The Bill to amend the Building Societies' Acts, brought in
by Mr. Asquith and Mr. Herbert Gladstone, is a step decidedly in the right direction, as recommended in this journal (January 21st). It aims at assimilating, on various points, the law of Building Societies to that of Friendly Societies, giving mem- bers the same powers of inspecting and taking copies of, or extracts from, the books, giving the Registrar power to fix the date and form of annual returns, establishing a real responsibility for offences under the Act, and pro- viding for inspections and special meetings, besides a further provision as to dissolution, and requiring a limit to be stated in the rules for preference shares. It is weak in failing to give power to suspend or cancel registry in certain cases, in not defining who is authorised to prosecute for offences, giving no power to the Registrar or persons autho- rised by him to take proceedings in case of fraud or mis- application of money, making no provision for the employment of the public auditors, and, generally, in failing to meet the mischiefs which beset chiefly the smaller societies. The Bill should bear a good deal of strengthening yet at the hands of a judicious Select Committee.
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