§ Colonel RAWSONasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether, if the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows becomes an approved society, all its lodges are liable to pay one-third of any future surpluses to the central fund of the order, or whether the surpluses can be paid over to a district fund, so that one-third of the surpluses of the lodges in that district can be reserved for the benefit of the lodges in that district and not to all the lodges of the order as a whole?
§ Mr. MASTERMANUnder the provisions of Section 40 (1) of the Act, the separately registered branches of an approved society may be grouped in geographical areas, and the branches in any such area, if and to such extent as the rules of the society provide, and if the number of members being insured persona in the area exceeds 5,000, may be treated for the purposes of valuations, surpluses, and deficiencies under the Act as if they formed an approved society.