ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12005, 30 March 1901, Page 2

ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS

» —. — UNITED OTAGO DISTRICT.The annual mooting of the above District was held at tho Council Chambers, -Milton, and was attended by a largo number of delegates from tho courts throughout Otago and Southland. D.C.R. Bro. J. Paterson presided, and the other district officers presentwere i-D.S.C.R., Bro. .1. Hope; D. Treas., Bro. J. Macfie; D. Sec, Bro. W. Woodland; D.8., Bro. W. Black; and 1.P.D.C.R., Bro. G. W. Gcddcs. . After the confirmation of the minutes of the last annual and special district meetings tho D.C.R. Fubmitted the District Executive's report, as follows: — To tho Delegates of the Various Courts of tho United Otago District, in District Meeting assembled,' Respected Brothers and Sisters,—We have great pleasure in welcoming you as delegates to our annual'district meeting. It is many yearn since we last held a similar meeting in Milton, aiid during tho interval Court Bruce has not only increased in membership and funds, in spite of strong opposition, but has sdso. added another branch to our district in Court Dickson. Wo have no doubt Hint we express your feelings in conveying an expression of your hearty good wishes/or tho continued prosperity of both courts. Numerical Statement.—A comparative statement of the numerical position shows that the number of members on the roll at the beginning of tho year 1900 was 5571, as against 2614 in tho preceding year. Tho total admissions (2GO by initiation and four by clearance) was 201 against 297. The total losses (211 by arrears, two by clearance, two by resignation, and 19 by death) was 231, against 227 in the previous year. Tho number of members at the end of 1000 was 2601, a gain of 30 as) e-rainst 2574 in 1899. By the above ntatement it will bo seen that additions to our membership have been almost balanced by tho loss through arrears, etc., leaving us with a net gain of only SO. This result is very j disappointing, and confirms us in the belief that some of our courts arc quite satisfied to malto members, while thinking it quite un- j necessary to take nny steps to retain them. Our death roll, wo arc glad to note, I:ds not been nesrly so heavy as in the preview year. Tho financial statement shows <v much better portion of affairs, there being a marked advance in the state of our funds, and a decrease in our expenditure of £70} on account of sick and funeral claims. An increase of nearly .-C2OOO in our court funds,.and over £500 in those of the district is matter for congratulation, and wo hope this upward tendency will be more than maintained during tho year now entered upon. The following is a comparative statement for the past and preceding years: — 1803. 1900. ■ Value of court funds £31,452 9 4 £33,-121 00 Increaso 1,319 3 9J 1,353 10 8 Valno of district funds 9,078 4 Of. 10,492 11 G Sick pny disbursed 2,1.14 ,3JO 2,0(M jfi it Funeral claims paid 'TSO-OTO 420 0 0 Local Statistics.—The latest available statistics show an adult membership in this colony for tho A.O.F. of 11,079, with total funds amounting to £187,703. New Zealand now takes the first place as to membcrsb:') of Hit order in tho Australasian colonies, while, our funds show a' total of £50,000 in advance of any other colony. The totr.l membership of all societies in New Zealand is 35,501, with an average capital of £19 2s 2d per head. In respect to funds,' wo still keep far in froat of the colonies of Australasia, Victoria coming next with £13 15s per member. Tho membership of the registered branches of friendly societies in these colonies totals 279,G03, with funds amounting to £3,303,580. Tho High Court.—The high court was held last year at Plymouth, being the sixty-sixth high court meeting, there being over 800 delegates present. H.C.B, Bro. J. G. Jackson congratulated those present on the steady progress made during tho past, there being-at the end of tho previous year a membership of 912,095, with funds amounting to £G.G24,939, being an increaso of nearly 13,00:) members, .and £2.50,00.') in, our funds. As an illustration of the aood the order was doing, ho stated thr.t tho society was paying benefit clainiß at tho rate of £1 10s per minuto dny and night all the year through. 110 urged upon them to keep the fltfg of Forestry flying; let there ho no going back! Ho' bslicvcd in the motto, " It is better to place a hedgo round a precipice than to wait with an r.inbulonco at the bottom." That hedge must be composed of solvency and Road management i —the two must go togethpr. He had the fullest confidence in tiie future of the order. Let them, go onward, so that one of the brightest pages in our F,mpiro's history should be that "in which the doings of the Ancient Order of Foresters is written. Two brothers from this district (Rros. Whilo and Hunter) received credentials to enable tli.->»i to be prefent at the high court meeting, but pressure of business, unfortunately, prevented their attendance. One important step forward was made at the meeting in the decisiou to establish an order/insurance fund, whereby members can insure for sums ranging from £25' to £160. It was decided to hold the high court, meeting nest year at Barrow-in-Furnace, Lancashire. Tho following is a summary of tho numerical and financial returns, as at December.3l, IS9D:—Membership: Adult'benefit ■members, 740,887; widows contributing for funeral allowance, 20,fi97; juvenile members, 129,409; honorarv members, 21,446;-total, 912,699. Funda; Court funds, £5,532,032; district funds, _ JfJ41,330; juvenile societies' fund, £130,400; widows aud orphans' funds, £56,436; liirh court funds, £H,7GG;total, £0,024,939. Fifty-four dispensations to open new courts were issued during ..the year.

