The Belfast Masonic Charities.

sure , would have been gratified in having to preside over so large an assembly . On behalf of the Order , and especially on behalf of their local Masonic Charities , he thankad the company for their presence and support . incumDeni

All true Masons , said the chairman , leic it ; upon them to aid and assist their poor and distressed brethren . He thought he mig ht venture to say that the Belfast Masonic Charity Fund had enabled them to fairly

fulfil that duty , it having on many occasions provided help and comfort to homes where misery and want prevailed . With regard to the Masonic Widows' Fund , he need hardly tell them that these widows were not Masons , but

at the same time the members of the Order ielt it almost as incumbent that they should help and assist them as to assist brethren . He thought he would be justified on their behalf in appealing to the audience for their sympathy and

aid and support . He found he would be tollowed by several gentlemen who would speak more efficiently on this subject thau he could do , and he also saw behind

him a great array of musical talent ; he ielt certain they would rather listen to music than to his words . He regretted to say he had jast received a letter from the Mayor of Belfast , who was to have moved the first

resolution , stating that a severe cold prevented him from being present , and that he regretted deeply being obliged to remain at home . The Mayor bad expressed himself in the warmest terms of approval of the object of that meeting . They all knew perfectly well how sincere and earnest a Mason he was , and it was , therefore , with deep regret they

would learn he was unable to be present . From the report of the Belfast Masonic Charity Fund —which was the twenty-seventh annual return—we gather that the work of the Charity has been successfully continued and extended during the past year .

The applications for assistance continue to be numerous and often painfally urgent ; but the Committee are glad to say that , through the inoreased liberality of the brethren , they have been able to afford substantial relief to every deserving case , although in many instances larger grants would willingly have been made did the funds at their

disposal permit . The cases now coming before the Committee are of a somewhat different class to those of some years ago , the applicants being of a superior social standing , and consequently requiring larger grants to be of any real service . The following , out of many cases that have come before the Committee , will serve

as an illustration : —A respectable family , through the long-continued illness and death of the bread-winner , are left hopelessly involved in debt , to landlord , doctor , grocer . The members of the family might be able by their industry to support themselves and their mother , bnt are discouraged by an incubus they cannot get rid of .

Meanwhile tbe landlord is pressing for his rent , aud threatens to seize the furniture and tarn them on the street . This means to them absolute ruiD , the loss of a once happy home , and of every vestige of a chance of supporting themselves respectably , and a total scattering of the whole family , with possibilities of

degradation too terrible to think of . This is not a fanciful picture , bufc condensed particulars of a real case which , during tbo present year , came before the Committee . It need scarcely be said that relief waa promptly afforded ; the more pressing olaims were satisfied , and that sorrowing widow and her daughters are now

respectably supporting themselves , full of gratitude to the Masonic brethren of tho deceased husband and father . During the year 72 cases of distress have been relieved , at an expenditure of £ 272 6 s 3 d , a slight increase ou that of lasfc year . The amount in money represents but a small proportion of the assistance rendered . The members of the Committee have been

indefatigable in their efforts to obtain for respectable brethren and their families suitable employment , and to enable those who have been unfortunate iu the battle of life to make a fresh start , encouraged by the sympathy and support of their brethren . During tbe past year death has been busy amongst the recipients of the relief afforded

by this fund , but it is a source of great gratification to the Committee to think that medical aid and many comforts , whioh could not othervise have been procured , soothed the lasfc moments of the sufferers . The funeral arrangements in most cases were carried out under the snpervision of the Committee , respectablv , and with a due

regard to economy . Cases remitted from Grand Lodge Committee of Charity wero carefully investigated afc the hands of the sub-coinmittee before grants were made . A constantly increasing interest has been taken in the monthly meetings by the members of the Committee , and the utmost vigilance has been exercised by them in

the disbursements of tbe funds committed to their charge . The Btatement of accounts shows that the total income for the year amounted to £ 296 Is 2 d , including a donation of £ 20 from a bazaar held at Carnmoney , under the auspices of Lodge 645 , a donation of £ 10 from Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim , and a donation cf £ 10 ,

being part proceeds of St . John s Day services in Lisbnrn Cathedral . The receipts for the previous year amounted to £ 270 18 s 2 d , showing a gratifying increase in the ordinary income of the fund of £ 25 3 s . The interest received from trustees remains practically the same . The ordinary expenditure dnring the year amounted to

£ 294 Oa 8 d , being an increase of £ 26 4 s 6 d on that of last ypar showing an excess of income over expenditure of £ 2 Oa 6 d . The weekly allowances referred to in last year ' s report have been continued , but the Committee regret that with constantly increasing claims they hare been unable to increase the amounts , though there

The Belfast Masonic Charities.

are many cases in which they would gladly do so did the funds at their disposal permit . The Committee have to report with regret that a few Lodges meeting in Belfast are not subscribers to the fund . They are glad to know , however , that there is growing up in

many of the non-coutributary Lodges a fuller sense of their Masonio duty , and that with fuller knowledge of the work done by the Charity will come a higher standard of responsibility , and that Lodge will vie with Lodge , and brother with brother , who oan labour best and do mo 3 t for the noble cause of Masonio Charity .

