STAR BOWKETT SOCIETIES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 17894, 14 June 1920, Page 5

STAR BOWKETT SOCIETIES.

:t- ” r ~ (To the Editor). s-o tte Sir, —I read Mr Aiderton’s and Mr 1,0 Clark’s letters in answer to mine re ee Star Bowkett Society. Mr Aiderton • e ” gives quotations from the rules that , ss will govern the new society. They , are in advance of the earlier rules re that Star Bowltetts worked under, a and seem fair and enlightened rules t 0 It is hard to judge the soundness of 8n any society until the entire regulations are under review. With diffile ’ deuce 1 desire to note that, the direca tors are the sole judges in refusing . or altering a shareholder's applicaC- tion for retiring or extending payd ment of dues. Il would be better n ., for the directors to have a fixed time cl established before a subscriber could ‘p retire, say five years, without any ;, e benefit. After that time, a table of ~ discounts should be framed and einJ bodied in the rules, so that a sub- . ' scriber who was unable to continue p, j his dues would know the exact , amount of his surrender, and the , payment from the society. There is Lp a society forming in Wellington, and .„ a friend of mine asked me'to loan ' him all books 1 had on Star Bowkett scheme. 1 would like to have writ- . ten more fully, but without the books A lor reference 1 cannot be certain of " the wording of the most important regulations I would like to submit “ for consideration. Mr Stone has done enough to draw subscribers’ attention to the system that is under ir “ discussion. The length of time re- ‘ quired to terminate a group of subI ’ scribers is one of the greatest draw- " backs. The society say 11J years; it. can’t be done in anything near ' f twice that length of time, and when ag it does close not much over one-tenth of the original shareholders are in he the society, or does the society know 0 where they are. The evidence suboj. mltted to the commission showed that out of two thousand in groups— in all twenty groups of 40,000, the ist society's book had lost ail records of 1( j thousands of subscribers, and the ie _ management said it was an Imposen sible task to trace them, and it was g a lnot the society’s intention to bother ld (about them. Mr Stone is correct ur |about the societies being forbidden.' is land at present the law is very er (strict over all building societies, as! so many “wild cats” have been float-] led, bringing untold misery and disusce ] ter upon wage-earners. Mr Clark n _ mentions an Auckland society, but its o f high repute has been earned by framat ing its own rules and cutting out rB the canker that Is in Star Bowkett as societies. . If our new society foljs lowed the Auckland one, then pros,e perity should ensue. Apart from tv that question, I submit intending .jj subscribers should consider if this Is m an opportune time. Tilings are not t 0 healthy by any means. Land is high, also building. Is it wise to e . buy or enter into engagements on the ts top of the market? A fall means , e a heavy handicap to the man of tnod[e erate means, if he buys land or ;r builds now. The gamble is too - e risky for the man with family re,.s sponslWlities. The class of house now of the bungalow style will to in about twenty years be a ~t wreck through contraction and warping, and once they go there is ro = mending. In the States they are built ; i on steel frames, with expansion into'-- I ;i stices. Human nature likes a gamble, I )r I and everyone expects to get the luck, so I

: Starr-Bowkett Societies appeal to many I regardless of the stoney road to travel, | it ill-luck strikes one, so about seven out of ten chuck up the sponge before ■ 1 final dividend is declared. The gods distribute luck in a more incotuprehensihle manner—-that, i-j the charm 1 suppose. \ near neighbour on one side set a. sitting of thirteen eggs; they all came out. He is an industrious man, but. smokes and is a moderate drinker; alsd if he thinks he has a good thing on, a flutter on the tote. Another neighbour on my other side thought be would have a go, no he sat two hens on thirteen eggs each, and got one chick out of the lot. Now be does not smoko or drink, and being a strict chapelite, eschews the tote. and stiH gets all the ill-luck. So it seems one can pay in to the last call, and get one clmikv, and another many chances. Mr Clark says I I want to pour cold waler on t.he j scheme. All I wish to do is to show to those of limited means the risks they I run in going into a gamble. One must | have security to lift the loan, and if successful the £30!) is inadequate to i build, as £*lso. I am told, is the estiI mate per room in building. So a louri room house would see very little if any of £6OO. It is always best to look l/e--fore vou leap.—l am. etc.. El). ALSTON. Pitt Street.