The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

THE ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

We publish elsewhere a full report of the proceedings at the adjourned meeting of the Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and it will be seen from this , that after carefully considering the rules containing the qualifications of candidates for admission to the benefits of the

Institution on either Fund , the Committee have adopted certain amendments , to the bulk of which we are of opinion that no serious objection will be taken , while they have added a new law , to which , as it will very materially alter the character of the Institution , we anticipate that a serious , and we trust a

successful , opposition will be raised . It has been manifest for some years past that the resources of the Benevolent Institution were inadequate to provide for all the applicants for its benefits whose cases had been examined and approved . This year , for instance , there are 152 candidates , as against 140 in 188 9 , 128 , or

thereabouts , in 1888 , and lesser but still considerable numbers in previous years , and this notwithstanding that the number of annuitants , to say nothing of their annuities , has been increased during the last 15 or 16 years from—on the Male Fund , 120 to 180 , and on the Widows' Fund , from 80 to 220 . It was

inevitable , therefore , that sooner or later the Committee of Management should be confronted with the difficulty which they considered so carefully and so thoroughly at their adjourned meeting on Tuesday ; nor , having well weighed the changes which they propose to make in the qualifications of

candidates , do we think it can justly be said of them that they have erred on the side of severity . The amount of the annuity remains unaltered in each case , namely , at £ 40 for the Male Fund , and £ 32 for the Widows' Fund . On the Male Fund , however , while , the minimum age of 60 years , at which a brother

becomes eligible as a candidate , is retained , it will for the future be necessary that he should have been a subscribing member to a lodge as well as a registered Master Mason for at least 15 years , instead of 15 years a registered M . M . and a subscribing member 10 years . Moreover , the amount of income

disqualifying him from becoming a candidate , or , if elected an annuitant , from retaining his full annnity , is reduced from £ 40 to £ 32 per annum . On the other hand , if an applicant has qualified as a Life Governor for live years before presenting his petition , he becomes entitled to 20 additional votes , in respect of every Life

Governorship he has purchased , at every election until he is successful , and then his right to these additional votes ceases . For the Widows' Fund the limit of age is raised from 55 years to 60 years , and the candidate ' s husband must have possessed the same qualifications as regards subscribing membership as if he had lived to offer himself as a candidate on the Male Fund . She must

have been married to her husband at least seven years instead of five years , or , if the widow of an annuitant , at least five years instead of three . The income disqualifying her from becoming a candidate , or , if an annuitant , from retaining her full annuity , is retained at £ 30 per annum . In the case of the widow of a male annuitant not otherwise

provided for , who is 55 years of age or incapacitated , and had been married to him for seven years , she may , not shall , be entitled to half her late husband ' s annuity on application , and if approved by the Committee ; and she will , if her prayer is granted , retain the half annuity for five years instead of three , while , if

her husband was a resident at Croydon , she may continue in residence , subject to the approval of the House Committee , but not otherwise . The exceptions are retained in favour of applicants

to either fund who are blind , paralysed , or otherwise disabled from earning their livelihood , but in future it will be necessary that they produce certficates from two medical men and that their cases are approved by the Committee .

To these amendments we do not consider , as we have said alread y , that any serious opposition will be raised . The qualifications , as amended , follow closely on the lines of the qualifications now existing . The Committee of Management , with a full

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

sense of their responsibility , recommend these changes for the acceptance of the general body of Governors and Subscribers . They , at all events , are the most competent j udges as to what alterations in the rules relating to candidates are necessary or desirable , and what are not . But as regards the new law , which

provides that no brother or brother ' s widow shall be eli gible as a candidate unless he , or her late husband , shall have been a Life-Governor for two years or a subscriber of one guinea per annum for five years before presenting his petition , we consider the

effect of its adoption will be to convert the Institution from a Charity to a benefit society , and a very poor benefit society into the bargain ; and we sincerely trust that the meeting to which the rules as amended will in due course be submitted for its

approval will summarily reject this most obnoxious addition to the qualifications of candidates . Such a law , if passed , will add little or nothing to the funds of the Institution , while it will absolutel y exclude a large majority of those unfortunate , yet

most deserving , brethren and widows who now offer themselves as candidates , and for whose relief in their condition of poverty and inability from age to earn a livelihood the Institution was established .

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS .

It is evident from the Audited Statements of Account as presented by the Provisional Management Committee for the half-years ended 30 th June and 31 st December , 188 9 , respectively , that under the new regime the financial arrangements of the Boys' School leave little , if anything , to be desired . The account

for the earlier half year , which opened with a balance due to bank on the ist January , 188 9 , of £ 1019 12 s . 8 d ., closed with one of £ 34 8 19 s . 9 d . due to bank , the receipts having been £ 6961 12 s . 6 d . and the expenditure £ 6390 19 s . jd . In addition , there are balances due to bank on the Sustentation Fund

Account of £ 492 us . 6 d ., and on the Special Preparatory School Building Accountof £ 276 18 s . 1 id . Theaccount forthe half yearto 31 st December , 188 9 , shows receipts amounting to £ 7 6 9 893 . iod . and expenditure £ 5142 2 s . 3 d ., the balance , being excess of income over expenditure on the 31 st December , 188 9 , amounting

to £ 255 6 7 s . 7 d . The balance-sheet appended to the latter shows assets amounting to £ 57 , 011 18 s . 7 d ., and liabilities , £ 9592 4 s . 3 d ., the balance in favour of the Institution being £ 47 , 419 14 s . 4 d . These figures are undoubtedly satisfactory , but especially when we consider the reductions which have been

made under the principal heads of expenditure in the second half year as compared with the first of , in round figures , about £ 1250 , which , if continued at the same rate for a whole year , would amount to £ 2500 , and represent a diminution of expenditure from £ 50 to £ 40 per boy . We congratulate the Provisional

Management Committee on the success thus far of the policy of economy they have pursued , and we trust the brethren generally , seeing how favourably the affairs of the School are progressing under their management , will listen to their appeals for support , both on behalf of the Swimming Bath , & c , and at the approaching Anniversary Festival .

The West Lancashire Masonic Educational Institution.

THE WEST LANCASHIRE MASONIC EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION .

West Lancashire stands out conspicuously among our Provinces by reason of the great and important services it renders locally in providing for the needs of indigent brethren and widows of brethren , and in clothing , educating , and , in some cases , maintaining the children of deceased or indigent brethren .

Its institutions established for these purposes are the Hamar , Alpass , and West Lancashire Educational , the most important of the three being the last named , which was founded in the year

1850 , and can boast of assets amounting in value to close on £ 21 , 000 . Last year , according to the Report with which we have been favoured , its income from all sources , and including a balance brought forward from the previous account of