The Approaching Boys' School Festival.

THE APPROACHING BOYS' SCHOOL FESTIVAL .

Now that the Anniversary Festivals of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution and the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls have been celebrated , the way is clear for us to appeal to the Craft generally in behalf of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys for that support which is necsssary to its efficient maintenance . We are not in a position—indeed we imagine we

should be nonplussed if we attempted—to advance any new reasons for our advocacy of the claims which this School lias upon the brethren for their generous support . We can point with satisfaction to a very successful year , both as regards the management of the Institution and its educational efforts in respect of the children under its charge , since we made our last annual appeal in

its behalf . The number of Boys in the establishment has been increased from 26 S to 277 ; the result of the Cambridge Local Examinations in December last shows that the standard of education has been well maintained ; while the statements of account exhibit a rigorous adherence to the policy of economy combined with efficiency by which the management of the School under the

new regime has been uniformly characterised . Thanks , likewise , lo the careful attention paid to the sanitary condition of The premises at Wood Green , the School has been able to show a comparatively clean bill of health , notwithstanding that the neighbourhood in which it is located has been visited during the past two years by a serious epidemic of scarlet fever . In

short , whether we have regard to the increased number of pupils for which the School now provides , the manner in which they are trained and educated , both mentally and physically , their comparative freedom from illness , or the exceeding care with which the expenditure has been regulated , there is no contesting the fact ,

which stands out so prominently in the Report of the Board of Management for 1 S 94 V that the career of the Institution during that year has been most satisfactory . ' To crown' all , the tone of the School has been raised to a level with that of other institutions of a like character , while the invested funds have been " increased by something like 35 per cent , during the 12

months ; and therefore , so far as it is in the power of the brethren to continue their su 'port , we have no misgivings as to the result of our present appeal . We say , in effect— On your part , brethren , you have supported the Institution during the five years in which its administration has been conducted by the present Board of Management most generously , and on its part the

Board has not only most thankfully received your contributions , but it has likewise Lilt' fully applied them to the purposes for which they were given . But many a long term of years must elapse ere the Institution will be able to maintain itself out of the dividends and interest on its own accumulated funds , if—which is exceedingly doubtful—that much desired period ever arrive ; .

The Permanent income , though more than double what it was five years ago , is still inly about £ 1500 a year , while the expenditure , as shown by the latest stater lent of accounts , falls very little short of ^ . " i . * t , *>< io . You see , then , how large a sum must still be raised annually in order to meet our expenditure , and how absolutely we depend for the production of that large

sum on the s n xess ol our annual hestival . We , therefore , appeal to you , brethren , most earnestly , but . at the same time with every confidence that our appeal will no be made in vain , for those donations and subscriptions , without which the good work which you recognise we have been doing cannot be

continued . We have , as we have said , a permanent income of about £ i 5 ' m , and a ermanent expenditure of close on £ \ . il , ooo and we address ourselves to yo now in the hope that you will enable us in the first place to make good , this large deficiency , and in the next place , to increase still further our inv 'ed funds .

But perhaps .. . nay be said , if you have such confidence in the result of your appeal , why impress it upon the brethren with so much urgency ? To this we n ?; 0 y in the first place that men's lives are so busily occupied nowadays that I the Institution which does not keep its requirements continuousl y b- c ore the public stands but little chance of obtaining what it needs .

No matter I .. real may have been the success which attended an appeal in any given y- in behalf of an Institution which is mainly supported by voluntary conti ions , it must be renewed annually with the same earnestness or the Ch -r .. _ stands a fair chance of becoming out of sight , and consequently out of nrnd . Yet the expenditure remains at the same figure , or

it maybe , has u ^ en increased on the strength that success . In the next place , the competition for public support amongst our Charitable Institutions is so ' much keener than it was only a few years since . If we confine our attention to those which have been established by the Craft we find

'here is the Benevolent Institution , which is , in fact , two Institutions under 0 l -e Management . Twenty years ago the number of its annuitants on the Male and Widows' Funds was about . ¦ ¦ no , now it is 440 . The Girls' School provided for some I so Girls , now it has a fixed establishment , of 26 3 , while

The Approaching Boys' School Festival.

