The Masonic Year 1878.

THE MASONIC YEAR 1878 .

AS this is tlio closing number of onr Eighth Volume , and only a fow clays remain to complete the current year , we follow the plan adopted last year , and include our sketch of tho Masonic Events of 1878 in tho issue for tho present week . A fow Lodge meetings may take place between now and the 1 st January 1879 , bnt , to nil intents

and purposes , the labours of Freemasonry during the year 1878 are closed , and we aro in a position to snm up the results of the last twelve months , as well as to look forward to the future , as certainly as though the last hour of the nearly defunct year had struck . And these results , what are

they ? Tho answer to this question , it seems to ns , must he written clown as eminently satisfactory . No striking event haa happened during tho period we are now reviewing . Wo havo moved on placidly , not by " leaps and bounds , " and , as our readers are aware , steady progress is the most

desirable of all progresses . Nor has there been anything in the shape of drawback to the general tenour of onr prosperity . We have , indeed , advanced all tho more surely by reason of there having been no unusual circumstances associated with onr career . As we remarked in our Review

of 1877 , Freemasonry as a Society is , in the main , independent of external influences . We do not moan by this that it ia not affected , < o a certain extent , by the degree of prosperity which is in store for the whole community . On the contrary , and as will be seen hereafter , the financial success of our Festivals in 1878 has shown a decided fallm *?

off from tho last two years , in consequence of the political anxieties which have prevailed , and tho commercial depression which has been the immediate consequence thereof . We are committed to the same outlay as

last year in respect of our Institutions , bufc we havo nofc succeeded in raising anything like as considerable an amount towards this outlay . But the times have been and are exceptionally grave , and we must be prepared to meet such occasional diminution in the donations and

subscriptions to our Charities with equanimity . But if in this respect Freemasonry in this country has not achieved such triumphs as it did last year and the year previous , it is satisfactory to know thafc in all other respects it . has more

than held its ground , and that a comparison between its condition now and last Christmas leaves nothing to bo desired . The improvement may be looked upon as one of consolidation rather than of extension . Tlie nnmber of n ^ w

Lodges is very considerably under what ifc was last year , bnt ifc must be remembered that a mere multiplication of Lodges , as has been again and again pointed out , is very far from being a sign of incrcasinsr strength . The increase that has

taken place has been chiefly in the Provinces and Districts abroad , while the London District can point to an addition of some half-score Lodges—a sure sign that the Craft has taken root , whether firmlv or not remains to be seen—in i

new localities , where it had previously obtained no foothold , ov where , as in the case of our more distant and sparsely populated colonies , it had previously had no opportunity of establishing itself . It mnst always be looked upon as a healthy sign when we find new Lodges in heretofore

unoccupied places , whereas an increase in places already furnished with Lodges may mean little else than that certain brethren , already subscribing members of the Craft , are desirous of holding offices of gi'eator or less distinction , or of multiplying the honours they have already had

conferred upon them . We have many brethren who are member * of three or fonr Lodges , and it may be of even more . This , however , is rot necessarily an increase of strength to the Craft , but rather an imaginary increase of

importance to the respective Craftsmen . As a rule we see little advantage to be sained by a brother—unless he be one of transcendent merit—being at one and the same time a member of several Ijodges . Ho incurs a needless expense in the way of fees and subscriptions . He cannot distribute

his attention among bis several duties wifch any advantage ti himself or to the Lodges of which he is a member , and it may b ° , except in isolated cases , a brother who is able to

append P . M . of halr-a-dozen Lodges to his name is nofc a "better , bufc simply a richer Mason , and one who exhibits perhaps more than tbe average amonnfc of regard for " tinsol . " It was a very wholesome law which was enacted in former days againsfc brethren being members of more than one

The Masonic Year 1878.

