Auditors' Report.

Your Auditors have made a careful examination of the accounts of the District for the half-year, including March to August last, and have found them correctly kept, and agreeing with the statements contained in the Balance Sheets. As the accounts are very fully stated in the Sheets submitted to us by the Secretary, and these have of late been published in full, it does not require that we should enter into any explanation respecting them, excepting to state that we are assured by the C.S. that the stock is certainly not over-valued, and that anything believed to be unsaleable (of which however there is very little) has been noted in stock list, but no value attached thereto.

The labour which devolves upon the Secretary continues to be discharged in a creditable and satisfactory manner.

Auditors.

T. Burton,

W. Stronach,

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Resolved—That the Balance Shot and Auditors' Report be adopted.

Note.—The numbers on the margin refer to the Propositions, &c., as they were numbered on the Business Paper.

3. Appointment of an Auditor, Permanent Sec. Burton retiring. Eligible for re-election.

Permanent Secretary Bro. Burton was re elected for the ensuing twelve months.

4. Appointment of place and time for next District and Purple Lectures.

Moved—That the next District and Purple Lectures be held at Outram.

Moved as an amendment—That the Lectures be held at Pal merston. The amendment was lost.

Moved as a further amendment—That the lectures be held at Dunedin. Amendment lost.

All amendment—That the Lectures be held at Waikouaiti, was also lost, and the original motion was then put and carried. The lectures to be held at Outram, at such time as may be agreed on by the District Officers and the Officers of the Outram Lodge.

5. Appointment of a District Arbitration Committee, under the provisions of General Rule 75.

Resolved—That the Arbitration-Committee appointed in Oct. 1877, be re-appointed for the ensuing twelve months.

6. From Dunedin Lodge—That, in the opinion of this Meeting, it is desirable that the representatives of the Public Press be admitted to our District Meetings for the purpose of reporting the proceedings, if they should think lit. Carried.

7. From Dunedin Lodge—That Prov. Grand Master Leslie's name be placed on the District Merit Board, and that he receive a certificate to enable him to take the degree of a P.P.G.M. Carried.

8. From Dunedin Lodge—That the sum of ten guineas, or such other sum as the District Meeting may deem lit, be voted from the funds of the District as a donation to the Lawrence Hospital.

After an amendment, which the Prov. G.M ruled to be out of order, and a further amendment which was afterwards withdrawn, the motion was put and carried—That the sum of ten guineas be voted as a donation to the Lawrence Hospital.

9. From Dunedin Lodge—That each deputy attending the District Meeting at Lawrence be paid the sum of one guinea from the District Incidental Fund.

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The Prov. G.M. ruled that the motion, being illegal, could not be put.

10. From Dal ton Lodge—Application to open a new Lodge at Stirling, County of Bruce, to be called at "Loyal Matau Lodge," to be held at the Stirling Hotel.

It was resolved—That the application be granted, subject to arrangements to be made between the applicants and the District Officers, it being pointed out that the floods would probaby interfere with the immediate opening.

11. From Hand and Heart Lodge—That the retiring Grand Master be a member of the District Executive.

Moved—That the name of Bro. Leslie be added after the words Grand Master.

It was pointed out that to carry such a resolution would be scarcely in conformity with the strict letter of the General Rules, and after some discussion, the motion was withdrawn.

12. From Hand and Heart Lodge—That the District Officers be empowered to pay all expenses attending revision of the Rules.

Moved—That the sum of £5 be voted to defray expenses incurred in revision of District Rules. Carried.

13. Report of Bye-laws Revision Committee, and consideration of proposed new Rules.

Gentlemen—When your Committee was appointed at the District Meeting in April last, it was understood that it would not be in a satisfactory position to proceed with its labours until the Regulations and Forms of Procedure, then in preparation, were received from the Registrar of Friendly Societies.