the Boys' School , which numbered about 175 pupils , now provides for 277 . Twenty years ago , the aggregate of the expenditure on these three Charities , speaking roughly , may have amounted to some £ 25 000 a year , whereas now it amounts to about . £ 45 , 000 . If , then , these facts , on which it has been our duty for years past to lay so much stress , are not constantly kept before

our readers , if those whose special business it is to obtain the services of Stewards for our Festival do not impress them continually on the attention of the lodges , what likelihood is thereof so large a sum being obtained ; and if it is not obtained , what becomes of the modest amount of invested

funds winch each of the three Institutions has been at such pains to accumulate ? No , there can be no relaxation in the urgency of our annual appeals in behalf of each of these Institutions in turn , or , if there is , the relaxation must be detrimental to their interests . In these cases we have no option but to keep on " pegging away . "

As regards the l'estival , which has led to our formulating these remarks , the celebration has been fixed , as we announced a fortnight since , for Wednesday , 3 rd July , when the chair will be occupied by Bro . Lord EOKRTON OI * TATTON , Provincial Grand Master of Cheshire . Up to the present time , Bro . MCLEOD , the Secretary of the Institution , has hnd the good fortune to

enlist the services of about 3 80 ladies and brethren , and , as there are still between six and seven weeks remaining in which to obtain further help , we have no doubt that the Board , when fully constituted , will number not far short of 4 . S " . It is an additional piece of good fortune that the Chairman ' s Province of Cheshire has not far short of

, S'i lodges ; and knowing what it did for this Institution in ISIJI , and for tlie Benevolent Institution at its Jubilee Festival in 1 S 92 , we are not without some hope that the support it will give to the Boys' School on this occasion will be worthy of its past services to our Charities and of tin ; prestige it has won for itself as a practical exponent wilhin its own borders

of the distinguishing characteristic of our Order , we mean the virtue of Charity . As to how the Board is distributed between town and country , ' we are not yet in a position to furnish any particulars . We must content ourselves with the hope that as at the Festivals which have been held during his Secretaryship , Bro . Mr'Li ** oi > has succeeded in winning support from about

three-fourths of the Provinces and from a due proportion of lodges in ' the London District , the same or a somewhat similar measure of success will attend his efforts in behalf ol the approaching Anniversary . At all events , the prospects are very encouraging , and with so distinguished a President as Lord EGERTON OP TATTON and so numerous a body of Stewards as

there is every likelihood will be enrolled to support him , we are naturally sanguine as to a successful result—not so successful , it may be , as that of last year when the Prov . Grand' Master of West Yorkshire occupied the chair and a Board of 522 Stewards obtained donations and subscriptions

amounting to £ tc ) 092 ; or as in 1 S 93 when , under the auspices of the Prov . Grand Master of Essex , the sum of , £ 21 , 840 was raised ; but still one that will be in every way creditable to the noble Chairman and his supporters , and beneficial to the Royal Masonic . Institution for Boys . May our expectations be realised or , if possible , exceeded ! .

Grand Lodge Certificates And Visitors.

GRAND LODGE CERTIFICATES AND VISITORS

Almoners all know that the Masonic impostor is always nervous about his certificate , but as a rule it is only used amongst brethren he calls upon at their residence or place of business . At a lodge or in an interview with a lodge Almoner he has no certificate—it has been " lost , stolen , or strayed , " and a very plausible account he has to give of the circumstance . As a

matter of fact , the Grand Lodge certificate is a wonderful safeguard against imposition ; at the same time , we should be sorry to think that a brother could not obtain relief , if worthy , without producing one . There are three reasons why English certificates can never be extensively utilised by

impostors . 1 . The difficulty of procuring one exactly suitable in point of age ; 2 . The dates and signatures on it ; and , 3 , the revelation of the name and number of the lodge from whence it came enables prompt communication in cases of doubt .

Probably this confidence in a Mason's certificate , so long established , was the reason why certain lodges invariably insisted on the production of that document by all visitors not vouched for ; but we did not know that any lodge , still less that referred to by a correspondent , made it a sine qua non of admission .

ttro . KAYR ' question , " Is the production of Grand Lodgo certificates indispensable when visiting lodges ? " can only be answered fairly as connected with the circumstances . Notwithstanding that our brother seems pretty confident that it is " almost always dispensed with in other lodges both in London and the provinces , " thereby somewhat modifying his query , we may