Our Institutions And Their Resources.

OUR INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR RESOURCES .

A LONG and most interesting correspondence has been progressing for some time past in the columns of this journal on the all-important subject of raising the funds necessary to maintain our Institutions in their present state of efficiency , and , if possible , of enlarging their sphere of operations and rendering them capable of

effecting a still greater amount of good . That such a subject shonld demand our most earnest consideration must be apparent to every one who is at the pains of noting what happens at the different elections , when it not unfrequently happens there are four and even five or six

times as many candidates as there are vacancies to be filled . Indeed , a reference to our reports in last week ' s issue will show that , at the recent Quarterly Courts of the two Schools , for the Girls' School election in April there will be forty-eight candidates as against eighteen

vacancies , and for that of the Boys' School in the same month no less than sixty-eight candidates as against sixteen vacancies ^ Thus the demands on the resources of these two Institutions—and the same remark applies with equal force to the Benevolent—are far in excess of their abilities .

At the same time , we must all be fully convinced that considering the great extension which has taken place in the assistance accorded to indigent brethren , their widows , and orphans during the past two or three years , a still farther extension is for the present needed beyond all

hope . Indeed , the question which is now exercising the minds of all true and genuine Masons in regard to this point is , how shall we obtain tho needful funds , and it is

this on which so much has been written in these pages during the past few months . We are not surprised at this . We have in the year which has just been brought to a close had an illustration of the extent to which the

voluntary contributions of the Craft will fluctuate according to the circumstances which momentarily prevail . The year 1878 was a period of terrible anxiety , both political and commercial , and accordingly the voluntary contributions from Craftsmen showed a very noticeable diminution in

amount as compared with the total of the year previous . On the strength of this falling off various propositions have been submitted to the Masonic public . Some brethren have urged that every subscribing member of a Lodge should consider it his duty , under any circumstances , to contribute a certain minimum to each Institution . Others

would like to see the Lodge Funds differently appropriated from what they are now , and that more should be expended in the way of donations or fixed annual subscriptions to the _ Charities , there being to this end a commensurate diminution in the amount disbursed for suppers and

banquets . Others are of opinion that more ought to be done in aid of the funds of these Institutions , if Stewards were encouraged to act in that capacity , and were accordingly charged a lower fee in order to meet the necessary expenses of the Festival at which they served , while others are

apparentl y inclined to leave matters much as they are now , and to trust , as heretofore , to the generosity of brethren on the one hand , and the activity of the several members of the Boards of Stewards on the other . All

these views are worthy of being upheld , and much may be said in respect of each and all of them , but it occurs to us that sufficient prominence has not been given to one point , namely , the absolute necessit y thero is for an immediate and ever progressive increase in the permanent incomes of

our Charities . A glance at tho figures we publish elsewhere with a view to showing the sources from which are derived the yearly revenues of our three Institutions will demonstrate the extent to which they are dependent for support on voluntary aid as contra-distinguished from

that derivable from invested moneys and assured income combined . Only in the case of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution does the fixed income for 1878 approach the comparatively insignificant sum of £ 2 , 500 , while the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls has a permanent

income of about £ 1 , 330—in round numbers—and the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys can rely towards its efficient maintenance on assured resources yielding no more tnan the paltry amount of about £ 455 . Now it must be remembered that the Benevolent disburses in annuities

considerably over £ 10 , 000 , or more than four times its present income , the Girls' School clothes , educates , and maintains 200 pupils , which may be set down as costing it £ 7 , 500 , or about six and a half times its permanent income , and the Boys' School 211 pupils at an annual cost of about

£ 9 , 500 , or within very little of twenty-one times its permanent income . It seems to us under these circumstances the imperative duty of all interested in these Charities to contribute freely for some years to come , so that the settled and therefore trustworthy resources of each may be

largely increased . It is a healthy sign , and one on Avhich we are justified in congratulatiug ourselves when we find the tide of subscriptions flowing in so abundantly , but would it not be satisfactory to all if we knew that given an unprosperous year , such as we have just passed

through , the anxiety as to makiug both ends meet will be reduced to a point much below what it must be at the present moment . If we add together the invested moneys of the three Institutions , we may reckon on thero being about £ 100 , 000 , and the grants from Grand Lodge—of

which close on three parts go to the Benevolent , and the remaining part is apportioned equally between the Schools —together reach a total of £ 1 , 270 . These together are absolutely all we have to rely upon for the maintenance of Institutions which cost among them about £ 30 , 000 ,

irrespective of casualties . We cannot , of course , expect that these invested moneys and grants shall be so largely increased so as at once , as it were , to relieve the governing bodies of all anxiety as to the future . If they can go on annually laying by some £ 3 , 000 , more or

less , we shall have reason to be satisfied , but there is one point in connection with our Schools which has been brought specially under the notice of our readers in the course of the recent , or , we must say , the still progressing , correspondence by Bro . Binckes , the

Secretary of the Boys' School , and upon which , in our opinion , sufficient attention has not been bestowed . In the letter of his which appeared in our issue for the 14 th December , Bro . Binckes contrasted the circumstances of our Grand Lodge as they are now with what they were

in 1839 , the year when the fee of half-a-crown per certificate was commuted into a fixed annual payment of £ 150 . He showed that in that year the number of certificates issued was 1 , 144 , which at half-a-crown amounted to £ 143 , the income of Grand Lodge being just on £ 2 , 830 . In 1877

the number of certificates issued was 8 , 465 , which , had the old system been continued , would have reached the sum of £ 1 , 058 2 s 6 d , or more than five times what it was in 1839 ,

while the income had increased to over £ 12 , 519 , or not far short of four and a half times as much . On the other hand , there were , in 1839 , fifty-eight and sixty-five pupils in the Girls' and Boys' Schools respectively , and in 1871 ,