The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

We gladly avail ourselves of this further opportunity of renewing the appeal we have made in former articles on behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . As our readers have long been aware , the annual Festival in aid of its funds will be held at Freemasons' Tavern , on Wednesday , the 27 th inst ., and Bro . Viscount DUNGARVAN , Prov . G . Master of

Somersetshire , has undertaken to preside on the occasion as Chairman . Thus , a fortnight hence , we shall be in a position to make known a result for which during many months past a considerable number of brethren have been labouring most energetically , and to which , it is needless to say , the whole body of English Masons is just now looking forward with the keenest

anxiety . The position of our Benevolent Institution and its claims upon the support of the brethren have been so often described in these columns and elsewhere that we shall content ourselves with the bare outline of the leading facts . Its permanent income , being the dividends annually received on its invested capital , is about £ 3500 . To this must be added the grants annually

made by Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter amounting together to £ 170 . 0 This gives us a total income of about £ 5250 towards an expenditure which amounts to about £ r 9 , ooo per annum , the sum disbursed in annuities to aged brethren and the widows of brethren being £ 16 , 000 , while the balance of ^ 3000 is used for working expenses , and the maintenance of the Asylum

at Croydon . It is clear , therefore , that the money which must be raised annually by means of donations and subscriptions , in order that the Institution may be in a position to fulfil its obligations is about £ 14 , 000 , and this sum , in ordinary years , has been almost invariably forthcoming . In 1892 , however , the Charity celebrated the Jubilee of its foundation by Grand

Lodge , and the amount then raised was £ 69 , , of which the Committee of Management very wisely invested £ 50 , 000 . But it is only natural that so extraordinary an 1 ffort should be followed byacertain reaction . English Masons are most generous , but , at the same time , they are just in the distribution of their favours . They are nothing loath to make a special effort from

time to time on behalf of one or other of our three Central Charities , but recognising , as they do , that such an effort must seriously diminish the receipts of the sister Institutions , they very properly make amends to the latter for the diminished help they have received by contributing to their funds during the next two or three years more liberally

than usual . Thus , in 1 S 92 , while the Benevolent Institution received support to the extent of £ 69 , 000 , only about £ 22 , 000 was raised for the requirements of the two Schools . But , in 1 S 93 , the latter secured between them about £ 36 , 000 , while the subscriptions to the R . M . B . I . were only between . 68 , 000 and £ 9 , 000 . Last year the result was substantially the same , the

amounts raised at the School Festivals being slightly in excess of £ 37 , , and that at the Benevolent Institution , including the price of a Perpetual Presentation to the Male Fund , some £ 13 , 000 . It is , however , about time that the yearly average of the Festival Returns should be restored in the case of the Old People ' s Charity to the figure at which it stood prior to the

celebration of its J ubilee . About the last thing we desire to see is that the Committee of Management should feel it incumbent upon them to employ any part of their hard-earned capital in making good the year ' s deficiency of income . It has been the work of many years to accumulate this capital and it would be a very serious detriment to the general efliciency of the

Charity if a succession of yearly deficits should render the adoption of such a course imperative . Shall we succeed in averting this misfortune during the present year ? The Board of Stewards is not as strong as at one time we were induced to hope it might be . A month ago , when we wrote on the sub ject of this approaching Festivel it comprised between 240 and 250 ladies

and brethren , and thanks to the amazing energy of Bro . TERRY , this number as since been increased to about 290 and we dare say it will be augmented "ween now and the appointed day to over 300 members , or rather fore than constituted last year's Board . A high average per list ay furnish the necessary amount and , as Somersetshire—which , however , - _ 1 t r

* ° y no means one of our strongest Provinces—is putting forth its full re ngth in support of its Prov . Grand Master , and as we know the representatives of other Provinces , as well as of the lodges in the Metropolitan 'strict , are sparing no efforts to bring up lists it will do Bro . TERRY ' S heart good to announce , there is always present , to our mind , the hope that the

a may ultimatel y exceed our most sanguine expectations . But the pre-J " are very far from being such as to justify this hope . We daresay a is h T"d SUm Wi" be obtained > but we are afraid k wi "fa "short ol what onw y r £ flu ' - The Committee held their regular monthly meeting COnt ^; eclnesda yi and we now know that the approved lists of candidates , n the names of 61 candidates ( or the Male Fund and 51 for the

