HIBERNIAN SOCIETY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 90, 9 January 1918, Page 3

HIBERNIAN SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the St. Patrick's branch of tho Hibernian Society was held at St. Patrick's Hall on Monday . evening. Bro. J. P. M'Gowan, 1i..1\, presided. The annual returns required by the Government under the Friendly Societies Act were presented by tho secretary. The total receipts wore £913 ss. lid. and the expenditure £1174, ( Js., showing an excess of £261 3s. Id. expenditure over receipts, a clear indication of how the war is affecting friendly societies' finance. The principal items of expenditure were sick pay £305, funeral benefits £240, two of the deceased members being insured in the special extra death benefit scheme, and their relatives were paid £70 for each. The funeral levies to the New Zealand District Funeral Fund, which is consolidated, totalled £62 10s. lid., and the sum of £43 was remitted to the District Supplementary Sick Fund Medical attention and medicine cost the society £333, and £25 was remitted to the District Management Fund. No attempt has been-made to increase the membership, owing to the war, as friendly societies cannot afford to undertake any additional risks. Fifty members are*absent with the Exnjnditionary Forces, and their contributions, amounting to £150 per annum, wore being made good by the society, which was now beginning, to. feel tho (position most keenly. „ '