Legal action against PLNZ
As some of you may be aware, in July the RAOB Trust and the Grand Lodge of New Zealand - GLNZ GLE - served legal papers on the Buffs Charitable Trust and PLNZ, claiming ownership of properties and assets (mainly furniture, regalia and dispensations) which belong to a couple of the minor lodges of PLNZ. It is our view that this court action is totally without merit and appears to have some kind of ulterior purpose. We are stridently defending these claims in court, and have applied for a summary judgment to have the claims thrown out.
We are extremely surprised that the current officers and delegates of GLNZ GLE are taking this action and potentially exposing themselves to personal claims for the significant costs we are being required to incur. It is our opinion that the RAOB Trust, under its founding Act of Parliament, is unable to take such legal action, nor pay anyone else to, and the current Trustees are potentially placing the GLNZ officers and delegates in a position where they may become personally liable for all of the legal expenses for both sides – a needless battle over some old photos and furniture.
While these issues are before the district court, we've seen comments made on Facebook that imply there's more to this case than there actually is. We can provide all the documentation to anyone interested to see that this action is only about ownership of property, and not the legitimacy of PLNZ or its member lodges. It is clear from the documents served by GLNZ GLE and the RAOB Trust that this action has nothing to do with the legitimacy of PLNZ (or other progressive lodges globally). This was decided nearly a decade ago, the Progressive lodges are legitimate RAOB banners.
The claims made against PLNZ are yet another chapter to the long-running dispute between the two lodges that set up the Progressive banner, Railway Lodge no. 196 and Jack Canty Lodge no. 211. It is ironic that the RAOB Trust brought the statement of claim, because that entity, and a lack of transparency from it, was at the heart of the dispute that led to the creation of PLNZ back in June 2016. Essentially, the position of the RAOB Trust and GLNZ GLE is that the trust can claim any assets owned by any minor lodge should that lodge close or leave the GLNZ GLE banner. As far as we are concerned, PLNZ politely responded to these claims, put to us in a letter from GLNZ, back in February 2017 when we sent a response to GLNZ GLE making clear that the minor lodges continued to own their own regalia, dispensations and so on, as they remained open (and in fact, adding new Buffs to the order).
Our position then, as it is now, is that the regalia, dispensations and so forth of a minor lodge, paid for by the members of that lodge, remain lodge property. In the case of the properties that were owned by two hall societies associated with the two lodges, they remained the property of the two hall societies, regardless of what happened with the lodges. The two hall societies were wound up, democratically, by their members in 2021. They had transferred their assets to the Buffs Charitable Trust, which under its deed, the minor lodges are members of. This trust is a government-registered charitable trust, which means it is held to a much higher standard than incorporated societies. This is exactly why the members of the hall societies wound them up. The properties are now much better protected against nefarious actors than they were as incorporated societies.
Many of the items claimed from PLNZ include items that are no longer in possession of any Progressive Lodge. This is the so-called "Buffalo Museum" housed at 5 Renall Street in Ponsonby. In 2015, the museum items were packed up by the Newmarket Buffalo Hall Society for safekeeping into Sistema boxes, as there was a major leak in the roof where the items were stored. At considerable expense to the hall society, the items were stored in a secure, dry storage facility until 2016, when they were handed over to the Wellington Provincial Grand Lodge of GLNZ GLE. The hall society could not find anyone else willing to take the items. In other words, we cannot return property that we no longer have possession of.
We will defend the claims made against us stridently. We would rather not have to do this, but unfortunately, we now have no choice. It will come at great expense, with money we would rather be putting towards our philanthropic efforts. Sadly there is no avoiding this. It's our hope that GLNZ GLE can see how ultimately pointless and expensive this dispute is, so we can all get back to the values that make Buffaloes great.
Regardless of the final outcome, PLNZ will carry on Buffing, growing the order and doing good works for charity - all in accordance with our obligation vow.
Update: in response to our summary judgment application the RAOB Trust / GLNZ GLE have said now that they are not claiming the halls (real estate) owned by the Buffs Charitable Trust. They have no response regarding our handing over of the Buffalo Museum items but continue to claim ownership of our regalia and furniture.