The Seventeenth Annual Report of the Belfast Masonio Widows' Fund is also of a satisfactory character , and is presented by the Committee in the hope that the year ' s administration will be found to be of such a nature as will merit approval and continued support . The Committee

have kept constantly in view the objects tor which the Fnnd was started , viz .:- —rendering assistance to poor and deserving widows and families of deceased Freemasons , and have given careful attention to every application , so that only those who were worthy were assisted , and with such liberality as the state of the Funds would allow .

During tbe year fifty-two widows and their families have been voted sums ranging from £ 4 to £ 14 each , the total amounting to £ 424 2 s , and this aid , though apparently trivial , has in numerous instances enabled the sorrowing widow to mako a fresh start in life's battle , and , backed by the sympathy and personal visits of some

members of the Committee , has given inoreased courage to rear up her family respectably and well . The grants for the previous year amounted to £ 383 12 s . The Committee are happy to report that during the year the subscriptions have been well sustained , and that the brethren generally seem to consider ifc to be nofc only a

high privilege , but a labour of love to have the opportunity of con . tributing towards the " widows' mite . " The amount subscribed last year was £ 345 Is 3 d , and this year £ 340 10 a Id , showing a decrease of £ 4 lis 2 d . This is most satisfactory when ifc is borne in mind fchafc the members of those Lodges which

meet in Arthur Square have , during the year , subscribed liberally towards the purchase of the Masonic Hall . There are still many brethren who have nofc yet seen their way to assist by contributing towards the Fund , bufc the Committee hope that , year by year , as the good which is being done becomes better known , this

number will become less , and that the time is not far distant when the list of subscribers will embrace every member of the Order iu Belfast and neighbourhood . The donations amount to 68 , and are aa follow : — £ 10 to qualify Preceptor of Ulster Preceptory , 22 ; £ 10 to qualify M . E . K . of R . A . Chapter , 97 , £ 10 to qualify W . M . of Lodge

663 ; £ 10 to qualify J . W . of Lodge 109 ; £ 4 from Lodge 254 , Holywood ( being the second of three annual payments of £ 4 each ) to qualify the chair of W . M . ; £ 4 from R . A . C ., 609 ( being the second of three annual payments of £ 4 each ) to qualify the chair of M . E . K . , £ 10 to qualify Brother Richard Knox as life member

of Committee ; £ 10 to qualify Brother David Hanuay as life member of Committee . The Committee frequently felt the want of some system whereby uniformity could be secured in the amounts voted , and during tbe year they adopted a scale by which all applications are to be determined by the Masonio standing of the brethren through whom the claims arise .

seventy-two families create in one district . These families had been helped , not sustained . He , therefore , wished it to be distinctly understood that thoy did not support families in connection with the Charity fund ; but they

Brother Hilton Provincial Grand Secretary proposed that the Reports , & c , should be adopted . He was glad to say that the Charity was prospering so far as funds were concerned : but , while the funds were accumulatin g and

the charity of the brethren was being enlarged , yet they found a worthy object for all the subscriptions they could get , for the poor they had always with them . They prided themselves on the fact that they were not merely brethren in the ordinary sense o £ the term , but Masonic brethren , who felt called upon not only to extend the right hand of

fellowship to their brethren , but when a brother was called away they felt it incumbent upon them to assist his widow and orphans by giving them an opportunity to go forward and succeed in life . The Charity fiind during the past year had aided seventy-two families . That number was not large , yet what amount of distress might

assisted them by temporary relief . With regard to the Widows' Fund , he thought its claims carae home to their hearts even more than those of the Charity fund . If anything came home to their hearts and feelings ifc was

the suffering of their lady friends , and they as Masons had learned to care for them as best they conld . Tho fnnd had been instrumental in assisting fifty-two widows and their families during the past year . The fund

assisted the widows in their temporary difficulty , and ¦ further help was given to the children through the school in Dublin . These funds had been taken in charge by two committees , which had been most indefatigable in seeing that the funds were applied to the proper object . He

thought the public and the brethren owed a deep debt of gratitude for the time and attention they had given , as