FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10106, 3 August 1893, Page 6

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

THE REGISTRAR’S REPORT. TvBOX ODE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT-] WELLINGTON, August 2. From the report of the Registrar of Friendly Societies, just laid on the table of' the House, it appears that the total number of registrations for the year 1592 was 14; tha number of Lodges in 1891 whose returns were tabulated was 365, and of central bodies SI. The total assets amounted ■ to' <8476,133, ■ which was invested ’ as - follows: Deposits in .the •Post - ' Office; Savings • Bank, £3B,ssl; deposits in other banks, <857,253; mortgages, opt freehold property, £231,585; Government' and municipal debentures, J1%820 ; 'other investments, £9350. The wares* was 6j per cent. The valuation leport does n6t always contain a compvative , statement; of the actual or expected sickness for the period under review, the number'of members in t hose Societies in respect of which comparison Is ' made is 5400. The membership of those.;.established more than five years, but less than twenty years, and more than twenty years, respectively, was 2091 and 3809. Of. those established more than five years, but less than twenty, the average sickness' per member per annum was * nearly 20' per cent below- the expectation, and of those established more than twenty’ years the average sickness' was, nearly le per cent above the expectation. There ,are wide differences in* the experience of Societies situated in the same locality with" outwardly similar conditions, but the siCknesa of Societies as a whole is higher, than the standard, although lower at the younger ages. The obvious inference is that the experience of newly-established Societies affords no guide to expectation throughout life. In regard to interest on accumulated funds, the report

point* oat that the time is fast passing away 1 when the New Zealand Societies will bo F able to avail themselves of a high rata of interest. Frequently the estimate put on freehold property exceeds the capitalised ▼aide of the interest earned. Sometimes the actuarial valuer has written down property, and in other instances while expressing disbelief as to the correctness of the figures displayed to him, bus transferred them unaltered to the balance-sheet, where an estimate in excess of the * true value bad been accepted and entered in the valuation balance-sheet cither as surplus wholly or in'part fictitious, or as deficiency understated by the amount of such excess. It is urged that where there is no reasonable probability that property will in future yield interest clear of all charges at the rate" Of 4 per cent at'least, either the Society’ 'should get rid' of it, or write off such sum for . depreciation as ' will leqvo a true estimate of its value. Some Lodges show. a serious deficiency, and the report points out that in these the claims of existing members can only be met by ad increase of the contributions or by*tWintroduction of new members. As thij latter method is nob capable of indefinite ‘extension, the burden, although transferred to other shoulders, cannot be

got. rid of, and the greater the number of qlftims paid in full, the greater .frill'sl>e-'‘ the average deficiency per member surviving. It should, however, be borne in ‘ mind that where there is‘»- deficiency no mode of transference of existing'obligations can reduce by ono penny, the value of the liabilities. The following'Societies were registered under “The Trades Union Act, 1878/’ during the year 1892. viz.. United Employees’ Society, Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders, Kew.Z'aaland Boot Manufacturers' AsaociatidaV Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders’ Society, Chriatohuroh.