TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

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single women. Just as the Catholic males needed the 'brotherhood' as a means of support
and solidarity, the women needed a 'sisterhood'. In 1894 the New Zealand Tablet ran an
article with the heading 'H.A.C.L.B.S.'
The introduction of L. among the letters so well known to Hibernians suggests the formation in
New Zealand of a "Catholic Ladies' Benefit Society". This is not an altogether novel idea. The
matter is being discussed and carefully considered in the neighbouring colonies .. .!t is very
important that some provision should be made for a large class of women who, if they fall sick,
have no home to go to or friends to fall back upon. By banding themselves together in a Catholic
friendly society they would receive, in return for the small weekly or monthly subscription,
substantial aid in the time of illness and sisterly friendship in the hour of need. 46
This article indicated a real need for single Catholic women and also recognized that some
benefit societies debarred women from joining. Once this need was established, female
branches opened within three years in the four main centres- Dunedin, Auckland,
Wellington and Christchurch. 47
Their success was limited as eventually other benefit societies began to offer
benefits for single women. By 1899 the New Zealand Tablet noted that "it is a matter of
our personal knowledge that in Dunedin, membership of the Women's Branch of the
Society would be, under the present arrangements of the parent Society, practically
rendered prohibitive owing to the more favourable terms and popular range of benefits
offered by rival associations. 48 It is not surprising that given the lack of interest in the
Female branches that the Hibernians included in their rules a provision for female members
to be admitted into male branches. There was also provision for the amalgamation of
branches of both sexes. 49 The Hibernians tried to fulfil a need for single Catholic women
to be incorporated into their own benefit society and thus avoid the temptation of joining
other benefit societies which could lead to 'mixed marriages'.
The idea of an all inclusive Catholic society appealed to prelates such as Bishop
Moran of Dunedin who hoped to use the Hibernians as a rallying point for Catholics and
also as a substitute for the secretive Fenianism. 50 Davis notes that in the first issue of the
46New Zealand Tablet, 25 May 1894.
471bid.,2 August 1895, 18 October l895, 24 July 1896,3 December 1897.
48Ibid, 9 March 1899.
490p. cit., General Rules for the H.A.C.8.S., p. 80.
500p. cit., Davis, Irish Issues, p. 22.