New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4250, 3 November 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1874.

Considerable attention has of late been given to the condition of Friendly Societies in Great Britain. A Royal Commission has made searching investigation of the subject. It was mentioned in the Speech from the Throne on the opening of the session ; and in Juno last a very interesting debate took place in Parliament upon the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for leave to introduce a Bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to Friendly Societies. It was shown that the interests involved in these institutions were very large, that there were no leas than 32,000 of them registered, that about eight millions of people of the working and lower middle classes wore affected by them, and that the money at stake amounted to eleven or twelve millions sterling, and that by their operations two millions are saved to the ratepayers. It was stated that very many of the-societies wore in ah unsound or insolvent condition, and that the failures which had taken place had tended greatly to discourage the virtue of providence which well-managed societies of the kind did so much to foster. “ When,” said Sir Stafford Nortjicote, 1 ‘ some of those societies were spoken of “ as being in a state of insolvency it was “ desirable that the moaning of the word “should bo clearly understood. If a “ sociotyhavinglOOOmembersfor example “adopted certain tables, invited certain “ payments and promised certain benefits, “ it was clear that if the payments were “ insufficient and if no new members came “ in, it would ultimately fail to fulfil its

“ engagements. If, however, any consid- “ able number of young members were “ brought in, the fact might be for a time “concealed, because the money of the “ young men would’ go to pay the al- “ lowances to the older men who were “coming on the society’s funds. If, “ therefore, the society went on increasing “its numbers, it might postpone or “ suspend its insolvency for an indefinite “ time. Such a society was not, however, “in a healthy condition, and when the “ time came that young men refused to “ join it, the older members would be “ deprived of the benefits that had been “ promised them. If a society discovered “by a periodical valuation that some “ change was necessary, it might by “ reducing its benefits and increasing its “ payments to a small amount or by “ making a levy upon its members, “ redress and retrieve its position, and “tho sooner a society found out its mis- “ take and had the courage to apply the “remedy, the sooner that society would “bo placed on a sound footing.” The chief remedies proposed were, the construction of a set of actuarial tables for tho use and guidance of the societies, a change in the existing system of registration, and the enforcement of a proper periodical valuation of the assets and liabilities of each society by professional actuaries. Now, in this colony it is probable that, in proportion' to the population, the number of friendly societies would be found to be as great, the persons interested in them to be relatively as numerous, and tho money at stake to be comparatively as important, as in England and Wales; and it may be that their soundness is as much open to question, but upon points of social statistics in connection with them there is no information that we can find available for public use. The law regulating these societies in New Zealand is in some respects better than the Imperial .Statutes,’and, if administered with care, might obviate or remedy abuses of the system, but we have not been able, after a careful inquiry, to find that the attention -which the subject deserves and requires has been bestowed upon it in times past by the Executive Government of the colony. The clause 52 of the Friendly Societies Act, 1807, requires the trustees or other officer of any society established under the Act to transmit to-the Registrar once in every year, at a fixed time, “a general state- “ ment of the funds, effects, and affairs “ of such society,” in a form prescribed by the Act, and also at the end of every period of live years, a return of the rate or amount of sickness and mortality experienced by such society, within the preceding five years, in order that an abstract of the information so given should bo communicated to the Assembly in the annual report, which the Registrar is required to lay before both Houses of Parliament. We have searched in vain in the published records of ,the General Assembly for these reports, or one of them, and we are bound to believe that no such reports have been made. The Colonial Secretary is the Registrar of Friendly Societies, and there appears to be ground of complaint against the honorable gentlemen who during the last seven years have held that office, for their neglect on this, and on another point in connection with those societies, of important duties imposed by the law. Publicity in such cases would afford the best protection to the society as a body, and to the individuals interested in it; the defects, if any, in the rules of these societies ' would be tnus discovered, and being exposed, would perhaps be cured. Competition induces newly-formed associations to bid for custom by the offer of advantages out of all proportion to the price required to be paid for them, and there is no more common error amongst them than that of fixing a uniform rate of contribution from every member, no matter what may be his age ; this may be friendly on the part of the young men towards their seniors, but in a business light it is unjust to them, and may become dangerous also to the safety of the society. Desiring to see the co-operative principle of these societies extended and the interests of the members secured, we have ventured cursorily to call attention to the present state of the case, and most particularly to the want of those official and reliable sources of information with regard to tho condition of the numerous institutions of tho kind in this colony which ought to be found in the annual reports which the law requires to be made to the General Assembly.