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  • June 29, 1859
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, June 29, 1859: Page 26

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    Article THE MASONIC MIRROR. ← Page 5 of 14 →
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The Masonic Mirror.

same time they must not forget that ifc was from the funds of the Board of General Purposes that , rightly or wrongly—he could not then stay to inquire— £ 1000 had been granted to the Crimean Belief Fund , and £ 1000 fco the Indian Mutiny Fund ( hear , hear ); and if any brother proposed , as ho had a perfect rig ht to do , that a contribution should be made from this fund to our charities , he would now be mot with the objection that the Grand Secretary ' s salary had just been raised , and that , at rate b £ 100 a the resources of the fund had been diminished .

any y year , ( Hear . ) In 1858 . the Board of General Purposes , in a report signed by Bro . Havers and Bro . Roxburgh , were against the salaries in the grand Secretary ' s office being raised ; and nothing hacl been shown to have occurred since that report which would justify the change of opinion which had taken place in that Board , on this subject . He would be the last man in the world to grudge any man a fair reward for the work done ; but this request was made prematurely and unjustly ; when , howeverthe time camehe had no doubt but that Grand Lodge would

, proper , unanimously award to the Grand Secretary some recognition of his services . Bro . Stebbing next rose , but was assailed with loud cries of ( " Spoke ; spoke I " ' ) Bro . Jennings , Grand Director of Ceremonies , said : The brother has a right to speak to the amendment . Bro . Stebbing ( inquiringly)—Eh ? Bro . Jennings ( emphatically ) - ! said you have a right to speak to the amendment .

Bro . Stebbing ( complacently)—Of course . 1 have . ( Loud laughter ) . I have a right to speak on every resolution . It is absurd . ( Renewed laughter ) . The brother went on to say that Grand Lodge ought to be consistent in disposing of its funds , and they ought not to give to Bro . Clarice , after eighteen months ' service , the salary they gave to Brer . AVhite , after a service of more than a quarter of a . century . It would have a bad effect out of doors , particularly amongst the poorer brethren . Bro . Gregory—M . AV " . sir . the eloquence of some of the brethren has rather

diverted our attention from ivhat is really the subject before us . I think , my lord . that arguments merely derived , from precedent , should not be suffered to weigh with Grand Lodgo in this matter . AVhat we want to say is , that the services of the Grand Secretary's office should be efficiently performed , and , being efficiently performed should be duly compensated . ( Hear , hear ) . We are told that Bro . AA hite's salary was only £ 300 a year , ancl that the other £ 100 was merely a gratuity ; but gratuity or salary , it was given year by year ; the thing we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet , ancl if ynu only give Bro . Cray Clarke this £ 100 a

year , I don't suppose he will care a great deal iviietlier you call it a gratuity or au addition to his salary . ( Hear , hear , and laughter ) . Let us not forget , moreover , the fluctuation iu the value of money . £ 300 , some years ago , was worth as much as £ 400 noiv ('• Oh , oh ! " and hear . hear ) . Even assuming what I believe not to bo the case , viz , that the business of the office of the Grand Secretary has not increased , still , 1 say that the fact of our having underpaid Bro . AVhite is no reason why we should underpay our present Grand Secretary , ( hear , hear ) , especially ivhenfrom necessity or choicelie . devotes so much more time to the duties ofthe

, , office . I clo not wish for a moment to depreciate tho services of the Past Grand Secretary , but I can say , from my own knowledge , that when the poorer brethren come for charity , or any of the brethren for business , Bro . Clarice is always to be found at his post ; and we know how much more satisfactory it is to see the head of an office than to transact business with any of the subordinates . ( Hear , hear ) . The secretary of a club does not present an analagous case at all ; for . 1 know how some of those gentlemen transact their business . ( Hear , hear , and laughter ) . The duties of the secretary of a club are far inferior iu importance to those of our

Grand Secretary ; and I have seen the secretary of my own club come quietly in at eleven o ' clock in the morning , aud when I have looked for him at three or four o ' clock in tho afternoon , he was not to be found . ( Hear , hear , ancl laughter ) . A voice—AVhat club is that ? ( Laughter , and cries of " Not fair" ) . Bro . Gregory—Instead of looking to the clubs for a parallel ease , Grand Lodge ought to look to the great commercial companies , and if you do this , you will find , that £ 500 is about the minimum , ancl that the maximum ranges from £ 1 , 000 to

