WITHIN AND WITHOUT

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 129, 2 June 1936, Page 10

WITHIN AND WITHOUT

EDUCATION NEEDED WORK OF FRIENDLY SOCIETIES

'■That there is a need for education on the national health movement, I am in lull agreement, but who will undertake the job?" asked Mr. C. H. Bascand, Christchurch, during the course of his presidential address to today's meeting of the Dominion Council of Friendly Societies. "Lodge meetings in a great number of friendly societies." he went onto say, "are nothing more nor less than places for receiving members contributions, initiating new members, etc. With the possibility of a large accretion of membership into our societies through the emergence of State compulsory sickness insurance, we may well find our societies flooded with people participating in our movements functions and offices without a background of friendly society experience and tradition. I feel'that before he public in general are educated in the doings of the friendly societies activities we will need, first, to educate the members inside our movement to a real sense of its importance in the Dominion. From close observation lam Inclined to think that the friendly societies' local conference and council meetings are the only mediuml where any education in the work of friendly societies is really undertaken. "Valuable, however, as these functions are, it is essential that bigger things in the way of propaganda De 'undertaken. I believe that there is an urgent need for educational work in i our societies, and unless this kind of work is thoroughly done, we cannot look forward with any degree of con- : fidence to the future staffing of our I adult branches with intelligent mem. bers, and with a real grip of what the voluntary friendly societies have for over a century stood for. This may be a problem of great importance that must be faced. It has been brought to my notice that the young members i are not coming forward from the i junior sections to the adult branches in sufficient numbers to share in the responsibilities of the work of running our lodges. Is this because the training in the junior departments is either on the wrong lines or not thor- | oughly done?" i a j- i....„,i ~;nv>( nrm was sustained