The New Year.

THE NEW YEAR .

We commence the new volume of the Freemason with more than ordinary feelings of satisfaction . We have always striven to the utmost of our ability to win the approbation of the Craft in the United Kingdom , ancl the increased and increasing favour in which this Journal is held is evidence that our endeavours in this direction have not been entirelv unsuccessful . Durinp * the

whole of our career we have been actuated by the desire to establish ourselves as the representative organ of British Freemasonry , and though , at the outset , our efforts were on a limited scale , we have succeeded by the favour of the Body we have aspired

to represent in enlarging our Journal to its present dimensions . Nor is it only in this matter of quantity that we have striven to please our constituents . We have laid ourselves out to obtain the invaluable assistance of the most esteemed of our Masonic

writers , and the innumerable contributions which have appeared in these columns from many distinguished brethren have attracted that special class of readers who delight in studying the more difficult problems of Masonic history and archaeology , just as our lodge and chapter reports and other Masonic

intelligence have found favour with the general body , who are content to read of what is passing from day to day in the world of Masonry . In short , we have left no stone unturned in order to attract the support and sympathy of all classes of the brethren , and we are honestly proud of the success we have achieved .

That Ave should avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by the commencement of a fresh volume to exj ) ress our thanks for the invariable kindness and consideration we have received

from our readers is only natural . We have done so before , ancl we trust we shall have many more opportunities in the future of expressing ourselves to a similar effect . But on this occasion it is the more desirable that we should discharge this duty , as we are within a few weeks of attaining our majority . The

first number of the Freemason was issued on the 13 th -March , 1869 , and , therefore , if we had kept strictly to the rule of publishing only one volume a year , we should be now beginning our 22 nd volume . We started , however , with half-yearly volumes , and finding that the Freemason had increased so much in bulk ,

vve last year reverted to the same plan . The point , however , is immaterial . It is enough that in the course of the present volume we shall complete the 21 st year of our existence , ancl this fact alone is sufficient to justify our belief that what we have done has been appreciated , and that if we pursue the same path as

heretofore , and endeavour to meet as far as possible the wishes of all classes of readers , we shall retain the proud position we have won as the representative organ of the Craft in the United

Kingdom and the Colonies ancl Dependencies of the British Crown . At all events , this is what we shall try to do , and we hope that this time next year and for many years to follow the same friendly relations between us and our readers will be found existing-.

The Approaching Benevolent Festival.

THE APPROACHING BENEVOLENT FESTIVAL .

We are delighted to hear that in the few weeks that have elapsed since the appearance of our former article on this subject Bro . TERRY has succeeded in adding to his Board of Stewards for the Festival , which will be held on the 26 th February next , under the auspices of Bro . Lord Mayor Sir H . A .

ISAACS , the names of several brethren who are willing to give their services in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . But , notwithstanding this good fortune , the Board is still very considerably short of what last year ' s Board was on the ist January , 1889 . At that date the Board was over 200 strong ,

while at the present time there are only 171 brethren who have undertaken to act as Stewards atthe Festival of the current year . This falling off in numbers is to be regretted , and the more so as the Christmas season is in full swing , and brethren are too immediatel y engaged in the agreeable duty of visiting and receiv-• ng visits from their friends to be able to give much thought

The Approaching Benevolent Festival.

to an event which is still nearly two months distant . However , if Bro . TERRY has anything like the success which attended his efforts last year , there is just a possibility he may be able to bring together a Board which , if it does not exceed ' , will be at least equal in point of numbers to those he has obtained at his later Festivals .

We are the more urgent in pressing this matter on the attention of our readers , because the Benevolent Institution stands committed to an outlay which , as we have again and again pointed out , falls only a little short of £ 15 , 000 a year in annuities alone , to say nothing of the very considerable amount which is needed

for the expenses of management and the maintenance of the Asylum at Croydon . As regards this latter branch of expenditure , the result of the recent Committee of Inquiry into the working of the Secretary ' s office , has been to show that , as far as the executive of the Institution is concerned , the statement

of the Committee of Management in theis last annual report , as to the moneys of the Charity having been wisely and economically expended , is true , so that our readers may , once and for all ; dismiss from their minds the idea of there being anything like extravagance in the expenditure . However , the permanent

income more than covers the expenses of management , and the point which has to be solved next month concerns the raising of the requisite £ 15 , 000 for the annuitants . Will this amount be forthcoming , or will it not ? Present indications are not in favour of an affirmative answer , but we hope the sum in

question , or one nearly equal to it , will be obtained . The returns have shewn a downward tendency since the year of the Jubilee . The £ 19 , 000 raised in 188 7 became £ 15 , 000 in 1888 , and the £ 15 , 000 of 1888 was reduced in February last to £ 13 , 500 , so that it is about time they took an upward direction . Even if the

increase as compared with last year ' s Festival amounts to only a few hundreds of pounds , the mere fact of there being an improvement will have a reassuring effect . We cannot expect every successive Festival to be more productive than its predecessor . We are prepared for a falling off now and again ,

but when the downward tendency is maintained for two or three years , the position becomes serious , and we wonder how the Committer of Management will succeed in making both ends meet when the outlay is fixed and the income a diminishing one . Nor must we lose sight of another important consideration ,

namely , that the applicants for admission into the Institution keep on steadily increasing . There were 140 at the election in May last , there will probably be close on 160 in May next , so that the need for increasing supplies becomes more and more apparent every year . Let us hope , therefore , that Bro . TERRY ' S

success of the last few weeks will be continued , so that Bro . Lord Mayor ISAACS , who has no province to back him up , may have a numerous and effective Board of Stewards to support him , and secure for the Festival over which he presides a total more nearly equal to the returns of 188 7 than were those of February last . A

Our Benevolent Statistics For 1889.

OUR BENEVOLENT STATISTICS FOR 1889 .

The Statements of Receipt which we publish , as usual , in another part of our columns , will , no doubt , serve to show that if the general total is considerably less than in 1888 and in the year of the Jubilee , the support given by the brethren to our three Institutions has been very evenly maintained during the

past year , as compared with former ordinary years , and what is still more gratifying , that this support has been more evenly distributed among them . In 1888 , it will be remembered , the Girls' School , with its glorious Centenary Fesiival , swept all before it , and succeeded in gathering into its treasury , not very

far short of £ 50 , 000 , while the unfortunate Boys' School vvas fain to content itself wilh not much more than £ 12 , , the Benevolent Institution being successful in obtaining £ 21 , 360 . This year the Benevolent leads the list with a total of close on £ 19 , , while the two Schools are able to register an almost equal amount of receipts , the Girls ' , with £ 14 , 9 86 , being slightly ahead