MANCHESTER UNITY ODDFELLOWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1913, Page 10

MANCHESTER UNITY ODDFELLOWS.

rrsAß.i.'y. 1,500,000 members. KAPID rRQ(;RESS STXCE THE .UJVEXroF STATE INBUKA^TCE.

The reportt m" the Grand. Master-and Board ot Uriluctors. presented at the meeting oi tbe Oddfellows' .Society, held in Scarboronglit in May last dealing first with the m-merkral position of the Order, stated that the _u__nbc r of adult maie and' female members at Ist January, 1912, wa-. 502,173; admissions by initiatioue during WIS. United Kingdom, IBT.o.'IT; increase in m£r_"r_bership in the Colonial and Foreign Districts. 4,180: total, 1.063,950. Deaths in the United Kingdom during 1012 n-_j_.ber.ed 10.231, aud secession of member's (lapses).. United Kingdom, 25,5-4, le-tving the n-_a_bar of, adult male and female irmnibers, JaiKHrylet, IUI3. 1,023,155. The -urmber of widows -iibscrihinrg -farfuneral b_-__-fit_ a__d -Kmorary m-einbers of the Order was as follows.—Widows, 14,157; __3___n___-y -"r-r-nabeis, 9JV7O. .luvenije societiea numbered at -January. 1913, 1,743, with total capital £227.-36-i; namber transferred to adult lodges, 17.426-; total number of members 105,C40. The rot-responding figures for Ja-iuary, 1912. were 1,749; total capital £225.236; nmnber transferred to adult lodges, 0,70_; total nionber of members, 120..58. The _ollowi_tg-£gures.show tl-c-'inrcrerase of membexairip of tbe various kinds jn connection with the society:—Adult members, _35.5_?2: admitted (or junior) menibers. 231_ widows. 32C; total increase during the _*"*ra-r_ 13-1.630. j siimT_n_ry of membej-sirrp: Number ol j adult male members, 938.447; number of j adult female members. 29,705; together,: 1,028,155; members of juvenile lodges, registered as branches; of the Order, b'00; j admitted (or jtu-joi-) members helongiu.J to registered br-UKT-es, 7387: widows'sub" ■oCribiitg for .fin-era. _«_r_e___s, ]4. \rj. r_x.ni-. bers- of ju-seni-e soe___des (male). 91_259----members of ju-t-cnile s-or-ieties (female)-. 14.35 1 ; _Bn-ora_-_r n-ombe-rs, 9,*"7©; members of feinaie SDoetaes, 3_lfi9 ; total, 1.1G9.17.. Bt wi.l be seen that the inereae in adult na£_-r"ter__iip-r_jr-our_ts to 13541-32. The Insurance AtSt has caused the development of a new side to our work, and the luimbers who ba-ve joined tbe Af-tn-■choster Unity and made it their approved society ate: Men for State only. 155,093-. ivpmen for State only. 145-538: men for State and Independent. 546,851 j women for state and Independent. 22,120- total, 872^508. The gross adailt mem__y-ship of the I nity. volnntarv and State, at Ist January, 1913, was "l-.*131,792. Tor tbe- 25 years ended 1011 the society paid in sick and funeral benefits tbe sum of £*22*2n7._397 10/2. In the last annual return it is shown that the sum of £211 .60b" S/6' was pa id for medical attendance and medicine. The sum of £33-s."*.** IS/2 -was paid to widows and orphans du-inrg the year. The society is now paying a.million and a-half sterling id bej-eftts. _

The aggregate capital of the society is £15.715.814. To further promote *theJ financial stability of the order a. large I number of lodges and districts was com-1 pulsorih- amalgamated. A new rale of a most important and far-reaching character was adopted creating a unity reserve fund whereby the wealthkyr lodj:e.s arr- compelled to render financial as3ist-. iince to poorer lodges. Such action oni the part of the Manobester Unity, if ap- j plied to New Zealand, would prtrwnfc any lodge established in our midst .from seceding. It has been pointed out that the great wealth of the bnrrohes of established in the ■ea.r.ly ]]istorr of the Dominion has not been created members of fbose branchas. but is the resnt of fortuitous circuraftances. The founders "'were in early." secured town lot?, and the unearned increment did the rest. To mention a case in point, a lodge established in the early ■days bought a section in one of our leading cities for £35; that section is now worth over £35..000.