SPOILT BALLOT PAPERS.

RETURN showing the number of Ballot Papers rejected at the General Election in October, 1924, in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as declared by the returning officer pursuant to the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, under the headings there named, viz.: (1) Want of Official mark; (2) Voting for more candidates than entitled to; (3) Writing or mark by which voter could be identified; (4) Unmarked or void for uncertainty.

SOCIETIES, BUILDING SOCIETIES, TRADE UNIONS, WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION SCHEMES, LOAN SOCIETIES, SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY SOCIETIES, AND POST OFFICE, TRUSTEE, AND RAILWAY SAVINGS BANKS.

REPORT

OF THE

CHIEF REGISTRAR OF FRIENDLY

SOCIETIES

For the Year 1925.

(Presented pursuant to 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31, s. 17; 56 & 57 Vict. c. 39, 8. 76; 57 & 58 Vict. c. 47, s. 27; 59 & 60 Vict. c. 25, 8. 6; and

6 Edw. 7, c. 58, s. 3.) ̄

PART 1.
GENERAL.

Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed,

27 September 1926.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C. 2; 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W. 1; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff;

138

or 120, George Street, Edinburgh;

or through any Bookseller.

1926.

Price 9d. Net.

CONTENTS.

Page

1. Arrangement of Report

2. Security by Officers

3. General Statement of Business of the Registry :-
:-

A. Additions to and Removals from the Register under
various Acts

B. Registration or Certification of Documents

C. Miscellaneous Proceedings-Number of Valuations
received-Correspondence -

4. Disputes:

A. Generally

1

23

4

F. Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions
Act, 1925

G. Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925

H. Land Registration Rules, 1925

39

41

43

I. The Ministry of Labour (Transfer of Powers) Order, 1925 44

REPORT of the CHIEF REGISTRAR of FRIENDLY SOCIETIES,

for the Year ended 31st December 1925. Presented pursuant to 34 & 35 Vict. c. 31, s. 17; 56 & 57 Vict. c. 39, s. 76; 57 & 58 Vict. c. 47, s. 27; 59 & 60 Vict. c. 25, s. 6; and 6 Edw. 7. c. 58, s. 3.

PART 1.

GENERAL.

1. Arrangement of the Report.

I dealt in Part 1 of my Report for the year 1924 with a re-arrangement of the Report which then took effect for the first time. That re-arrangement has been followed in 1925, and this part of my Report for that year deals therefore only with such matters as are not appropriate for inclusion in Parts 2-5, or cannot conveniently be separated. Parts 2-5 will deal respectively with the following matters :

Part 2.-Societies and branches registered under the Friendly
Societies Act.

Part 3.-Industrial and Provident Societies.

Part 4.-Trade Unions.

Part 5.-Building Societies.

As before, each Part will deal with proceedings of the Office during the year of the Report and the statistics given will be those extracted from Returns received during that year, containing particulars of business transacted by the Societies and other bodies concerned during the previous year.

2. Security by Officers.

Numerous cases arise every year in which losses are sustained by Societies registered under the Acts administered by the Office, which would not have occurred if the officials concerned had been required to give security to an amount not less than the maximum amount of cash held. An unwillingness is shown by committees to require officers to give adequate security due in most cases to what is perhaps a natural reluctance on their part to appear to distrust officials personally known to them, and because it has commonly been the practice so to frame the rules that the amount of security to be given is within the discretion of the committee. With a view to overcoming these difficulties to some extent the Office has now included in such model rules as it issues a definite provision that security shall be given for an adequate sum. If the rules suggested are adopted committees will be relieved of any unpleasantness which may arise where a discretion has to be exercised and failure to give security becomes a statutory offence and the Registrar is therefore in a position to take steps in the interests of the members to see that the rule is enforced.

O (21)26518(24210) Wt 3772-1315 1000 10/26 E & S (Item 2)

A 2

3. General Statement of Business of the Registry.

A. Additions to and Removals from the Register.

The following TABLE shows the NUMBER of SOCIETIES upon the REGISTER at the beginning and end of the year, the NUMBER ADDED to or REMOVED from the REGISTER during the year, and the cause of removal :

(2) Includes Societies cancelled for the purpose of conversion to Branches, Companies, &c. (3) Includes Branches removed from the Register on receipt of notice that they had ceased to exist or had seceded or been expelled from the parent Society.

(+) Includes 12 Societies dissolved under section 242 (5) of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908.

(5) Removed from Register by cancelling of registry following Transfer of Engagements.

(6) There are also 21 unregistered Trade Unions for which Political Fund Rules have been approved under the Trade Union Act, 1913, and 26 Unions which have been granted a certificate that they are Trade Unions within the meaning of the Trade Union Acts.