MANCHESTER UNITY ODDFELLOWS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 288, 24 August 1918, Page 8

MANCHESTER UNITY ODDFELLOWS

GR-VND BOA KB OF DIRECTORS MEETS.

The Grand Master .and Board of Directors of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows have been sitting in Wellington during this week. The most important matter before the meeting has been the question of the payment of the contributions payable by, and tlifc sick pay.payablo to,. war members whilst on active service. The retuuis from the various centres before the meeting showed that the sick pay paid 1!)) lodl-es had been .£5329 Of. ail.; and that the contributions duo from the consolidated fund to tlie lodges for the of war members contributions was M "s Gil. The rule provides that these nionevs are lo be raised from three source 1 !—(1) Extra contributions from imUvidual members; (2) levies on: the «- isting sick and funeral fund* of lod„e., to neutralist- Hie liability that would have been cast on those funds m civil hfo. nowbeing borne by the war fund; (3) by appropriations of the surplus funds of The meeting decided to make a levy on the individual members of lodges varying with the benefits payable m the different lodges, payable quarterly, tho first- instalment: to bo paid on September

Under the second source of income, provision has been made for two levies of 21 per cent, each on the existing sick and" funeral funds. '. A number of claims for refunds of ■ contributions and benefits were dealt with by the meeting, and payments were ordered to be made for the periods for which the soldiers were shown to be sick; convalescent periods were not inThe preliminary report? of the valuations of the Wellington, Marlborough, and Wanganui districts prepared by - tlie Gorornment Actuary were presented, showing 'hat these districts were in possesion of considerable surpluses. Auckland. Hawke.'s Bay, and' Nelson districts bv their preliminary reports, supplied at an earlier date, showed that the<'o districts were also found to bo in an exceptionally strong financial position. J lie Registrar'of Friendly Societies reported that the remaining reports, which were delayed owing to further information bein" required from three districts, would bo available at an early date. The lodge and district degrees have been tho subject of careful revision by an influential committee of Australian Oddfellows, and havo been settled oil .a uniform basis bv the society in Nw Zealand and all tho Australian Males, excepting Soiltli Australia, which, according to latest reports, is also favour- | ably considering its adoption. On Wednesday evening the oflicors ot ! tlip society had a rehearsal of several of tho degrees in tho presence of a lftlgo ! number of city nnd suburban brethren. Tho Grand Master and becrotary of tho society were reqeusted by tho meeting to pay 'an ofliciftl visit to tho'laranaki and Wanganui (districts next month. It was decided that every member who joins Uvo Air Service shall, for the purposes of. the War Members ]?eliet liind, k> deemed to have become a war member from the time'he commcnccd his aviation instruction. It was reported to the meeting that some members of the society who are on home service were applying to have their contributions paid out ot tho War Members' llelief l f «nil, notwithstanding that their income as soldiers is considerably- ill excess of tho income earned in civil life. Tho unanimous opinion of tho directors was that tho working men who form tho rank and filo of the society should not bo called uiion to pav extra contributions in order to provide for the payment of tho contributions of home service members in more affluent circumstances. Provision was made under general rule 153 (7<i) to obtain tho necessary conKent of tho districts lo confine tho privilege of having contributions paid to tlioso members of tho order who go on active service. ' i