The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

Widows Fund , or together 112 . We know also that the Committee has boldly augmented the number of Male Annuities from 195 to 200 , and that in consequence the vacancies on the two Funds have been declared as f ollows , namely , on the Male Fund , 17 vacancies , and on the Widow ' s Fund , 10 vacancies , the three deferred annuitants being in each case included . At

present , therefore , there are 27 vacancies to be competed for by 112 candidates , and though from our experience of past years , there is reason to believe this number will be increased by the third Friday in May , it must be manifest to every one that only a moderate proportion of the candidates can be elected to the benefits of this most valuable Institution . We trust , therefore ,

the brethren generally will respond to the appeal we now address to them to make good the year ' s deficiency . The Old People , in whose behalf we are appealing , were once in reputable circumstances . They are now without means of support , and in many instances without friends to help them . It is easier to imagine than describe the sufferings which people thus untortunately

circumstanced are called upon to endure , but if there is anything that can intensify our sympathy with these aged brethren and widows , it is the thought that in such weather as we have been experiencing for some weeks past , the pain and suffering must have been incalculably great . But we

need not say more . Our hope is that enough maybe raised at the approach - ing Festival to satisfy the year ' s necessities , and if more be obtained , that the Committee may see their way to making a still further addition to the present establishment on one or both of the Funds of our youngest Institution .

The District Grand Lodge Of Bombay.

THE DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF BOMBAY .

The proceedings at the Half-Yearly ^ Communication this District Grand Lodge on the 29 th November last were of a far more interesting craracter than usual , and show unmistakably that the zeal of our brethren in this important part of our Indian Empire to maintain the Order in its fullest splendour is unflaggingjand , at , the same time , well regulated . The worthy

Deputy District Grand Master , Bro . J . M . SHIELDS , presided as District Grand Master , and in the address he delivered was able to give an excellent report of the lodges he had visited during the preceding six months . Indeed , considering that our lodges in India are beset with serious difficulties which are not experienced by the lodges at home or nearer home , the admirable

manner in which they are described as carrying out their appointed duties reflects the greatest credit on both officers and members . There were , however , one or two matters of importance as to which the District Grand Master considered it incumbent upon him to offer a few words of salutary caution . The matters in question were the wearing of unauthorised jewels ;

the opening and closing of a Board of Installed Masters ; and the necessity for a strict observance of the law in describing candidates for initiation and membership or joining . As regards the second of these points —the opening and closing of a Board of I . M . M . —Bro . SHIELDS quoted , for general information , the official declaration made by the Grand Registrar at

the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge , in March , 1887 , as to the socalled " full ceremony , " which is occasionally performed in some lodges , to the effect that , ' * It is not right , it is not recognised , it is directly contrary to the mode of business authorised by the Grand Lodge at the Union of 1813 , and would be an entirely new object of departure . " On the third point—the

full description of candidates—he drew attention to the provisions contained in the Book of Constitutions on the subject , Article 184 prescribing that the ballot for a candidate for initiation " shall not take place unless his name , age , and profession or occupation , and place of abode , withjhe names of his proposer and seconder , have been sent in the summons to all the members

of the lodge" ; while , as regards a joining member , Article 189 prescribes that "his name , profession , or occupation and place of abode , as well as the name and number of the lodge of which he is or was last a member or in which he was initiated , shall be sent to all the members in the summons for the next regular lodge meeting ; at which meeting the

brother's Grand Lodge certificate , and also the clearance certificate from his present or former lodge must be produced and tbe decision of the brethren ascertained by ballot . " Bro . SHIELDS declared that the omission of some of these essential particulars was a matter of common occurrence , and he was doing no more than his duty in calling attention to the fact , and in

impressing upon Masters and Secretaries the necessity for their being strict in the observance of the law . As to the report of the District Board of Benevolence there is nothing to be stated but that of the District Board cf

General Purposes contained two recommendations which are noteworthy : firstly , that a suit of District Grand Master ' s clothing and an ivory maul b : purchased for the use of District Grand Lodge " in order that the functions of the District Grand Master may he performed with becoming dignity as