GRAND LODGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 124, 7 March 1930, Page 8

GRAND LODGE

ANCIENT ORDER OF DRUIDSINCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP. (Special to the ‘‘Guardian.”) * CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The fortieth annual session of the Grand Lodge of Canterbury, U.A.O. Druids was held-yesterday. The Grand President (Brother L. A. Morrison) occupied the chair. Lodge Star of Ashburton was represented bv Bros. H. A. Vestv, P.D.P., S. L. Hawke, P.A., and E. Parkin, P.A., and Lodge Success of Ashburton by Sister R. J. Crum, P.A. The Grand President, in his address, congratulated the order oil the wonderful increase in membership for the year, the returns disclosing a net increase of 259, the largest for twenty years, the record being 292 in 1909. The' largest increase among the lodges was made by the Trafalgar Bodge, Kaiapoi. with a net increase of 38, while the Ellesmere Lodge increased its membership by 30. . Six lodges would celebrate their fiftieth anniversary this year, these being Ethelbert, Star of Angelsea, Perseverance, Hope of Amberley, Anchor, and Bud of Hope, all having been established in 1880. The executive was very favourably imptessed l with the vast .improvement in the method of conducting the lodge business, more particularly the manner in which the initiation ceremony was .rendered. That improvement could be attributed largely to the splendid work performed by the Royal Arch Chapters. The Board of Management reported as follows: — Number of financial members at the beginning at the year, 3822; initiated, 437; made good, 117; joined by .clearance, 12—4388. Members returned unfinancial, 225; resigned, 7; left by clearance, 23; .members died, 52—-’307. Total, 4081. Increase for the year, 259. The' total worth- of funds on (December 31, 1929,-was £126,200 4s Id. The total interest earned was £6999 4s 9d. Amount paid in sick-pay during 1929, £4787 17s Id. Paid out in chemists’, andt hospital fees, £7675 4s sd. , „ , . The Grand Lodge Funeral Fund increased from-£25,774 11s. 2d to £27,116 4s lid, the net gain being £1341 13s 9d. Interest earned by the Grand Lodge was £2220 Is od. Funeral allowances paid out totalled £I4BO. The Incidental Fund was £483 7s. The Grand Lodge Benefit Fund increased £10,364 7s 3d; this large amount was due to £9724 of surpluses paid by lodges. An increase of £5Bl was due to interest. The total worth was now £19,854 10s 2d. The Grand Lodge Funds had increased by £11,741 16s 3d during the year. - _ National Provident Fund. —Two hundred and thirty-eight claims were paid out, totalling £1428. It was decided that the occupancy of a minor chair should be eligible to a member not under 20 years of age, and that secretaries should be paid not more than Is per .member per quarter. ’ A motion by the Star of Ashburton to provide fidelity bonds for the trustees of the Grand Ledge and subordinate lodges was lost by a large majority. A motion to reduce''the Grand Hodge levy from eightpenee to sixpence was carried. The election of officers resulted as follows:—Grand. President, Bro. M. O’Donoghue; Grand Vice-President, Bro. F. C. Chittock; Grand! Secretary, Bro. J. Burgess; Grand Treasurer, Bro. J. Jowsey; Grand Guardian, Bro. E. R. Warren; Board of Management, Bros. R. Bigg, W. H. Cooke, J. H. Dennison, W. Jiles, J. H. Herriott, L. B. Freeman, R. J. Roberts; auditors, Bros. F. E. Talbot, A. E./ Millions and J. H. Wear; trustees, J. W. Baty and J. E. L. Hegan; senior trustee. Bro. F. * George; Appeal and Judicial Committee, P.C.P.’s H. E. Smith, J. Collins, W. Bartram, A. Bailey and F. E. Talbot.