The Expense Of Aiding The Charities.

THE EXPENSE OF AIDING THE CHARITIES .

THE splendid total which has this year been subscribed to the three Masonic Institutions , in face of the almost ¦ universal cry of bad trade , has called forth expressions of surprise in many quarters outside the Order as to how the immense sums are raised which are year after year con tribured to the Masonic Charitable Institutions .

Forfcvfive thousand pounds irom , we may say , a comparatively small section of the community is a tremendous sum to collect in one year , and when we look to the means by which it is acquired the result becomes even more

srratifving . Not only does the amount itself consist of freewill offerings on the part of the Craft , but the work of pleading for it is undertaken readily and voluntarily by brethren whose only reward , beyond an extra vote or two , is the

knowledge that they have done their best to carry out that principle of relief which forms so important a feature in the Masonic organisation . We have said the few extra votes given to the Stewards is the only reward thev

receive for the trouble they undertake , bnt this is supplemented—if serving a second Stewardshi p and qualifying ns Life Governor on each occasion—by the acquisition o the right to wear the Chnrifcy jewel of the Order , should a

brother choose to purchase one . This fatter condition—of having to purchase the Chanty jewel—is one of thp strongest points which can be adduced in deprecating the expense entailed by those who support the Charities , bnt

it is by no means the only one , or the he viest , which Stewards have to meet , and which , in the interests of the Institutions , should be lessened as much as possible . As BO much of the success of the Masonic Charitable

Institutions depends on the number of brethren who undertake the duties of Steward on their behalf , every effort should be exerted to encourage brethren to act , and every obstacle removed which might tend to lessen the number of those

who undertake the office . With this latter objpet in view the expenses attending the serving of a Stewardship may well receive attention . In considering this question we must not omit to

distinguish between those expenses which are inseparable from a Stewardshi p and those which , althonM entirely distinct , are often associated wifch ifc . There is also a third class of expenditure which may be

described as supplementary to the first , not actuall y compulsory but virtually so . The first class—the expenses inseparable from a Stewardship—may be dismissed after a consideration of the one item of Stewards' fee which has to

he paid by every brother undertaking the office of Steward . This Stewards' fee for some years past has been fixed at two guineas , and it is difficult to see how any reduction cjwi be effected in this sum unless a reduction is made in

the items it includes , and this is uot only possible , but , wo think , advisable at the present time . The Stewards' fee of two guineas pays all the expenses special to the Festival , and thus leaves the benefits of these annnal gatherings

available to the Institutions free of cost ; this arrangement wc do uot object to , as . the Festival proper should be selfsupporting , an 3 the sum appropriated from each Steward ' s

'CB S fl ° t exorbitan t when it is remembered what expenses have to be paid from it . The Stewards' Fee also includes a ticket for the banquet , and it is in this respect we would ** ge an alteration for the future . Neither the Institution

The Expense Of Aiding The Charities.

nor the Festival accounts reap any benefit from these banquet tickets , while a discontinuance of their issue would be of advantage in more ways than one , and would go far towards reducing the expenses attending a Stewardship —nnder each of the three heads of our subdivision . The

difficulty of late years has been how to find accommodation for those attending the Festivals , rather than how to attract visitors to them , and we do not think they would suffer to nny extent from a discontinuance of the issue of tickets to

Stewards ont of these fees , while the Stewards themselves would be relieved of the implied compulsion to attend which many now feel when they receive their banquet ticket . A discontinuance of tho issue of these tickets

would at once reduce the Stewarts' fee to one-half its present average , Avhile further reduction would immediately follow , as the banquet proper wonld be made sel

P-suppivtincr , thereby relieving the fees from charges which are now paid out of them , and which properly belong to the entertainment itself . We would recommend that the Stewards '

fees should only be so large as is necessary for fche expenses entailed in matters other that , the banquet , and that every Steward shonld be left to decide for himself whether or nofc he will attend the actual celebration . We shonld then

he able to all but abolish the " expenses inseparable from a Stewardship . " and should go far towards minimising * -he outlay under the other heads to which we have referred . We are aware this nrrano-ement would necessitate some

alteration in the existing rules , as a limit would have to be fixed as to what constituted a Stewardship , what amount it was necessary to collect before a brother was entitled to the extra votes which shonld still be given to those who

acted as Stewards . We would suggest that any brother enrolling his name on the list , and paying his share of the expenses of the Stewardships , who sent up a list of not less

than twenty-five guineas , personally subscribed or otherwise , should be considered aa a Steward , and be entitled to all the privileges at present attaching to the office—except in the matter of the banquet ticket .

We will next turn to tho supplementary expensesthose which , although not actually compulsory , are virtually so , and the chief item under this head is that of the expense entailed in attending the Festival . Ifc

appears to be generally considered that a part of each Steward ' s duty is to attend the annual banquet , for which , as we have said , his fee includes a ticket ., bufc our view is thafc this attendance has now become

unnecessary , and that no good is served by making it all but compulsory , even though tho compulsion is implied only . Tho Provincial brethren have most to complain of in this

respect , as those in London can attend the Festivals without any serious expenditure of either time or money , but the same cannot be said of Provincial brethren . With

them it often means two or three days' time , an expensive mil way journey , and a heavy hotel bill ; indeed , s > lurce does the actual expenditure under these heads often become that ifc frequently happens the Stewardship costs more

than the personal contribution which accompanies it , even though the latter be sufficient , to qualify the Steward as a Life Governor . Ifc may be urged the i'ailvv ; iy fa e nnd hotel bill ought not . to be considered as part of

" the expense of aiding the Charities , " hat to what other account can they be charged when both are entailed wholly and solely in connection with fche implied compulsion of attending the Festival r We have not taken into account the time spent oyer the Festival , but it is as