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Article BOARD OF STEWARDS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Board Of Stewards.
in themselves , and may possibly elicit the more matured suggestions of the better informed . To me it appears that the besetting error of Boards of Stewards is the tenacity with which they abide by precedents , however inconvenient or ineffective , and the absolute apprehension with which any proposition of an advantageous nature is entertained , if it happen to be novel in its nature or application . To such an extent is this absurdity
carried , that a Board of Stewards for the passing season , instead of being a deliberative body , assumed to be capable of originating any thing serviceable , or supposed to be able , by discussion , to reject on the one hand and to adopt on the other , as propriety might direct , is in reality nothing more than an executive body , bound down by the regulations of preceding Boards . The natural consequences are , either that no improvements are madeand no deviationshowever necessaryare
per-, , , mitted , or that the Most Worshipful Grand Master is troubled with personal applications from the Officers of the Board , virtually to take upon himself the onus of doing what it is their especial province to perform—of the necessity for which , indeed , the Board may have unanimousl y agreed—but which they have not the moral courage to carry out on their own responsibility , because they " cannot discover a precedent . " As a general guide the proceedings of anterior Boards are very valuable ;
but if these proceedings are to be so specially alike in all cases—if each Member of a succeeding Board of Stewards is to be an automaton , constrained in every movement by the machinery of the precedingit ivould save an infinite deal of trouble were printed regulations issued , and the acceptance of the Office made conditional on the performance of every item set down , and of no more . And a large sum might also
be set aside from the personal fund of the Stewards , as a positive saving in unnecessary preliminary dinners , and applied to charitable purposes ; whilst the Royal Duke would be relieved from the constant pestering to which he is now subjected . Easy illustrations are afforded by the proceedings of the Board of Grand Stewards for the Grand Festival of the 25 th of A pril last . The Hebrew Brethren desired to be so accommodated at the banquet
that the viands , prepared by their own cooks , might be served up to them without any interference with the other arrangements of the table . Surely the Board of Stewards was competent to decide this matter , and might have complied with the request in such a way that no difference could have been observable at the Festival—no prejudice offended—no law broken—without putting the Most Worshipful Grand Master , by referring the subject to him , under the unpleasant necessity of refusing
what he had scrupled so publicly to sanction . Why force His Royal Highness into a false position with that numerous , wealthy , and charitable portion of the Fraternity , when it might have been , and ought to have been , avoided by a courteous determination on the part of the Board of Stewards , with which the most Worshi pful Grand Master would never have interfered ? On another subject to which I will refer , our Venerated Chief was not
importuned , although , for the want of " a precedent , " the Board of Grand Stewards came to a determination , in my humble opinion , quite at variance with the proper course . A much respected ancl efficient member of the Board , announced that business of an unavoidable and very important nature would be likely to enforce his presence in the city of York on the very day of the Festival , and begged the indulgence either of being permitted to depute the Steward Elect of his Lodge , to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Board Of Stewards.
in themselves , and may possibly elicit the more matured suggestions of the better informed . To me it appears that the besetting error of Boards of Stewards is the tenacity with which they abide by precedents , however inconvenient or ineffective , and the absolute apprehension with which any proposition of an advantageous nature is entertained , if it happen to be novel in its nature or application . To such an extent is this absurdity
carried , that a Board of Stewards for the passing season , instead of being a deliberative body , assumed to be capable of originating any thing serviceable , or supposed to be able , by discussion , to reject on the one hand and to adopt on the other , as propriety might direct , is in reality nothing more than an executive body , bound down by the regulations of preceding Boards . The natural consequences are , either that no improvements are madeand no deviationshowever necessaryare
per-, , , mitted , or that the Most Worshipful Grand Master is troubled with personal applications from the Officers of the Board , virtually to take upon himself the onus of doing what it is their especial province to perform—of the necessity for which , indeed , the Board may have unanimousl y agreed—but which they have not the moral courage to carry out on their own responsibility , because they " cannot discover a precedent . " As a general guide the proceedings of anterior Boards are very valuable ;
but if these proceedings are to be so specially alike in all cases—if each Member of a succeeding Board of Stewards is to be an automaton , constrained in every movement by the machinery of the precedingit ivould save an infinite deal of trouble were printed regulations issued , and the acceptance of the Office made conditional on the performance of every item set down , and of no more . And a large sum might also
be set aside from the personal fund of the Stewards , as a positive saving in unnecessary preliminary dinners , and applied to charitable purposes ; whilst the Royal Duke would be relieved from the constant pestering to which he is now subjected . Easy illustrations are afforded by the proceedings of the Board of Grand Stewards for the Grand Festival of the 25 th of A pril last . The Hebrew Brethren desired to be so accommodated at the banquet
that the viands , prepared by their own cooks , might be served up to them without any interference with the other arrangements of the table . Surely the Board of Stewards was competent to decide this matter , and might have complied with the request in such a way that no difference could have been observable at the Festival—no prejudice offended—no law broken—without putting the Most Worshipful Grand Master , by referring the subject to him , under the unpleasant necessity of refusing
what he had scrupled so publicly to sanction . Why force His Royal Highness into a false position with that numerous , wealthy , and charitable portion of the Fraternity , when it might have been , and ought to have been , avoided by a courteous determination on the part of the Board of Stewards , with which the most Worshi pful Grand Master would never have interfered ? On another subject to which I will refer , our Venerated Chief was not
importuned , although , for the want of " a precedent , " the Board of Grand Stewards came to a determination , in my humble opinion , quite at variance with the proper course . A much respected ancl efficient member of the Board , announced that business of an unavoidable and very important nature would be likely to enforce his presence in the city of York on the very day of the Festival , and begged the indulgence either of being permitted to depute the Steward Elect of his Lodge , to