FORMER OFFICES OF SOCIETY

Southland Times, Issue 23513, 20 May 1938, Page 10

FORMER OFFICES OF SOCIETY

CHANGES IN COURSE OF PROGRESS DIRECTORS EXPERIENCE TROUBLE Four different offices in various parts of the city have been occupied by the Southland Building Society during its 69 years of existence and when it moves next week to its new buildings in Tay street it will be making its fourth change of premises. The first office occupied by the society was the old Resident Magistrate’s Courthouse, which stood on the site of the present Post Office, the rental of which was £5 per annum “payable to the Bailiff.” In 1876 a move was made to a wooden building which stood on a section occupied by the Invercargill Saving Bank in Esk street. The office of Mr James Brown, who was secretary from 1872 till 1913, was a small room at the end of a long and rather dark passage, the front part of the building being occupied by Mr Thomas Brodrick. The next move (in 1882) was to Temple Chambers in Esk street, and the story of how the society became tenant of a small portion of the building instead of landlord of. the whole is interesting.

At the annual meeting in 1874 a resolution was passed authorizing the directors to purchase a site suitable for the erection of offices but they were not given any authority to erect a building. The directors, keeping this resolution steadily in view, secured offers of several sites in the main streets, and eventually in 1880 purchased a quarter-acre section in Esk street, on which the Temple Chambers now stand, for £2500. The building then on the section was an old one in the occupation of Mr G. Harrop and was used as a boardinghouse. The purchase was a good one, but the directors’ troubles were not over.

DIRECTORS CRITICIZED A number of shareholders, who objected to the purchase, presented a requisition to the directors calling for a special meeting to consider the directors’ action. This meeting, which was held in Sloan’s Theatre on July 26, 1880, and was presided over by Mr J. E. Hannah, as senior director, took the form of what was called “an indignation meeting.” Some strong language was used about the directors “arrogating to themselves powers which they did not possess” (which was of course quite untrue). The directors who voted for the purchase were called upon to resign and generally there was a great deal of heated discussion and argument. Such drastic action, however, was not supported by the meeting and the motion seeking to give it effect was lost. The shareholders had altered their views since passing the resolution in 1874, and a strong opinion was expressed that the capital of the society should not be locked up in bricks and mortar. However, no serious harm was done and the outcome of the first and last “indignation meeting” (so called) held during the 50 years was that the directors were requested to sell the section, which was done without any loss whatever, and the society became the tenants of the eastern portion of a building which was occupied by Messrs McNaughton and Co. as a booksellers’ shop. The site was worth in 1919 at least three times what it cost the society in 1880.

The transaction would have been a profitable one, but the policy of the society has always been to keep clear of speculative building or holding property, and to this policy is due the fact that the assets of the society are in a liquid state and not tied up in any way. The offices in Temple Chambers soon became too small for the society’s extending business and a third move was made in 1896 to offices in Tay street. This land was a portion of’ a section which fell into the hands of the society by default. The building cost £950 and the building account was debited with £450 as a cost of the land, making a total of £l4OO. The total mortgages were then £62,460. Business gradually increased until 1927, when the total mortgages rose to 969,690, the sum of £203,087 10/- having been lent that year. In July 1927 the society shifted to its offices in Clyde street, and it was from this date that enormous increases in business began to be shown.