Lodge , and though it may be useful for an experienced brother to preside over a new Lodge , the establishment of new Lodges in order that Past Masters of already existing Lodges may multiply their jewels is a practice most strongly to be deprecated . In offering those remarks , wo

must not bo understood as in any way condemning brethren of eminence for sfcartmg new Lodges for tho purpose of strengthening the Society . We aro referring only to those who consider their Masonic accomplishments will bo more highly esteemed tho more numerous tho Lodges with which they are associated .

So far we have spoken in general terms . If we turn to tho roll of Lodges up to the timo of the latest announcement , we shall find that whereas at tho timo of tho Quarterly Communication in December 1877 , there were nominally 1 , 732 Lodges in existence , tho youngest Lodge at the

beginning of the current month was 1 , 792 . This gives a clear addition of sixty new Lodges during the year just concluded as againsfc eisrhfcy-one in tho year 1877 , and seventy-two in tlio year 187 i 3 . This , of necessity , amounts to a diminution of increase to tho extent of about

twentyfive per cent , on the former , and of twelve > nd-a-half per cent , on the latter year . The R < ct . y aro thus distributed : — Seven were warranted in the Quarter to March , fifteen in the June Quarter , twenty-five in the September Quarter , and thirteen in thafc which closed with the Communication

of the 4 th inst . Of these sixty , only eleven are in the Metropolitan district , while thirty have been added to the Provinces ; namely , four in the two divisions of Lancashire , aud four in those of Yorkshire ; three in the two divisions of Sonth Wales , two each in Berks and Bucks , Hants and Isle

of Wight , Middlesex , and Somerset ; and one in each of the following , namely , Cornwall , Derby , Devon , Essex , Herts , Norfolk , Northampton and Hunts , Oxon , Staffordshire , Surrey , and Warwickshire . The remaining nineteen aro distributed thus : —Six in tho East Indies , Bombay two ,

and Bengal , Madras , British Burmah , and China ( Hong Kong ) , one each—three in South Africa , six in Australasia—New South Wales and New Zealand two each , and Victoria and South Australia one each ; three in the West Indies , of which one is in the district of Jamaica , and ono

in Argentine Republic . South America . Tlie result is that , of the Lodges on the Roll of the United Grand Lodge of England there are , in round figures , 290 in London 'and 950 in the Provinces , or a total in England and Wales of 1250 ; and abroad and military 430 , or altogether , as nearly as

possible , 1 , 670 working Lodges , the number of those in abeyance , or which have dropped from the Roll , either from having joined other jurisdictions , or through some other

cause , being about 120 . As regards the increase during the four years the Prince of Wales has been our Grand Master , there wore fifty-two additional Lodges in 1875 , seventytwo in 1876 , eighty-one in 1877 , and sixty in the current

year . As to the changes which have taken place in the personnel of the Grand and Provincial Grand Lodges , they are , we rejo i ce to say , bufc few in number . The office of Grand Treasurer has nofc yet been filled up , it having been

thought desirable to keep ifc vacant pending the completion of tbe new arrangements for the financial administration of Grand Lod

that in the early part of the year , the old-established firm of Messrs . Willis , Percival and Co ., Bankers , of which Bro . S . Tomkins , our last G . Treas ., now deceased , was a member , failed . At the time there were lodged to tho credit of Bro . S . Tomkins , as Grand Treasurer of Grand Lodge and G rand

Chapter , £ 3 , 543 and £ 388 respectively , in 7-espect of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution and Royal Masonio Institution for Girls , £ 980 and £ 777—a further sura of £ 3 , 000 belonging to tho former having been invested only a few days previous to the stoppage of the bank ;

and in respect , of the Royal Masonic Institution tor Boys £ 1 , 5 G 6 . The Girls' School had , a short time previously , had £ 4 . 000 on loan from the bank , so thafc in its case there was a set-off against the loss . How

ever , the sums we have mentioned were nofc wholly lost , as arrangements were made by which the assets of the late bank were purchased by the Hants and North Wilts Bank , conditionall y thafc " the nreditorg wero paid by the