Court Robin Hood.—As yon arc aware, a special district meeting was held durhw the year in response to an appeal from Court Robin • Hood for financial assistance, which mealing, considering that there was! not sufficient information before them, referred the matter to the D.E., ns a committee, wifh power to add to their number, with instructions to procure a valuation of the comt'as at 30th June last, and confer with Court Hobin Hood as to the most advisable course to pursue with the object of affording permanent relief. Tim report of the committee will be laid bejoro you.to-day, and your exocutivo have no doubt that after perusal you will concur with tlienl in the opinion that it is preatly to bo regretted that, through the opposition of a few niemb'ars of that court, so for no good result has been attained as an outcome of the large amount of tTouble and expense incurred. .Considering all the'issucs that liavo nriseij out ot this nutter, we have thought it well to place several new laws and alterations of existing laws on the business paper (item 1C), with the intention of piving more power to district meetings and district executives under similar circumstances, ' Official Visit? of D.E. to Country Courta.As usual, your executive have visited all the courts in and around Dunedin, and, in addition, have this year taken advantage of the vote of 1893 to visit some of the outlying courts —viz., Bruce, Roxburgh, Alexandra, end Dunatan. As the three last-named courts hrl not been visited by any district officer r.ince they wero opojied, and their members had oft<?u expressed a strong desire that the." should bo visited from time to lime, by tho D.E., it was thought advisable that (hey should have the first advantage of the vote passed by the district meeting. (A detailed account of the visit to the various lodges follows.) "With reference to these visits we should like an expression of opinion as to what is exuected from the district .officers when these visits are made. An impression seemed to exist in the minds of some our country brethren that we were on a tour oi inspection; but while placing our knowledge and nervices entirely at the disposal of the courts visited for tiny purpose connected with our order, we distinctly disclaimed any idea of nctiiis aG an investigation commiitee. AVe should like to say, however, a {ew_ words with regard to the investment and earnings of our country courts' funds .not being as good as could bo wished; and, as a case in point, it transpired in the course of conversation that a certain court has some £100 on bank deposit at .1 por cent., or 1 per cent, less than is calculated on bv tho registrar in making his valuation of the' district, nnd fully 2 per cent, less than is earned by the funds of tho district under the charge' of the district trustee?, being a consequent loss to (his particular court of at least ;E3 per annum. We believe the same thing obtains to a greater or less dogroa iu other country courts, and we suggest the advisability of the formation of a " central investment fund," to be operated on by tho

district trustor, it being entirely optional with courts whether they should take advantage of Ibis fund or not. Courta'having sums of £10 or £25 and upwards to invest would forward samo to the district secretary, and at tho end of the year get their pro rata share of interest. The Queen's Death.—lt would not be fitting to c!o3o this address without malting somo reference to tho death of our late beloved Sovereign Queen Victoria. At the beginning of her reign our order was a comparatively insignificant institution, with less than 20,000 members, with branches mainly confined to tho northern counties "of England. Now it has over 900.050 members, nearly £7,000,000 in funds, and its brandies are to be found in every part of tho globe. The progressive legislation passed during her reign ha 3 greatly helped to firmly establish our own and other orders, and the settlement of Great Britain's colonial dependencies has blbo been taken advantage of to open many courts and districts of the A.O.F. As Queen Victoria bad, so will Edward VII have, no moro loyal subjects than those who compose the membership of the Ancient Order of Foresters under the British flag. Conclusion.—Besides those .already referred to, there are on the business paper other mattors of considerable importance for your discussion, and we trust they will hiivo your earnest consideration. We sincerely hope that tho current your may be one of still greater fir.p.ncial progress, and certainly that our membership phall show ft much mora substantial increase than in the period wo have been reviewing. Worthy delegates, convey to the several court* you hero represent tho hearty thanks of your district executive for the uniform courtesy with which wo have always been treated.