Building Society.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 28, 4 August 1900, Page 3

Building Society.

About 30 gentlemen assembled last evening in the Borough. Council Chambers to considerate question of forming a Wai mate Building Society. His Worship j the Mayor was voted to tlte chair. He explained the objects .of tih<3 meeting. There had beeq, very little interest taken in the subject and it was thought advisable Eo ? ask Messrs C." N. Macintosh anU Bourne to address % inetting wi&U the purpose of arousing iritec'-esf, Mr Bourne, in addn s .iug thej meeting, explained how Mr Macintosh and himself had comtf' to be there. They had thought to help a neighbouring gaiety, and had offered to try andarouse interest. He explained the number of shares held by Timaru societies. He advised that no society be formed unless wt- least 300 members were forthcoming. All knew the objects of building societies, and they were^indsed excellent. He explained the payments to be made, and the money which could be drawn out of, the society. The society was a kind of money-lending society, charging interest which was low to begin with, and was coutinually decreasing. It was foolish to payrent, when, by investing the same amount, you can get the use j of a property which becomes your own at the end of 11 years., He would suggest that the shades in the society be £100, and that at least 500 shares be taken up. The number of shares held by oiie man should not be limited? Pie would bo pleased to gWvi information to anyone at auy time as to the working of these societies. Mr Macintosh was then called upon to say a f«w words. The result of the present system^ of everyone playing a lone 'hand, was that the banks got the use of money stored up to bay a property, and the person storing it up had to wait for years before owning a house of his own. He explained the various payments to be made, and advocated the issue of £100 shares. The three societies in Timaru had advanced £31,000, and not one pound had been lost through failure of security. A building society was one of the best systems of: investmenfc he knew. The acquisition o£ property made a man take an interest in the town of which he holdb a part. PropeiMfyJ/i "Timaru has recently increased- in value about 25 per cent., and this was largely due to the. building societies. At least 400 shares should be taken up. His Worship thought much information hnd been gained from the speeches. Ono objection he thought a very weak one was that (be principle of gambling entered largely into the disposing of shares. Mr explained that he thought the Timaru No. 2 Sooiefcy might be able to take in the 140 Waimate shareholders, but he could not be sine on that point. Mr Akhurst enumerated the assets of the old Waimate Building Society. These included £35, the alleged ?alue of rule book?, pence book, etc., but Mr Macintosh explained that these would be no use in the event of an amalgamation. Mr Vlilsorn could not understand why the original society had failed. If Geraldiue and Teuauka could run societies, surely Waimate could have one. Waimate was one of those towns in which people ran in a groove, out of which they were praying to be moved and hoping, at the same time, not to be shifted. Mr Macintosh thought the directors had done their best, and if the townspeople were too slow to take advantage of a good thing, they must sutfer the loss. Mr Milsoin thought they were much indebted to the speakers that evening. The Government could do a great deal of good in employing Me Macintosh or some other expert lecturer to go round and preach thrift. As the speakers said, the ictoreafcs of property holders did not clash with the building societies. He regretted that Mr Macintosh was nofc invited to come down here at the inception of the other, sociotiy, and probably they would have had a live society now. He would raove a hearty vote of thanks to the speakers. Mr Hamilton had much pleasure in seconding the motion. As regards the failure of tho former society, one of the reasons given for dropping it was that it was implied that the first ballot was cooked so that a wealthy member, of the society got the appropriation. That was palpably absurd. Then again, the promoters of the society were accused of ivymg feo make something out of the society. Personally, it was against his own interest to start fehe society.

?tThe Ghf(;isrnan thoxight it was unfortunate that-, the attendance was .sniall" that nigt&{ He had heard ndWing against** th 9 efforts of the directors "of tMe previous society. They had done their best and had! failed through sheer lack of interest. ? ,The ytnofcion was carried by ao'clanaation. , Messrs Bourne and Macintosh returned thanks, a vote of thanks -to the chair concluding the meet-