The London Masonic Charity Organisation.

THE LONDON MASONIC CHARITY ORGANISATION .

HAD wo consulted our own wishes , we should have abstained from offering any remarks on this subject . We do not wish people to think we view with disfavour

the scheme now being attempted , because it has emanated from another quarter . Quite eighteen months have elapsed since we gave it our best consideration—the article appeared on the 9 th June 1877—and the conclusion we arrived at

was not favourable to the establishment in London of an association for voting purposes , such as is to be found in very many of our Provinces . We stated , indeed , at the time that we did not see how our Lodges could be brought together , and that we thought a greater display of energy

on the part of the supporters of London candidates would ensure the success of a greater number of the latter . The occasion which induced us to offer these remarks , was a discussion which had taken place some time previously in the Tredegar Lodge of Instruction . Bro . 0 . Lacey had

proposed the establishment of some such association , and Bros . Barnes and Stevens had pointed out that in . all the cases they had taken np they had succeeded in carrying their candidates ; there having been only one candidate in which success was not achieved at the first attempt . We

pointed out that if two brethren , working in combination , had done so much , the efforts of half a dozen were likely to beeven more profitably employed , though at the same time anything beyond this , in the way of organised canvassings , would be undesirable , and even impracticable . Since

then we have studied the question more minutely . We have been furnished with copies of the regulations of several Provincial Associations of the same character , and the more we examine the matter , the more firmly are we convinced that such an association in London will

sooner or later prove a failure . We pointed out that , while a combination of Lodges in this or that Province is a matter of no great difficulty , our Metropolitan Lodges , numbering over two hundred and fifty , " are distributed over an immense district . Assuming it is possible to induce the

Lodges east , west , south , and north to combine together , it would be well nigh an impossibility to canvass them . " In the Provinces combination is comparatively easy , because the Lodges " are so located as to bo come-at-able without much difficulty , " and moreover the average number in each

Province is about twenty . Again , " A Province is enabled to concentrate its efforts in order to secure the election of one , or , it may be , at the outside , of two of its candidates , whilst the votiDg strength of London is necessarily distributed among a large number , all presumably of equal

merit . " Under these circumstances we suggested that if brethren in the locality from which the case emanated bestirred themselves , it was probable that London would have its fair proportion of success , while a combination to carry a certain number of candidates mi ght , in the anxiety

to distribute the voting power so as to ensure the success of all , prove fatal to the success of any . That London might do a great deal better we admit . It fared indifferentl y at the October elections , and may do so again , if its efforts are not guided more skilfully ; but when we have it on the

authority of two brethren that they have carried every election in which they interested themselves , and all with a single exception at a first attempt , we do not think more is needed in the way of organisation for voting purposes than that other brethren in the metropolis shall bestir themselves with equal energy . It rarely happens that any

The London Masonic Charity Organisation.

of our largest and most influential Provinces send up more than three or four candidates , while it is no uncommon thing for London to have as many as fifteen or

twenty . It is comparatively an easy task for a Province like East Lancashire to carry one or two candidates . It has several hundred votes for each Institution , and the latest lists of Governors and Subscribers to the two Schools show

that at the time they were issued it had seven girls and nineteen boys at Battersea Eise and Wood Green respectively , while London , which contributes about one-half of what is annually raised , had seventy-two girls and fifty-four boys . At the same time London sends up by far the

largest number of candidates , and any organised attempt to carry an undue proportion might turn out disastrously . Prom the fact that Metropolitan Lodges are distributed over so widean area , from the extreme improbability that east and west , and south and north , will league together ,

and place their respective votes in the hands of a Committee , and because we believe the well-directed efforts of a few are likelier to succeed than those of a more extensive combination—for these reasons , we should regret to seo a permanently established voting organisation in the metropolis .

Freemasonry In Massachusetts.

FREEMASONRY IN MASSACHUSETTS .

THE proceedings of the Grand Lodge of this State in respect of the regular Quarterly Communication on the 11 th September , and of three Special Communications , one anterior and two subsequent to that date , have reached us , and accordingly we give them that brief ,

but fraternal recognition in our columns which all such publications deserve at our hands . The purpose of the first Special Communication in Holbrook , Mass , on the 20 th July , was to lay Masonically the foundation stone of a new Town Hall . In the absence of the Grand Master , the

Depiaty Grand Master Bro . Abraham H . Howland jun . presided , and Bro . Tracy P . Cheever was acting Grand Secretary pro tern , in the absence of the Kev . C . Titus , who we regret to say , has since died . The meeting was held , owing to an invitation from the Municipal authorities

of Holbrook , and the ceremony appears to have been most imposingly as well as impressively carried out . Bro . Howland , when the ceremony of laying the stone had been completed , delivered an address , and he and his Grand Officers were then conducted to an adjoining building

and there entertained at lunch by the brethren of : Norfolk Union Lodge . The object of the Special Communication on the 13 th September , at which Grand Master Welch presided , was the performance of Masonic funeral services over the body of the late Honourable Frank Welch , Past

Grand Master of Nebraska , and in order to participate in this mark of respect to their distinguished brother , several Nebraskan brethren had journeyed to Boston in charge of the remains . These having accordingly been introduced , a procession was formed , and after the religious services had

been performed in the First New Jerusalem Church , the body was received by Grand Lodge and conducted to thecemetery , where our Masonic Funeral Service was most impressively rendered by the Grand Master and the acting

Grand Chaplain . The other Special Communication , held on 3 rd October in the Masonic Temple , Boston , under the presidency of Grand Master Welch , was to pay the last tribute oE respect to their doceased Brother John McClellan , who for the long period of seventeen years had held the