Thorndon Lodge of Oddfellows. (Continuation of Govt, Insurance meeting).

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 24, 15 June 1886, Page 3

Thorndon Lodge of Oddfellows.

(Continuation of Govt, Insurance meeting).

Tho opening of the Thomdon Lodge, 8.U.,0.0.F., took place last evening in Mr. Clpke'fl room, Tinakori-road, Bro. W. Higginbpttoin. Grand Lodge Representative, conducting the ceremony, ably assisted by tho officers and members of the Aorangi ana Southern Star Lodges. Twenty-eight persons who had passed the medical examination, presented thomsolvos for initiation into the Order, and tho ceromony was duly gono throngh. After this, the nomination and election of ofHcci-s for the first term of six months was proceeded with, and after a cloho and spirited contest, resulted as follows :—- G.1., Bro. S. F. Morley; V. G. Bro. S. J. Cook; Secrotary, Bro. John Richardson; Treasurer, Bro. G. 8011, Warden, Bro. L. Grant; Tylor, Bro. G. Adams; Minute Secretary, Bro. H. D. Herbert. For tho position of Trustees Bros. Cook, Dunn, and Cloke woro iiimnimouNly elected. G.J. Right and Left Supporters, Bros. FitzGerald and Johnson; V.G. Supporters, Bros. Athorall and Williams. A hope was expressed that the re* niainder of the Charter Members would qnalify themselves beforo next meeting. I<ro, W. Higginbottom then in tho usual , manner duly installed the officers in their respefffcivo positions, and declared the Lodgo opened .is a branch of tho British United Order of Odd Fellows. A vote of thanks was, on tb.o motion of Bro. Cloke, carried with acclamation to tho presiding officers for their attendance. Bro. Higginbottom, on behalf of himself and those assisting him, briefly replied, and the meeting', which was in every respect a vory successful ono, thon terminated.

The Secretary of tho Post Office informs us that the s.s. Mariposa, with English mails for May, left San Francisco for Auckland on the sth iisttant, timo-table date. The s.f. Mararoa, with colonial mails for May, arrived at Sani Francisco from Auckland on tho 13th initant, ono day oarlier than time-table date, A contemporary says that the Auckland papers aro making enquiries concerning a youth named Mack, who left Auckland in company with Hncford and Smith, tho sharpers who were lost in tho Taiaroa. Ono of tho survivors, M'Quartors, stated that in. tho boat with him were four women, several men, and ayouth with onrly hair, who greatly lamontcd having to leavo his performingmonkey on board the vessel. The description corresponds with that of young Mack; and, as he has never been heard of since in the South, it is believed tlrat he perished. Messrs. George Thomas &. Co. will sell tomorrow, fruit, produce, &c. Db. Scott's Electric Toothbbush. — Tho handle of this brush is made of a newly invented material permanently charged with an eleotro-magnetio current, whioh acts without any shock immediately upon the nerves and tissues of the teeth and gums. The act of brushing causes this current to flow into the nerve cells and roots of the teeth, and, liko water pourod upon a plant, it invigorates and vitalises every part, arresting decay, building up and restoring the natural whiteness of the enamel, aaid quickly imparting pearly teeth and beautiful rosy gums to all using it. Tho handle is strong, beautifully polished, not affected by acids, impervious to moisture, and for ever free from that unpleasant, musty odour exuding: from wet bone handles. Price, 3s; post-free,. 3s 6d. All Chemists and Storekeepers, or Pall Mall Electric Association, Lamßtan: Quay, Wellington. Lyon & Blair agoatg.. For continuation of reading matter see fvurih page). ¦

