Accumulation Of The Benevolent Fund.

motion , " That , considering tho large amount which has been accumulated from tho surplus income of tho Fund of Benevolence , it is not expedient to continue the accumulation of the whole of that surplus . " The brethren were

reminded that in the year 1868 the accumulated fund amounted to twenty thousand pounds ; and a committee was then appointed to consider tho question to which we have alluded in this article . The result of their careful deliberation was a recommendation

that one-third of tho annual surplus should still be accumulated , and that the other two-thirds should be applied to apprenticing or otherwise advancing in life the sons and daughters of Freemasons on their leaving the Masonic Boys' and Girls' Schools . To our way of

thinking a wiser suggestion , or one more identical with the spirit . and intention of tho founders , could not have emanated from a body of men to whoso special consideration the matter had been entrusted . At that time—eleven years ago—Grand Lodge thought the time had not

arrived for discontinuing the accumulation of the surplus . In 1873 we find the question again occupying the attention of Grand Lodge , and by this time the Fund had swollen to nearly forty thousand pounds . Still the conservative sentiments of our rulers—with which no one has any

reason , under tho circumstances , to find fault—went against any limitation of the income flowing in , and Grand Lodge adhered firmly to its former opinion . Six years more have now elapsed , and as a consequence of the continued prosperity of the Craft , the Fund has grown

into the satisfactory dimensions of fifty thousand pounds , when we , amongst many more of the brethren , must share in the opinion that the time has at length arrived when the accumulation may with safety and with advantage be terminated . As was not long ago sensibly remarked by

Bro . Clabon , "If not stopped at # 50 , 000 , it might not stop at £ 100 , 000 , and the brethren might go on locking it up like a miser . " Such a course is in direct opposition to the views of those who would desire to see the Masonic Charities fully employed in their benevolent enterprise ; and

" even from a commercial standpoint " the maintenance of so large an unemployed capital is unwise and impolitic . There can be no doubt that the subject was considered in all its bearings by the Committee appointed in 1808 , and it must be admitted that their recommendation to apply

any surplus money that might be at their disposal to the assistance of our " pupils" on leaving school was both laudable and disinterested . The only obstacle in the way ihen was , that the Fund was not sufficiently large to enable them to bestow any appreciable advantage upon

those who might become the worthy recipients of help in after life . This impediment has been removed now by the Mast addition to the Fund , which has been more than doubled within the past eleven years ; and there can be no reason why the matter should not be again entrusted to the consideration

of a similarly appointed committee . Certainly no harm could result from such a course of action ; and very probably facts would be elicited which would strengthen the hands of such a committee in forcing home their previous recommendation upon tho good sense and judgment of the

Craft . The existence of such an enormous fund , lying at the bank , is not merely a drag upon the benevolent stimulus of the brethren ; but , as wc saw last week , it proves an incentive to bickerings and quarrels in the Board of Benevolence , such as are by no means pleasing to reflect

upon . The course adopted by certain members to force on a discussion , by the proposal of " excessive " grants , is an undesirable one , and such as wc hope not soon to sec repeated . We require no brother to be brought to a certain lino of thought by those " slants" which were

adopted at the meeting to which we refer ; but a calm and dispassionate deliberation of the whole question at issue , by which means only can a safe and judicious conclusion be arrived at . Wc hardly thought that an officer of Bro . Britten ' s calibre and position in tho Craft would have resorted to such a device in order to elicit the information

he desired ; it mnst have been clone upon the impulse of the moment , and without the remotest intention of doing anything derogatory to the position he holds in the respect of the brethren . But , seeing that this large sum of money remains in hand , whilst the question is ever recurring ,

" What shall wc do with it ? " some steps should be immediately taken with a view of satisfying the spirit of universal inquiry . It is by no means within the range of probability that—except we witness in this country a parallel to the late floods in Hungary , or some gigantic calamity of a

Accumulation Of The Benevolent Fund.

like nature—there will be anything like a " run " upon the charity of the Order that shall exhaust this largo sum of fifty thousand pounds . And , even were such a catastrophe to happen , the doubling of the nominal sums paid by way of contribution would speedily resuscitate the fund so

absorbed . To reduce the whole matter to a focus , we contend that a portion of the income of this Fund might bo advantageously set aside for some good ancl beneficial purpose without running the slightest risk of impeding the progress of the Fund , or encroaching beyond tho limits

of charit y for which that Fund was originally designd . And what better object could the brethren set before them to achieve than to place in the hands of our young students , after they quit our respective Schools , somo means whereby they might make a start in life , and which without

extraneous aid they are frequently unable to do ? We have recently descanted upon this subject rather fully in our columns , and the more we ponder tho matter the moro firmly are we convinced that this would form the great crowning point of our Masonic charity . It means , in fact ,

the creation of a new and extended sphere of usefulness , the value of which we aro at present totally unable to fathom . It must be borne in mind that the education imparted to our boys ancl girls is of a character which fits them to assume superior positions in life . Very often

the parents of such children—grateful as they may be , and are , for the priceless benefits secured to their offspring through the liberality of the brethren—are unable to provide them with the means of placing themselves in the positions for which , by their education and

training , they have become qualified ; and in such cases there is reason to fear they relapse into inferior stations , and one great object of our Masonic aim is neutralised . By the establishment of a fund by which these young people

could be aided in the race of life , a splendid object would be achieved , and one which is intimately bound up with that for which the Benevolent Fund was at first designed . We are so convinced of the vital importance of this scheme that wo commend it to all who take a calm view of the

matter under consideration , ancl who think with us that some more profitable means aro to be devised for employing the accumulating surplus of that Fund than by allowing it to idly remain in the bank . A t all events , the whole question could again be entrusted to the hands of an intelligent and

competent committee , who might , by their verdict , so placo the matter before Grand Lodge as to induce them to set it at rest for some time to come . By so doing not only would it inspire satisfaction , and promote a healthy stimulus to increased support on the part of those who

subscribe , and who like to know that their money is being usefully employed , but it would also allay that irritation which is so continually cropping up , as -we have lately seen , resulting from those who would , if they could , nibble at the tempting bait which is thus offered them , and to

touch which , but for the objects originally intended , would be an act of sacrilege never to be tolerated by thoso who are entrusted with the responsible duty of keeping watch and guard over a fund subscribed , freely and gladly , to be " solely devoted to charity . "

Incomplete Ceremonies.

INCOMPLETE CEREMONIES .

THE amount of work which arises , month by month , at the regular assemblies of our Lodges precludes the possibility of the Master undertaking , at the stated meetings , any system of instruction in the ritual , or other important points of Freemasonry ; his time mainly being taken up in

conferring degrees on those eligible , or conducting the routine business of his Lodge . The press of " work " is so great in the Lodges of London , and other large towns , that no time is allowed even for the lecture on the tracine *

board , or the charge after each degree being given at the time the candidate is advanced . To such an extent have these omissions been carried of late that we question whether one-half of the brethren who have been introduced

within the past ten years have ever heard , in a regular Lodge , either the one or the other . This is very much to be regretted , ancl the frequent repetition of the promise we are all familiar with is now almost treated as a joke . We

arc aware that a Master has his powers fully taxed when he is called upon to work the three degrees in one evening , and many brethren may urge that it is too much to expect him to give the lecture or the charge after each ,