TAILORESSES UNION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 23

TAILORESSES UNION.

A, special meeting of fche members of the SailorOTsea' Usion was held in the Choral Hall ob Monday night to consider the position of the hie sscretary (Misa H. R. Morrison) in relation to the accounts of the society. Mr G. Parches (president) ocoapied the chair, and there was a large attendance. The members of the committee were Bested on the stage. The Chairman stated thai; he would explain fti nearly as he could all the events which had led up to the present position of the Tailoretieea' Union. As tar as he could ascertain, in the year 3889 the union was started, and about two years after that it waa thought by some influential ladies and gentlemen who were warm sympathisers that it would be a grand thing If they got a convalescent home in" con- - Election with the union. They started to rai*e v subscriptions, and gewinj meetings ware held .ftt which a quantity of work was done. That , went on for some time, and in the meantime application was made to the Government to get a grant of land at Moeraki on which to erect the horns, the application being granted. After come tame the proceedings cat&e to a standstill, the reason he could not exactly explain, but he thought it was for the want ef funds. The goods that had been made were therefore packed away in boxes and remained there until the baza-.? was held. About the New Year fima of last year it was decided that somothicg sbould 1 bs done with these goods, and it was eycatualry ; resolved to hold a grand Scottish carnival. At ,a special meeting held for the' purpose Miss Morrison was appointed manager, and a special and treasurer were also appointed. He wished to point oat that this committee was not the general committee of the union, but p. spwsMil committee and treasurer. In due time the carnival was held, and in June last .the balance sheet was put before the meeting, and although some of the members were snr- , prised— were not i&tisied with the amount accruing from^the affair as set forth in the balance sheet,— they did not challenge the statement became they knew nothing about it, aud the matter passed over. In September Hiss >Merririen wont ■to Auckland, and after that on looking over the bs:oks it was found that there were, some discrepancies. A sob-committee jwas set up, and on gojog through the books tttay fou&d tome dUerepancie) in the previous year. Th*y deeid«d to hold over these items till she returned to give .an explanation. When ih* returned the speaker wrote and a*k*4 her nat te rotame her duties tilln&e ha 1 ? seen him, addiug that he would tub-gequt-utly explain his reason for nuking the ' reque*t. She came down to his house, and he Rjkrd her to explain ab ut some heati. She refund to give the explanation or to make an appointment at the office to go through the book*. She changed her mind on this paint, however, dating the night, and next day Mins M'KviPon, Mr Bolt, and the speaker himself mmt s.t fbe offic* to go through the backs. She aslced permibsioß , first to copy out a statement, which she did, and she then refused point blank Jbo go through the books. He therefore reported to the committee tint Miss Morrison r«fussd to ,give any explanation. About this time the haHf-yesrij audit wa< dne, and tbe books were gen< to the auditors, .the rt-sult boing tfb»fc ©fcher di i ropannies w-re bought te light. To get at 1 the ex*ct positi m it w*s foond necew-ry to audit the balance sheet of the ornivsJ, and the astounding fact w*s brought out that there was a discrepancy of neatly £100 beiwennthe balance ebeefc and Miss Morrison's statement in the bofks. On the coai«ion cf the first nK-eting held by tie meirbers in that hall fclie boots and balance 6heet only cams to hind abiufc 5 o'clock on that afternoon. Ie tbe meantime they had found out feint the uj»ion w«s not registered, and if it had b^e-n decided to take any U gal <?teps thwe w u<d have been seme difficulty in doing no. It w-is therefore thought advUnble to tx«k Miss Morrison to refund tie Money. Such a, propo«idoa was pnt to the vote and carried. A petition, however, ww received the next day requt-6'ing that another meeting be called. and tbafc the opjok>n of ttw members be again taken on Vac point. A second neeiing whs accordingly held, and by a large majority it was *g«ia~ decided that Miss Mormon ba allowed to refund the amnuafc. Aftar some BegotiaUon she rcfunoled £92 I9i lOd That was the amouat feat was found to be <i>fiote«t on the oarnival 'aooount. Mws Hevrisoß bad spread reporta nbout tbat tke coMmitfee and he ,tlie sp«»ker) had received part ef tiw money, a*d the oom^nittoe sfcrpufated that she sheold siga this doesmsnfc : <* I, H. R. T!ll»rrison, do hereby acknowledge tbat Mac books ef the Dunedin TaiWese:*' Union, having been audited by certified ftocount««t*, tibo dii«erepanc}es are brongbt out by tbe«, an« tu-e net 4ecu<*tious ac 4 mi«st*tetnenfc« made by the Cumrnktee of M&na.g'm-«t." It was, decided at the la»t meeting thtt Miss Sl«rrisou sbould have a stated time to pay up the mooey. In eubmittiog fcbat to the solicitors anotiMcdiffieulty prf.emi&i i'srlf . It was found tftttt tbe finvde tx tbe e&roival had been banked in her ttuns, and tbe?*fore tbe rootiey as it 6feopd at that tima was prao^icaHj her n\on*>y, and they conld not force her to p*y it. Tho £150 in tbe balance *h«sfe of tie caraiv*l was" also in Mi§» Mormon's name, aad ttee/ h^d to lose the hfclf-jear's interest in witbd*wing it from n» - Bawe and teansfcrrißg it in tho names of the speaktir and Mr Bolt. Under tbe»e clrcam- , etitnce*, aad taking into ooeeideratien tbe fact th*t the unioa nas not r«gUter«d, Miss Morriuon, if she waa so dftsiroua, couM have refused to pay any money at oil. But she hs4 refuudod tbe mm he had mtntioned «od signed the sbateni^nt be had read. He might explain why Bliss M'*ri«on banked the money in her own name. At the first picnic of the union, which was held at PurVkaimi, it was thought advisable to beep the picnic money separate fro"* the union money till it had been decided wh«t fhoald bo done with it. It was banked, therefore, in her name. After the money was ditposed of the account was never closed. The bank books being in the offica, Mina Morrisom took the opportunity of uung them to bank in her bwb name. Not satisfied with that, she also put the £150 in her own name. In conclurioa, if any member wished to atk any question* he would answer them. They had had a good deal of difficulty in raking out all the facts. There were some cheques drawn from the carnival cbt-que book, and the items for which these amatmta were paid were not put down in the bkoks, so they had some difficulty in tracing where the money went. They did trace them though through th« banks. Two of the eteques went through the Colonial Bank,- and (they had to go to the Bank of New Zealand to £ja<4 out where they went to. - Ons of the Comhittbe : You might tell the members whet the cheques were drawn for. The Chairman : One of the cheques was for £3 12s 6d, paid to Hallenstein and 00. for a very »uperior mackintosh. AVoicb: WheforP The Gjeaeruan i Well, for Miss Morrison, I gappote. Mia Morrison bought it; I don't jknow who got it. " Onh or- -thh Committee j Miss Morrison Wore it. The Chaibmani There vu another cheque full fa ed for ooiti, I'b&t wtafc to pay fifisi

