The Board Of Benevolence.

THE BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 12 , 1 SG 3 .

Amongst the most important of the various questions brought under the consideration of Grand Lodge last week , we regard none to Tie more so than the motion of Bro . Stebbing , for tbe appointment of a Committee to consider the constitution of the Board of Benevolence ; with the view , if possible , of improving the method through which relief is distributed to our necessitous brethren or their widows .

The present law as to the constitution of the Board would appear to be formed so as to secure a full representation of the Craft ; but , practically , it fails to do so . It is comprised of all Past ancl Present G-rand Officers , the actual Master of every lodge , and twelve Past Masters electedby GrandLodge . Now

this is wide enough , and ivould seem to ensure a fair tribunal ; but we unhesitatingly assert that it has failed , —not one Master in ten , even of the London lodges , attends— -unless , indeed , he . has some special case to look after . The Grand Officers , as a rule ,

both past and present , are indifferent to the duties , and the result is that the Board , formed on apparently so wide a basis , has practically sunk into a clique of three or four Past Grand Officers , who always attend

and always vote together ; and some half dozen , or more , Past Masters who play the game of follow my leader ; whilst the few actual Masters present feel that they are mere cyphers , it being at once known what will be the result of a petition , according as A . B . or C . D . rises to support or oppose it ; though

we are far from wishing it to be supposed that we believe these brethren act otherwise than according to the best of their judgment . As we have before alluded to the subject , we think we cannot do better than quote from our former articles in elucidation of

our opinions on the reforms necessary . In speaking of a motion of Bro . Binckes which , — by-the-bye , was lost—for extending the powers ofthe Board in giving relief , we , on December 1 st , 18 G 0 , said .-

—What is really wanted is not so much the enlargement of the powers of the Board , as the establishment of some new system of IMMEDIATE relief ; what is now so-called being relief delayed a month , and which then comes when it is often no relief at all . The Board , we believe , on the whole discharges its functions

well , but it meets but once a month , whilst cases are constantly occurring where an immediate two or three pounds would be of far more use than five or ten a month hence—where , indeed , even a few shillings would bean essential relief . ¦ But there is no authorised body to whom to land hence the

appy , distressed Mason is left without that relief we have sworn to afford him , or he has to appeal as a mendicant to _ private lodges and individual brethren for that relief which ought to be afforded him from the

general 'funds—the present system only leading to imposition , and the consequent detriment of the really poor and deserving brother . At the time when the rules of the Board , of Benevolence were framed , the means of communication with the different parts of country were slow and costly , and but comparatively

few ever travelled more than a few miles from their regular domiciles . Not so now ; messages and even letters are despatched and replied to with almost "lightning speed , and the ready means of locomotion at command have made almost every man a traveller , and the worldinstead of his native village or town

, , has become the workshop of the handicraftsman . The result of this is , that a man is often overtaken with sickness and distress when far away from friends and home . At such a moment , if in London , or even within the reach of it by letter , the distressed Mason naturally turns to tiie Board of Benevolence for

relief , to receive for answer that it will meet that daythree or four weeks , when , perhaps , he may have passed to that bourne from whence no traveller returns , or , having more happily found other and better friends to assist him—if even it be only the workhouse—has beenenabled to go rejoicing on his

, way ,-to regain that independent livelihood which the hand of the Almighty had for the time deprived him of the means of doing , and to feel that , though there is much that is good in the manner of distributing Masonic Charity , there is much that requires amendment and improvement .

" Indeed , such is the hardship of the present system , that we have ourselves been in the Grand Secretary's office at times when pressing applications have been made for a little relief—enough for a breakfast .

and to help a weary traveller on his way to join his friends—and there has been no means of bestowing it excepting from the pockets of the gentlemen employed in the office , ancl who are too good Masons to allow the applicant to go away empty-handed . But this is a tax upon the resources of the clerks ivhich

they should neither be expected or called upon to bear ; and now that a Committee of the Board of General Purposes has been appointed ( at least , so rumour informs us ) to consider the appointment of an additional clerk in the Grand Secretary's office , we trust they will also consider whether it may not be

well to entrust the Grand Secretary , or his assistant , ivith discretionary powers to afford temporary assistance to applicants up to a limited amount ; remembering that one pound promptly given is often worth three times that amount at a distance . Or , what would be better , would be the appointment of a

Grand Almoner , who should attend at the office ono or two hours every day , and be entrusted with the power of immediately relieving urgent cases , and of assisting others , until their claims for more substantial relief can be regularly brought before the Boardof coursesubmitting monthly a statement to the

, Board of the various cases relieved , and his grounds for affording it . Such an appointment would necessarily involve some expense , but it would be money well applied , and would go far to relieve Masonry from impostors , who make a living by appealing to brethren for aid on the lea that the Board of

Benep volence will not meet for three weeks or a month , well knowing that to that Board they dare not appeal , as to do so would only be to expose their real character and unworthiness . "