PRIVATE BENEFIT SOCIETIES COMMISSION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11288, 7 June 1897, Page 4

PRIVATE BENEFIT SOCIETIES COMMISSION.

To-day tlie Royal Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of Private Benefit Societies will commence its labours in Christchurch, and although we have expressed the opinion that the Commission could well have been dispensed with, we trust every facility will be afforded the Commissioners in the performance of their task. It must be distinctly understood, however, that in saying this wo do not endorse some of the methods pursued by the Commission at Dunedin. In the account of one day’* proceedings, for instance, it is stated that Mr Gray, secretary to the Commission, reported that in compliance with the request of the Commissioners he had searched the Union Company’s share register, and discovered the position and distribution of the Company’s capital. The particulars were given in considerable detail, and were subsequently printed in the newspapers. They were, no doubt, of some interest; but it was surely an act of gratuitous impertinence for the Commission to order their publication. It seems to have dawned upon the Commissioners that they had ex-r cceded their powers and committed a gross impropriety, for they have refrained from pursuing similar tactics when dealing with the benefit societies connected with the Bobljb

.’Woollen Mills, Sargood’s Boot factory and the Otago Daily Times Office. In this connection we notice that our Wellington correspondent states that some important evidence given before the Commission at Dunedin does not appear in the newspaper reports. Now this directly conflicts ■with remarks made last week by Mr Tregear and Major Steward when closing the sitting of the Commission at Dunedin. These gentlemen took occasion to compliment the two daily papers and their reporters upon the very fair and accurate reports they had given of the proceedings. -It has been hinted, however, that the third Commissioner held a different view from the one expressed by bis colleagues, and that the official report will show that this was justified. We trust that everything will be harmonious during the sitting of the Commission in Christchurch, and we feel assured that in order to secure this result it is only necessary for the Commissioners to keep “within the order of reference,” and to remember that a little patience is necessary in dealing with Associations of a private nature, which are only fit subjects for .parliamentary inquiry when abuses are alleged in connection with them, or when they are so conducted as to interfere prejudicially with the rights of employers or employed.