ments, although desirous that such investments should benefit the borough as well as himself. He was a would-be pioneer in matters of sanitation, water, and general improvement, he was good to poor people and an advocate for suitable recreation for the so-called working classes; but being of an impulsive temperament, whenever or wherever he fancied a mere change would affect an improvement, he could not brook delay. That change must be made, be it ever so right or ever so wrong, without waiting for the more matured opinions and experience of others. Hence at the very time of the harbour proposal, the committee of the National Schools were unable to work with him, which caused, first the resignation of Mr. Hume, and then of Mr. St. Quintin, and lastly himself. It was afterward the same with the St. Leonards Commissioners and the Mechanics’ Institution; and later still, the Hastings Town Council over the water question. The reverend gentleman’s views were mostly right in themselves, but his method of expounding them was too often ill-timed and injudicious. Yet, for all that, he was a good man at heart, and upon the whole a real benefactor to the borough. To know in what way he conferred benefits on the community it may be needful to read the memoirs of the Rev. J. A. Hatchard, pages 1 to 20, vol III Historico-biography of Local Worthies.
Benefit Societies.
As the Benefit Societies were alluded to in the unfriendly letters between Mr. Hatchard and Mr. Montgomery when discussing the pros and cons of the proposed harbour, and as the latter (together with the Rev. W. W. Hume) was one of the gentlemen who interested themselves in an endeavour to get those societies placed on a safer basis; and, also, as two of those societies came to a dissolution even before the time anticipated by the would-be reformers, it is judged to be here appropriate to quote so much of the correspondence as may be useful to the managers of present and future institutions of a like description. Similar to all the public utterances of the late Mr. Hume, the following letter exhibits a flow of sound advice and practical suggestions:-
- “Sir, - Will you allow me through the medium of your paper to address a few words to the working men in Hastings and the public generally on the important subject of Benefit Societies? In the spring of last year, Mr. Tidd Pratt delivered a lecture in this town explanatory of the principles upon which Friendly Societies ought to be formed if they are to secure to the members the benefits for which they pay. He told us that the number of enrolled and certified societies in England and Wales exceeded twenty -
