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1909, which requires all rules before registration to be subject to actuarial certification, was in the meantime repealed in order that I lie postponement or waiver of contributions due from members might be authorized for the war period. Tin's amending Act is automatically repealed on the 31 st December, 1915, and the question of re-enacting it for a further term will require consideration. Subvention. A system for the subsidizing of friendly societies was circulated to societies by the Government early in 1914, but the proposals did not, with few exceptions, receive much attention at the annual meetings held during that year. Since then, however, interest in the scheme has shown itself in several important centres. The experience in New South Wales is of interest in connection with the policy of subventing societies, aud I append hereto some notes taken from the annual reports of the Registrar in that State : — In 1912 the sum of £1.9,809 was paid to societies, representing subsidies towards the benefits of 9,629 aged members and the continuous sickness of 3,296 other members. The Registrar points out that the old members are therefore the principal beneficiaries of the subsidy, and the society having the greatest proportion of this class of member draws the largest sum per head. The payment for .1.91.3 amounted to £20,851 9s. 4d., and tor the five years since the Act was passed £78,600 has been received by the societies from the State. The rate of increase in membership during the five years to 1913 has fluctuated considerably. In 1909 the rate was 8 per cent. ; in 1910 it was 12-2 per cent. ; in 1911, 10-2 per cent. ; in 1912, 9-1 per cent. ; and in 1.913, 4-8 per cent. Consolidation of Lodge Funds. , The powers of a society to centralize its branch funds came under the review of the Supremo Court at Dunedin in August last, and the judgment pronounced by His Honour Mr. Justice Sim has raised important issues. In this case, Cliff v. Bryant (Gazette Law Reports, Vol. xvii, par. 3, p. 93), the Ivanhoe Lodge of the Otago Druids applied for an injunction restraining the District Grand Lodge from registering rules proposing to consolidate the benefit funds of its branches. The Court decided thai in vieWparticularly of subsection (2) of section 40 of the Friendly Societies Act, 1909, " the proposed consolidation, as far as it affected existing accumulation of funds, is prohibited." The judgment has a direct interest for many societies in fact, lor them all -in that it touches one of the most valued of their privileges i.e., the right of societies to direct their own policies. Section 40 of the present Act runs as follows :- " (I.) In all registered friendly societies and registered branches thereof all moneys received or paid on account of each particular fund for which a, separate table of contributions has been adopted shall be kept, separate and distinct, and shall be entered in a separate account distinct from the moneys received and paid on account of any other fund ; and a separate fund or funds shall be established for the payment of all expenses of management, and of all expenses (ii any) on account of medical, and surgical attendance, including medicine and medical and surgical requisites. " (2.) Save as in this Act expressly provided, no transfer shall be made of the moneys of any one benefit fund to meet the liabilities of any other fund, nor shall such moneys, or any interest accruing therefrom, be in any manner applied for the use, whether temporary or permanent, of any fund save the fund to which they properly belong." This section was passed in 1875 for the specific purpose of checking the misapplication of benefitfund moneys for management purposes, and for forty years it has been so administered with excellent results. It must now be applied to prohibit the consolidation or centralization of the benefit funds of the branches of a society into one society fund, and it will probably come as a surprise to members of societies to find that this section gives the Act a restrictive character at variance with the long-accepted and well-established powers of self-government, hitherto regarded as untouched by legislation. Secession. A point of some interest to societies has been decided in the New Zealand Court of Appeal in the ease Battersby v. Wheatley (Gazette Law Reports, Vol. xvii, par. 8, p. 204). The plaintiffs (the Fountain of Friendship Lodge, M.U.1.0.0.F.) proceeded to seoede from the defendants (the Auckland District Branch of the N.Z. Branch of the M.U.1.0.0.F.). The New Zealand Society's rules provided that the secession of a branch could take place only with the consent of the central body. This rule has been accepted for registration in New Zealand since the judgment of Justice Penuefather in 1899, when the Revising Barrister was directed to certify it in the case brought by the Otago District, M.U.1.0.0.F. The Court of Appeal has now held such a rule to be ultra vires, as being in conflict with section 25, subsection (I), of the Friendly Societies Act, 1909. The Value of Societies' Assets. The mode of dealing with the tangible assets of a society in the actuarial valuation made in terms of the Friendly Societies Act is affected by the Court of Appeal judgment in Battersby v. Wheatley (Gazette Law Reports, Vol. xvii, par. 8, p. 204). Section 37 of the Act reads as follows : " Every registered society shall once at least in every five years send to the Registrar a return of the benefits assured and contributions receivable from all the members of the society and its branches, whether registered or not, and of all the assets and liabilities of the society and its said branches, accompanied by such evidence in support thereof as the Registrar prescribes, whereupon the Registrar shall cause the assets and liabilities of the society and all its .branches as aforesaid to be valued and reported on by the Actuary, and shall send to the society a copy of the Actuary's report."