§ MR. J. A. MACDONALDOn behalf of the hon. Member for South West Ham, I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the Registrar of Friendly Societies has returned 36 copies of Branch Rules sent to him for registration by the Independent Order of Rechabites, which had been before him for periods ranging from two to four months, and are an exact copy of Branch Rules which have already been registered; whether he can explain the cause of delay; and what are the objections which have been taken to these duplicate copies of Rules already registered?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.The Registrar of Friendly Societies reports to me as follows:—
It is the fact that my attention has been drawn to provisions in the model Rules circulated by the Independent Order of Rechabites among its Tents, which appear to me to go beyond what the Friendly Societies Acts authorise, and that a long correspondence has taken place with the Secretary of the Order on the matter. The correspondence is, indeed, still going on, and while that is so the registry of the Rules in question is necessarily suspended.