The Mutual Benefit Building And Investment Society Of Canterbury (Permanent). Offices, 150 Worcester Street. This society, which was established in 1852, has an authorised capital of £100,000, of which £45,000 is paid up. The reserve fund amounts to £1300. The last dividend was at the rate of seven per cent. per annum. The society makes advances on the security of freehold property in the city and country districts.

Mr. Edward Lennox Wallace, Secretary of the Mutual Benefit Building and Investment Society of Canterbury, was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1842. He was educated at Blair Lodge Academy, Polmont, Stirlingshire, and brought up as a linen manufacturer and merchant in Dundee. Mr. Wallace was in partnership with his father for a period of ten years, under the style of W. Wallace and Son. He landed in Lyttelton in 1874, from the ship “Eastern Monarch,” and on arrival entered the service of Hon. W. Robinson as indoor manager at Cheviot Estate, remaining there for a period of three and a half years. Subsequently, Mr. Wallace was accountant in the office of the North Canterbury Education Board for a period of six years and a half, and received his present appointment in 1883. Mr. Wallace was married in 1876 to a daughter of Mr. F. Cottrell, of Meigle, Perthshire, Scotland, and has three sons and one daughter.

Mr. E. L. Wallace.

Permanent Investment And Loan Association Of Canterbury. Directors:—Hon. J. T. Peacock, Hon. E. C. J. Stevens, Messrs F. de C. Malet, F. D. S. Neave, H. H. Pitman, and J. J. Thomson; Mr Walter J. Moore, manager. This association was established in 1871 under the Building Societies Act. Its permanent capital now amounts to £100,000 fully paid up. It has earned good dividends throughout. In 1891 the accumulated profits amounting to over £17,000, were devoted to the reinstatement of capital account. The reserve fund now stands at £3,300, and the last dividend was at the rate of five per cent. per annum. The association accepts money on deposit.

Mr. Walter Joseph Moore, F.I.A.N.Z., Manager of the Permanent Investment and Loan Association of Canterbury, also Estate Agent, Accountant and Auditor, arrived in Wellington in 1876, and joined the Bank of New Zealand there in the following year. During the fourteen years in which he was in the Bank's service, he occupied various positions, including those of manager at Waimate and Waipukurau, and that of inspector's accountant. Mr. Moore left the Bank in 1892 to accept his present position.

Starr-Bowkett Building Society Of Canterbury (Terminating). Directors: Messrs H. Tuck, E. H. Couzins, R. Hill Fisher, J. M. Taylor, F. C. Hill, T. Gapes, and S. Day. Mr. J. Otley, secretary and treasurer. Bankers, Union Bank of Australia. Office, 108a Gloucester Street, Christchurch. This society was established in August, 1892, its object being to provide funds to make advances to members.

Mr. John Otley, Secretary and Treasurer of the Starr-Bowkett Building Society of Canterbury and of the Excelsior Building Society of Canterbury, and others, was born in 1840 in London, where he was educated and brought up as a plasterer. Arriving in Lyttelton in 1862 by the ship “Queen of the Mersey,” he worked at his trade till 1878, when he commenced business on his own account. Mr. Otley has long been interested in money clubs and building societies, having for many years acted as secretary and treasurer of such institutions and was a founder of the Friends of Labour Loan and Investment Society. He has been connected with the Foresters' Order as a member of Court Star of Canterbury. Mr. Otley was married in 1862 to a daughter of Mr. Joseph Peacock, of Cambridge, England. This lady died in 1893, leaving three sons and one daughter. Mr. Otley was again married in 1894 to a daughter of Mr. Joseph Palmer, of Kingston-on-Thames.

Standish and Preece, photo.
Mr. J. Otley.

Friends Of Labour Loan And Investment Society ; Office, 108a, Gloucester Street, Christchurch. Messrs T. Gapes (chairman), J. Otley (secretary and treasurer), F. Jacobs (cashier), H. Tuck, and J. Ibbolt (trustees). Bankers, Bank of New Zealand; Offices, Market Hotel, Colombo Street, Christchurch. This society, which was established in 1876, was the pioneer of many similar money clubs in Christchurch. Its capital stands at £3250, and dividends have ranged from six to eight per cent, from year to year.