The Proposed Committee Of Inquiry Into Masonic Working.

Freemasonry should be invoked . However , tho Committee , whether it bo constituted in the manner Bro . Stevens proposes or in any other way , will havo the sanction and approval of Grand Lodgo for entering on

its labours , while the report it may deliver will also need tho same sanction and approval before effect can bo given to its recommendations . We need hardly say we await tho issue of next Wednesday ' s Communication with more than tho nsual interest .

Bro. Clabon's Resolutions.

BRO . CLABON'S RESOLUTIONS .

THE Communication of Wednesday bids fair to bo ono of the most important that has been held for somo time . We havo already made one of the questions which will then be submitted for the consideration of United Grand Lodge the subject of remark in a lengthy

article , and there is no doubt tho resolutions which Bro . Clabon intends bringing forward are worthy of the most attentive comment , more especially as the purpose they aro intended to achieve is how for the first time being largely and generously discussed outsido the walls of Grand Lodge .

This is very far from being , however , the first occasion on which Bro . Clabon has moved his resolutions in our Masonic Senate . What is more to the point , as far back as the year 1868 a Special Committee , at that Brother ' s instance , was appointed to' inquire into and report upon

the scheme as proposed by him . In due time the report was delivered , and proved highly favourable . The principle was accepted , but tho proposal in some of its details was modified . Nothing further happened , and though Bro . Clabon has since tried to induce Grand Lodge

to carry out the same or a similar scheme , the Fund of Benevolence goes on annually increasing in amount far beyond what is necessary to meet tho ever-increasing demands on it for relief of tho ordinary character , so that there is now a large principal floating , so to speak , between

the heaven of Charity and the earth of Poverty . As recently as December last Bro . Clabon made a further essay in the same direction , and now again , nothing daunted by his then want of success , and with a courago worthy of so good a cause , he is onco moro to the foro with his series of

resolutions . It is well nigh impossiblo he could have chosen a better timo for bringing the subject again under the notice of Grand Lodge . For some months past a somewhat similar , yet independent , proposal has been before the Masonic public . We need hardly say

we are referring to tho proposed " Royal Masonic Pupils Assistance Fund , " to which already has been accorded so large a measure of support by tho Grand Master , the Pro Grand Master , and Deputy Grand Master , the Duke of Connaught , Princo Leopold , a strong array of

Provincial and Depnty Provincial Grand Masters , and other influential English Brethren , as well as by the Grand Master of Ireland , and the Grand and Past Grand Masters of Scotland . It may perhaps bo urged by somo that the very encouragement which is being given to this

independent scheme is a reason for Grand Lodge declining to adopt Bro . Clabon ' s resolutions either as formulated by him or in any other form . With becoming deference , wo submit that the fact of such a scheme being now in progress outside Grand Lodge is the reason of reasons

why that body should in some way or other act upon the principle which some eleven or twelve years since its own specially appointed Committee of Inquiry reported upon so favourably . Grand Lodge is a contributor on a moderate scale to tho fnnds of all our

Institutions , of which one , the Royal Benevolent , may be described as being especially under its wing , and this quite apart from the fact that it also appropriates large sums of money in the relief of distressed brethren or the families of deceased brethren . Therefore , the proposed establishment

of a Pupils' Assistance Fund should not only prove no impediment , bnt rather an encouragement to the passing of Bro Clabon ' s resolutions . Theso are framed to supply a recognised want . There is an ample supply of funds , annually increasing in amount , at the disposal of Grand Lodge , and

there is nothing whatever in the scheme which can be considered in the remotest degree foreign to the purposes for ¦ which the Fund of Benevolence , or Charity Fund , as it was first designated , was originally established . Under these circumstances , we do not hesitate to say they havo our heartiest good wishes .

Bro. Clabon's Resolutions.

