Freemasonry In 1885.

1885 one of close on £ 2000 in favour of the latter . The anniversary of the Benevolent Institution was held as usual at Freemasons' Tavern in February . R . W . Bro . Sir M . E . Hicks-Beach , Bart ., M . P ., Prov . G . M . of Gloucestershire , presided . The Board of Stewards was 352 strong , made up of 164 London and 18 S provincial brethren , and the amount subscribed £ 17 , 770 , or more by £ 3000 than the handsome total of the previous

year . So marvellous an excess over the most productive of all previous Festivals is to be accounted for by the fact that when , early in the year , the Committee of Management of the Institution came to take stock , as it were , of their position as regards the vacancies to be , filled at the May election and the candidates for election , it was found there were no vacancies on the Widows' Fund , and about 80 candidates , whose claims to the benefits of the

Institution had been most thoroughly sifted and approved . So grievous a state of things was felt to be intolerable , and a special effort was made to enable the Committee to recommend to the general body of subscribers a very appreciable increase in the number of annuitants . The result we have already set forth , so far as the Festival is concerned , while , as regards the election , the general annual meeting of the subscribers unanimously endorsed the recommendations of the Committee , and there arc now 173 , as

against 170 , male annuitants , and 202 , as against lS 2 , female annuitants in 1884 . This , of course , imposes on the Institution a proportionately increased share of responsibility , and in order to fulfil that responsibility the Craft generally must provide henceforth a larger annual contribution to its funds . But this is a matter for future consideration . Let it be sufficient for us to point out here that , in the year now on the eve of closing , the Benevolent Institution prospered even beyond the most sanguine expectations of its well-wishers .

The Girls School , while its incomings have been arger than in 18 S 4 , has likewise had an exceptional drain on its sources , and it will probably be some little time before the normal ratio of receipts and expenditure is restored . Its 97 th Anniversary Festival took place in May , as usual , at the Freemasons' Tavern , under the presidency of R . W . Bro . Sir W . W . Burrell , Bart ., M . P ., Prov . G . M . of Sussex . Bro . Hedges was so fortunate

as to secure a very efficient Board of 272 Stewards , 130 of whom represented the London lodges , and the remaining 142 the provinces , and the aggregate result of their labours , including the sum of 1000 guineas ( £ 1050 ) subscribed by the West Yorkshire brethren as a "Sir Henry Edwards Perpetual Presentation Fund" amounted , in round figures , to £ 14 , 188 , the Chairman ' s Province of Sussex being conspicuous by its generous support of their

respected chief . Such a total must have gladdened the heart of Bro . Hedges , on whom of necessity devolved the more arduous part of the labour in arranging for the anniversary , and all the more so , seeing that , even without the Sir Henry Edwards Presentation , the receipts were slightly in excess of the 1884 celebration . On the other hand , having regard to the building operations in the immediate vicinity of the School at St . John ' s Rise , it was

deemed advisable by the House Committee that a strip of the vacant land running along one side of the Institution should be purchased , with the twofold object of improving the frontage and at the same time screening the children from the prying curiosity of the inmates of an inferior class of houses which it was in contemplation to . build close up to and overlooking the school . For this piece of land the price demanded was £ 5700 , and in

October the Quarterly Court of Governors and Subscribers wisely , as we think , determined on making the purchase in accordance with the terms of the preliminary arrangement entered into with the landowners bythe Committee . That this purchase will have the effect of substantially enhancing the market value of the School property is well known , but , though from a business point of view the investment is undoubtedly to be commended , the drain on the

resources of the Institution will be none the less serious to meet , and it will be the duty of all our friends to put their shoulder to the wheel and see what they can accomplish towards securing a " bumper" Festival on the 9 8 th anniversary in May next , Grand Lodge having set them a brilliant example by unanimously voting from the Fund of General Purposes the very appreciable sum of £ 1000 towards the expenses of this purchase . There are two

other matters to be noticed : one , that at the annual distribution of prizes held in connection with the School , the chair was very kindly occupied by the Lady Mayoress , who was loyally supported by Sir John B . Monckton , P . G . W ., and the members of the House Committee , her ladyship expressing herself as delighted with the proficiency and good conduct of the children . The other is that of the 14 children who offered themselves as candidates

for the Cambridge Middle-class Examination , all passed with credit , and the majority with honours . The Boys' School Festival was held at the Crystal Palace in June , under the presidency of R . W . Bro . the Marquis of Hartington , M . P ., Prov . G . M . of Derbyshire . There were 275 Stewards—119 hailing from London and 156 from the provinces—and the total of their contributions amounted to £ 12 , 006 , a further sum of £ 1000 having been previously granted by Grand

