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Article THE COST OF MASONIC SCHOLARSHIPS. Page 1 of 1 Article QUESTIONING THE RECORDS. Page 1 of 2 →
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The Cost Of Masonic Scholarships.
THE COST OF MASONIC SCHOLARSHIPS .
rFlHE elections held this week on behalf of the two J- Educational Institutions of Freemasonry supply practical object lessons as to the expense of the Schools , and should be carefully considered by those who interest themselves in
the question of Masonic Benevolence , and who care to consider the outlay at which it is possible to secure the advantages of either of the Schools on behalf of a candidate . We are accustomed to hear that the pupils in the
Educational Institutions cost so much per head each year , and no doubt that is a very satisfactory way of looking at the question of expenditure , but another , and an equally practical method is to consider what it costs to secure a participation
in the School advantages ; and this can best be arrived at by looking at the number of votes required to carry a candidate ; for after all it is the number of votes necessary to secure
election , and their relative value , that governs the question of cost , equally as much as the actual sum spent year by year on the different pupils .
This subject has been considered before in the pages of the FREEMASON ' CHBONICLE , and we then arrived at the conclusion that the return to be secured for a given number of votes was far from commensurate with the cost of
obtaining them . But since those days the matter has undergone great changes , and whereas twenty years back 1 , 200 or 1 , 500 votes were all but certain to secure a candidate ' s return , it is
hardly safe now to risk less than something between double and treble that number ; indeed the lowest on the successful lists this week polled 3 , 223 and 3 , 056 votes for the Girls and Boys School respectively .
The price of the votes remains the same to-day as it did in the former period we have referred to , and we are continually being told that the cost per pupil is being reduced ;
how , then , are we to account for this terrible rise in the cost of securing admission to the Schools ? and how are we to check its yet further extension ?
It is no use saying that the rapid expansion of the number of votes necessary to secure success is a result of the continued growth of the Institutions , the one should have but little effect upon the other , and in fact would not do if it were not for the immense amounts invested in bricks and
mortar or the hundred and one other necessaries , of an unremunerative character , associated with such large educational establishments as those possessed by English Freemasonry .
In saying this we are not just now finding fault with the policy that calls for these large outlays in buildings , bufc rather desire to offer some excuse for the anomaly we have pointed out in regard to the great falling off in the purchasing
power of votes . Surely ifc will nofc be argued that all the difference noticeable in the last twenty years is the result of building operations , for if so a very grave responsibility rests on anyone who proposes any further extension .
Questioning The Records.
QUESTIONING THE RECORDS .
IF the experience of the last few days is to be accepted as any criterion of what we are to expect in the future we fear ifc will be found that Grand Lodge made a fatal mistake , in so far as the peace and comfort ; of those who are responsible for its
records is concerned , when it accepted Bro . Lane ' s offer to publish the second edition of his compilation , tracing the date of the origin and changes of our Lodges . We have already had to deal with one controversy—in regard to Lodge No . 44—and it
seems there is another started concerning the antiquity of the Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , this latter being referred to in the pages of the " Newcastle Daily Chronicle" in the following letter from a Past Master of No . 48 :
THE OLDEST MASONIO LODGE OUT OF LONDON .
To the Editor of the " Daily Chronicle . " SIB , —I have read your report in this morning ' s paper , respecting the unfurling of a flag at the Masonic Temple , Pilgrim Street . At this ceremony the D . P . G . M . ( my esteemed friend , Aid . R . H . Holmes ) is reported to have said that the Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , is the oldest Lodge out of London . I
hope Aid . Holmes will excuse me if I correct him on this point . For nearly twenty years I have laboured with some effect to disprove the age and priority of Lodge 24 , and I believe that old members of No . 24 , as well as others , are quite satisfied that it does not hold the premier rank mentioned by the D . P . G . M .
Lodge of Industry , No . 48 , has existed since 1725 , and pmed the Grand Lodge of England and received its Warrant in 1735 , whereas Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , was not enrolled until 1805 , when it was constituted . These facts can be verified by a reference to Bro . John Lane's " Records of Lodges 1717-1894 , " of which a second edition was recently issued from thc Grand Secretary ' s Office in London , and I recommend this valuable book for perusal by all prominent Freemasons . Yours , See ., ROBT . WHITFIELD P . M . 48 .
Gateshead , 4 th October 1895 . The same objectionable course has been followed here as we had to complain of in regard to the Friendship Lodge , of Manchester , an individual taking upon himself the responsibility
of flatly contradicting the authorities , apparently on the information contained in the recently issued " Eecords of Lodges " of Bro . Lane . The Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , may not have been enrolled prior to 1805 , as set out by Bro . Whitfield and Brother
Lane , but until Grand Lodge amends its records—wherein 1752-3 is set down as the date of establishment—no one has the right to address such a letter as the above to an outside
newspaper , for it is a direct violation of the Antient Charges and Eegulations to which in due course every Past Master had to give his assent , the writer of the letter quoted above being among the number .
We by no means wish to imply that we regard the information given in Grand Lodge Calendar as to the date of origin of our Lodges as infallible ; what we do object to is for a private writer to induce Grand Lodge to launch bis compilation upon
the Masonic world , thereby providing his admirers a means of sowing discord and revolt in our ranks , contrary to the regulations of the Craffc , and in most instances for the glorification of self .