It is not necessary wo should notioo in detail tho several proposed additions to tho Book of Constitutions , Fund of Benevolence . They will bo found elsewhere in our columns . They aro tho samo as were proposed last December , and what is better still , they aro the additions

which tho special Committeo of 1 SG 8-9 recommended for acceptance by Grand Lodge . Thero is thereforo nothing new in the principle or the dotails as now submittod . But while the former is unobjectionable , as aro most of tho latter , thoro are some which it is open to many to believo

ars capablo of being improved . Thus , if we find that tho proposed clauses 17 and 18 are accepted , theseonly concern the appropriation of certain fractional parts of tho annual surplus of the Fund of Benevolence , one part to the Boys ' School , and the other to tho Girls' School , for assisting

pupils thereof , and the investment of » uch funds in tho names of eight trustees—four perhaps would bo a better number . But clauses 19 and 20 deal with the application of this Fund , and wo are not surprised to hear that Bro . Jabez Hogg , who has already shown

his interest publicly in all matters relating to our Institutions , intends moving an amendment with a view to modifying tho clauses as they now stand . As to Clause 19 , first . Bro . Clabon ' s proposal is that the General Committee of each School , on tho recommendation of its Houso

Committee , may apply the dividends for tho benefit of pupils requiring assistance . Bro . Hogg ' s amendment is to tho effect that the Funds shall be administered b y a Committeo or Sub-Committee of tho Board of Benevolence , half of whom shall be annually nominated by the Grand Master ,

and half elected annually by Grand Lodge , as is tho case with the said Board as at present constituted . After certain details as to the meeting of this Committee or Sub-Committee , Bro . Hogg proposes that all applications for assistance shall be submitted by the General or

House Committee of the Schools to this Sub-Committee of the Fund of Benevolence . Clause 20 , as proposed by Bro . Clabon , vests in the General Committee the power of granting any sum not exceeding £ 25 , but for grants beyond that amount , tho consent of tho Quarterly General

Court of the School must bo obtained . Bro . Hogg , however , proposes that his Sub-Committco of the Fund of Benevolence shall be invested with tho power of granting sums not exceeding £ 25 . Any abovo that amount must be submitted to Grand Lodge only as recommendations , and will need its assent or confirmation .

Such , in all essentials , is the sum of tho differences between Bro . Clabon ' s and Bro . Hogg ' s recommendations . Both plans have their good points , the chief of which , perhaps , as regards the former , is that it corresponds exactly with tho scheme recommended by the Committeo

of Inquiry before referred to , while the merit of Bro . Hogg ' s lies in this , that ho leaves to a section of tho Board of Benevolence the duty of appropriating the dividends on tho funds annually granted out of the Fund of Benevolence , while he leaves it to the School General

or House Committees to submit the necessary recommendations . This , we think , is the better plan of the two , partly because tho School Committees have already enough to do in administering the funds at their disposal , and regulating the conduct of their respective Schools , but

principally because it leaves it to the Board of Benevolence to appropriate or recommend for appropriation tho interest on moneys granted out of its own Fund . But whatever the details , we trust Grand Lodgo will accept and carry out the scheme of Bro . Clabon . It will not

clash with the Royal Masonic Pupils' Assistance Fund , for the two may work hand-in-hand together . It will not check the flow of individual benevolence , the Institutions already in existenco prove that . Nor will it lay Freemasonry open to the charge of overdoing its duty in the

way of relief . Every year children are receiving this kind of relief , but out of the Funds of the two Schools , and Ave cannot suppose that the B . of B . or G . L . will be less careful in the application of the proposed Fund than the School Committees are of the moneys they administer . Let us

remember what Lord Rosslyn said when presiding at the Boys' Festival last year . " It is not impossible that at tho end of their schooling career some of theso boys "—and the same remark applies with equal force to the Girls '

School— " may leave the School homeless and in need . It may be that the good seed sown may bear fruit during their scholastic career ; but it may also bo that tho fruit will perish for want of cultivation at a later period . "