Iho report —That in the opinion of tliismeoting it is inadvisable to proceed with tho croci ion of a new building at tho present timo in Wellington or elsewhere. Mr. Slirim«ki, M.L.C, Hecondea tho motion. Mr. J. E. Nathan objected to tho amendwont being put. Ho naid that he and others wero quite taken by surprise by it, and he maintained that it would not be right to put it to the voto at the prosont meeting. The Chairman announced that ho had consulted with Mr. Stafford, who had given an opinion that the amendment could not Lo put without notice. ( Major Atkinhon said he was now quite B'lUsficd that proper notico must bo given, and ho would lake steps to have the question Ijo had introduced discussed at a upecial mooting. Mr. E. T. Gillon asked why Wellington was singled ont by Major Atkinson. Major Atkinson oxplninod that in his resolution ho mentioned Woliington and other placos, but tho Chairman had omitted to road out tho wordß " and other places." Tho Chairman said that if Major Atkinson uould oxcroixo reasonable diligenau in 1 aking steps to ascertain the feeling of ] olic.yholdors on <ho question of erecting new buildingo, lie (tin* Chairman) would do lih utmost to stay any proceedings that might rfiidor nniratory any action on the jiart of the policylioldotH. Mr. G. S. Graham oxpre^sed regret that tho appointinont of Mr. Driver and tho purvluiho of properties in tho chief ooutres had mot with fo much disapproval. He had favoured both, and if ho wero on the Board R(;ain ho would still be propared to advocate similar action. The Auckland purchaso, he maintained, was an excellent ono, and so waft that mado in ChriKtchurch. The Chairman said that beforo tho Dnnodin purchase wan mado, the Board* Rent Mr. Luckie down to ascertain the mojt desirable investment in that city. A very desirable proporty was offered, and as tho Board could not moet before tho time allowed by thn vendor oxpirod, ho (the speakor) took it upod himself to close the bargain. With regare to tho Cbristchurch purohaso,> that was mado after careful consideration by the Board and ho could assure the meeting that it was an excellent investment. Major Atkinson's view with regard to tho erection of new buildings were singular. If the business of tho Association was to be carriod on in a propor manner good promises must bo obtained. Thoro were two ways of carrying on the business. One was to act in a vory economical manner, doing littlo in tho way of canvassing, and the other was to launoh out in an enterprising manner and oompoteon equal terms with the companios. Ho maintained that if the businosß wan to bo properly conducted tho Association would have to obtain largo buildings in tho chief centres. With regard to tho Driver appointment, tha figures quoted by Mr. FiHher should not he taken in the way that gontlcinan wished them to be taken. Tho result of three months' business wa« no criterion as to tho yoarly rehiiHh. Ah regarded tho business of the Association, ho asked whothor there was any privato institution in tho wor^l whore a director went upand down thocountry speaking of its affairs as Mr. Fisher had doiio of_ tho New Zealand Government Association. His opinion was that the Association would have boon .£IOO,OOO botto* off if Mr. Fisher had not boon on tho Board, Ho did not moan to impugn Mr. Fishor'B motives, because he believed that that gentleman thonght ho was doing right in going about the country, and would probably bo known as the patriotic director, but the fact remained that ho had dono the Association a great deal of harm. Ho (Sir Juliu3) bolieved that thoro wero on the Board gontloraon as capable as any in the colony, and ho considered it was ridiculous for Mr. Fishor to tako up a stand against thorn. Mr. Fisher was a genius in tho way of finding ft way to quarrel with his fellow . diroctors. Ho could not sit down and apply himßelf to tho duties of tho Board, like tho other mombors. Ho (the spoaker) did not wish to romain on the Board any longor. He had been placed thoro by statute, and was anxious that he should bo roliovod of the position. It was his misfortuno to bo an object of dislike to Ifr. Fisher, and ho had heard that gontloman would liko to crash him. To refer to Mr. Travors' remarks about the State guarantee if thoro mw anythingunder the sun that gentleman did not know muoh about, it was tho quostion of lifo assurance. It was utterly absurd to arguo that an association which possessed a State gnarantoo was not on suoh a sound footing as one whioh had a largo accumulated fund. The Govornmont Association was ono of his (the spoakor's) ideas, and it was not likely that for politioaj purposes ho wonld in any way impair its working. Tho institution had beon wondorfnlly successful, and if now wound up the present polioyholdere would divido a largo sum of money between thorn. If tho Government guaranteo wore discontinued, he thought tho best thing would bo to wind up. The motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet was thon put and agreed to. The businoss of tho speoial meeting, oouvonod to consider the reconstruction of the Association, was then proceeded with. Tho Gonoral Manager having read tho advortigoinont, the Chairman called upon Mr. 801 lto moVo tho first resolution. l Mr. Bell said tho resolution which he had to proposo was, in tho first place, " That it was advisable that tho Association should be returned to tho ohargo of the Government." Ho was aware that the proposal was an unpopular one at present, but coming from him, an oloctod direotor, it was at all events unsolfish, for ho proposed to abolish the salaried offico which ho hold. The directors, and ho thought the polioyholders also, wore agroed that some change must bo mado in the constitution" of the Board. He did not admit that they had done anything