THE BUILDING SOCIETY.

Southland Times, Issue 1546, 5 March 1872, Page 3

THE BUILDING SOCIETY.

Sib, — It has become apparent to many that the Southland Building, Land, and Investment Society at its present stage does not satisfy the requirements of the place, persons who would borrow if they could being debarred from doing so by not being able to get shares. Now without throwing any doubt on the institution as at present constituted, its usefulness in the past being acknowledged, and its future.career and ultimate ■uecess being confidently looked forward to, I venture to avail myself of your columns to make a suggestion to the members, knowing that the constitution

of the Society cannot be improved without the consent of a majority of three-fourths in value of the shareholders present at a general meeting, and believing that it is better that the members should talk the matter over quietly among themselves, and form their opinion on the subject, than that it should be debated at a general meeting:, where those who, like the writer, are slow of speech and dull of understanding, would not get sufficient time to think before being called upon to decide one way or another. My suggestion is a very simple one, namely, that in addition to its present business, the Society should obtain power j to issue shares to be worked on the permanent principle. »It was always contemplated by the original promoters of the Society that when the proper time arrived, and before the first series ran out, another similar i series would be started. The permanent j i principle has, however, found favor in j I other places, and is uppermost in the minds of the people here, and it is better J that an alteration should be made once for all that would require no further amendment. I believe that the proper time will be on the first of May next, as the withdrawal clause which then comes into force will have a tendency to decrease the magnitude of the Society, and I have J no doubt that there will be a profitable opening for the permanent shares, as, apart from any new business, there will be a considerable amount to be done in the way of granting second mortgages, as the original ones are being gradually reduced. j Some of the holders of the old shares may think that this plan would injure their prospect of making any more profit. But to this I answer, no. For investors will be more ready to sell out when there is a new investment open to them, and ! borrowers will be sure to buy in and get loans from the old series if the premium j is moderate. In a word, money will find its level.— Yours, &c, Progbess. Invercargill, 4th March, 1872. o