Morrison** private coal account. Another cheque went to a jeweller, and it was for a present—a small gold guard — that Miss Morrison made to a friend. There was another cheque which went to purchase a spring mattress. I may tell you the mattress is not in the office, and the committee desire me to state that none ef them have got it. There was another cheque drawn to balance tha aooount. It was found that the account would not balance, and a cheque made payable to bearer was drawn to balance it. Miss Morrison of course drew tbe amount herself, but I oannot say where the money Trent. There are other things which were discovered ia connection with the affair. It appears that Speight and Co gave a cheque to the bazaar, and this wai accounted for. They also gave two casks of beor.— (A Voicb : •' Pour X" ?) The ber never came to the carnival, bat it went to Miss Morrison's house. It was tapped there by Speight's man. Other things went astray. I dou't kaow who has got them, but they never came to the carnival as for as we oan learn.

Mis* Dickson i Did Miss Morrison get the money due to her for wage* P The Chairman : Yes ; that was deducted from the £93. — (Cries of "Oh," and dissent.) A Voice : How much was due to her P The Chairman : £32 A Member : r s the £60 to go to the union or totfae relief ••> is?

The Chaikjun : It will go to the benefit fund because it was carnival' mouey.

A Member : Is the benefit f and to be continued ? - The Chatemanj Oh, yes. I may tell you the money available for the benefit fund is £360. A Mkmbkr : What monay have you in the batik in the union's fund P Tbe Chairman : £465 in the union's account. After waiting for. further questions, the Chairman stated that Mist Konntdy had been acting as secretary. The nominations fur the executive would take place in June, and he suggested that matters be allowed to continue as th«y were until that time. If there was no objection r&iaed he would take it that the meeting wxtuld ogres to that proposition. A Membkr : Has the union been rtsgistared P Th« Chairman : The unioa hns been registered under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act for some time. A* soon as we found that it was not registered under the Trades Union Act we made application to Wellington, and the necessary pipw* have been filled in, but there will have to be an alteration in the ruleß before the matter is sei.tkd. A Member aeked if the books h*d been certified to as being wrong by the gentleman who wa« auditor at tho time P The Chaihman: No. So far I oan see he has net aadtted the books at all, but; simply pocketed the fees. A Member: He was supposed to have audited tJi-ni, was he net P Th« Chairman: He was supposed to hays audited them. Another Member : Did he have the books P . The Chairman : Oh, yes, he had the books. In going over the previous half-year the sub-ootnmittes found that in one instance thsre was an account of 93 61 for coal. Tbe account wns mutkfed paid. Next month we got a bill for £1 1p 6d for- coal, which included the 9< 63, which w*s referred to as account reudered. This b 11, although it included an account paid ou the previous month, was h1«o marked paid. The auditor could not have audited the books or he would have seen this. ■ The proceedings then closed.