Charity Organizations.

CHARITY ORGANIZATIONS .

HAVING last week devoted some attention to tbe doings of a class of brethren who make it their p leasure to advance the interests of the Masonic Institutions , either by soliciting support from others , or by taking an active interest in the work connected with the Charities

rather , it would seem , on behalf of the circle to which they belong than on their own individual account , we feel we cannot do better , in continuance of the subject , than to review the work that has been accomplished by some of these " Organizers of Charity , " and , at the same time ,

refer to any peculiarities connected with the particular work on which they have been engaged , so that , as far as possible , our readers may know what is being done in various part of the country , and may also be able to decide for themselves which programme is the best to adopt , and

which the most likely to lead to ultimate success , should they feel disposed to engage in somewhat similar undertakings . We have recently received the "Report of Committee , Statement of Accounts , and List of Members for 1883 , " of the Staffordshire Masonic Charitable

Association , and a study of its contents is admirably adapted for the first of our proposed reviews , more particularly because we find here a record of tbe working of a form of Organization which will be new to most of our supportersthe London section of them at least—and further because

herein is expressed the regret of the Committee at the retirement of the Founder , in the person of Brother Bodenham , " who—as convener of the first meeting of

the Association , held 6 th April 1871 , and from that time to the close of the year 1883—has been a most active and earnest worker in the cause of Masonic Charity iu Staffordshire . "

This return of the Staffordshire Association for 1883 is the Thirteenth Annual Report submitted , and in presenting it the Committee congratulate the members on the continued success of their efforts in the cause of Masonic Charity , which resulted last year in the sending up of

£ 593 5 s to the three Institutions : £ 393 15 s to the Boys , £ 152 5 s to the Girls , and £ 47 5 s to the Benevolent , and this in addition to grants made , nnder a separate fund , for the education of children while residing at their own homes . The Province was represented at all three of the

festivals of 1883 , and although our readers may perhaps be aware of the amounts taken up by each of its Stewards , ^ will no doubt be news to them to learn that of the £ 775 9 s actually contributed no less a sum than the £ 593 5 s we have already mentioned came directly from the

^ haritable Association connected with this District , thus showing what great assistance such organizations are to the Stewards in making a show at the Festivals , and what benefit they are to the Charities themselves in swelling the totals contributed . No donbfc the several Stewards did

their best to obtain outside donations , but this is difficult at all times , and becomes particularly so in a Province where such perfect organization exists , and consequently vre find but few individual subscriptions beyond those received through the Association , the bulk of the difference

"t-ween the total from that source and the amount taken U P having been contributed by the several Lodges . We nerefore have a most respectable year ' s total , made up , not by the generosity of a few , but by the hearty cooperation and smaller donations of almost every brother in we count y . This is , without doubt , a result of which Bro .

Charity Organizations.

Bodenham , the Staffordshire " Organizer of Charity , is very proud . A few years back there was no ready means of collecting this money , and the probability is that nothing

like the amount would have been forthcoming last year had not Bro . Bodenham , or some other Craftsman , started the Association to which so much is now traced , and which we hope will continue its good work for many years to

come . In thus detailing what was done by Staffordshire last year , we have perhaps gone somewhat from the course we

should have pursued in reviewing the Provincial Charity Association , the first reference to which should undoubtedly have been to explain its actual objects , and these are given in the Rules as :

( A ) . The increase of the number of Life Subscribers and Life Governors to the Royal Masonic Charities . ( B ) . The formation of a systemetic Benevolent Fund

for the following purposes : — 1 . The education and advancement in life of th children of distressed or deceased Freemasons in the Province of Staffordshire .

2 . To give assistance in elections to the Masonic Charities . The Association is formed of Freemasons who subscribe not less than One Guinea per annum to the A Fund , or Five Shillings to tho B Fund ; Lodges and Chapters

being admitted to the privileges of the A Fund on payment of two guineas per annum , while Lewises aud Ladies are treated as ordinary subscribers , except that they have no voice in the management of the Association . All money subscribed becomes the property of the Association ,

and is expended , so far as the A Fund is concerned , in the purchase of Life Subscriberships to tbe Masonic Institutions , the priority of presentation to which is balloted for at the annual meeting—held in January each year—subject to certain regulations , among which may be mentioned the

following : Bach member subscribing to the A Fund has one chance in the ballot for every complete guinea standing to his credit , and if successful has to give a promise , in writing , to continue paying until the full amount of his Life Subscription is received , he of course having no second

chance in the ballots until his first Subscribership is cleared off , and another started upon . Should he subscribe five guineas without drawing a nomination he becomes

entitled to one without ballot , and the necessity for ballot ing may also be dispensed with on behalf of any brother recommended by the Committee , provided a majority of those present at an annual meeting are in favour of such a

course . The B Fund provides for the working expenses of the Association , and for the distribution , at the discretion of the Committee , of amounts for the benefit of the children of Freemasons , who have been subscribing members to a

Lodge or Lodges in the Province for at least three years . Under these heads we find that last year there was expended a total of £ 84 3 s 9 d , viz ., in working expenses £ 32 15 s Od , and in grants £ 51 8 s 9 d , the latter item being distributed among seven families . This total was some

£ 28 odd less than the total receipts , so that the balance in bank was increased during the year to that extent , and stood , at the close of the twelve months at £ 162 15 s-Od , while the balance at the same date on account of the A Fund was £ 492 Is Od .