AFTER SIXTY YEARS

Southland Times, Issue 20794, 7 June 1929, Page 6

AFTER SIXTY YEARS

Sixty years of unmitigated progress, and unremitting service in the cause of thrift is a record of which any institution may be proud, but when this record is considered in its proper relationship to the history of this country in general and this province in particular it becomes more significant of the extraordinary value of cooperation. Some difficulty may be found in determining whether in the distribution of praise the balance should lean to the foresight, of those early settlers who founded the Southland Building Society or to the skill with which the affairs of the institution have been managed since its establishment. It- is an interesting fact that the society Is older than the Corporation of Invercargill. The Invercargill Town Board, being unable to levy rates, was compelled to abandon a proposal to raise a loan of £25,000 and the body itself was permitted to disintegrate. At this time the Southland Building Society was launched on a career that has been of extraordinary influence in Invercargill and the surrounding country. This institution began very modestly, but a striking proof of the unremitting care with which its affairs have been managed is afforded by the fact that in good days and bad the society has never failed to pay a dividend, its average distribution of profits working out at slightly below seven per cent, per annum. The importance of this institution which can report record activities in its jubilee year, is that its influence is for thrift and for the investment of savings in property. The idea that thrift is hoarding is foreign to the doctrine of the Building Society. Its aim is to make possible the investment of small sums with the object of enlarging the number of home-owners. If it is accepted that stability and solid progress are brought about by increasing the proportion of burgesses who own their own homes, institutions of this kind are of inestimable value to a community, and the statistics of the Building Society give point to the argument because undoubtedly it has played a big part in making Invercargill the solid town it is. In its jubilee year the society is vigorous and popular; the confidence it inspires is a tribute to the skill and energy of those who have been associated with its management during its long and honourable career.