DRUIDS GRAND LODGE

Otago Witness, Issue 3444, 16 March 1920, Page 5

DRUIDS GRAND LODGE

OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND. The twenty-second session of the Grand Lodge of Druids of Otago and Southland took place at the Oddfellows' Hall, JRattray street, on the 11th. The proceedings were opened by the Mayor (Mr W. Begg), who briefly welcomed the delegates to Dunedin and wished them every success in the deliberations they were about to enter into. Mr R. E. Hayes (Registrar of Friendly Societies) ■ was also in attendance, and in the course of an address said he thought figures he could quote would induce people to take more interest in the Friendly Society movement. Starting with the year 1897 and including 1918—31 years the societies had paid out in sick benefits £1,480,797; for funeral benefits, £332,144; and in medicine benefit, £1,369,241; and, they were to remember that the whole of the benefits came from very'small contributions of working men and women, which went to show that notwithstanding the alleged extravagance of the public, there was a lot of thrift and self sacrifice in the country. Referring

to the mortality experience, he said thatthe war reinsurance scheme had come out j very favourably. The total premiums ! oharged.to that fund amounted to £72,000 (half paid by the Government, but death claims had amounted to only £52,000. which meant that the premium rate of 8 per ] cent, had proved more than sufficient and, j consequently, that there would be a refund !to be made to the societies. Speaking ' of losses through the war other than moneI tary, the death rate had been very heavy, j I The experience up to last year had been j | 26 per thousand, whilst the normal rate was j 7 per 1000. Luckily such experience would I not continue or the position of friendly | societies would be very serious. What the j societies must now do is make every effort ! to add to the membership, for what they | had lost was young men, who were assets, I and not old members, who were liabilities. j The retiring president's report, after a : big introduction, was, inter alia: —"Our ! strength in 1914 was 2917, 599 were on ! active service with his Majesty's forces—j 20.5 of the membershop of the order. One ! hundred and six of the pride of our man- ; hood will never return —a percentage of j 17.69 of the enlistments. Our finances, I happily, are steadily on the increase, thanks j chiefly to the wise investments made by ; our Grand Lodge trustees, ably supported i by the Advising Board in Invercargill and I Oamaru. To all these brethren I tender, i on behalf of the order, our hearty thanks I for the self-sacrificing and arduous service : they ungrudgingly render at all times. They truly might take as their motto: 'I serve.' You will see by your balance sheet that the special funeral fund is in debt to the sick and funeral fund to the extent of £1798 12s 6d. Brethren, no cause for alarm need be feared, as this money has since been largely refunded by the Government, representing insurance on our valorous dead. Since your Grand Secretary closed his books there now remains a deficit of £l5O only. This unhappy position is accounted for by the fact that right on the top of our making the special fund contributory, as desired by the registrar, came the great war, which , upset everything. A matter of grave im- ! portance to our order, as well as other

friendly societies is the rapidly depreciating value of the sovereign. This is a question upon which I do not propose to touch, other than the fringe, or propound a remedy, as it would involve a great deal of time, it being one in my opinion that a Friendly Societies' Conference should take up and deal with. Members of societies who are on the lower ranges of continued benefits must feel their financial position very acutely; and the time is now ripe, in fact over ripe, for concerted action, either of approaching the State for assistance or preferably of increasing our benefits (necessarily increasing rates of contributions), which I am sure would meet with hearty approval, thus ' showing that friendly society members recognise their various mottos—the chief being 'United to Assist.' " It was resolved that the president's report be adopted and printed in the Report of Grand Lodge Proceedings. The auditors report and the balance sheet were adopted, as also was the report of the Board of Management. Other reports were also, dealt with. Several remits bv the Board of Management were considered and adopted, amongst which was one empowering the board to. raise the lew for the management fund from 7d to 8d per member. All remits from lodges were lost on the voting, excepting one from the Lily of the Valley that: "All goods and regalia belonging to all branches shall bo covered by a blanket policy held by the Grand Lodge, covering the jurisdiction. The" board to arrange the necessary machinery." Moved by Bro. W. H. Hopkins, P.G.P. t That this Grand Lodge take steps to sever its connection with the Supreme Grand Lodge of Australasia, with a view to forn> ing a Grand ■ Lodge for New Zealand. Seconded by Bro. Barham. —Carried'. Op the motion of Bro, Birt, gecondecl by

Bro. Jacobsen, it was resolved: That it be an instruction to the incoming board tc review the present method of dividing the funds, and if it is found advisable to adopt the method of the Grand Lodge of Canterbury, or any other amendment, they are hereby empowered to amend and register the necessary rules to carry that decision into effect. The election of officers resulted as follows;: —Grand president, Bro. A. Sunderland; vice-president, Bro. O. \V. Jacobsen; Grand Treasurer, Bro E. L. Birt (reelected); Grand Guardian, Bro. T. Walsh; Beard of Management—Bros. G. Green. A. E. Churchill, 0. E. Beazley A. Ockwell, and A. Aitken; Appeal Committee —Bros. T. H. Scannell, D. M. Niven, M. Beath. Geo. Alexander, and Webb; G.L. AuditorsMessrs Mitchell, Harvey, and Crawford. The newly-elected officers were duly installed in their respective offices by Grand! President (North Island:), Bro. Flanagan, and a vote of thanks was passed to him for the able manner in which he carried out the ceremony; and to the visitors for their attendance and the assistance they had rendered in the deliberations. Bros. Lockston and Flanagan, in addressing the meeting, strongly advocating one Grand Lodge for New Zealand, and complimenting the district on the step they had taken in effecting the consolidation of their funds.