CHAPTER Vill

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE
Tue Board of Benevolence consists of a President, appointed by the Grand Master two Vice-Presidents, elected at the Grand Lodge in December, and of all the present and past Grand Officers, and all actual Masters of Lodges, and twelve Past Masters of Lodges nominated at the General Com mittee annually in November, and electea by the Grand Lodge in December, in the same manner as the elected members of the Board of General Purposes.
No Past Master is eligible to be re-elected who neglects to attend the Board of Beney- olence at six meetings.
If the actual Maste: of the year of any Lodge cannot attend, the Immediate Past Master may supply his place; should that Brother be unable to attend, any other Past Master of such Lodge may act for him; but in every case the Past Master must be a subscribing member of the Lodge.
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Board of Benevolence
The Board meets on the last Wednesday but one of every month, to administer the Fund of Benevolence. This Fund was es- tablished in 1727, and is applied to relieving Masons and their families.
Article XVIII. of the Act of Union pro- vides: The Fund, appropriate to the objects of Masonic benevolence, shall not be infringed on for any purpose, but shall be kept strictly and solely devoted to charity, and pains shall be taken to increase the same.
The Fund is at present derived partly from Interest on Investments, partly from Fees of Honour, partly from Dispensa- tion Fees, and partly from a capitation fee from each member of the private Lodges (4s. per head in London, 2s. in country), known as Quarterage.
The sum so produced is considerable, totalling £22,000 in the year 1913; and the grants made are generous, especially in any exceptionally deserving case, or in cases where the Brother in question is shown to have been active in charitable affairs when in a position to have been so.
Members who are to judge of the cases that may come before them may not be subject to canvass, or to previous applica-
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Freemasonry and its Etiquette
tion; but must have their minds free from prejudice, to decide on the merits of each case with the impartiality and purity of Masonic feeling: to which end it is declared that no Brother, being a Member of such Committee or Lodge, may vote, upon the petition of any person to whom he is in any way related, or who is a Member of any Lodge or Masonic Society, to which he himself actually belongs; but such Brother may ask leave to be heard on the merits of such petition, and must afterwards, during the discussion and voting thereon, with- draw.
No Brother can claim relief ‘as of right.’ The fund of Benevolence is not a Benefit Society.
No Mason registered under the constitu- tion of the Grand Lodge of England can receive the benefit of the Fund of Benevolence unless he has paid the full Initiation or Join- ing fee, continued a subscribing member to a contributing Lodge for at least five years, and during that period paid his quarterly dues to the Fund of Benevolence. The limitation of five years, however, does not apply to the cases of shipwreck, capture at sea, loss by fire, or blindness, or serious acci-
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Board of Benevolence
dent, fully attested and proved. Any Brother who has ceased subscribing for the immediate past twenty years is not eligible to petition the Board unless he has previously subscribed to his Lodge for fifteen years or - upwards.
A Brother who has been relieved cannot petition a second time within one year. A widow who has been relieved cannot petition again.
It is a matter of considerable thought to the Board that claims are arising in greater numbers from Masons of short standing, thus indicating that not enough care is taken to sce that Initiates are in sufficiently assured circumstances to warrant their admission to a Society of which the basis is assistance to others (see p. I5).