The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1879.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 158, 13 May 1879, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1879.

Tiik Masterton Working Men's Club; known as the Union Club, is in a bad way, Last Monday week a meeting of members was held to receive a balance sheet, and take into consideration the state ot the Club generally, Fifteen members of the Club were, wo understand, present, and a balance sheet was presented which indicated a credit of .£26. This statement seeming almost too good to bo true, a sub-committee was appointed to inspect the accounts, and report to a meeting which was held on Friday last. The sub-committee, after going carefully through the books, found that instead of a balance to their credit the Club would, Viffcer all outstanding accounts were paid, have.,to meet a deficiency of from £6O to £7O. The members of the Club, not. being satisfied wiih the report, appointed '.a sub-committee consisting of Messrs. Hogan, Elly, and 1!. CI. Williams, who have been requested to go through the accounts of the Club ah initio, and to report to a meeting to be held this evening, It must be very unsatisfactory for a Club in the first six months ol its existence to have got its accounts into, apparently, so unintelligible a form that it is difficult to tell its position within £IOO. If working men cannot manage matters better than this they would lie better without a Club. Working Men's Clubs, properly constituted and organised, are very excellent institutions, and it is a pity that a movement which is in itself admirable should be brought into disrepute by the carelessness and neglect of the committee which has had charge of the Union Club, But two courses apvear to us to be open to membersone is to put the Club into the hands of men capable of conducting its affairs successfully, If such men cannot be obtained, the other obvious alternative should be adopted, viz,, to wind up its affairs before they get more complicated than they seem to he at present: The experience of the Greytowu Club, which has been in existence for a much longer period, would point to the conclusion that bad management is the complaint under which the Union Club has come to grief.