Contents.

CONTENTS .

RETIREMENT OF BRO . BINCKES 33 LICENSED VICTUALLERS AND THE CRAFT 34 THE J UNIOR WARDEN 34 THE BETTER FOR IT 35 ROUND AND ABOUT . BY " THE

DRUID" 36 SUPREME GRAND CHAPTER ... 38 PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGES AND CHAPTERS 39

EMINENT MASONS AT HOME : No . 3 . — COL . SIR FRANCIS BURDETT , BART , ( w / t / i a Portrait ) 40 MASONIC MEMS 42 COLONIAL AND FOREIGN ... 45

AMONG THE BOHEMIANS ... 46 GATHERED CHIPS 47 REVIEWS 48 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS 48

Retirement Of Bro. Binckes.

RETIREMENT OF BRO . BINCKES .

AT an adjourned meeting of the General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , held on Saturday , the 1 oth ult ., the retirement of the Secretary , with a pension of ^ 350 per annum , was officially announced . The exact wording of the Report of the Provisional Committee—to whom the task of conferring with Bro . Binckes had been allocated—brought up by the Earl of Euston , Chairman , was : —

The Provisional Committee report that they have conferred with Bro . Binckes on the terms of his retirement , and have arranged that he shall retire from the office of Secretary at the end of the present year ( 18 S 9 ) , upon a retiring allowance of . £ 350 per annum for life . They recommend that this arrangement be carried out , and the necessary notices given under the laws of the Institution for this purpose , and that this Committee be empowered to

take the necessary steps to cany into effect the arrangement with Bro . Binckes . The Provisional Committee further recommend that the salary of any future Secretary shall not commence with a sum exceeding £ 300 per annum .

The adoption of this report was moved b y Bro . Cumberland , and i" was eventually carried , so that the second volume in the history of the unfortunate investigation , which will hang for years a dark shadow over the affairs of the Institution , is now complete . Bro . Binckes , as perhaps everybody knows , has held the

Secretaryship for the past twenty-eight years , but his connection with the Institution goes back a longer period . His original position as a collector was occupied with so much success that eventually the office was amalgamated with the Secretaryship , when the latter post came to be offered to him . The financial aspect of the Institution

has gradually changed since his mark was brought upon it , until at this , the completion of his long tenure of officialdom , the average yearly fund collected on behalf of the charity has reached a very long way into five figures . It is not wise , in glancing at the facts of his retirement , to recur to the painful disclosures which necessitated

it . The effect of these disclosures upon the position of Bro . Binckes sinks into insi gnificance before the effect they have had upon the united body of Freemasons , and if the boisterous behavior of the Craft on several occasions—notably at the Freemasons' Hall and Alexandra Palace—be taken into account it becomes of very little moment indeed . The Secretary was guilty of great indiscretion . He allowed the Institution and its departments to " | drift , " he weaned

authority from the hands of those who should have wielded it , and he has been compelled to resign his position . But Freemasonry has made a greater loss than this . It has unearthed the dormant volcano of discord which was not known to exist , it has permitted its affairs to become the the tip-cat of the enemies of the Craft , and it has disclosed an element in its ranks which is not in possession of

the first attribute of gentility . These are strong words we know ; but had either of our contemporaries used them instead of hiding their convictions behind their subscription-lists , it would not have been necessary for us , a Review , to have done so . It has come to our ears that worth ) ' Brethren of our Order have been openly taunted by

aliens with the corruption of our schools . Truth has thought fit to draw parallel allusions between our Institution and another , which has fallen into disgrace ; and our press agencies bear testimony to the world-wide publicity with which the lamentable affair has been chronicled . All this is beyond repair . The great army of charitable Brethren who yearly open their pockets to assist—and they do it nobly—the offspring of unluckier Brothers have an undoubted right

to express their disapproval at the administration of their charity The discrimination with which they have insisted upon the resignation or retirement of various officials is to be thoroughly commended ; but the expression of that determination has lost to them the greatest opportunity they ever had to demonstrate ( to the world , if they wished it ) the grand foundation upon which

Freemasonry is erected . This is why the public investigation is the more unfortunate . We do not consider the pension granted to Bro . Binckes is a shilling too much ; but to pension a retiring official with ^ 350 a year , and appoint a successor at a salary of . £ 300 , is just one of those extraordinary pieces

of foolish economy for which a feasible explanation is never to be found . The work attached to the office of Secretary is very great , and will be greater in the future than ever it has been under Bro . Binckes ' s rule . The right man to occupy the post can never be found by the inducement of such a salary , and as the right man ,

over the wrong man , would probably influence the receipts several thousand pounds , the policy of this step is again at fault . If the Provisional Committee in their wisdom had determined that the

existing emoluments of Bro . Binckes should suffice for his pension and the salary of his successor , the total should have been very differently divided . On no account should the income of the office be less than ^ 500 a year , and for that amount a man of influence , of education , and standing should be procured .

The third volume of this strange , eventful history will commence with the New Year . If the hand of retribution stretches its fingers into the work of Bro . Binckes ' s successor we shall not be surprised , but , perhaps , the dawn of a New Year will prove us false . We hope it may ; we hope the little fellows at Wood-green

will never suffer , nor their brothers who come after them , for the modern idiosyncrasy of their Masonic fathers , and that Bro . Binckes may be consoled in his retirement by the fact that the good he has done the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys will be remembered in the Craft centuries after this " unfortunate misfortune" has been forgotten .