— A .Vo Temain, vour in the bond of Forostrv, J. Patesbon, D.C.It., J. Hope, D.S.C.R.. J. Macfie, D.T., TV. TVoodmkd, D.S.. W. Black, D.8., G. W. GeddE3, I.P.D.C.R. P.O.R. Bro. Cairns spoke in commendation of tho executive's report. He thought that a special vote of sympathy should lie passed by tin's district in connection With (ho death of our late beloved Queen Victoria. Ho hoped tho executive would be instructed to dmft such a voto, land fonftird it through tho Governor to the Right Hon. the Secretary for the'Colonics. With regard to (ho continued leakage in our membership, it was much to bo regretted, and he intendedto bring forward at n later stage a plan which he believed would go some way towards stopping it. He moved tho reception and adoption of the District Kxeculiva's report.— Secondod by r.D.C.K. Bro. Tavcrner, and agreed to. Senior Auditor Bro. Gillies read tho balance sheets and auditor's report,. The balances to the credit' of the various district funds were:—Funoral fund, £3356 5s 2d; management fund,--£367 12a 3d; district relief fund, £1353 lea 7d. After some discission the adoption of tho balance 6heets and report were agreed to. CDRriESr-OiVDENf'E. Fraternal greetings were rfcoived from the Otago District, M.U.T.0.0.F.. and from tho secretaries of several of the ronrts. An appeal from the High Court was received for subscriptions towards the Order's lifobcat fund. A circular wr.s also rend from the samo source urging upon the courts the desirability of making a strong effort to attain a membership of one million during the current your. _ ' _ On tho motion of P.C.R. Rro. Tng'i<:, it was agreed to donate tho sum of £5 .'a towards the lifeboat fund. juvk.vile msijniCT. By the permission of the meeting Bro. Wil'ou, the secretary of the Juvenile District of Otego and Southland, read tho following annual report: — To the D.C.R. Officers and Delegates of the U.0.D., A.O.F. Sisters and Brothers,—lt is' with no little rdeasiiro that I present this the sixth annual report of tho Otn'go nnt! ; Southland District of Juvenile Foresters, while I regret that our numbers are not greater, there is tonic satisfaction in knowing that our efforts have not Oscn altogether fruitless in adding to the membership of tho adult courts, which is ono of the main objects of our orgnnisr.tion. During tho year ending December, 1000. 41 now members have been added. During the same period we have lost by death one, over age and arrears 32. and by transfers to adult, courts 17. Sick allowances amounting to £23 13s and funeral claims of £G hove been paid, equal to !)s IOJd per member, being slightly over our last year's experience, ike juvenile district would respectfully ur»c upon the delegates to use their influenco with their respective courts to take steps to establish juvenile courts, if for no other motivo than that of self-protection, as other orders arc waking up to the advantages of juveniles as recruits to the adult branches, the number of members transferred to adult courts beine about 107 of the initiatives during tho year. From 16SG the juvenile courts of our district have transferred 152 members to tho adult courts, equal to Is 3d of the increase of the. TJ.O7D. during the last quinquennium. In nddition to the above reason, I would remind you that the majority of juvenile members .are tho™ whose parents are in no way connected with friendly societies, a"d this is theii only means of nroviding themselves with mpdical attendance and medicine at a reasonable, cost, as also with .the smnll sick nllowance -of Gs per week when unablo to follow their usual employments. Trusting yon and tho courts you represent will seriously consider this matter, and tkat'ero long every court in this districtwill have a juvenile court attached to it, end through this means our ancient and noble order may still further bo strengthened and extended,—l am, etc., John Wilson, Secretary O. and S..T. District. P.C.R. Bro. Clnrk moved-" That the District Executive he empowered to vote n Him annually to the Juvenile Foresters' District Executive." The mover wished to alter the motion to make tho nniounf. voted come direct from the district meeting instead of the executive. Bro. Clark strongly urged flip adoption of the motion for tho good of tho order, The motion was seconded by P.C.R. Bro. Follev. P.D.C.R. Bro. Yonngman moved a.: an amendment that tho delegates vote the sum of £10 to the Juvenile District .Executive. This was supported bv Bro?. Cairns, Mearns. Folley, Robertson, Paterson, Williams, and others. The amendment was opposed by P.D.C.R. Bro. Jf'lvillo and Bros. Brottel, Swanson, and Gihb. The amendment was carried by a large majority.