Re: Siege Mentality? (was Re: RTM 19th Century Treasures)

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

In response to previous messages, I received the following email. I have
the author's permission to publish it to the newsgroup with his/her
identity suppressed. In the interests of allowing all concerned (on any
side of the debate) to present their cases, I reproduce the complete
message below, unedited except for deleting the originator's details and
with few typos corrected. I have not checked the arithmetic or any other
assertions.

Beyond saying that I would love to see trains running again on the
Dorrigo line, which in my opinion is the most beautiful line in NSW, I
emphasise that I am taking no personal position in this debate.

-----------------

 Dear Eddie,

The reply by Trevor Edmonds to your question about how large the DSR&M
Ltd
membership is prompted me to look back through some past issues of the
DSR&M Ltd
newsletter. I have my doubts about the accuracy of the figures given by
Trevor.

The following may be of interest.

Regards
[name deleted]

----------------------------------------

Eddie Oliver wrote:

To assist those of us who want to try to get all this debate into
perspective,
could you tell us please how large IS the membership, and how many were
at the
AGM?

Trevor Edmonds replied:

Membership is around 700. There were about 40 at the AGM

------------------------------------------

To know if this is actually true, some further information would be
needed. It
would be interesting to know if all the five categories below are
included in
the "around 700" figure.

The DSR&M Ltd 2000 Annual Report shows that the revenue from membership
fees for
2000 was $10,245 (1999 - $11,790). At $45 per year that is 227 members
who paid
the membership fee in 1999/2000. (262 for 1998/1999). The revenue may
also
include a fee from Temporary Membership fees.

In order to know the true membership figures, the numbers in each of the
following categories would need to be known.

(a) Ordinary Membership (those that pay an annual membership fee).

(b) Free Membership (those who maintain a property loan of $500 or more,
or who
donate $250 or more annually to the time payment scheme)

(c) Honorary Membership (pay no annual membership fee in recognition of
past or
continuing contribution - these members do not have a vote)

(d) Temporary Membership (limited to three consecutive days - twice per
year,
2.5% of annual fee - these members do not have a vote)

(e) Complimentary Newsletter Status (for those people or organisations
that are
not actually members but who provide advice, support or information in
various
ways).

As for the number of members attending the AGM in person, this figure
seems
rather high compared with past AGMs.

1994 AGM - 29 attended in person (meeting duration 14 minutes)
1995 AGM - 30 attended in person (meeting duration 60 minutes)
1996 AGM - 23 attended in person (meeting duration 20 minutes)
1997 AGM - 19 attended in person (meeting duration 27 minutes)
1998 AGM - 25 attended in person (meeting duration 56 minutes)
1999 AGM - 21 attended in person (meeting duration 29 minutes)
2000 AGM - "there were about 40 at the AGM"

Apart from the AGM, there have been several members social evenings. The
last
advertised one appears to have been in March 1996 in Sydney. Before that
they
seemed to take place about 3 times per year. Newsletters (all published
by K.
Jones) and attendance at working bees as a volunteer seems to be the
primary
method of information to members.