonomous units. In the same way, of the balance of 1613 wastages among Societies without Branches, a fair number will have been due to the amalgamation or absorption of different Societies.