Charity For All Comers.

CHARITY FOR ALL COMERS .

IT is not often the managers of a Charity find themselves in the position to recommend—and succeed in carrying into effect—a proposal to offer the benefits of the Fund to all who may desire to apply for them , without any

reservation as to number , and only the ordinary restrictions as to eligibility ; but the unexpected has happened , and to-day the English Craft is confronted with such an unrestricted offer on the part of the Royal Masonic

Institution for Boys , the Governors and Subscribers of which have agreed to give £ 20 a year to each eligible candidate ( up to his eleventh year of age ) who may

be unsuccessful at the poll in October next , towards his education , & c , as a part of the programme arranged for the celebration of the Centenary of the Institution .

As we said last week , we must first of all regard this as a most generous act on the part of the Institution , but , on the other hand , is it not playing dangerously near the well know principles of the . old fashioned " confidence

trick ? " As we urged when recording the settlement of the arrangement , while it is most generous it is at the same time a rash display of generosity on the part of the

Charity , which is now placed somewhat on the horns of a dilemma , in having to provide an immense number of educational grants , or stand face to face with the fact that such a handsome unrestricted offer as is now before

the Craft is not eagerly taken up—in other words that there are really no more Masonic Orphans requiring the assistance of the Craft than can be easily provided for with the existing accommodation of the Institutions .

One of the strongest arguments in favour of the removal of the Boys School from Wood Green to Bushey was the necessity for larger premises , in order to accommodate an increased number of pupils in years to

come , and no doubt candidates will be found in sufficient numbers to fill all the places which can be created in the future , as it is a well recognised fkct that paupers can be created faster than they can be accommodated , more

especially if nice comfortable' quarters , with every luxury thrown in , can be provided for their reception . Of course many will argue that we have no right to use the word pauper in this connection , but what other English word

better fills every requirement of the case than this ? or wherein lies the actual harm of such a designation when applied to the far off future ? large sums of money being

now appealed for to provide for cases of distress which do not exist at the moment , but which may be confidently expected to arise when the prizes are actually offered .

We must admit it is very gratifying to know that the members of the Craft are able to provide year by year for the large number of children educated and maintained in the Masonic Institutions , and it is equally satisfactory to hear from those who should be in a position to form an

Charity For All Comers.

opinion , that the splendid flow of benevolence we experience at the present is likely to continue , and even increasebut we doubt it , and we believe it is just such complications

as may arise in connection with this " open offer" on the part of the Boys School as will prick the inflated bubble that has grown up in our midst , and bring about little short of a revolution in the matter of benevolence .

Our reason for objecting to the course adopted by the Institution in this direction is because we regard it as quite unnecessary •to offer benefits indiscriminately , and because such action is surrounded by so many possibilities as to

make it an actual danger . It would almost seem that the Institution regards the liberality of the Craft as unbounded , and is taking advantage just now of an outburst of . enthusiasm that will not only prove to be merely a passing

experience , but will have such an effect on the near future as to cause no little anxiety as to where the funds are to come from to meet the requirements of the day , besides all which the action now taken will afford good food for

discussion in the Provinces , and will open the eyes of many people as to the actual necessity which exists for such benefits as the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys has felt it desirable to offer .

We cannot imagine such Provinces as Lancashire , Cheshire , Yorkshire , Devonshire ; or indeed any of the Provinces which have an organisation for Charity purposes , allowing such an opportunity to slip by as is at present

within their reach , and it will even be possible to question the action of their Committees if they allow the grants of £ 20 a year per boy to be lost , simply for the sake of asking for them in prescribed form . Take West Lancashire

alone , where we believe some 270 children are being awarded grants for purposes of education and maintenance ; probably fifty of these could conform to the regulations of the Boys School , and be added to the list of Candidates

for October next—with the certainty of securing the Centennial grant—a gain of £ 1 , 000 a year to the Province , for a time at least . Will such an opportunity be neglected , or are we to suppose that this Masonic district is so well

provided with funds of its own as to be independent of outside help ? The same may be said of every other Province in the Kingdom , and the only reason we can imagine to prevent a thousand candidates being put

forward as claimants for this special bounty—with the certainty of receiving it—is that the orphans of the Craft are , most happily , so well provided for as to render the preferred help unnecessary .

In is certainly a novel experience to see Masonic benevolence—or for matter of that unrestricted benevolence

of any kind—going begging , but the experience of the next few weeks may prove a profitable lesson in the end , or provide an unanswerable argument in support of the different theories which , it seems to us , must be created by this very unusual position of affairs .