THE BANQUET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 13

THE BANQUET.

In the evening the country delegates were entertained at a banquet at toe European Hotel by the local conrtc. D.C.R, Bro. W. Perry occupied the ohair, and D.S O.K. Bro. W. H. Mnnro the vice-chair. Tbe/e were *lio about 30 delegates pretest. An apology for non-attendance was received from his Worship the Mayor (Mr N. 7. A. Wales). Af W all present had done ample jtwtioe to the excellent spread provided by the host-em, Miss Dwytr, a number of toasts, intsrspoMed by vocal selections, were proposed and duty honoured. Bro Meabns, in proposing the toast of " The Governor and Parliament of New Zealand," said the present Parliament was more popular and had done more for the masses th»n any previous one. , Bro. D. Pinkeitoh, M.H.R., in responding to the toast, agreed with Bro. Mearns at to the good the preunt- Parliament had done. The country had recently passed through one of the most critical times that wo had ever experienced. It had been a time br. ught about without the assistance of legislation but by the foroe of circumstances that no one could prevent or foretell. If New Zealand were the ouly country that had suffered from depre* si m there might be some reason for saying that that was the result of legislation. But such was not the case. New Zealand had come through the recent trying times better than any other country had gone through the depressions that had visited them. That being so, it was idle to say that legislation had brought any trouble of fchttt kind upon us. Bto. Hart proposed " The Army and Navy," the toast being responded to by Bro. Melville. Bro. W. Caibns, in proposing " The United Otago District!," said if they went back and traced the history of the order they would find it had a very small beginning ', but it had now grown to be a very large institution. Every one present must say : " Long may it contin ac to grow." Three new courts had been opened in the district during the past year -with a total membership of over 200. That was an indication of Che progress of the district during the last 12 months, and he understood, that there were great prospects of the order being fuither extended during the coming year. Bro. W. Persy, responding to the toast, said every year the order was making a Urge number of members and losing them. He attributed the loss of members to the depression. The young men in Otago could net find work, and the consequence was that they could not afford to keep up their contributions so as to remain in the societies.

Bro. Woodland responded to the toast. In doing bo he said that when the first dispensation was asked for in Melbourne for the establishment of a court in Otago there was some hesitation in giving a dispensation, to such an "outlandish place" as this. He happened to come to New Zealand shortly afterwards, and was present at the opening of the Court Pride of Danedin, which was the parent court in this district. Two other courts were opened within a year, and gradually other courts ware established in different pwte of the district. He waf glad to ice that feUej cow bad women

amongst thorn; be most »&y that the female oourta were a great adjunct to their noble order, As regarded the felling off io the members of the order, he thought ib was not altogether due io a want of funds. The explanation of the falling off was that a great many young fellows joioed simply because they wanted to see what Forestry wae, and then they did not take any further interest in It, and allowed themselves to become uoflaancial. When they got married, however, they began to see the benefits of belonging to a Bociety. Bro. Mttnbo, who also responded to «h< toast, referred to the fact that the report oi the district officers recommended that the Government be urged to make it compulsory that adequstn »oale» of contributions should be adopted by all the friendly societies throughout' the colony. He was very glad that the recommendation had been adopted without deranr. It was one of the most important steps that the society had taken for some time past, and he had no doubt that a good many other similar societies would fall into lin*. He had a letter from the Premier iv whioh the writer, said that it only required the agreement of the various friendly societies to the proposal and they wonld get it carried into effect. Tue Governmerit would bring in a bill to support a measure in that direction. A very large number of members of Parliament were written to on the subject during last session, and in, a great number of inttanoes they also promised to support such a measure. He hoped that, during the next seis'on of .Parlwnwnt an amendment would be in&de in (he existing lair in the direction of the recommeod«.tiQu which had bson adopted by the meeting that day. .. The following toasts were also proposed and duly honoured: — "Absent Brothers "- (pro-_ posed by Bto. A. Watson, and responded to by Bro. Chu -chill) ; V Couutry Delegate* " (proposed by Bro. R Mason, and responded to by Bro. Polley) ; •• Kindred Societies " j '• The Ladies " ; " The Hostess " ; and " The Press."