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1859-06-29, Page 26” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 11 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_29061859/page/26/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
TO OUR READERS. Article 1
GRAND LODGE. Article 1
SECRET SOCIETIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES.—V. Article 9
THE NIGHTINGALE. Article 17
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 18
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 22
PROVINCIAL. Article 35
ROYAL ARCH. Article 42
SCOTLAND. Article 43
THE WEEK. Article 43
NOTICES. Article 47
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 47
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Masonic Mirror.

same time they must not forget that ifc was from the funds of the Board of General Purposes that , rightly or wrongly—he could not then stay to inquire— £ 1000 had been granted to the Crimean Belief Fund , and £ 1000 fco the Indian Mutiny Fund ( hear , hear ); and if any brother proposed , as ho had a perfect rig ht to do , that a contribution should be made from this fund to our charities , he would now be mot with the objection that the Grand Secretary ' s salary had just been raised , and that , at rate b £ 100 a the resources of the fund had been diminished .

any y year , ( Hear . ) In 1858 . the Board of General Purposes , in a report signed by Bro . Havers and Bro . Roxburgh , were against the salaries in the grand Secretary ' s office being raised ; and nothing hacl been shown to have occurred since that report which would justify the change of opinion which had taken place in that Board , on this subject . He would be the last man in the world to grudge any man a fair reward for the work done ; but this request was made prematurely and unjustly ; when , howeverthe time camehe had no doubt but that Grand Lodge would

, proper , unanimously award to the Grand Secretary some recognition of his services . Bro . Stebbing next rose , but was assailed with loud cries of ( " Spoke ; spoke I " ' ) Bro . Jennings , Grand Director of Ceremonies , said : The brother has a right to speak to the amendment . Bro . Stebbing ( inquiringly)—Eh ? Bro . Jennings ( emphatically ) - ! said you have a right to speak to the amendment .

Bro . Stebbing ( complacently)—Of course . 1 have . ( Loud laughter ) . I have a right to speak on every resolution . It is absurd . ( Renewed laughter ) . The brother went on to say that Grand Lodge ought to be consistent in disposing of its funds , and they ought not to give to Bro . Clarice , after eighteen months ' service , the salary they gave to Brer . AVhite , after a service of more than a quarter of a . century . It would have a bad effect out of doors , particularly amongst the poorer brethren . Bro . Gregory—M . AV " . sir . the eloquence of some of the brethren has rather

diverted our attention from ivhat is really the subject before us . I think , my lord . that arguments merely derived , from precedent , should not be suffered to weigh with Grand Lodgo in this matter . AVhat we want to say is , that the services of the Grand Secretary's office should be efficiently performed , and , being efficiently performed should be duly compensated . ( Hear , hear ) . We are told that Bro . AA hite's salary was only £ 300 a year , ancl that the other £ 100 was merely a gratuity ; but gratuity or salary , it was given year by year ; the thing we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet , ancl if ynu only give Bro . Cray Clarke this £ 100 a

year , I don't suppose he will care a great deal iviietlier you call it a gratuity or au addition to his salary . ( Hear , hear , and laughter ) . Let us not forget , moreover , the fluctuation iu the value of money . £ 300 , some years ago , was worth as much as £ 400 noiv ('• Oh , oh ! " and hear . hear ) . Even assuming what I believe not to bo the case , viz , that the business of the office of the Grand Secretary has not increased , still , 1 say that the fact of our having underpaid Bro . AVhite is no reason why we should underpay our present Grand Secretary , ( hear , hear ) , especially ivhenfrom necessity or choicelie . devotes so much more time to the duties ofthe

, , office . I clo not wish for a moment to depreciate tho services of the Past Grand Secretary , but I can say , from my own knowledge , that when the poorer brethren come for charity , or any of the brethren for business , Bro . Clarice is always to be found at his post ; and we know how much more satisfactory it is to see the head of an office than to transact business with any of the subordinates . ( Hear , hear ) . The secretary of a club does not present an analagous case at all ; for . 1 know how some of those gentlemen transact their business . ( Hear , hear , and laughter ) . The duties of the secretary of a club are far inferior iu importance to those of our

Grand Secretary ; and I have seen the secretary of my own club come quietly in at eleven o ' clock in the morning , aud when I have looked for him at three or four o ' clock in tho afternoon , he was not to be found . ( Hear , hear , ancl laughter ) . A voice—AVhat club is that ? ( Laughter , and cries of " Not fair" ) . Bro . Gregory—Instead of looking to the clubs for a parallel ease , Grand Lodge ought to look to the great commercial companies , and if you do this , you will find , that £ 500 is about the minimum , ancl that the maximum ranges from £ 1 , 000 to

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