THE NEW FRIENDLY SOCIETIES BILL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4788, 27 July 1876, Page 3

THE NEW FRIENDLY SOCIETIES BILL.

The delegates from the Wellington branches of -various friendly societies, who also represented the views bt branches in other portions of the colony, met a number of members of; the House of Representatives on July 24, in the chamber of the House. There were presentTrMr. ■ Reynolds (chairman,), Messrs. Rolleston, Stout, Swanson, Trie, Bastings, and Hursthouse, M.H.B.’s, and the following from the societies—Mr. F. H. Fraser (I.O.B.), Mr. J,: Smith, jun. (T.0.0.F.), Mr. S. P. Andrews (G.T.), and Mr. Quin (A.O F.) Some discussion on the new Friendly Societies Bill.took place/ in which the views put forward by the delegates were received with' the greatest' at-' tention by the ,members} of: the House' pre- : sent, who expressed a desire that legislatiou on tbe subject in hand should not be hurrifid; but that fall time for ascertaining the requirements of the societies should. be allowed, . Mr., Eolleston and Mr. Reynolds undertook to ask the Government to lay on the table of the House the tables.of payments, they desire:to render legal before the registration of friendly societies. The Wellington delegates agreed to furnish- members with a statement of the amendments desired in the Bill, ‘and it was agreed that another meeting should ■ be held . on Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock.’: During the discussion which took place the attention of. members was drawn to the fact that in the opinion of some the; new .Friendly Societies Act at .Home was not:working as well as was imagined, as was shown.,by the following from the Cheshire County News of May 19th ;—“ A deputation, representing; the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows/and 1 the Ancient Order, of Foresters/waited upon the Ohaiioellor of the Exchequer on Tuesday, to represent to him certain inconveniences arising out of the working of the Friendly ' Societies Act of last session.—Mr.- Curtis (one of the representatives of the Manchester- Unity)' introducing the deputation, said they! had given the promoters of the Bill all, the, assistance in their power, and should b.C. .sorry ..now to find that the excellent intention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer becomes a dead letter! Witfl regard to the Treasury regulations as' to cancelling .and registering; i they - were found' to be so complex and inconvenient-’and'the exJ ponse so enormous that all the B#l Intended to do would be 105 t,,, Their.lqdges>would not takethe trouble nor incur 'the..expense,of ad/ vertising,; which alone .would .cost their society 1 not less than £3OOO, and the whole expense of. cancelling and registration would .not ,be ;far. short of four times that sum I .—Mr/.Shawcross’ ' (of the Foresters) said their branches numbered' about the same as the •Manchester Unity; qb 1 ■ that the cost would be as much as'ih the case | of the other society! :He urged' that the Trea--' snry regulations should be made public before ' jthey became .-binding,? so that .the' societies' : should - have an opportunity, of- objecting to'; itbem ; and that a change should,bo made, in the regulation requiring a captain’s certificate, regarding if death at sea before money was -paid ton, widow, as the,regulation ineoessary delayin' the payment pf .mbhey.ihuch' 'required.—Mr. Davnes and Mr. Pinchbeck 'also ; sp6kc to a similar Effect. Stafford iNorthcote said he was most annious to! meet their wishes. He knew that > the question of branches was one; of the difficulties whichriihd to be met and which they proposed to meet in' the Bill of last' quarter. 'Tt:"w,'is intended, to get oyer the inconvenience of Mr, Tidd Pratt’s decision, that every .branch must, be .registered .society ’ ‘.They knew, t}io,.difficulty of batryitig, hh'important measure^ "of the kind tErod^h J, ihoI'Hoflse*’ 1 'Hoflse*’ !of J Cfammons! ','-.Sug-,'. gdttions' 'wefe- 15 yjirun|j» L upo^ 11 them at 'dif-‘ !icult ! : stagis •;' ()£';'the'' proceedings,''' and, hidgi! 1 were ’’dona -'in. , ‘ l ‘'h'4st€j ; by' 1 persons; vhb did not'soo all' the."6earfiiga of‘ fhb 1 qlieaJ ion. i -Some of the regulations imidO l»Bt year' , with'regard to advartiring, , iiitontled entirely .'in | tho interest of .the societies,: had iadithe affect! of, laying, an , 1 :. iff'-the .matter of thq.jlegi^tffip-,of ' branches!:' .Nplffipig’- couldhave; ,1)90% fufthw,; from tlibir Intention, arid' it was intended to

bring in a-Bill'to -mhisi tie* difficulty. They' must, of course,’take care that in, what was, done; the full consent .of - the branch was proved, for he was .told there] was not an inconsiderable number of branches who desired to' keep in their present position. Tf. they got the evidence there .was no wish 1 ’to.encumber .the registration with any needless, trouble,- . assur-. edly not-with' any ~ needless .expense. Sir Stafford also thought there was no difficulty * in - complying with their wishes respecting deaths at sea and the publication of ; the regulations before they became operative. He read extracts from, a draft Bill which had been-prepared with a view of meeting the wishes of the societies, and promised to consult Mr. Forster and others, and send copies of the Bill in order to elicit their opinions, as he said that with the amount of business they had to do it was desirable the amending Bill should pass unopposed.— Having- thanked Sir Stafford, the deputation withdrew/’, . The delegates undertook to prepare questions to be sent by Government -to the Various branch societies the colony, ‘in order to learn, their exact views'on the new Bill, and to see whether a postponement of the measure until next session might not be deemed desirable, • • ■