The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

The time has arrived when it is"jnecessary , cr at all events desirable , that we should again call attention to the approaching Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . This , the first of the great anniveisary gatherings cf the year , will be held , as our readers no doubt have already learned from our advertisement columns , at the Freemasons' Tavern , on Wednesday , the

27 th February , under the auspices of Bro . Viscount DUNGARVAN * , Prov . Grand Master of Somersetshire . There are , therefore , only about six weeks in which to complete the arrangements that Bro TERRY and his staff have been making for several months past in view of this important gathering . The principal of these arrangements is the organisation of a Board of Stewards

to support his lordship ' s advocacy . In our issue of the 22 nd ult ., we were fortunately in a position to announce that this Board consisted at the time of not far short of r 8 o members , and Bro . TERRY , in one of his speeches at the New Year ' s entertainment on the 2 nd inst . to the inmates of the Asylum at Croydon , stated that on that day the number had been increased to 184 or 12

more than at the corresponding date in 18 94 . In the fortnight that has since elapsed this total of 184 has been augmented to about 215 , and in the interval that remains between now and the 27 th prox . there is every prospect that it will reach to at least 299—the figure at which it stood on the day of last year ' s Festival , while it is quite on tlie cards that the Board may ultimately prove

still more numerous . It is useless , however , for us to be speculating about a matter which will , of necessity , remain in a condition of uncertainty till the very last moment . What we desire to do is to support Bro . TKRRY in the very great efforts he is now making to strengthen his Board of Stewards , while there is still time for the new-conurs to be able to render efficient

service . Even those who volunteer their services at the last moment , are acceptable , firstly from the example they set to other brethren to come forward and do likewise , and secondly and chiefly—so far as the funds of the Institution are concerned—by reason of the personal donations they almost invariably give in order to qua'ify as recipients

of the Charily jewel or of an additional bar thereto . But , as a matter of course , those brethren are the most valuable Stewards who volunteer in time to allow of their soliciting subscriptions and donations , either from the lodges or chapters they propose to represent or from their friends both within and outside Masonry . These are they who contrive to

build up the " big lists " to which it is our privilege to refer in terms of just commendation in our analytical articles . While , therefore , there are still some few weeks to elapse ere the day appointed for the celebration arrives , it is our duty to urge upon those who may be contemplating to serve as Stewards , that they should lose no time in forwarding their names to Bro .

TERRY , and obtaining from him supplies of those forms and that information as to the condition and requirements of the Charity , whicii those who go a-canvassing find such useful auxiliaries in their endeavours to charm the guineas out of the pockets of their friends . Much may be done in the interval that remains in the way of compiling , if not big lists , at all events lists that will not have the effect of depreciating the average .

It is indeed most important that a large total should be obtained on this occasion . The Returns from the Festivals that were held in 189 ,, and 18 94 amounted together—if we omit the sum paid for a Perpetual Presentationto not much more than , £ 20 , 000 , or at the rate of some £ 10 , 000 per annum , while the sum annually disbursed among the annuitants is in round figures

£ i ( i , coo . So large a deficit was to be expected after the stupendous success of the Jubilee of 1892 , but the advantages which the friends of the Institution have been hoping to see realised from that success will be thrown away , or in great measure neutralised , if the brethren take much longer in restoring the yearly Festival Returns to the old and necessary average . We know what

has happened in the case of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , which celebrated its Centenary in 1 S 8 S by raising £ 51 , 000 , and which , though it obtained £ 14 , 000 in 1893 , and £ 18 , 000 in 18 94 , has only averaged about £ 1 i , oooa year at the six Festivals that have been held since 18 S 8 , as compared with the average of £ 12 , 1100 or £ 1 ,-5 , 000 during the years that preceded

it . With this experience to serve as a warning , it will be an act of foll y if the Craft forgets to realise that a sum of close upon £ ifi , ooo is required annually in order to enable the Royal M isonie Benevolent Institution to fulfil the obligations which have been entered into by its Committee

of Management . But the needs just noware even greater than we have depicted them . At the meeting of the Committee , on the gth instant , the last balch of petitions that will be included in the lists for the May election were dealt with , and we are thus enabled to announce that the male candidates for this year s ballot will number 67 , and the widow candidates 51 . At present the

