Perpetual Presentations.

PERPETUAL PRESENTATIONS .

FOR some years past we have from time to time urged the insufficiency of the amount charged by the Educational Institutions of Freemasonry for the right of perpetual presentation of a girl or boy to one or other of the Schools provided by the Craft , but so far as memory serves us no discussion has ever occurred at one of the formal meetings of the

subscribers of the Institutions in regard to the subject until last week , when , a proposal having been made by the Province of Northumberland to purchase the right of continued nomination of a lad for the usual sum of one thousand guineas ' , there was not only a discussion as to the desirability or otherwise of accepting the amount , but sufficient opposition was shown to convince us that at no very distant

date an alteration of the price to be paid for the privilege will be attempted , and if once brought forward we have little doubt it will be decided to considerably increase the charge . It must be manifest to the most casual observer that a thousand guineas was never sufficient , from a purely commercial standpoint , to charge for a perpetual presentation , but it has been urged that mere business

considerations Bhould not alone govern such matters , but that the Craft should be pleased to accept so large a contribution from an individual Province , and help them as far as possible in the good work they Bet themselves to perform . But why ? A business basis is surely the correct one on which to work such a matter , and we think no credit attaches to the - management of an Institution which accepts one price from one district for a given amount of work and requires a very much larger sum from another ;

the only difference m the two cases being the one pays the amount down en bloc , while the other contributes its quota by instalments . But arguments which might have held good years ago are not available now , when one of the principal considerations which makes an increase necessary is the reduced value of money . The thousand guineas just accepted from Northumberland cannot

be safely invested so as to bring m as much interest as it would have earned a few years back , and on that score alone a revision of the scale would seem to be desirable . But the question may be asked : Is it desirable to altogether abolish these perpetual presentations , or merely increase the cost of them ? There are many who object to presentations altogether , and there is much to be said in favour of their abolition ,

and little to be urged in favour of their continuation . They are certainly the means of swelling the income of the Institutions from time to time , but they remain a continual drain on the resources of the Charity concerned , and are in many ways objectionable , beyond the mere consideration of being unprofitable , which is the ground on which we imagine their ultimate abolition will be proposed , and carried into effect .

Perpetual Presentations.

Before urging the abolition of these perpotual presentations we must , however , ask the question , whether it is wholly desirable to divert the amounts paid under this head from our two Educational Institutions ? for we think it must be recognised that if the management of the Institutions decide to receive no more commutations of this character there is every probability the sums will be

diverted into some other channel , the majority of the perpetual presentations being in the form of testimonials or memorials to some distinguished local Craftsman , for which an immediate cash expenditure is usually desirable , the usual course being for the sums to be raised by public subscription , for some specific public purpose . If there were no perpetual presentations to work for , some other object would probably be found suitable as a testimonial , and , as

we have said , the Institutions of Freemasonry would lose the amount . The old argument then comes in again , —would the Schools be any poorer if they did lose these occasional payments of a thousand guineas ; would they not rather reap a benefit from their abolition ? for it is very evident they secure benefits far beyond their actual value , if we look at the position from a purely business point of view .

Masonic Office—Its Responsibility And Pleasure.

MASONIC OFFICE—ITS RESPONSIBILITY AND PLEASURE .

npHB who consents to serve in any place or station in a J- Lodge , or other Masonic body , thereby assumes a responsibility of a weighty nature . He becomes a representativecharaoter , acting for and in the name of his Brethren .

Hepromiaes that he will perform his duties with diligence , earnestness and skill . He voluntarily places himself whero he becomes an official to be observed , to be criticised , to ba praised for well-doing , or blamed for failure .

The lowest place or station has attached to it a responsibility which differs only in kind , not in degree , from that of the highest . Any Officer who belongs to the corps may ,

by his carelessness , or ignorance , or sometimes even by his presumption , mar the working of a degree . Masonic work is a mosaic : to be perfect as a whole it must be perfect in all its parts .

Rising in the scale of official grade , we come to the Wardens . Their responsibility is peculiar . They must not only be Masters of their own proper work , but also of that of the higher stations to which at any time they are liable to be called . The Junior Warden cannot tell when

he may be called to serve as either Senior Warden or Worshipful Master , and the Senior Warden is still more liable to bavo the highest duties devolve upon him . The responsibility of both of the Wardens is therefore peculiar ,

and they cannot too early be ready to perform all tho functions referred io . A Warden is not only a possible , or probable , Master in a future year , but a possible Master at any meeting of a Lodge .

What are the responsibilities of a Master of a Lodge ? Rather , what are they not ? The brightest man you can find in the Craft is not too well prepared for the performance