made them glad that the old city had once again aroused
herself. The Post Office had become a giant in the kingdom, but it
exercised its power as a kindly giant. They heard the demand for all
sorts of reforms, but they felt that Mr. Austen Chamberlain was equal to
the occasion.

"The Postal and Telegraph Benevolent Society" was submitted by
Lieut.-Colonel Hobhouse, M.P., who said he was not sure that before long
they would not have to add to their service, and include the telephonic
operators as well. He noticed they depended in their work, and for the
relief which they gave to their members, entirely upon the donations of
their own members. That was satisfactory, not only to them, but to him
as a Member of Parliament, because Members of Parliament seldom came to
gatherings of that sort without being requested to make some
contribution, direct or indirect, to the funds of the Society, so good
as to give them a dinner. He understood the provision of the Society
was in addition to the official pension of the Post Office.

In reply, Mr. Botting said they must all feel very much flattered by the
terms in which Colonel Hobhouse had referred to their Society. He felt
that they might almost suggest to the Government that the questions of
old age pensions and the financial position of friendly societies might
be handed over to them to deal with. He might remind them of a remark
made at the meeting, although having an M.P. present, perhaps he should
not refer to it, that their Society got through more work in a day than
the House of Commons did in a month. He considered they had at their
Conference got through a good day's work. He would not give a long
string of statistics, but he must mention that the Society had a
membership of 19,600, had been in existence nearly 28 years, and during
that time had paid to the nominees of deceased members just upon
L300,000, made up chiefly of penny contributions. Such payments had been
in many cases all that had stood between the widows and orphans and
absolute destitution. In considering this, they must not forget his
friend beside him, whose fertile brain had created the Society. They
must all regret to learn of Mr. Asher's retirement from the Service
through ill-health, and they would all hope that the release from
official work would prove beneficial to him. He (Mr. Botting) hoped that
so long as the Society existed the name of Mr. Asher would never be
forgotten.

Mr. Asher was receiv