that tho polioyholdors would not eventually approve, or anything wrong or injudicious, as the reason for the ohange. Tho real reason was, that' having the Colonial Treasurer in tho ohair, and politioians as members of tho Board, it was difficult to avoid tho suggestion that the members were influenced by Government. In order to offeot tho ohange there must be an Act passod, and he would ask tho meeting to voto in favour of requesting the House to return tho Association to the chargo of Government. Thoro wero four rronnds upon whioh he mado this proposal — (1) that of oxponse of management j (2) tho absonoo of true representation by tho necessary olection of Wellington inon; (3) tliu question of tho 10 por cont. deductions by Government; and U) that as long as thero were politicians on the Board it was difficult • to avoid newspaper discussions of the Association's affairs, which wove the privato affairs of tho polioyholders. In 1882, when aooounts were taken half-yearly, the expense of management,for the six months amounted to £10,000, or say £20,000 per annum; for tho year 1383, the total expenditure was jC20,000 and somo odd hundreds; „ for 1884, J20.000 and somo hundreds. That was under Government management. In 1885, the first year in which the Board controlled the institution, though there was no inoreaso of business, the cost of management was more than i!28,Q00; but this included £900 oi exceptional expenditure for actuarial investigation. In the present year tho sum could safely be put down at £31,000, One reason for tho inoreaso of expenditure was that it was absolutely impossible to get a Board that could resist the pressure that carao upon them from underpaid officers with wives and families. On the other hand, under the Government system of management, such increases could only be made when voted by Parliament. If they reverted to Government, the cost would probably again comodown to tho old figures, £20,000. With regard to the seoond ground, all members of the Board elected undor the present system wero certain to have some oonneotion with politics, whereas it did not follow that by reason of their political eminence they were necessarily possessed of superlative bvfsiness qualities whioh wore chiefly to be desired in members of tho Board. To show the result of the system of election, it wouldhaveboenahnost impossible to have returned two men whoso views were more opposite than Mr. Fisher and himself; for whereas he (Mr. Bell) felt bound by evory aot of his colleagues, Mr. Fishor felt obliged to dissent, and to inform the policyholders of the colofly of this dissent. It was evident that the system of election had not been a success. If they went back to Government the deductions of 10 per cent, from the bonuses,-to indemnify the oolony for its guarantee, would ceaae, and tho policyholders would again receive tho benefit of this money and its investment. Parliament exercised a necessary and propor control over all departments, and soeing that the Association represented 23,000 of the pick of the community—those who had tho wisdom to insure—surely tho representatives of tho constituencies fairly represented tho policyholders in Parliament, who could exorcise far hotter control than that exercised by the presont Board, whioh was really no oontrol at all. Parliament had appointed a committee to inquiro into the' working of the Association, but if that committee's conclusions differed from his own, he (Mr. Bell) wonld not be guided by them as long as he owed a duty to the polioyholders. Was Parliament less likely to attempt to interferewith a Board on whioh thoro were no nominees of the Government. Mr. Bell proceeded to show that it was of the utmost personal interest to him that the management of the Association should be placed upon the best possible footing, and said Ho would bo disappointed if tho policyholders rejected his resolution. He expressed approval of the investmentoftheAssooiAtion'sfunds through the Publio Trust Office, and of the suitability of responsible publio officers as members of the Board, in preferonoe ,to Government nominees, in case it were decided not to hand over control to Government. The Government must bo trusted with tho choice of Chairman, for the system'of election by,the members of similar bodies had not 1 (teen satisfactory. Ho had now placed his resolutions beforo the polioyholders as briefly as ho could,, and had f endeavoured- to impress them .with' his,own earnestness and sincerity in'ihe views he had expressed. 'Mr. N Reid,'in seconding the, resolution, said that he had intended going fully.into ' the question, but owing to the lateness of the hour he wonld' only express a hope that the>polioyholders would see fit to eliminate the political element from the management of the Association. L ± -'• I ' " Mr. W, C. Smith, M.H.R., said it was the Government guarantee that (induced ' people, to insure, in the Association, and he therefore considered ii would be a great mistake to do away with it. Ho was molined to jsnpport'the-proposal toJsahd back the control of, the Association tb'<the Government because he considered that the business could bo carried on more economically than was at present the case. Ho main* tamed that the. great source of dissatisfaction amongst the polioyholders' was the presenoe of the political element 'on the Board. , ' At 11.10 o'olook, Mr.' T. K. Macdona'ld moved an adjournment 'of the meeting owing- to the lateness of the hour.' The Hon. Mr. Solleston and others sup. ported the proposal. . , Various opinions were expressed as to the desirableness of adjourning. , A voto was taken, and Sic Chairman de* .dared the majority were in favour of adjourning. It was deoided to adjourn until next Monday evening. Mr. Shannon thereupon handed a paper to the Chairman. • •