I.O.O.F., M.U.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 73, 25 April 1902, Page 4

1.0.0. F., M.U.

At Wellington on Friday night the Executive of Wellington District, 1.Q.0.F., M.U., entertained the delegates attending the colonial conference of the Order. Representatives of nearly every other friendly society in the city were present as guests, as well as Messrs A. R. Akinson, .G. Fisher, and T. M. Wilford, M.H.R. P.P.G.M. R. Hursthouse (Motueka), in proposing the toast “The Movable Committee of New Zealand,” complimented the Order upon the officers selected to guide its affairs in New Zealand. The Grand Master (Brother J. M’Leod), in replying, said he considered that the New ■Zealand Oddfellows had taken a very wise step in forming their own Movable Committee, which he believed would be able to do great things for the Order in the colony. The Friendly Societies Act had been of great assistance to societies, but it could be improved and brought up to the needs of the times. ■Referring to the working of the Order, he said he had never yet known a case of a member being allowed to drop out of its lodges through poverty. Secessions were caused through indifference and lack of inteiest in the Order. He strongly advised parents of means to encourage their children to attach themselves to a first class friendly society, for the strength of such societies meant the bettering of the conditions of the community.