Lodge towards the cost of furnishing the new Preparatory School . Of this latter amount , however , no account was taken in connection with the Festival . Here it will be seen that there was a very considerable falling off in the contributions as compared with those of the other Institutions ; while the decrease as compared with the Festival of 1884 was upwards of £ 2000 . This kind of fluctuation must , of course , be expected every now and then ;

but , unfortunately , it could not well have happened at a more inopportune time in the case of this particular Institution . Our readers are aware that during the last three or four years a scheme has been in progress for the enlargement of the Institution by establishing a Preparatory School . The new Hall was advanced enough to be used for the distribution of prizes in June , and the new School buildings must be about completed by now and

ready for occupation ; but the sum subscribed as a Building Fund has not proved sufficient b y between £ 5000 and £ 6000 , principally owing to the expenditure—not in the first instance contemplated—of over £ 3000 for land and the houses standing thereon . Nor in making this calculation has any account been taken of the extra annual sum required for the additional pupils to be drafted into the School . Thus a larger instead of a smaller

sum was needed for the current expenses of the Institution , and unfortunately it was not forthcoming , though Derbyshire backed up its chief most loyally , and the Stewards from London and the other provinces played their part with accustomed energy , Grand Lodge , as we have said , has generously voted £ 1000 towards furnishing the new premises , and at the subsidiary Festival in August , when the Baroness Burdett-Coutts graciously laid the

memorial stone of the Hall , a sum of £ 1100 was raised , which sum , it is sincerely to be hoped , will be amplified before the year closes . But the total of all-these contributions put together falls short of the total sum required , and an extra effort will have to be made in June next in order to restore the equilibrium between income and outlay , which is necessary if the School is to do its work properly . One result of this unfortunate diminution in the

Freemasonry In 1885.

receipts has already appeared , the Committee having found it possible to elect only 15 out of the proposed addition of 50 boys . Perhaps the brethren will lend a helping hand to Bro , Binckes , and assist him generously , as they have done in previous years , so that the Institution may be in a better position to meet the increasing number of applications for admission . As

regards the other principal events of the year , it should be mentioned that Lord Mayor Fowler , who was Chairman of the Festival in 1884 , was Chairman at the distribution of prizes in June , when the new Hall was used for the first time , and that of the 16 boys who went in for the Cambridge Middle-class Examination in December , 1884 , all satisfied the examiners , while the majority were placed in the honour list .

To sum up these results—the three Festivals proper yielded £ 43 , 964 , as against £ 42 , 000 in 1884 , and £ 47 , 000 in 1883 . If we add to this £ 1100 , raised at the supplementary Boys' Festival in August , and the grants of £ 1000 each to the two Schools , we have a grand total of £ 47 , 064 contributed by the Craft and its Grand Lodge towards the current year ' s maintenance of our three Institutions .

PROVINCIAL AND OTHER CHARITABLE ASSOCIATIONS . It must not be imagined that the three Institutions we have referred to in the preceding section engross the whole of the charitable work which is done by the Craft . There are several important provincial associations which are doing splendid service , and there are always a number of lodge

and other associations which in a more circumscribed way render valuable aid to the cause of beneficence . Among the former the most prominent are undoubtedly the educational associations of Cheshire and the two Lancashires . These have been in existence for some years , are well provided with invested funds , and receive a very generous support from the brethren . The Cheshire Educational Masonic Institution was founded in