The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

number of vacancies for which those will compete ij seven on the Male Fund , and four on the Widows' Fund , so that , as matters stand at present , and taking into account the three deferred annuitants on each Fund , it will be possible to elect in May only 17 old men and women out of a grand total of 11 S . We are prepared for tha occurrence of further deaths among

the 435 annuitants at present on the establishment in the interval bttween now and the third Friday in May ; but , though , as has been the case for several years past , the vacancies as declared at the February Commitlee have been invariably increased in number by the morning ot the election , there must still remain a very large

proportion of these unfortunate brethren and widows of brethren to whom it will be impossible to extend the benefits of the Institution . Even if the Returns should prove to be larger than we have any reason for anticipating they will be , the number of those who will be left out in the cold will be considerable ; nor do we think the CommiUee of Management , unless , indeed ,

the total of Donations and Subscriptions next month is exceptionally large , will be justified in creating any additional annuities . There is , indeed , the bare possibility that they may suggest an increase in the Male Annuities from 195 to 200 , but , as we have just said , it will be necessary that the Returns should be very large in order to justify this step , and there is no

appearance of any such prospect being in view at the present moment . We therefore most earnestly entreat the lodges and brethren , both in town and country , to use their utmost exertions in behalf ol the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , so that the total of the Returns , which it will be the privilege of Bro . TERRY to announce on

the 27 th February , may more nearly approximate to the sum required for the year ' s annuities than it has done at the last two Festivals . We know that Viscount DUNGARVAN and his Province of Somersetshire are working hard to attain this object . We know , also , that the other Provinces which have sent up S'ewards , and the London lodges , so far as they are

represented , will do their duty right loyally and generously ; and as regards Bro . TERRY and his staff , that they , too , will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to score a success that will satisfy the needs of the year . But help is sorely needed , and for ihe sake of the distinguished brother who has

underaken the responsibility of presiding , andof the Stewards who are assisting him , but still more for the sake of the Institution itself—and the old men and women it succours in their declining years—wc trust that help will be forthcoming on the day appointed .

Freemasonry In Lincolnshire.*

FREEMASONRY IN LINCOLNSHIRE . *

Bro . William Dixon , P . M . 297 ( the senior lodge in the county ) , has written the " History of Freemasonry in Lincolnshire , " so thoroughly and so ably that he has left nothing for anyone else to do in that respect , save , as time rolls onward , to bring the work down to date , when later years and centuries come and go . It is , really and truly , a most exhaustive , interestingand invaluable volume , not only for brethren in Lincolnshire , but for a

, far larger and wider circle of readers , who can appreciate Bro . Dixon ' s well directed researches , Ills conscientious labours , and the patience and care he has exercised from first to last to render this important and well got up history , all that could possibly be looked for or expected in such a work . Many of the details are of considerable value , as respects their antiquity the

and character generally , and there is not an unreadable page in any of numerous chapters . Not a few of us have been wishful for sometime past that Bro . Dixon would undertake this heavy duty , and , speaking for myself , I fear he will not feel over grateful for the fraternal pressure that was brought to bear on him , now that he has completed the large volume , which has involved so many months of incessant labour and anxiety .

The History has meant much more investigation , because such a number of old records have been brought to light , than was at first anticipated , so that what was expected to be but a small book has extended to a noble tome of nearly 400 pages . The work is well arranged for perusal , and the full index at the end is a positive boon for the students of its numerous pages . Bro . Dixon begins with Freema'onry in Lincolnshire before the formation of the Prov . Grand

Lodge , and naturally calls for Dr . Stukeley as first witness , who went to Grantham in 172 ( 1 , and there " set up a body of Freemasons . " Bro . Gould his written most pleasantly as to this old worthy in the Transactions of the " Ouatuor Coronati" Lodge ( vol . 6 , 1 S 93 ) , and has prepared us , in a measure , for the interesting particulars cited by Bro . Dixon , both in reference to the learned Doctor and the local Craft at Grantham in 172 ( 1 ( but not regularised ) , and also at Spalding from 1739 . Some curious entries are quoted from the minute books of the "Spalding Gentlemen ' s