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Benevolence . The sums thus collected arc very large , averaging annually in the aggregate , about £ 25 , 000 . The questions , whether most is made of them , — whether they are so systematically and fairly distributed as to be most conducive to the objects of the donors and the benefit of the recipients , —may briefly be answered thus : What remains for distribution is what

remains after paying expenses , and these expenses amount to a very large per-centage . AVe could name several other societies that equally waste the funds thus entrusted to them by the ^ public for relief of suffering humanity : one society , with an annual income of £ 3 , 000 , spends £ 1 , 650 on salaries , allowances to officers , & c . ; another spends £ 4000 on salariesand not quite so much

, on the objects for whose relief the institution was founded . But these we should think are extreme cases , and the fact that funds contributed for specific purposes are thus permitted to be diverted from their true objects may bo explained by that other fact , that the contributors are the general public , who , when once they have paid their money , dismiss the matter from their minds as one in

which they have no further concern , nor in reality any means of ascertaining the fate of their contributions . But it is different with the Masonic body , who , forming a brotherhood closely united by common aims , common interests , and common sympathies , and possessing the power of appointing their own officers , and controlling the expenditure of the funds supplied by themselves for

the benefit of their younger or decayed brethren—with such a body this waste of charitable funds ought never to be possible , nor submitted to for a day . But as in the world everybody ' s business is nobody's business , so in the Masonic brotherhood , which is a world in itself , the same rule seems to obtain : hence the abuses we complain of . AVe are all well aware that no institution can efficiently be worked without expenditure , but when a large per-centage of the funds that ought to be spent on

the education of our children , tho relief ofthe distressed , and the support of our decayed aged members , is absorbed by secretaries , collectors , clerks , tavern-dinners , rosettes , and other childish tinsel , gratis tickets for banquets , stationery , printing , & c , we have a right to complain of mismanagement , and to call on the Masonic body to support our demand for immediate and thorough re

forms . Many of the existing committees , in fact , are self-appointed and scarcely controlled , and seem to look upon the management of the funds of the Order , and the emoluments and patronage arising therefrom , as vested rights , and , by the apathy of tho brethren , arc able to keep out any man not belonging to their set , or disposed to disturb " the harmony of tho meeting" buntoward

y questions ; indeed , they would consider a mere opinion hazarded by an outsider as an im pertinent intrusion . Sach committees ought to bo superseded by mon more deeply impressed with the importance , nay the sanctity , of the duties they undertake ; zealous , discreet , and faithful in the discharge of them , men with large hearts , clear heads , and filled with a noble ambition that the

Order , as it is first in moral and intellectual status among human institutions , should also be first as far as its secular government in furthering education and affording relief is concerned . That tribe of people who seem to make a living out of the sympathies of society , or airyclass thereof , for the poor , should have no representatives in the Masonic brotherhood ; nor should it , from

want of proper supervision , bo possible for auditors to make things pleasant , and gloss over the amounts squandered in such manner , and which would go far to assist those who really want aid . These are sweeping charges , and no doubt will attract the attention of those who have the management of our charities . That abuses exist in many—nay , in most Charitable institutions—is indeed too true , but we had hoped that those connected with , and sup-

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ported by the Masonic body were in a great measure free from them , aud that the money reall y reaches those whom it is intended to benefit . An answer to these strictures will , no doubt , be made on behalf of the three charities ; indeed , of one we may almost say that a complete refutation has alread

y been given in the fact that the Committee of tlie Boy ' s School have published a detailed account * of the income and expenditure of that institution , showing , under the items of salaries , provisions , clothing , coals , gas , and water , stationery , rates and taxes , incidental expenses , furniture , linen , earthenware , and lass

g , anil general and office expenses . More than this cannot be required , ancl we believe the account will compare favourably with any other institution in the country . Although the item of office and general expenses seems rather a heavyone , amounting to one-fifth of the total expenditure , £ lis

or S . lOJ-d . per boy , doubtless the large amount of subscriptions annually received would not be obtained without the judicious outlay of this apparentl y large sum . We hare every confidence that the committees of each institution will take up the gauntlet , ancl at once honourably clear themselves of the imputations east upon them .

Address Of M.W. Grand Master Pratt To The Grand Lodge Of California.

ADDRESS OF M . W . GRAND MASTER PRATT TO THE GRAND LODGE OF CALIFORNIA .

Brethren of the Grand Lodge of California : —How the I years touch us , and spring into eternity ? As yesterday we parted , and to-day another mile-stone marks our progress toward the silent city of our common destination . Twelvemonths more , fleeting , vanishing , like the morning clew-drops glistening for a moment to exhale and perish , have come , lingered , and passed away for ever .

To some they have been crowned with the blessings over which memory will ever linger with unabated joy ; to others they have been , Oh ! how sad , how weary , how desolate and oppressive . To me , indeed , they have been filled with the bitterness which the heart can never taste in all its withering pangs but once . It has been the fateful period in which the Supreme Grand Master has

seen fit to demand the sacrifice which dwarfs and overshadows all other afflictions—when the angel of death could not ho induced to pass over the happy household , until the jewel had been plucked from the crown , and the fires quenched for ever on the altars . Into these brief months have been poured and shaken down , until the measure has filled and overfiWn , tho sorrows for which there is

consoling reflection save in the sublime lessons taught so well within this temple—in the sad remembrance that , though the allotted years of life bo multiplied by themselves a thousand times , no such agony can come again , and in the assurance of the sympathy and condolence of you , my brethren in Freemasonry . But while they have been months of weariness and pain to me , to you I hope and trust

they have boon filled with gladness and all earthly joys ; and that each iu his appropriate sphere has shared the general prosperity of this young aud vigorous commonwealth . Turning from our individual aud isolated experience to balance the general good and evil , we find indeed abundant reasons to give thanks to Him who has already given so much to us . The zealous earth has yielded