Gifts Of Expensive Jewels By Insolvent Lodges.

The difficulties of the subject under discussion increase the more we look into them , and therefore we will content ourselves at present with a recital of a case which came under our notice recently . It was not an exceptional case ,

but it so fully explains our ideas of what should be done that it is the best argument we can offer to prove the need for prudence . The Master of the Lodge to which we refer had had a most successful term of office , but

at the commencement of his year the Lodgo was heavily in debt , and although he had reduced the amount , the sum owing from the Lodge was considerable at the close of his

term . It was then proposed that the usual sum should be voted from the Lodge Funds , to be expended in the purchase of a Past Master ' s jewel , and had the proposition been carried , it would of course have caused an addition

to the indebtedness of the Lodge , and would have reduced the amount of improvement which the year ' s work had shown . The Master , while not desiring to undervalue the compliment it was desired to pay him , suggested that the

usual presentations had better be discontinued until the Lodge was free from debt , and said that a lettor of thanksif any were due to him—would be appreciated , and , under the circumstances , as highly prized as a jewel . He was

overruled in this , and then he suggested as a compromise , and as a matter of policy , that a jewel at half the usual cost only should be purchased , until their finance ? were in a sound state . Even this proposition met with

opposition ; it had been the custom to do so and so , and any departure from the regular rule was an evidence of decay in the Lodge . However , better counsel prevailed , and the compromise was agreed to , so that the Lod ge

reaped the benefit of having a public-spirited and conscientious Master , up to the end of his terra of office , and we venture to think that the arguments he used , and the manner in which he set himself to the reduction of the

Lodge ' s debts will not onl y form a pattern for each succeeding Master , but that such a feeling has been engendered in the members as a whole that not one of them will

be content until the Lodge is relieved from its obligations to an over-indulgent Treasurer and a kind but misguided landlord .

If a few other Masters would follow the example of the brother we have here referred to—not only strive all they know to reduce the debts of their Lodge , where any are owing , but even make personal sacrifices for the same

cause—we should soon have less reason to use the strong terms with which we head this article , or to refer to the outlay on account of testimonials under the head o reckless extravagance .

An Admirable Suggestion.

AN ADMIRABLE SUGGESTION .

[ COJIMUNICATED . ]

THE correspondence which has appeared from time to time in the columns of this journal on the subject of an " employment bureau " testifies to the interest that has been aroused in the minds of many brethren of the Craft , more than one of whom has expressed himself prepared to

take part in the management of such an institution , if established . Undoubtedly the idea derived much of its conception from the observations made in a not very remote issue of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE under the title " What

Can I Do ? " and ifc would be to us a matter of hearty congratulation should an organisation such as has been suggested be formed , with a view to the mitigation of that depression which exists amongst a large section of our

Order . The universal cry throughout the City and in most of the large cities of industry in the country is , that trade is " stale , flat , and unprofitable , " and that the supply of labour is far in excess of the demand . Especially and

painfully so is this a fact so far as regards the class for ¦ whom a Masonic employment bureau has been suggested ; for whereas men engaged in mechanical and industrial avocations find it comparatively easy to obtain work—at

any rate in sufficient quantit y to carry them through the slackest times—those for whose benefit the ori ginators of this suggestion are solicitous are placed in a very different and more awkward position . To put the

matter more plainly , a majority of the Freemasons who have been so overtaken b y " circumstances of unforeseen calamity and misfortune , " are men of the upper middle classes , who have seen " better days , " and have moved in respectable circles of society . They are bound , in the

An Admirable Suggestion.

very nature of their calling , to preserve a decent appearance , even though the straits to which they are reduced oblige them to forego what in their more palmy days they regarded as the barest necessities of life . Such a man

cannot shoulder his basket of tools and issue forth in search of a "job , " with the free independence of an artisan who knows that if he fails in one direction he is bound sooner or later to find a market for his labour . The

process through which men of the class we allude to is of a more routine and set description , and it is just here that a " bureau " might be brought into action with the most salutary and useful effect . To give an illustration . A man ,

formerly occupying a fairly good position , and whose prospects were hopeful , finds himself , through a variety of circumstances , obliged to alter his condition of life , and to enter the competitive ranks of servitude , either as a

commercial traveller , a clerk , or in some occupation of a like nature . Once in the surging , struggling mass , he has to take his chance with the rest ; and all who know what it means can readily understand the wearing anxiety , the

hope deferred that maketh the heart sick , the despondency which overwhelms the stranger in the strange land who is so unfortunate as to be in search of a situation . Without a friendly hand held out to

help or guide him , he is cast with thousands more into the lottery where the prizes are in terrible contrast with ihe number of blanks ; his application for employment , either in repl y to advertisement or otherwise , is filed with a host

of others , in many eases unopened and unread , from the very fact of the plethora of letters of a similar nature that have flooded in from men equall y impecunious and desirous of earning an honest living . It is just here that a

Masonic organisation or register would be of immense service in carrying out those principles of mutual hel p and support which are taught amongst the cardinal tenets of Freemasonry . It is sad enough to see the thousands of

our fellow men who , whilst unable to obtain work , "to beg they are ashamed ; " but it is still more sorrowful to know that amongst the serried ranks of the unemployed are many who have rendered good service to the Craft in

their more prosperous days , and who look painfully askant to the Craft to exemplify in some manner those teachings of mutual aid and succour which they so admire whilst

assisting in the active work of their respective Lodges . The argument is frequently used that it is difficult to become acquainted with the necessities of an impoverished brother , on account of his natural reticence and hesitation

to parade his woes before the world . Unquestionably there is considerable truth in all this , for we have known cases innumerable in which Masons have suffered the greatest hardships and privations before they have

been impelled b y dire and urgent necessity to make their condition known to an intimate brother , with the view of obtaining temporary relief . To the credit of the brethren generall y who are so placed be it said ,

that nothing short of absolute want can induce them to seek assistance at the hands of the Craft ; and ifc is a well-known axiom , tested by experience , that the latter are far more willing to give than the former are to ask .

However , in the case of au organisation such as has been shadowed forth b y so many of our correspondents , there would be no difficult y in the way of such poor and deserving brethren making known their wants and being placed

in direct communication with those who may have it in their power to alleviate their troubles , and it may be to give them the needed " fresh start " in life . We have frequently remarked that when , amid . st the multitude of

advertisements appearing in the columns of the daily newspapers from persons seeking appointments , there is an appeal from a member of the Craft , the announcement is seldom repeated a second time , and the conclusion one

naturally arrives at is , that almost invariably such appeals meet the eye of some kiudl y brother , who being in want of assistance himself , or able to recommend employment in some other direction , exerts himself

on behalf of the necessitous advertiser . What is done , therefore , by private and individual effort , prompted by fraternal impulse , could be infinitely better accomplished , and on a much wider scale , by an institution specially

designed for the carrying out of such a plan of Masonic industrial help . Knowing the existence of such an organisation employers requiring the services of respectable and

trustworthy men , whose antecedents could be vouched for ny the Secretaries of the Lodges to which the various applicants belonged , would place upon the lists at the