MEMBERS DIFFER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 59, 11 March 1937, Page 10

MEMBERS DIFFER

RECHABITE ORDER

DISTRICT OFFICERS SUED

Questions affecting the administra* tion of the Independent Order of Rechabites friendly society were heard by Mr. Justice Reed in a case in tha Supreme Court today.

The plaintiff was Alfred Martin, a brass finisher, of Christchurch, who sued on behalf of himself and all other members (except the defendants) of the New Zealand Central District of the Independent Order of Rechabites. The defendants were Franc Davis, retired, of Wellington, Joseph Jobson., civil servant, of Wellington, William Carpenter, a secretary, of Wellington, Matthew Jeflery, a gas fitter, of Wellington,' Frederick Clark, a traveller, of Wanganui, Agnes Gain, a married woman, of Dunedin, Arthur Gain, a manager, of Dunedin, George Skipworth, an insurance officer, of Invercargill, and Charles Bascand, a manager, of Christchurch, all district officers of the society.

Mr. R. Hardie Boys and Mr. H. P. Smith (Christchurch) appeared for the plaintiff and Mr. W. D. Goodwin for Jobson, Jeffery, Clark, and the order.

Briefly, the plaintiff's case was that at a triennial conference in 1934 tjie district council of the order decided that the office of the order should be shifted from Wellington to Christchurch, and that that change had not been made. He asked the Court to uphold the decision of the council. The defendants said that the council had no power to make such a decision. Mr. Hardie Boys said that the case involved more than the situation of the order's office; it went to the root of the council's authoriy over officers it appointed and there was also involved the administration of the society's funds of more than £100,000, which belonged to the society's 5300 members, the majority of whom were in the South Island.

The first witness for the plaintiff wa» Arthur Gain, one of the defendants.

(Proceeding.)

Herr Hitler and Dr. Goebbels re. ceived in Berlin Nazi local leaders from the Danzig area, who were introduced by Herr Forster, the chief represent* tive of the party in the Free City-i-*-*