The first meeting was held on the 3rd July last, soon after receipt of the said Regulations, &c. The first question that occupied the attention of the Committee was one which it was perceived would greatly affect the work immediately in hand, and also the future convenience, and, in some degree, the future welfare of the District, and of Friendly Societies generally. Your Committee were, and are, desirous of having our connection with the Order in Great Britain recognised by the Government of the Colony; feeling that we have just cause for gratification in being page 15 a Branch of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows—a Society which is acknowledged throughout the world to have led the way in the path of Friendly Society progress and reform. Your Committee were, therefore, naturally desirous that, as in the past, so in the future, we should be able in the most direct and convenient manner to avail ourselves of the results of the large and varied experience of our Order, as embodied in the General Rules; we therefore desired to have those rules, and any future amendments thereof recognised as part and parcel of the rules for our internal government, as far as they may be consistent with the laws of New Zealand, and not opposed to any rules of which we might obtain the registry. In order to ascertain whether the Government would recognise the General Rules and our voluntary subordination to the parent Society, your Committee decided that a test rule should be sent to the Registrar to ascertain whether such a rule would be registered. The Corresponding Secretary, therefore, wrote to the Registrar, and sent the proposed rule for his opinion. Your Committee have reason to believe that the Registrar and the Revising Banister—to whom the proposed rule was submitted in accordance with the requirements of the Act—gave the matter careful and earnest consideration, and with a desire to meet our views; the result, however, was that we were informed that the proposed rule could not be registered, "on the principle that no rules could be registered that expressly convey subordination to other rules which are not registered, and therefore of which there could not be any official cognizance," &c. It is not necessary to quote the whole of the Registrar's opinion, as the correspondence can be laid before the meeting if wished for. Your Committee felt much vexed at this decision. While we do not presume to offer any opinion as to the correctness of the decision from a legal stand point, we felt that if we were debarred from making any reference to the General Rules we would, in revising the District Rules, necessarily have to undertake a large amount of labour, and go to considerable expense in printing and otherwise, which would be avoided if the General Rules were recognised. We also felt that, whatever improvements might be introduced into the General Rules as the results of experience, we would not be able to avail ourselves of these improvements without a troublesome and expensive process, when it is recollected that the General Rules are altered, in a greater or lesser degree, every year, it will be seen that the trouble and expense of embodying these alterations in our own rules would be something considerable. When it is further recollected that there are many Districts of the Manchester Unity in New Zealand, that some of these Districts would amend their rules from time to time, to bring them into conformity with the General Rules, while others would not, it will be seen that a Society which hitherto has acted page 16 on recognised forms for the internal government and conduct of its business throughout the Colony, would be likely to lose the feeling of Unity which has existed while all acted directly under the General Rules, and which feeling combined with forms of procedure common to all, has served many useful purposes in the past. For these reasons, and others which might be given, your Committee regretted the decision of the officials. It was decided, however, to proceed with the revision of the rules, and embody in them so much of the General Rules as might be deemed necessary. Within the last two days an Act amending the Friendly Societies Act of 1877 has passed both branches of the Legislature, and at the last moment a clause was introduced which will effect all we desired in reference to a recognition of the General Rules of our own and other Societies. There can hardly be a doubt that this is a step in the right direction, and one which will have very beneficial results. Under these circumstances it is probable that the whole work of your Committee will have to be again reviewed, but we may fairly conclude that this is not a matter to regret.

Since being appointed, your Committee have held ten meetings, and the whole of the General and District Rules have been gone through. The general outline of the Rules and the alterations to be proposed have been agreed upon, but it has not been possible to have the Rules written out in time for submission to this meeting. Even had the Rules been more forward than they are, your Committee doubt whether it would have been possible for this meeting to give the time necessary for their consideration, and believe that the more desirable course is to remit the matter to a special meeting. It may be stated that in reference to future contributions, it has been agreed to recommend the adoption of one of the scales submitted to the Special Meeting held at Dunedin on the 2nd August, 1876. The special scale to be recommended being the one with present initiation fees. Your Committee have agreed upon numbers of alterations, but it will hardly be thought desirable to enter into details on this occasion.

Your Committee beg to express their regret that the Rules are not in a more forward state, but would remind you that the preparation of rules is necessarily, and at all times, a matter involving considerable sacrifice of time, and a large amount of labour and consideration, while circumstances have, in the present instance, demanded and required greater sacrifices than usual.

In conclusion, we beg to recommend that your Committee be allowed to continue their labours to completion, and that the District Officers be empowered to call a special meeting for consideration of the Rules, at such time as your Committee may see fit.

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Resolved—That the Report of Revision Committee be received and adopted, and that it he printed with the Proceedings of the Meeting.

14. To fix the rate of District Levies for half-year.

It was resolved—That the Levies for the half-year be fixed at 1s. 6d. for Sick and Funeral Fund, and is for Incidental, in accordance with recommendation of District Officers.

15. Election of District Officers.

For Prov. G.M. the candidates were—D.P.G.M. Fish, and P.D.P.G.M. Coverlid. Bro. Fish was declared duly elected.

The candidates for Deputy P.G.M. were—P.D.P.G.M. Coverlid, P.G. Sherwin, P.G. Forsyth, P.G. Cox, and P.G. Ibbotson. P.G. Bro. Cox was declared duly elected.

For Prov. C.S. the candidates were—Permt. Sec. Fulton, and P.G. Black. P.G. Bro. Black was declared duly elected.

Resolved—That the salary of the Prov. C.S. be at the rate of £75 per annum.

For District Treasurer—P.P.G.M. Robin being the only candidate, was re-elected.

It was moved—That a sum of £10 be voted as a subscription to the funds being raised for the relief of sufferers by the floods, but it was objected that as the motion was not upon the business paper, it would be of the nature of a surprise motion, of which the Lodges had had no previous notice. Motion was, therefore, withdrawn.

Resolved—That the power to nominate a Life Governor for the Lawrence Hospital be in the Tuapeka Pioneer Lodge, and that the Lodge be requested to nominate accordingly.

The newly elected District Officers were installed with the usual ceremony, and returned thanks for their election.

Resolved—That the Auditors an I Tylers fees be paid.

Resolved—That the usual number of Reports be printed for circulation in the Lodges.

Moved and seconded—That a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to the retiring District Officers. Carried.

P.P.G.M. Leslie and P.P.C.S. Sligo duly returned thanks.

The minutes of the meeting were read and confirmed.

A meeting of Past Grands was afterwards held for the purpose of giving the Purple and Past Officers degrees, when a number of Brothers availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them of taking the various degrees to which they were entitled.