Maintenance Outside The Craft Educational Institiuions.

MAINTENANCE OUTSIDE THE CRAFT EDUCATIONAL INSTITIUIONS .

HPHE Quarterly Court of the Royal Masonic Institu-* tion for Boys last week endorsed a system of extension of the benefits of the Fund which it is very much to be regretted has not been more generally

adopted in the past . We allude to the creation of special Scholarships for boys "to be maintained and educated out of the establishment "—a course we have

advocated for many years past , as being less expensive , far more appreciated by many of those to be benefitted , and , in view of the growth of government educational control , far more likely to be in keeping

with the requirements of the coming generation . But there has always been a strong opposition to this system of providing for the orphans of the Craft . It is not so elaborate a method of working as the more

expensive plan of erecting huge show places , and to a certain extent there is not the scope for that fussiness of supervision and control which is so dear to the heart of the average Committeeman ; but we are living

in very different times to what was the case years ago when the system of erecting separate Schools for the provision of charity children was regarded as imperative , and we shall be very much surprised if in time to come it is not considered to be more desirable

to extend operations by the creation of outside Scholarships , rather than by undertaking expensive building operations , which are not only a very costly , but virtually an unremunerative method of investing surplus income .

It is true the extension in this direction agreed to by the Boys School is a very limited one—confined to five boys , sons of Brethren killed or permanently disabled while actively engaged in time of war in the

naval or military service of his Queen and countrybut it is a distinct recognition of a system which we are convinced it would be both profitable and beneficial to widely extend , whenever it was found possible to

add to the already large number of children cared for by our Institutions , rather than to contemplate making additions to buildings already erected through the liberality of the Craft .

York The Meccaof Freemasonry.

YORK THE MECCAOF FREEMASONRY .

EEPLYING to the toast of Grand Lodge , at the recent installation meeting of the York Lodge , No . 236 , Bro . T . B . WhyteheadP . G . S . B . England said that without Grand Lodge the Lodges of England would be in a hopeless condition . It might interest some of the Brethren to know

that there was not always , as far as they knew , Grand Lodge to manage their affairs , but before the existence of Grand Lodge affairs were so mixed that they did not know much about them . He gave the history of the formation of Grand

Lodge , and said that it was formed in London in 1717 by four Lodges . There had been a Lodge from time immemorial , and in 1756 it seemed to wake up to the fact that the London Brethren , who , for ought he knew , might have got their

York The Meccaof Freemasonry.

existence from York , had put Grand Lodge into existence . They then started one , and Drake , the historian , was J . W ., and they claimed to be the Grand Lodge of all England , but they had to take second place as they did not make the claim before the London Lodge was formed . He proceeded to

give some interesting details of the four Grand Lodges which were working 120 years ago , and said that the Grand Lodge at York unhappily came to its death from inanition , having been in existence from about 1790 to 1800 . It did not hold

any meetings after 1792 . Then came the amalgamation under the Duke of Sussex , who took the greatest interest in Masonry , and he brought about the present Grand Lodge of England , and a grand thing it was . From England went out all the Warrants and authorities which now dominated

Freemasonry throughout the world . That was in 1813 . The members of the York Lodge ought to be proud of belonging to a Lodge which had had an existence of over 129 years . It was established in 1770 , and they had records , some of which were the earliest in England , and they should be proud of the

possessions they had . The old Grand Lodge of York handed over to it some of their documents , but unhappily not all . He mentioned that he was now W . M . of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , and that he was going to read a paper before it on the history of Freemasonry . He said that York had

always been regarded as the headquarters of Freemasonry ; it had constantly been called the Mecca of Freemasonry , and every American Mason who came to England came to York ,

because he then thought that he had seen the Mother of Freemasonry . They wanted to know what gave her that claim ; there was no doubt something to be got if they could only do so .

The annual ball in aid of the Masonic Charities , promoted by the officials of the Nelson of the Nile Lodge , took place in the Masonic Hall , Park Road , Batley , on Wednesday evening , 10 th inst . The proceedings , as usual , commenced with a substantial repast , which was served in the early

evening to a numerous company . The children's festival , which is always a popular event , took place on the 12 th , when the Hall was crowded with a happy throng of youngsters

whom the Brethren of the Lodge delighted to amuse and entertain . In the afternoon tea had been served , and in the evening Dawson ' s band was in attendance , and Bro . Isaac Cooper was Master of Ceremonies .

The Old Masomans annual Bohemian Concert , on behalf of the Benevolent and Grant Fund of the Association , will be held on Friday next , at Anderton's Hotel , Fleet Street , commencing at 8 p . m . The programme will be sustained by the following artistes : Madame Lewellyn Parker ,

Miss Lily Petne , Mr . Nelson Williams , Mr . Edgar Schwann , Miss Edith Holmes ( Violoncello ) , Miss Lottie Lewis ( Piano ) , Mr . Cyril Tyler ( Musical sketches ) , Mr .

Ernest Cherry ( Impersonations of characters from the novels of Charles Dickens ) , & c . Tickets ( single 2 s each , double 3 s each ) may be obtained on application to the Hon . Sec , at Anderton ' s Hotel .

It is not often that Freemasonry has been remembered in the wills of its members , but it seems that a change is about to take place in this direction . Last year the receipts of the Girls School were increased by a legacy of £ 1 , 000 , and now we hear that Bro . William Cowle , of Park House ,

Stroud , who recently died at the age of ei g hty years , has bequeathed £ 2 , 500 to the Fraternity , which , it is rumoured , will be utilised for the erection of a Masonic Hall . Our deceased Brother made a further bequest of £ 4 , 000 to Stroud , for the provision of a museum . All honour to the memory of so zealous a Craftsman .