H.A.C.B. SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, 5 February 1920, Page 35

H.A.C.B. SOCIETY.

To the Editok. . \ : Sir, —In glancing through the half-yearly report for August, 1919, meeting of the above society,' I see that the executive is appealing to all branches to set to work earnestly and go in for a systematic and thorough canvass for new members. In this respect the executive is to be congratulated, and should secure the cheerful assistance of every Hibernian. There is no reason why our society should not be the premier society in the Dominion, and attract to its fold every Catholic young man who is of an age to join a friendly society. We can claim that our benefits are as liberal as any other society's, while our contributions compare favorably with all others, whilst in addition, and above all, we have the true Catholic spirit so essential to our future welfare, and yet in spite of this our numbers are disgracefully small; and one may well ask himself—" Why is this so, Whose is the fault, and Where is the remedy?" To me the whole fault seems to lie in the fact that the representatives of the branches are so seldom brought together in conference with the grand officers of the society that the private members have nothing but occasional letters (few and far between) to remind them that there is supposed to be a live body other than their own particular branch which is controlling the destinies of this fine society. True there is a district meeting held half-yearly, but what do these amount to? To me they resemble nothing so much as the "packed juries" which so often in the past have worked such ruin and destruction amongst our kith and kin in years which are still within the memory of living men. I say they resemble packed juries because it is the experience of all branches that have attempted to bring forward any legislation that would work to the betterment of the society, to find that owing to the impossibility of sending direct representatives to these meetings at Auckland, many of the branches delegate their powers to "proxies," who are as a rule selected by the executive or district secretary, and are never advised as to the wish of the branch on the matters on which they are to represent them, with the result that they invariably vote with the executive.'

In. order to remedy such a vicious system attempts have been made in the past to amend the constitution by providing for annual direct representative meetings—fewer in number but each member being the selected representative of the sub-district he represents. Another effort is being made at the next annual meeting in February to bring these sub-districts into existence and give the society a new lease of life, and encourage the members to stick together for their own interests and for the welfare of the society at a time when unity is so essential. In addition to this sub-district scheme, which was turned down in 1916 owing to the scarcity of direct representatives at the meeting, and which has since been taken up in toto and spoken of most highly by the Druids, .there are two other "very important remits on the order paper which should not be allowed to go to a proxy meeting for decision. They are—(a) The consolidation of the sick fund; (b) the. increase of the death benefit insurance scheme from £SO to £IOO. So important are these three items that it behoves the executive to bestir itself and arrange ' for a direct representative meeting at some centre where there will be a reasonable possibility of branch representa- -> tives being present to express the views of their members instead of being represented by proxies who simply vote, and - then always vote "right." _ At the last triennial meeting in 1913, since when the war has been the excuse for holding no other, Westport

was the chosen ground ,for the next '., meeting, but -it-is rumored that the executive, whilst willing to have a representative meeting -in February, claim that they have no funds to carry out the meeting at Westport. If that is so and the matter were put to St. Canice's branch at Westport I feel sure that under the circumstances they would forego their claim for a centre like Christchurch, or any other more central than Auckland. I trust the executive will realise the great importance of the forthcoming meeting and use every endeavor to hold a ; direct representative meeting in lieu of the two which in the ordinary course of things should have taken place in 1916 and 1919.—1 am, etc., , Tr „. J. J. L. Burke. Wellington, January 16, 1920.