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CONTENTS . PAGE LEANER— ... Next Year ' s Benevolent Festival ... ... ••¦ — ° 9 ' United Grand Lodge ( Agenda Paper ) ... ... ... ... 6 92 Mark Grand Lodge ( Agenda Paperl ... ... ... ... C 92 Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees' ( Annual Meeting ) ... ... 692 Provincial Grand Lodge of Surrey — ... ... 6 93 THH C RAFT

ABROADConsecration of the Caribee Lodge , No . 2 S 29 ( E . C . ) ... " ... 6 94 Science . Art , and the Drama ... ... ... » . ^ 95 Craft Masonry ... ... »• ... - - 6 9 MASONIC N OTHS— .. . Agenda Paper of United . Grand Lodge ... ... ... ... 6 99 Agenda Paper of Mark Grand Lodge ... " ... ... ... 6 99 Report of the Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees ... ... 6 99 Consecration of the Seymour Lodge , No . ' 2 S 04 " ... ... ... 6 og Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Manitobi ... ... ... 699

Correspondence ... ... ••¦ ... ••¦ 7 °° Masonic Notes and Queries ... ... ... ... ... 7 " ° Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ••• — 7 Royal Arch .. ... ... ... ... ... — 7 Mark Masonry ... ... ... ... — 702 Instruction ... ... ... ... ... — — 7 ° 2 Provincial Grand Chapter of Surrey ... ... ... •¦• 7 02 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... — 702 Ancient and Accepted Rite ... ... ... ... 7 ° 3

SCOTLANDProvincial Grand Chapter of Glasgow ... ... ... ... 7 ° 3 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ••• 7 ° 3 Funeral of Bro . Sir Arthur Sullivan , P . G . O . ... ... ... ... 7 ° 4 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... — 7 °

Next Year's Benevolent Festival.

NEXT YEAR'S BENEVOLENT FESTIVAL .

Christmas is now so near at hand , and when the holidays are over tlie interval that will then be available for organising effective help will be so short , that it does not seem too early to

have our usual look round and take stock of the prospects awaiting us during the approaching Festival campaign . We remarked some while since in one of our Articles or Notes that in one

respect all three Institutions stood at the outset of this campaign upon an equal footing . Each of them was fortunately in a position to announce , at a comparatively early date during the past summer , that it had succeeded in enlisting the support

of a distinguished Mason as its Chairman for 1901 ; that each of these ; brethren had already rendered imj ortant services at more than one Festival ; and that , consequently , so far as they were concerned , we might reasonably anticipate that next year

would witness at least as large an aggregate of big returns as we have known in past years . Our present concern , bowever , is with tin : 59 th Anniversary Festival in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , which will be

celebrated on Wednesday , the 27 th February next , under the auspices of the Right Hon . the Earl of WARWICK , Dep . Grand Master of England and Prov . Grand Master of Essex . His lordship has done a like service for each of our

Scholastic Institutions—for the Girls' School in 1884 , not very long after his appointment to office , when the total of the Returns exceeded - £ 13 , , inclusive of the sum of £ 1000 raised by Essex , which then mustered only 22 lodges ; and for

the Boys'School , in 18 93 , when the Returns reached - £ 21 , 840 , out of which " the Chairman ' s Province , " which the previous year had raised £ 2318 for the Benevolent Jubilee , contributed £ 55 . the number of its lodges having in the interval increased

to 33 . It now musters 45 lodges and , therefore , we are hopeful that in honour of his lordship's third Chairmanship , Essex will prove as loyal to its chief as it did at the Festivals we have mentioned . Moreover , he is now not only Grand Master of

the Province , but Deputy Grand Master of England , and nothing will prove more incontestably the great and increasing respect and affection they feel for his lordship than a Return

that will exceed in amount its former figures . That such an amount of support will be appreciated by his lordship cannot be doubted , nor have we ourselves any misgiving that the Province will prove its loyalty towards him by helping to the best

Next Year's Benevolent Festival.

of its ability to promote next year the success of this Festival at which he has undertaken to preside . Moreover , from inquiries we have ascertained that the Secretary of the Institution , who is night after night visiting lodges and chapters both in town and

country with a view to enlisting their support , has thus far had the good fortune to enrol some 200 ladies and brethren as Stewards for February next , a number not so very far inferior to what he had enrolled at the corresponding period of last year , when an

unprecedentedly strong Board of Stewards gave their services in behalf of the Old People . Hence on this and on the grounds previously mentioned , the prospects of a successful issue to the labours now in progress are , to say the least , encouraging , and

if lodges and chapters will appoint representatives at the earliest possible date , so that the latter may have ample time for canvassing , we have no hesitation in saying that the outlook will be more encouraging still .

It is almost unnecessary to point out that the support needed for our Benevolent Institution is as great as ever ; in fact , even greater than ever it was before . In 18 99 , the Festival proved so successful , that the Committee of Management created live male

and three widow annuities , while early in the present year they made a further increase by creating three male and five widow annuities . . Thus the fixed establishment of the Institution is now greater than it was in 1 S 9 8 by eight male and eight widow

annuitants , the total sum required to meet these additional claims being £ 57 6 per annum . If our readers will refer to the Report which the Committee submitted at the annual general meeting of the Governors and Subscribers of the

Institution on the iSth May , they will find it therein stated that the total number of annuitants on the two Funds is 4 63 , inclusive of the additions just mentioned , namely , 210 on the Male Fund at £ 40 per annum each , and 2 ^ 3 on the Widows '

Fund at - £ 32 per annum each , the total sum required annuall y to provide the annuities being £ 16 , 496 . But in addition there are—or were at the time the Report was presented—26 widow half-annuitants receiving each of them - £ 20 a year , thereby

increasing the annual outlay for annuities alone to - £ 17 , 016 . To this must be further added the expenses of management and for the maintenance of the Asylum at Croydon , with the result that year by year the Committee is under the necessity of

providing some £ 20 , 000 in order to meet the outlay to which the Institution is committed , and all it has in the shape of permanent income in order to meet this outlay is the annual grants of £ 1600 from Grand Lodge and £ 150 from Grand

Chapter , and the interest on its invested capital , amounting , it may be , to between £ 4000 and £ 4500 . In short , while the permanent expenditure is about - £ 20 , 000 , the permanent income is about £ 6000 , and to meet the deficiency , and at the

same time to leave a small margin for any contingent expenditure , a sum not far short of £ 15 , 000 is required , and the Festival proceeds are the principal , if not the only , source from which it can be obtained . Again ,

notwithstanding the efforts which the Committee of Management have made from time to time to keep the number of candidates for the benefits of the Institution within manageable compass , it is on record that at each recurring annual election ,

there is always a formidable number of old brethren and widows for whom it is impossible to make the provision they so urgently stand in need of . At the last election the figures were rather more favourable than we have known them for many years , the numbers elected being 20 men and 29 widows respectivel y ,