The Grand Treasurer.

government , we know that the Prime Minister has always , as a last resort , the power of creating peers wholesale , and he litis the further power of invoking the Royal Warrant when things appear to call for it , as for instance when purchase was abolished in the army . In days gone by , something of the same kind used to happen in the Craft , when the Grand Master ' s prerogative proved to be of such clastic dimensions , that seditious brethren were sometimes moved to ask for a

definition of its beginning and ending . The present appeal , to the whole Craft may probably result in suggestions how to make the election a more popular one . A polling booth in each province would do much to solve the problem , if it were not for the districts abroad . The most effectual and inexpensive mode of election would be to

issue voting papers to each lodge , making suitable provision against plural voting . Three thousand penny stamps would cover the postage , and the total cost , including printing , & c , would not exceed £ 50 , and we venture to think that very few candidates for the office have been able to keep their expenses

down to that ligure . If the proposed legislation takes this form , it will be necessary to limit canvassing . In fact , it is the excessive canvassing and the ill-judged manner in which it has gone on , that is largely responsible

for the feeling that change is desirable . If the lodges abroad are admitted to the practical benefit of the franchise , as they have always been theoretically , then canvassing at all will become almost impossible , otherwise than through the post . Grand Lodge has already given expression to ; m opinion on the subject of this election . Some years ago a

hospitablyinclined candidate , with the most innocent and laudable intentions in the world , provided refreshment for those of his supporters who came from a distance , but unfortunately it was impossible to keep an effectual check upon those who availed themselves of the brother ' s hospitality , and many

unauthorized persons gained admission , and the brother who raised the question in Grand Lodge referred to the "treating " that went on . Grand Lodge thereupon , whilst not adopting the censure proposed , contented itself with recording an abstract opinion that any such inducement as that described

was tin masonic . There is never tin evil that is unmixed with good , and the excessive canvassing of recent years has shown up one gratifying feature of the election . It is only Masonic merit that after all is relied upon even by the most zealous supporter to gain votes for his candidate . A competition that

takes the form of seeing who can do most for the Charities , is not lightly to be condemned , and in the terms of commendation with which candidates are proposed , whilst private and public virtues tire by no means forgotten , their attitude with regard to the Charities always ranks lirst .

At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar

At the Sign of the Perfect Ashlar

Bro . Stanley J . Attenborough , the successful candidate for the office of Grand Treasurer at the recent Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge , has long been a prominent figure in London Masonry . His position as Treasurer of the Boys' School , and also for a long period its honorary

solicitor , have brought him continually into contact , not only with metropolitan Masons , but with brethren from all parts of the country , from whom he has won that regard and respect which is always accorded to the strenuous and disinterested Craftsmen . Bro . Attenborough has a Masonic

record of 21 years behind him , and although his services had been already recognised by the M . W . Grand Master , by his appointment to Grand Officer , few will dispute the fitness of the selection by the Craft for the higher distinction .

Bro . Attenborough was initiated in the Mount Moriah Lodge , No . 34 , in January , 18 94 , afterwards joining the Lombardian Lodge , No . 2348 , of which lodge he is a Past Master . He is also a member and a Past First Principal of the Lombardian Royal Arch Chapter . In 18 97 he was honoured by the M . W . Grand Master by appointment to the rank of Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies .

• o < f ¦& But it is his splendid services in connection with the charitable institutions , and his generous contributions , both in time and money , more especially to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , which constitute his greatest claim to the gratitude of the brethren . During many years he

ungrudgingly gave up much of his professional time as honorary solicitor to the Boys' School—the duties connected therewith , it is unnecessary to state , being of a most onerous nature—from the time of the inception of the scheme for the new schools at Bushey until the completion

of that undertaking . The value of these services it is impossible to over-estimate . Bro . Attenborough is a patron of each of the three Masonic Institutions , for which he has served as Steward on no less than iifty-one occasions .

< s < © o The Grand Lodge of English Freemasons , writes the Westminster Gazette , in voting a handsome wedding gift to Princess Margaret of Connaught , the eldest daughter of its Grand Master , has contrived a double debt to pay ; for not

only is a graceful honour thus rendered to its chief , but a special recognition is made of the Royal House of Sweden , with which Masonry has in a striking degree for long been identified . King Oscar himself initiated into Freemasonry , not far from forty years ago , King Edward VII .,

then Prince of Wales , and now Protector of the Craft in this country , and since 1888 he has been a Past Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England . His Majesty is , moreover , Master of the Order or Vicar of Solomon in Sweden and Norway , while the Crown Prince—father of Princess

Margaret ' s affianced—is the National Grand Master ; and in this they follow the example of the last sovereign of the House of Holstein-Gottorp and the first of the House of Ponte Corvo or Bernadotte ; for when Charles XIII . resigned the office of Grand Master in 1 H 11 , and it was assumed by his adopted heir , afterwards Charles XIV . and

the founder of the present dynast }* , he retained the position of " Vicarius Solomonis . " And it will especially appeal to English Freemasons , who work so hard in support of their three great benevolent institutions , that , many years before any one of these was established , there had been founded in

Stockholm a Freemasons' Orphanage in 1 753 , the year in which King Adolf Fredrik , the earliest of the House of Holstein-Gottorp , took upon himself the " Chiefmastership over all Societies of Freemasons in the Kingdom , " and became the lirst Protector of the Craft in Sweden .

To no single worker is the success of the present years ' Benevolent Festival more attributable than to the Chairman of the Provincial Grand Charity Committee of East LancashireBro . C . D . Cheetham , P . G . D . For many months past

, our zealous brother has devoted till his leisure , and a great portion of his business hours , to secure the success of this festival , and to him , the result of his efforts to place the province in the position it now occupies in regard to the Masonic Charities , must be peculiarly gratifying .

Bro . Cheetham , of whose Masonic career we gave an account on his appointment to the office of Grand Deacon in 1901 , was appointed Chairman of the East Lancashire Charity Committee , in succession to the late Bro . J . H . Sillitoe . He has never missed serving as steward of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for the past eighteen

years , and has attended as such at every festival during that period . He is also a vice-president of both the Boys' and Girls' Schools , and has served five stewardships for each of these institutions .