Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS— PAGE . Approaching Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... i Tho Control and Audit of Lodge Accounts ... ... ' Brooklyn Masonic Veterans ... ... ... ••• 2 An Oration ... ... ... ... ... •¦• »• ¦•• 2

Laying of the Corner Stone of a New Masonic Hall at Blyth ... ... 2 Old Masonians' Association ... ... ... * * 3 The Craft Abroad ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 Craft Masonry ... ... ,.. ... ... ... •• 3 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... •¦• 5 MASONIC NOTES

New Year Greeting ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 Quatuor Coronati Lodge , No . 2076 ... ... ... ... 7 Annual Festival of the Grand Master ' s Mark Lodge of Instruction ... 7 District Grand Lodge of Bengal ... ... ... •¦• 7 Reviews ... ... ... ... ... ... ... S Our Portrait Gallery ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... S Lodges of Instruction ... ... ... ... ... ... <) Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ¦•• — 10

Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

Within two months from now the Festival in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution—the first in order of time of the three great anniversary gatherings of the year—will be held , ancl it behoves us , therefore , to press upon the attention oi

our readers more earnestly than we have done previously the claims it has upon their support . The day appointed for the celebration is Tuesday , the 22 nd February , and the Chairman oi the day will be Bro . the Right Hon . the Earl of JERSEY , G . C . M . G ., Past Grand Master of the United Grand Lod ° * e of New South

Wales , Provincial Grand Master of Oxfordshire , who has very kindly tendered his services in that capacity for the occasion . His lordship ' s Province is a small one , but loyal in the highest degree in the assistance it renders to all our Institutions . We

may , therefore , rely with confidence upon Oxfordshire doing all in its power in supporting the chairmanship of its respected chief . Unfortunately ; the number of those who have volunteered their services as Stewards i . s likewise exceptionally small ,

lhe Board of Stewards being weaker by about 90 or too members lhan was the 18 97 Board at the corresponding period of last year . Yet the needs of the Institution are precisely what they were 12 months ago . There are still the 200 male

annuitants in receipt of £ 40 a year each to provide for ; still the 242 widow annuitants at £ 32 each ; and still between 20 ind 30 widows who receive £ 20 each . There are the expenses uf management and of maintaining the Asylum at Croydon , tlie

total sum required to meet these several obligations being , in round figures , £ 19 , 000 , while thc permanent income derived ¦ rom dividends on invested capital and the annual grants made h y Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter is—in round figures

likewise—some £ 5000 . Thus the amount which has to be "aised in order to enable the Institution to defray its fixed out-• • ' *¦) ' is about £ 14 , 000 , and it is to the Festival which will be held "ext month that we have to look to supply this huge deficiency .

Nor is this thc whole of the case in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . Notwithstanding the great '"id sustained efforts which the Committee c > f Management nave made for several years past to keep the lists of applicants

Within manageable compass there are at the present time—if we include the petitions which have been received since the Committee meeting on Lhe 8 tb December , and will be dealt with on Wednesday , the 12 th instant—considerably more than ] oo candidates for the benelits of the Institution , of whom 5 6 are on the Male Fund list and 61 on that of the Widows' Fund .

Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

Not a few of these poor old people have been before the electors for 10 years and upwards , and , though the Institution is no more responsible for their annually-recurring failures than the brethren who have no votes to give or influence to exercise , it is

clear that if there were more funds available , there might be more annuitants , and the number of vacancies to be filled at the annual election would be proportionately augmented . Unhappily , while the number of candidates is large , the number of

vacancies is very small , and , to judge from our experience of the last half-dozen elections , between two-thirds and three-fourths of the present lists of applicants will be returned as unsuccessful at the election in May next . We are thus most anxious to see within the next two or three weeks a substantial addition made

to the present very limited Board of Stewards . We do not lose sight of the fact that the Centenary of the Boys' School will be celebrated this year under the auspices of H . R . H . the M . W . G . Master . We know that a supreme effort will be made to raise

an unusually large sum on that occasion , just as a supreme effort was made at the Girls' School Centenary in 1888 , and at the Benevolent Jubilee iu 1892 . We do not desire that anything should be done to lessen the effect of that effort .

What we most earnestly entreat the Craft to do is to contribute as largely as is possible towards making good the deficiency of £ 14 , 000 already mentioned as existing between , the permanent income on which tlie Institution can rel y and the fixed

expenditure it Vvill be undef the necessity of providing for during the current year . Let them be munificent in supporting the Boys ' School Centenary , but at the same time let them not fail to remember that the calls upon the treasury of the Royal Masonic

Benevolent Institution during 18 9 S will amount in the aggregate to £ 19 , , and that the only source of suppl y whence it can hope to obtain the amount necessary to make both ends meet is the Anniversary Festival which will be held , as vve have

said , under the auspices of the Earl of J ERSEY on the 22 nd of next month . We trust sincerel y that the next time it devolves u . pon ns to revert to the subject we shall be in a position to announce ttfiat our appeal has been listened to with favour and that a goodly number of additional Stewards has been enrolled .

The Control And Audit Of Lodge Accounts.

THE CONTROL AND AUDIT OF LODGE ACCOUNTS .

A fortnight since the Accountant reverted to this subject and did us the honour of quoting in lull our . former article . But we fail to see that it has in any way strengthened its caic—in fact , as regards our argument " that the matter is entirely one

concerning the individual persons more immediately affected , " " we have no hesitation in saying " that it has seriously weakened its position in affirming that "if the Legislature consistentl y adopted this view they would not at the present time be

considering the possibility of company law reform or any other reform of a kindred nature . " Here we have no alternative but to repeat our contention that as lodges are essentiall y private bodies , which supply and expend their own funds , the question

of the measure of control and audit which their expenditure and annual statement of account must undergo is one that , under Grand Lodge , rests entirely with them . Companies in the vast

majority of cases appeal to the public for funds , and it is above all things necessary that the public should be protected from the machinations of those scheming adventurers who