FRIENDLY SOCIETIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 August 1938, Page 4

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES

STRONG POSITION HELD IN NEW ZEALAND. SOME IMPRESSIVE FIGURES. “One is not boasting when one states that Friendly Societies have played a very important part, not only in the social sphere but also in the civic and political life of the Dominion. Benefit lodges have been the training ground for many of our prominent politicians,” said the Hon W. Lee Martin in the course of an address delivered at the golden jubilee of St Michael’s branch of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society in Masterton on Saturday night. “If we look back over the operations of Friendly Societies as a whole, we find a remarkable record of progress,” said the Minister. “In 1937, the membership of the benefit lodges was 112,888, an increase of 4,829 on 1936, or 4.47 per cent. The accumulated funds in 1937 totalled £5,1220,125, an increase of £163,177, or 3.29 per cent. In funds per capita, the Dominion lodges rank the highest, in Australasia, as the following figures show: —New Zealand, £45 17s 6d; Victoria, £3l 16s 6d; Queensland, £3l Is 9d; South Australia, £29 13s 9d; Western Australia, £24 15s 8d; New South Wales, £22 2s lid, and Tasmania, £lB 10s 5d.” These figures demonstrated the remarkable strength of the Friendly. Society movement in New Zealand. In the Dominion last year the sick pay in connection with the lodges amounted to £166,830, equal to £7 Ils 7d per sick member, or £1 10s 2d over the whole membership, while the funeral benefits totalled £48,739, equal to 8s lid per'member: The strength of the finances of the Friendly Societies in New Zealand indicated that they were in a position to meet practically all their committments. In recent years, said the Minister in conclusion, governments had manifested a keen interest in benefit lodges, and as the result of what were considered to be undesirable practices creeping in had framed legislation compelling lodges to comply with certain conditions introduced to safeguard members. (Loud applause).