The Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1893. Societies.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4582, 2 March 1893, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1893. Societies.

iiTTLH " "fliifcte* was caueed a fewjweeks ~ag<rby"3f r Coghlan; -Registrar of Friendly ■Societies In ;New South/Wales, reporting -that many of these Societies were practa-: cally- iii&plveht, because of the tmeouhdness of their baßisv If that were firue of jSocietie'a in New'South Wales itTwoutd neceßsarily. be true of many in this" Colpny and. else* where, since their system of 'contributions and benefits ia ; praotioally . fiame. •There was talk of etrfagent legislation, i w,ftn, ayie.w to ptocing.th eJfjrW'dly Societies 'on. a proper .footing; and^ineantime it jßtn© intention of the New South; Wales Government to < refuse registration to all Societies whose scale of payments anc benefits isnot approved by the Registrar of Friendly Societies. It would be a huge misfortune if the working people, who'have for years been contributing to these Mutual Insurance Companies, were to be rudely awakened to the faob that the expected "benefits" had vanished. Oar neighbours in New South Wales are therefore to be commended for taking up the question with, vigour. We observe that prominent officials of several Friendly Societies in Sydney were recently interviewed on the subject, /and the result was to elicit a somewhat curious divergence of opinion as between the rival organisations of Foresters and Oddfellows. The representative of the Foresbera apparently thought Government interference undesirable. He said the Ancient Order of Fores bero had, during nearly all the time of its existence, been accused of being bankrupt, and had its failure predicted;: yet it had gone on increasing and prospering, until now it has a membership of _860,000, a capital of_ JJS,OOOOOO sterling, an annual income of £1,000,000, and. a profit of .£180,320 last year. He deprecated hasty legislation, as it might injure some Societies, and would pr6bably drive many out of registration, and deprive the members of the safeguards thus provided. On the other, hand the. representatives of the different Orders of Oddfellows were more or less in favour of the legislation proposed by Mr Coghlan. This may; be accounted for by the fact that Mr Coghlan had not aoted upon any mere "fad" of his own, but had made his calculations upon lines similar to those followed by an expert in England, who was connected with the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows. One of the representative Oddfellows in Sydney said Mr Coghlan was thoroughly capable of grasping the Bubject, and in his opinion was "perfectly justified in objecting to Societies guaranteeing what they were unable to pay." It thus seems that the Oddfellows (in Sydney, at least) occupy the position of wishing to B ee the basis of Friendly Societies made more secure, while the Foresters incline to uphold the " happy-go-lucky " system, which has hitherto yielded such good results! Between those two views it is not difficult to decide what course the State must pursue. It must legislate for the safety of the people', and must by law put an end to a system that has a striking resemblance to " obtaining money by false pretences." ]

•:|Bv«n the representative of the Foresters M Syduey is favourable to legislation to fjsnxpower the Government to obtain returns of payments and benefits, extending over a period of years, from every Friendly Society, and from these to compile a scale of entrance fees, subscriptions, siek and funeral benefits, together with a superannuation fund to relieve the branches. Their registration should be made compulsory, and we infer (though he does not say so) that the authorised scale of fees and? benefits would be the only scale allowed to be used. If that were done, and if all the Societies cheerfully accepted the new order of things, the evil would be pretty Well vanquished. But there is a very formidable " if" to be got over. The Friendly Societies have caught the competitive spirit, and we fear that, no matter what legislation is passed, some of them will try to evade it, in order to attract new members in greater numbers than their rivals can, secure. But they must remember that, 'unless they loyally accept compulsory scales guaranteed by .Government, they will, era long, have to face the' alternative of a universal State system* of working men'a insurance and pensions that would put an end to all exuting Friendly Sooieties. This subject, therefore, demands the earnest considers tion of all members and well-wishera of Buch organisations. • '