A BIG "SLATE" CLUB.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14144, 2 March 1910, Page 7

A BIG "SATE L " CLUB.

12,000 NEW SOVEREIGNS. There is one man in London who every year as Christmas comes round calls upon the police and insists upon being arrested. The. police are always ready to oblige him, and on 20th December he was taken in charge by one sergeant and three constables, all of whom treated their prisoner with tenderness and respect. The' arrested man was Mr P. Rocklift, secretary of the New Tabernacle Slate Club, Old street, 8.C., which is the biggest slate club in the world, having 12,000 members. Mr Rockliff's annual arrest is a voluntary one, and for the protection of himself and the money of those thousands of working men and women of which he is the guardian.

I It .is no joke to he in possession of £12,000 of other people's money in the streets of London! That was the 'sum divided in the New Tabernacle, and that was the reason why Mr Jtocldiff placed himself in charge of the four policemen when he went to draw the money from the Bank of England in brand new sovereigns. The scene inside and outside the Tabernacle .in. Old street, between G and 9 o'clock in the evening, was curiously interesting. Twelve thousand working men and women came from many districts of London to receive the results of a year's thrift. To those who had paid 6d a week there was a sovereign waiting, to those who had paid Is a week, there was two sovereigns, and in addition there would still be something left to go to next year s account, and to ensure food and warmth in time of sickness and all th° advantages of one of the best managed benefit societies in the world. They came quietly . nd orderly, and passed m an endless procession into the bare room, furnished only with benches and tables,, where seven cashiers sat distributing the money as it was passeel to them from an inner chamber. Under the direction and vigilance of a few stalwart constables each one presented his, or her, ticket, receiving m return the one or the two glittering gold pieces. There was no crush, no confusion, and for the three hours the "great divide" went on until those £12,000 had been doled out, to buv turkeys or plum-puddings and Christmas trees, and tin trumpets, and all the trood cheer which will gladness into many little working homes where selfrespecting men and women have saved up for the festive day. Mr Rockliff, the enthusiastic and indefatigable secretary, to whom the enormous orsanisation of his "slate club" is a labour of love, has seen every prhHchouse slate club within a mile's radius (nnd all thnir temptations to drink), disappear, wh ; "h the Trow'-li of this organisation, which is for the encouragement of temnernnce nnd decent family life. y\nd he has seen with neide well iurtified bow notlvoi" succeeds like success. The trading card which is given to every member for the pries of a penny carries with it n recount of fro™ 5 to 25 per cent, where the members go ' shopping. Srnithfield and other markets, and many great stores knock down their prices for those who show cards, and it is calculated that £'lo.ooo was saved last year in this way by the workingclass men and women who belong to the biggest slate club in the world.