688 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



were not sick 191 lapsed, being 43 per cent. Of 599 admitted 

 during the quinquennium preceding the valuation six died. 

 Of the remaining 593 members the numbers sick and not sick 

 were 120 and 473 respectively. Of the 120 who were sick 

 thirteen lapsed, being 11 per cent. ; and of the 473 who were 

 not sick 126 lapsed, being 27 per cent." In other words, out 

 of 1,334 members who belonged to the Order of Oddfellows in 

 Hawke's Bay District at som.e time within a period of five 

 years 358, or 27 "2 per cent., left the order for reasons other 

 than sickness. And yet the benefits offered are £1 per week 

 for six months, 10s. per week the second six months, 5s. per 

 week after a continuous sickness of twelve months ; funeral, 

 £20 on the death of a member, and £10 on the death of a 

 member's wife. 



But this fluctuating condition of membership appears to be 

 far from uncommon. The annual report for the Hawke's Bay 

 District I.O.O.F., M.U., for 1897 states that fifty new mem- 

 bers were admitted during the year, whilst a hundred mem- 

 bers ceased to belong to the order, of whom sixty-four had 

 been in membership under five years, twenty-five had been 

 over five and less than ten years, and eleven had been in the 

 order over ten years and under twenty-three years. And why 

 were so many members excluded from participating in the 

 benefits offered by the order after payment of dues extending 

 over such a long period of years '? It is here that the trouble 

 lies in friendly-society control, and it is in this direction also 

 that the friendly societies scarcely fulfil the proud vaunt of 

 Mr. Hughes to the committee of the English House of Com- 

 mons in the words quoted above. Men who have been so 

 many years members of a society that offers benefits such as 

 are here stated could only have left because they were unable 

 to pay their weekly or monthly dues, as the case may be, and 

 such men are often too old or too poor to anticipate the future 

 in other ways. 



Life Assurance. — The business of life assui-ance as now 

 carried on has an appreciable effect upon the friendly societies, 

 and, judging by the number of policies current at the end of 

 1896, this form of thrift is largely adopted by the better class 

 of colonists. There is no information available, as far as I 

 am aware, to show how many of those belonging to friendly 

 societies hold an insurance policy as well ; but it may be 

 assumed that, at least in the case of working-men, very few 

 of such policies will be held. The 72,193 policies such as 

 were current in 1896, with the 30,905 members belonging to 

 friendly societies, give a total of 103,098 individuals in the 

 colony, or, say, one in eight of the entire population who are 

 known to be directly interested in making provision either for 

 probable sickness, for old age, or for the benefit of those de- 