1 S 63 . It has moneys invested in safe and profitable securities to the amount of about £ 5000 . Its annual receipts in the shape of donations , subscriptions , ore , exceed £ 300 , and it spends about £ 200 a year in educating and advancing children of poor or deceased Cheshire brethren . The West Lancashire Masonic Educational Institution , which was founded in 1 S 50 , according to the report published early this year , had in securities

and cash at bank or in hand , close on £ 18 , 500 . It paid in 1884 for the education , clothing , maintenance , and advancement of 161 children £ 1525 ; its receipts in respect of donations , subscriptions , & c , were nearly £ 1358 , and in interest on bonds , mortgages , and the like , upwards of £ 722 , while the expenses of management were only about £ 57 . The East Lancashire Systematic Masonic Educational and Benevolent Institution is much

younger than either of the foregoing , having been founded only in 1875 . Yet its receipts for the year 1884 > n respect of donations and subscriptions alone amounted to £ 1590 , while its investments , yielding £ 183 in interest , reach the total of £ 5303 . Its cost of management , only slightly exceeded £ 56 , and its payments for relief of II deserving brethren and women , and the education of 28 children , amounted to over £ 414 ; the balance in hand ,

after investing a further £ 985 , being close on £ 418 . I here are other similar local organisations , notably in Devonshire , and one recently established in the Province of Hants and the Isle of Wight ; and , in addition , there are several associations connected with the provinces and private lodges which are organised for the purpose of offering facilities to brethren to become Governors or subscribers of our central Charities . The amount of good thus done is increasing largely almost every year .

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE . At a meeting of the Board in January of this year , the President informed the brethren present that in 1884 they had been compelled to draw upon their invested capital to the extent of £ 3000 , and , to judge from appearances , there is reason to fear that during 1885 the inroads on the same capital will turn out to have been nearly , if not quite , as extensive , there

being hardly any difference between the aggregate of the grants made in the 12 months . The following figures give the expenditure from December 188 4 to Nov . 18 S 5 , both inclusive , namely—1884 : December , 38 cases relieved with £ 827 ; 1 S 85 : January , 36 cases , with £ 750 ; February , 30 cases , with £ 710 ; March , 34 cases , with £ 755 ; April , 43 cases , with £ 983 ; May ,

28 cases , with £ 620 ; June , 27 cases , with £ 703 ; July , 25 cases , with £ 770 ; August , 17 cases , with £ 415 ; Sept . 27 cases , with £ 675 ; October , 35 cases , with £ 1185 ; and November , 38 cases , with £ 1 , 075 ; making a total for the 12 months of 378 cases relieved , in sums ranging from £ 3 upwards , with £ 0 , 468 .

MASONIC LITERATURE . There is not much to say under this head , the chief , or probably almost the only important , addition to the literature of the Craft being Vol . IV . of Bro . Gould ' s invaluable " History of Freemasonry . " As regards the merits of the volume , and the fact that it exhibits all those points of rare excellence by which its three predecessors were characterised , we have already stated

most fully our opinion . We have shown that we are not prepared to accept Bro . Gould's decision in respect of the question of Degrees or the Wren tradition ; but , though we differ with him , we are not insensible to the scrupulous care with which he has considered each matter in all its points . There has also been published a work , entitled "The Yorkshire Lodges , " by Bro . J . Ramsden Riley , author of the "History of the Airedale Lodge ,

No . 387 , " in which have been carefully traced all the lodges , both extinct and existing , which have been warranted in Yorkshire . The work has been most carefully compiled , while , from a typographical point of view , it is about one of the handsomest volumes it has been our good fortune to see . Then there have appeared some small lodge and chapter histories and sundry Provincial Calendars , all of which are valuable for the purposes of

reference , and " The Freemasons' ; Pocket Companion , " by Bro . W . R . Kelly , a very useful compendium of lodge working in ancient Craft Freemasonry , which we have no hesitation in commending to the notice of our readers . "The History of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , " by Bro . G . Blizard Abbott , which appeared originally in the columns of the Freemason , has been published as a separate work , but with a number of

appendices containing a mass of new matter . We have also in prospect a work by Bro . C . S . Lane , in which will be shown all the lodges which have been warranted by the Grand Lodge of England , where they were , or are , located , and what fate has befallen them . There cannot be any question as to the immense importance of such a work as this , and all interested in the history of Freemasonry must be on the tenterhooks of expectation to learn

what manner of work it is . There have also appeared the usual array of pamphlets and tracts of different degrees and kinds of merit , while our periodical literature has been neither more nor less successful than heretofore . For ourselves , we may venture to say that we have striven to make the Freemason worthy in every way of the body whose interests it is never weary of upholding , and we trust our efforts have been appreciated . To continue in pursuit of the same policy will be our chief aim in the future .