Presentations To The Schools.

PRESENTATIONS TO THE SCHOOLS .

THE Quarterly Courts of the two Educational Institutions are to be held next week , and on each occasion the subject of Presentations to the benefits of the Schools will come on for consideration .

In the first case—that of the Girls School , on Thursday —the Report of the Joint Committee on Perpetual Presentations will be submitted ; while in the other—the Boys , on Friday—a notice of motion by Bro . William

Russell A . G . D . C . will require consideration , his proposal being that Law 79 be suspended . In order to make the case clearer we give the Law , which is to the following effect :

79 . The right to keep one properly qualified Boy in the Institution during the life of an individual ( not being a minor ) , may be purchased by payment of Five Hundred Guineas , but no Votes shall be acquired in respect of any portion of such payment .

The question of Life or Perpetual Presentations to the benefits of the two Schools is one to which considerable attention has been devoted in the past , and one that requires the most delicate handling , as a mistake one way

or the other is more than likely to have a detrimental effect on the future of the Charities . Consequently no action ought to be taken to disturb existing arrangements without the fullest enquiry .

As our readers are aware we are opposed to the creation of Perpetual privileges on the part of Lodges or public bodies , unless the amount paid bears a reasonable relation to the benefits created ; and in settling this

estimate must be taken into account as to the probable earning value of money in the future , rather than to base the calculations on the rate of interest current at the present day . With the ever increasing rise in the number of votes

needed to secure a candidate ' s return , taken into consideration with the high state to which organisation has risen in most of the great Provinces of the Order , it almost becomes necessary to discourage the principle of Perpetual

Presentation , for the reason stated some time since in these pages , that the different sections of the Craft will speedily discover that it is more beneficial to purchase presentations outright than pay in amounts and take ordinary votes in

return . It might be some years before such a course would have any appreciable difference on the School itself , but if facilities are offered for these purchases , at a remunerative figure , it is no stretch of imagination to say

that ere long ten or a dozen such bargains might be struck each year , and so , in the course of a dozen years dr so , we might have half the seats in the Institutions filled by the holders of these privileges , who , in accordance

with the terms of their contract , could not be asked to contribute a farthing towards the cost of maintaining the children thus sent into the Schools . Further , as a consequence , vacancies would become so scarce as to make the difficulties of securing a place almost insurmountable ,

Presentations To The Schools.

and grave difficulties would arise . Briefly summed up , Perpetual Presentations are a mistake , for the reason that individual Provinces and other combinations of Brethren

are getting so powerful as to be in a position to make their purchase a very easy matter , once they decide on that particular method of supporting (?) the Funds .

There does not seem so much to find fault with when we turn to the matter of Life Presentations , as at present in force in connection with the Boys School , and here , again , we urge the utmost caution before a change is decided

upon . The price now fixed for the acquisition of such privileges is £ 525 , and although that may not be sufficient to cover the responsibility of keeping a place at the call of a healthy young man , it is not far short if accepted

from a man over 45 years of age , and we should think that limit , or a very few years short of it , might be " regarded as a fair average at which Brethren would desire to acquire the privileges . Another matter for consideration

in this direction is the fact that Brethren purchasing Life Presentations take a share in the great work of Masonic Benevolence , as they cannot exercise their privileges on behalf of their own families , as the ordinary conditions

have to be complied with ere a boy is eligible—he must be properly qualified , says the Law , and this , it seems to us , puts an effective stop on many " personal" preferences which might otherwise arise .

Bro . H . D . M . Littler , C . B ., Q . C ., Deputy Grand Eegistrar , presented the prizes to the successful students of the Kilburn Polytechnic on Monday evening last .

The annual festival of the Lodge La Tolerance , No . 538 , took place at the Freemasons' Hall , Great Queen Street , W . C ., on Thursday , when iiro . Thomas Henry Clear was installed as Master of the Lodge . An account of the proceedings will appear in our next issue .

Mr . Vincent Lee and the Committee of the Old Masonians Association will be "At home " at the quarters of the Association —Anderton ' s Hotel , Fleet Street , E . G ., on Friday next , 14 th inst ., when music will be provided from 8 till 11 o ' clock . We wish the members and their friends a successful gathering .

We do not ask a brother to forsake his home for his Lodge , but we do ask him to attend occasionally , keep up his dues , and look out for his family by keeping up his interest in the good work that means " an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure " in the time of sickness . — " Masonic Tidings . "

It is a common error of profanes and mauy Masons to charge the Fraternity with the short-comings and crimes of individuals , when often these very deeds are Masonic offences , and the offender may have been punished , which , of course , is unknown to the profane world . — " Texas Freemason . "

In the city of New Orleans there are English , French , Spanish aud German Lodges working in the York and Scottish Bites under the Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana .