Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

Collectorship of the Institution , and to decide thereon . " The report ¦ f the Special Committee appointed by the Quarterly General Court , on the 14 th October , 1876 , was as follows : — " To investigate and report upon the subject

of the Collectorship to a Special General Court . " Pursuant to the resolution of the Quarterly General Court , the Special Committee held its first meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Saturday , the 4 th of November , 18 7 6 , when Bro . Lieut-Colonel Creaton , Vice-Patron and Trustee , was

voted to the chair , all the members of the committee Wing present . The subject submitted to the committee having been fully discussed , Bro . Josep h Smith proposed , ' That a Collector be appointed , and that he be paid commission on the amounts he receives . ' Bro . W . Hale

seconded the proposition , to which the following amendment was moved by Bro . S . Ra ^ wson , ' That a person be employed in the office to assist the Secretary in collecting subscriptions and donation ? . ' Bro . R . W . Stewart seconded the amendment , which , on being put , was carried

by 5 to 4 vote ? , and was then adopted as a substantive resolution by the same majority . "The second meeting of _ the Committee was held at Freemasons' Hall , on Saturday , the nth November , when , owing to Colonel Creaton ' s absence through an accident , Bro . S . Rawson

was voted to the chair . Bro . J . Symonds proposed , 'That the Secretary having stated , in reply to a question put to him , that he was willing , if provided with further assistance in the office , to undertake the collection of donations and subscriptions as part of his ordinary duties , to

undertake the same . ' Bro . Stewart seconded the proposition , which was carried by 4 votes to 3 , there being seven members present . Bro . Symonds proposed , 'That in the event of the above recommendation being agreed to , the Secretary be allowed an additional clerk . ' The

proposition was seconded by Bro . Dr . Ramsay , and carried by 3 to 2 votes . "The Committee held its third meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Saturday , the 18 th of November , when Colonel Creaton presided , five members being present . Bro . Symonds moved , 'That it is the r > ' > ini : > n of this Committee that

the several resolutions passed at the two preceding meetings on the 4 th and nth of November be recommended to a Special General Court for adoption . ' Bro . Stewart seconded the

proposition , which was carried unanimously . "The Chairman , as a Trustee , convened a Special General Court , to meet at 12 o ' clock noon , on Monday , the 27 th November . " J . CREATON , Chairman . "

Bro . John Symonds , after this report had been agreed to be taken as read , said that in moving to agree with the Committee in their report he thought it well to state that the recommendations in that report having been only agreed to by a majority of one . it was thought more courteous

to the minority that the committee should simply make thc report a resume of the proceedings , leaving the argument for or against the recommendations to be stated in the speeches at the Special Court . It would , therefore , be his duty to state completely , and yet as briefly as he

could , the reasons which induced him and those who , ' concurred with him in making those recommendations . In the first place , Jet it be understood that they did not propose to abolish the Collector ; they simply proposed that the Secretary , who was already the collector of the

greater portion of the contributions , should become the collector of the whole . There was an increasing tendency on the part of the brethren to make the Secretary the collector of their contributions , instead of employing an officer who was called the Collector . In the four years

ending 1872 there was a sum of , £ 21 , 004 collected , of which £ 715 . 5 was paid to the Secretary , and £ 13 , 8 49 to the Collector . But in the 3 f years ending September , 187 CJ , of £ 33 , 009 collected , £ 18 , 144 was paid to the Secretary , and only £ 14 , 86 5 to the Collector ; so that out of a yearly

average during the last 3 J years of £ 8800 collected , £ 4836 was collected by the Secretary , and only £ 3964 by the Collector ( hear , hear ) . He thought this tendency to send the amounts direct to the Secretary would go on increasing ; and if so , and the brethren adopted Bro . Joseph

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

Smith's view , there would probably be this curious , and to the so-called Collector , who was to be paid only on what he received , this unpleasant anomaly , that whilst the prospects of the Institution might continually increase , his emoluments might continually diminish . But

there was this further great difficulty , how were they to define what the Collector was to receive , and what he was not to receive r When Bro . Joseph Smith at the first meeting of the Special Committee , after a considerable amount of conversational discussion , formally moved that a Collector be appointed , and that he be paid a

commission on the amount he received , he ( Bro . Symonds ) drew his attention to these difficulties ; but as he ( Bro . Symonds ) did not think Bro . Smith clearly apprehended the point he ( Bro . Symonds ) raised , he ventured to present in the form of three short enquiries , and had sent them to Bro . Smith in a brief note which he would

venture to read : — " 3 , Ingram Court , 25 th Nov . "Dear Bro . Joseph Smith , — " I am afraid I did not succeed in committee in putting so clearly before you as I could have wished the difficulties which to my mind

attend the appointment of a Collector 'to be pa id only upon what he receives . ' " I therefore venture to submit for your consideration the three enquiries annexed , that you may , if you think fit , answer them at the meeting on Monday .

"Yours faithfully and fraternally , ' ¦ Jons SYMONDS . " Joseph Smith , Esq ., P . G . P ., & c , & c , & c . " If a Collector be appointed , distinct from the Secretary , to be paid commission only upon what he receives : —

" Is it contemplated that he should have free access to correspondence and Stewards' lists ( country as well as London ) , so that he may ascertain the names of brethren who may announce an intention to contribute , and may at once write to or call on them ?

" Or is he only to apply to brethren whose names are given to him by the Secretary ? "If he apply for a subscription or donation ( writing or calling , perhaps , several times ) , and it is afterwards paid at the office , is it contemplated that he should receive commission thereon ? "

Now , they could not get Bro . Smith clearly to define where the line should be drawn ; he said it was a matter of detail ; and if he once agreed to the detail that the Collector should be paid only on what he received , the mode of settling what he should receive could be settled

afterwards . There he ( Bro . Symonds ) joined issue with him ; he thought the settlement of the point was of the very essence of the question , and if they did not adopt it the Collector would be continually endeavouring , if they did not endeavour to settle that point before the election

of the Collector , to circumvent , if he might say so , the Secretary , and get all the honour in his own hands . He would mention , by the way , that Bro . Smith , in the course of conversation , proposed to limit the collection to London , leaving out the country ; but on his ( Bro .

Symonds ) asking whether that did not seem to imply that the brethren in London were of an inferior grade to those living in the country , requiring a special officer to look after them , Bro . Smith withdrew the limitation , and the resolution

now stood as in the report . Bro . Joseph Smith observed that this was a resume of all that was done on the committee , and it was not necessary for Bro . Symonds to go into that .

Bro . Symonds said that the statement he was making would serve to elucidate the proceedings of the committee . He had already said he thought that detail was of the very essence of the question ; detail in point of fact was the principle . That was the point . He thought Bro . Smith

did not clearly understand where the difficulty rested— that the Collector was to be paid only on what he received . The difficulty had arisen in the Boys' School . Bro . Harris had been paid after a fashion . There also had been some

difficulties about whether he was to be paid on what he received . He endeavoured to get all he could in his hands . Let him give a case which suggested the point . A brother not long since wrote to Bro . Binckes asking what amount was

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

required to be paid to make him a Vice-President . Bro . Binckes wrote in reply stating that the further payment would be 40 guineas . Not hearing from him after this , Bro . Binckes called on him to know whether he had received the letter . The brother said he had ; but that hi

would like to give the subject furthsr consideration— would Bro . Binckes call again after a short interval ? After an interval Bro . Binckes accordingly called again . The brother said he was still unsettled , and he must think over it a little further . Afterwards the brother wrote

saying that he had decided to give the 4 c guineas . Bro . Harris got wind of the fact ; .. called on the brother ; sent in his card as Collector ; and received the subscription in a cheque payable to Bro . Binckes or order . Did he ( Bro . Symonds ) blame Bro . Harris for that ? No ; he

thought it was only natural he should in the position he occupied follow the course he pursued . If he ( Bro . Symonds ) had been in Bro . Harris ' s position he should have done the same thing . If the brethren were to put him in the Collector ' s place to be paid on the amounts he

received he should feel it his duty to himself and his family by every possible means on every possible occasion to intercept every p ossible donation on its way to the Secretary . ( Laughter . ) Now , that would be the continual result of their appointing a Collector in the mode proposed . Did he blame

Bro . Binckes for not allowing the Collector to have the means to prevent the subscription coming direct to the office ? Did he blame Bro . Binckes for not letting the Collector have the information that would enable him to do so . He did not blame him : and he did not think

the brethren ought to blame the Secretary of the Girls' School for doing all he could also to circumvent the Collector in getting his emoluments . If , therefore , Bro . Joseph Smith passed his resolution with regard to the duties of the Collector , the General Committee , of which Bro .

Joseph Smith himself was a member , ought so clearly to define what the Collector was to receive and what he was not to receive , that there would be no chance of the Secretary subjecting himself to a charge or suspicion of , on his own motive , interfering with the Collector ' s

emoluments . But he , Bro . Symonds , still believed that the best way , better for the Institution , would be to make the Secretary the Collector . The Secretary was now thc Collector of the greater part of the subscriptions ; let the Collector get in the remainder , and allow him a

certain sum . It was not intended that the ; idditional clerk , whom they proposed to give to the Secretary , should be the Collector . It was contemplated b y himself , Bro . Symonds , and , he believed , all those who concurred with him , that the entire responsibility should be thrown on the

Secretary , who might for the subscription send his head clerk or junior clerk , or go himself . Then again , the Secretary , he might say , had expressed not only his willingness to take that responsibility , but he believed that there would be less loss by lapse of subscriptions than there

was at present . This plan admitted of easy trial . The Special Committee , after considering the question of appointing a permanent Collector , thought the plan of having a clerk might be tried . If , after a short period , even a twelvemonth , this plan was not found to succeed , they

would give the junior clerk the stipulated notice , and they would then proceed to appoint a Collector . But if they appointed a Collector as a permanent official they would hardly , except for gross misconduct , discharge him from his office until he thought fit to retire . Having made this

statement he , Bro . Symonds , did not think he had omitted anything . He thought he had stated all the reasons that occurred to him in favour of the amalgamation of the offices of Secretary and Collector . He hoped that those who justifiably sought to reject the report would not succeed , but if they did he trusted they

would give him and those who concurred with him , credit for having done what they believed to be their duty , and that they were actuated by an honest desire to promote the best interests of the Institution ( hear , hear ) . He begged to conclude by moving that the Court agree with the Special Committee in their report , and that it be referred to the General Committee for execution .