The initial error in regard to these apparent differences of opinion on the part of the authorities of Grand Lodge is to be found in the course adopted in the issue of Bro . Lane ' s book ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Cost Of Masonic Scholarships.
THE COST OF MASONIC SCHOLARSHIPS .
rFlHE elections held this week on behalf of the two J- Educational Institutions of Freemasonry supply practical object lessons as to the expense of the Schools , and should be carefully considered by those who interest themselves in
the question of Masonic Benevolence , and who care to consider the outlay at which it is possible to secure the advantages of either of the Schools on behalf of a candidate . We are accustomed to hear that the pupils in the
Educational Institutions cost so much per head each year , and no doubt that is a very satisfactory way of looking at the question of expenditure , but another , and an equally practical method is to consider what it costs to secure a participation
in the School advantages ; and this can best be arrived at by looking at the number of votes required to carry a candidate ; for after all it is the number of votes necessary to secure
election , and their relative value , that governs the question of cost , equally as much as the actual sum spent year by year on the different pupils .
This subject has been considered before in the pages of the FREEMASON ' CHBONICLE , and we then arrived at the conclusion that the return to be secured for a given number of votes was far from commensurate with the cost of
obtaining them . But since those days the matter has undergone great changes , and whereas twenty years back 1 , 200 or 1 , 500 votes were all but certain to secure a candidate ' s return , it is
hardly safe now to risk less than something between double and treble that number ; indeed the lowest on the successful lists this week polled 3 , 223 and 3 , 056 votes for the Girls and Boys School respectively .
The price of the votes remains the same to-day as it did in the former period we have referred to , and we are continually being told that the cost per pupil is being reduced ;
how , then , are we to account for this terrible rise in the cost of securing admission to the Schools ? and how are we to check its yet further extension ?
It is no use saying that the rapid expansion of the number of votes necessary to secure success is a result of the continued growth of the Institutions , the one should have but little effect upon the other , and in fact would not do if it were not for the immense amounts invested in bricks and
mortar or the hundred and one other necessaries , of an unremunerative character , associated with such large educational establishments as those possessed by English Freemasonry .
In saying this we are not just now finding fault with the policy that calls for these large outlays in buildings , bufc rather desire to offer some excuse for the anomaly we have pointed out in regard to the great falling off in the purchasing
power of votes . Surely ifc will nofc be argued that all the difference noticeable in the last twenty years is the result of building operations , for if so a very grave responsibility rests on anyone who proposes any further extension .
Questioning The Records.
QUESTIONING THE RECORDS .
IF the experience of the last few days is to be accepted as any criterion of what we are to expect in the future we fear ifc will be found that Grand Lodge made a fatal mistake , in so far as the peace and comfort ; of those who are responsible for its
records is concerned , when it accepted Bro . Lane ' s offer to publish the second edition of his compilation , tracing the date of the origin and changes of our Lodges . We have already had to deal with one controversy—in regard to Lodge No . 44—and it
seems there is another started concerning the antiquity of the Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , this latter being referred to in the pages of the " Newcastle Daily Chronicle" in the following letter from a Past Master of No . 48 :
THE OLDEST MASONIO LODGE OUT OF LONDON .
To the Editor of the " Daily Chronicle . " SIB , —I have read your report in this morning ' s paper , respecting the unfurling of a flag at the Masonic Temple , Pilgrim Street . At this ceremony the D . P . G . M . ( my esteemed friend , Aid . R . H . Holmes ) is reported to have said that the Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , is the oldest Lodge out of London . I
hope Aid . Holmes will excuse me if I correct him on this point . For nearly twenty years I have laboured with some effect to disprove the age and priority of Lodge 24 , and I believe that old members of No . 24 , as well as others , are quite satisfied that it does not hold the premier rank mentioned by the D . P . G . M .
Lodge of Industry , No . 48 , has existed since 1725 , and pmed the Grand Lodge of England and received its Warrant in 1735 , whereas Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , was not enrolled until 1805 , when it was constituted . These facts can be verified by a reference to Bro . John Lane's " Records of Lodges 1717-1894 , " of which a second edition was recently issued from thc Grand Secretary ' s Office in London , and I recommend this valuable book for perusal by all prominent Freemasons . Yours , See ., ROBT . WHITFIELD P . M . 48 .
Gateshead , 4 th October 1895 . The same objectionable course has been followed here as we had to complain of in regard to the Friendship Lodge , of Manchester , an individual taking upon himself the responsibility
of flatly contradicting the authorities , apparently on the information contained in the recently issued " Eecords of Lodges " of Bro . Lane . The Newcastle Lodge , No . 24 , may not have been enrolled prior to 1805 , as set out by Bro . Whitfield and Brother
Lane , but until Grand Lodge amends its records—wherein 1752-3 is set down as the date of establishment—no one has the right to address such a letter as the above to an outside
newspaper , for it is a direct violation of the Antient Charges and Eegulations to which in due course every Past Master had to give his assent , the writer of the letter quoted above being among the number .
We by no means wish to imply that we regard the information given in Grand Lodge Calendar as to the date of origin of our Lodges as infallible ; what we do object to is for a private writer to induce Grand Lodge to launch bis compilation upon
the Masonic world , thereby providing his admirers a means of sowing discord and revolt in our ranks , contrary to the regulations of the Craffc , and in most instances for the glorification of self .
The initial error in regard to these apparent differences of opinion on the part of the authorities of Grand Lodge is to be found in the course adopted in the issue of Bro . Lane ' s book ,