The Masonic Life Boat Endowment Fund.

THE MASONIC LIFE BOAT ENDOWMENT FUND .

WE have been favoured by the Secretary of the National Life Boat Association with a copy of the annual report which he is in the habit of preparing forthe information of Parliament , the press , and the generous public whosupport this admirable institution . It is a very remarkable document , and enters fully into the details of the numerous

casualties which occur each year on our stormy coasts . The report ranges over the twelve months ending June 30 th of the present year , thus affording the public , for the first time , the opportunity of seeing the total winter wrecks summed up in one statement . The total number of casualties

for the year 1873-4 was 1 , 803 ; of this number 408 involved total loss , and 180 were attended with loss of life . The number of lives sacrificed was 506 ; and we are comforted by the assurance that this large number is 222 less than that of the year ending June 1873 . It would seem ,

therefore , that Mr . Plimsoll has indirectly been the means of saving many gallant seamen from a watery grave . The noble fleet of the Life Boat Association was instrumental in saving the lives of 713 persons . This fact alone speaks volumes as to the great usefulness of the Association ; and

f t must be our excuse for again directing the attention of our readers to the question which was discussed some months since in these columns . Our readers will remember that we then ventured to suggest that an Endowment Fund forthe Masonic Life Boat should be started , and the idea

was readily taken up by several Lodges . Some subscriptions reached our hands , which we still retain , pending the appointment of a committee empowered to make an authoritative appeal to the Fraternity . We shall be glad to hand this amount , ¦ which lies in the hands of our bankers

over the moment such committee is formed . "We venture to think that the present moment is an opportune one , and that our brethren will rally round us for our endeavours to inaugurate a new point of departure in the history of the National Life Boat Association . We are assured , by the

Secretary , that such an endowment fund as was proposed in our columns would be a real boon to the institution . No difficulty is found in providing new boats as the old ones are worn out and declared unfit for further service ; but the Council of the Association is obliged to strain every

nerve to raise the £ 30 , 000 or £ 40 , 000 per annum which is absolutely essential to meet the current expenses . A new Life Boat station cannot be provided at a less cost than £ 1 , 000 afc the outset , including the cost of the Life Boat , transporting carriage , equipment , and boat house ; and

about £ / 0 per annum is afterwards needed to keep up the establishment in a state of efficiency . The Masonic Life Boat which was presented by the Fraternity to the Association therefore entails a permanent charge of £ 70 per annum , which amount must , in the existing state of things , be

obtained from the general public . We have no doubt whatever that our brethren would long ere this have responded to an appeal so consonant with their feelings and inclinations , but it happened that at the time when that appeal was made , a number of events of great and absorbing interest

to Masons at large occurred to distract attention from a scheme of benevolence not purely Masonic . The installation of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was an

event of sufficient importance to throw other matters of less apparent interest into the shade . Pressure of business , in the shape of anniversaries , has since prevented us from devoting our space to the subject of an Endowment Fund

The Masonic Life Boat Endowment Fund.

for the Life Boat ; but now that the rails are clear , and as we are looking forward to the Lodge meetings of the autumn and winter , we think the time has come for the final settlement of this question . Masonic zeal in the cause of the suffering and the distressed is not confined to the mere boundaries of the Order . We credit our brethren

with the desire to relieve the wretched , of whatever decree or class , and we are sure they are not indifferent to tha sufferings of the gallant fellows who man our mercantile navy ; nor are they careless of the claims of that noble voluntary Association which is charged with the sacred duty of

saving life at sea . The season of heavy gales is rapidly approaching . Within a month we shall probably hear of dreadful casualties on our coasts , involving the loss of precious human lives . In the midst of the storms of the ensuing season it would be consoling to the members of

that Order , which is based on charity and brotherly love to know that they had done all in their power to ameliorate the condition of the wretched . It is not creditable to us , as a great and wealthy corporation , to allow the Life Boat Association to incur an annual charge for the boat , which

was certainly not intended to be a permanent burden to its resources . A few shillings from each Lodge in the kingdom would place her for ever above the donations of the charitable public . With the fund an accomplished fact , we should have the satisfaction of knowing that , as we have

hinted above , we had done something to direct the overflowing stream of public charity into new channels . The Life Boat Association does not want for boats , but it needs capital . It will be a lasting honour to the cause of Masonry if we show the world how that capital may be realised .

We urge the immediate formation of a Life Boat Endowment Fund Committee , and we need not add , in conclusion , that , in the event of its formation , we shall be glad to aid it by every means in our power , and that our columns will be open to it for the publication of subscription lists , and for the ventilation of its views in reference to the details of this most interesting question .

Lodges Of Instruction.

LODGES OF INSTRUCTION .

A SLIGHT incident , recorded in our issue of the 25 th ult ., offers fair ground for calling attention to the somewhat anomalous position which our Lodges of Instruction occupy . Our readers may remember that in our usual weekly report of the labours of the Confidence

Lodge of Instruction , No . 193 , for Wednesday , the 22 nd September , it was stated that a French—it should have been a Belgian Brother—J . Pelaster , of the Lodge Les Vrais amis de 1 'Union et du Progres , under the Orient of

Brussels , presented himself , and having proved his acquaintance with all the essentials of the E . A . P . and F . C . degrees , declined to submit himself further for examination in the third degree , on the plea that h . e was not sure it was a

regularly constituted Lodge , the usual regalia , & c . being conspicuous by their absence . As soon as it was made clear to Bro . Pelaster that , under these circumstances , he could not be permitted to remain—and this , it seems , was a labour

of some difficulty—the worthy brother withdrew himself , amid the usual ecstatic demonstrations of mutual admiration and friendship . Thus abruptly terminated a very

unusual occurrence , not likely to happen more than once in a " blue moon . " Now , among English brethren , where the constitution of our Lodges of Instruction is properly understood , no difficulty of this kind is ever likely to occur , but