Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

PKOBABLY the first feeling that was uppermost in the minds of brethren when the result of the Benevolent Festival was made public was one of surprise that , after so productive a year as 1883 , and especially after a Festival which had so severely taxed the liberality of the Craft as

that of the Boys' School in June last , so splendid a subscription list should have been announced . But , doubtless , this feeling was almost immediately succeeded by one of admiration at the generous support accorded to the Old Folks . The signs and tokens which had heralded the

approach of this annual gathering were the reverse of encouraging . Even those who were the most sanguine were prepared for a considerable falling off from the totals of previous years , not because the claims of the Institution

had suddenly become less urgent in their character , or the brethren , as a body , less ready to support those claims , but because it was considered , and not without reason , that the Craft with all the will in the world to do what was

required of it , could not afford—to use a somewhat ordinary term—to " shell out" so largely at such frequent intervals . We believe that even Brother Terry himself would not have been discouraged had there been a decrease of some £ 2 , 000 from last year ' s aggregate . He had been a long

time procuring the services of a Chairman , his Board of Stewards was , till the very last , but slowly constituted , and there was , as is very often the case , no Province which could be relied upon for the display of an additional amount of zeal over and above what Provinces are in the habit of

displaying . But " all ' s well that ends well . " A Chairman appeared upon the scene in the person of the Grand Treasurer . The Board of Stewards swelled rapidly in numbers , from between 240 and 250 to close upon 300 , and as a result of this final " spurt , " Bro . Terry was fortunately

enabled to land himself the recipient , in trust as it were for our aged brethren and the widows of brethren , of , in round figures , some £ 14 , 500—a sum decidedly in excess of any it has previously been his good fortune to secure . Tliat we should join in the hearty congratulations which have

been showered upon him from all quarters is only a matter of course , and we do so the more sincerely , and with a livelier sense of satisfaction , from onr knowledge of the many and great difficulties with which for so long a time he was confronted .

A Board of some 300 Stewards , with a total subscription list of close on £ 14 , 500 , is a grand result , and the reader will not unnaturally suppose that the secret of this great success is to be found in some special characteristics which are not ordinarily to be met with in connection with

these announcements . But the items which make up the total are of a very ordinary kind . In London , there is the usual proportion of three-figure lists , while there is no particular Province which stands pre-eminently above the

others . But perhaps it is this very absence of any exceptional features which , after all , is the great merit of this particular Festival . It has been emphatically remarked on several occasions by brethren of distinction that very large lists are not necessarily an evidence of unusual liberality .

Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

Given a few men of means who are ready and willing to contribute largely , and we experience no difficulty iu landing ourselves in the region of big figures . Bat a heavy total that is made up of a considerable number of sums of comparatively small amount is indeed of value , because it

shows that the particular object for which the subscription is made is fully understood and appreciated by the many . Thus , in the present instance , if we take London and the Provinces together , we shall find that the proportion of three-figure lists to the total number sent in is only about

one in every ten , and among them are several which represent the aggregate subscriptions of sundry Provinces , so that the bulk of the items are moderate individually , though regarded collectively they make a very effective display . This is a feature which onght not to be lost sight of in estimating the value of the recent Festival . If we confine our attention for the moment to London

and single out the two highest individual lists , wo shall find they come from Lodges which are certainly not regarded as among the richest of our subordinate bodies , while the very numbers they bear are an indication of their being of comparatively recent constitution . The Great

Northern , No . 1287 , which takes tho lead , with over £ 202 , was only warranted in 1869 , and the King ' s Cross , No . 1732 , which stands next , with close on £ 189 , is of still more recent origin , having been founded in 1877 . But the members have evidently worked well , and have no doubt

acquired the knack of utilising their resources to the best advantage on these important occasions . We believe wo are correct iu attributing their present success mainl y to the Charity Associations which are connected with thesR Lodges . The two which follow these , namely , the Perfect

Ashlar , No . 1178 , with £ 160 , and the Merchant Navy , No . 781 , with £ 173 , hail—the former from Southwark and the latter from Limehouse , both being parts of the great metropolis , whence , as a rule , we do not look to obtain any heavy amounts . Among lists from other Lodges which

may be said to be somewhat similarly circumstanced are those of Temperance in the East , No . 898 , which is located in Poplar and sends up £ 145 , the Corinthian , No . 1382 , of Cubitt Town , with £ 103 , and the West Smithfield . No . 1632 , and the Farringdon , No . 1745 , which between them

contribute £ 106 . On the other band our old Lodges and those which meet in the more fashionable districts of London are also generally well represented , so that all classes of the brethren appear to have done their duty well . This is of course as it shonld be , and our chief regret is , that

instead of there having been only some 130 Metropolitan Lodges represented , the bulk of them did not send up Stewards . However , those which did fulfil this duty have the satisfaction of knowing that the total of their

contributions was upwards of £ 2000 in excess of the Provincial a & gregate - At other Festivals the relative positions of the two sections of the Craft have been reversed , aud the Provinces have taken the lead of London .

The Provincial portion of the list offers few opportunities for remark . East Lancashire , thanks principally to Lodge No . 44 , and its representative , Bro . Woodall , holds the first place with over £ 624—the accidental intrusion of a West Lancashire Lodge into this Province made our total of last week somewhat larger than it should havo been . Somerset-

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