Irish Charity.

IRISH CHARITY .

THE 107 th annual report of the Dublin Female Orphan School , just issued by the Governors of the Institution , shows that there are 104 pupils in the School , the total

expenditure on which was £ 2 , 103 , aHd the office expenditure £ 197 , thus showing that the average cost of boarding , lodging , clothing , educating , and maintaining each pupil resident in the School throughout the year was £ 20 4 s 6 d .

With respect to the educational results for 18 9 8 , of 35 pupils prepared for the intermediate examinations 29 passed , and honour marks were obtained in nearly every subject , while in the middle grade Helen Vance gained an exhibition of /" 30 , and Ellen Cullinan a £ 3 prize , retaining her junior

exhibition of £ 20 ; and in the junior grade Georgina Armstrong obtained an exhibition of £ 2 . 0 , and Millicent Ryan , Marion Vance , and Edith Coulson were awarded prizes of £ 1 each . Again , at the examination held by the Board of Religious Education of the General Sj'nod , of 71 pupils

entered 70 passed , and of these 36 were awarded prizes , and Marion Vance won the gold medal . At the Presbyterian examinations 12 pupils presented themselves , all gaining

prizes . Of the 17 prepared for the Trinity College , London , music examination all but one passed , Marion Vance obtaining honours in the senior division and Elizabeth Murphy in the junior . The health of the girls was excellent .

In the Male School there are 83 pupils , and another appeal is made to mark the Centenary of the School by contributing to the Century Fund , so that 100 pupils may be maintained .

THE Committee of the bazaar recently held in Belfast in connection with the Crumlin Road Masonic Hall entertained on the 21 st ult . the ladies who had assisted at the various stalls , and also the stewards and friends who had helped to bring the matter to a successful issue . A large party had assembled in the hall at eight o ' clock , tea being served in

the refreshment-room on the ground floor . A conversazione followed , during which an opportunity was given to the guests to inspect the building . At ten . o ' clock a short meeting was held in the large hall , presided over by Bro . R . J . Hilton , J . P ., Dep . Prov . Grand Master Antrim .

The Grand Honours having been given , the Chairman addressed the meeting . He congratulated the Brethren on the final consummation of their work in that connection . It

was most creditable that a sum of £ 2 , 200 should have been raised in such a short time . Of this sum , he understood £ 1 , 200 had been made by the bazaar alone . They were now in the enviable position of being absolutely clear of debt , and having , moreover , a substantial balance vested in their

trustees . Now that their own labours were over , he hoped they would throw themselves heartily into the several urgent schemes of charity being promoted by the general body of the Order . The Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim had guaranteed a sum of £ " 2 , 000 towards the Victoria Hospital

scheme ; two large instalments had already been paid over to the hospital authorities , and he hoped to see the Brethren of the Lodges meeting in that hall written largely amongst the

subscribers of the final instalment . Then there was also the Centenary scheme in connection with the Masonic Boys School , which was about to be enlarged . A considerable number of the children in those schools came from the North

of Ireland , and the Brethren should consider it their duty to support them in a corresponding degree . Reverting to the bazaar , the chairman commented most favourably on the measure of its success attributable to Bro . R . B . Andrews , the Honorary Secretary . Bro . Andrews was always very

energetic in his efforts on behalf of the Order , but this time he had surpassed himself . He was happy to be the medium of conveying to Bro . Andrews and his wife the splendid

presentation which his colleagues in the work had prepared for him . In conclusion , the Chairman called on Bro . D . J . Barry Secretary of the Presentation Committee , to read the address .

The presentation , which consisted of a purse of sovereigns for Bro . Andrews , and a handsome marble clock and ornaments for Mrs . Andrews , having been made , Bro . Andrews replied . Gold medals , with a suitable design and inscription were then presented to : —Bros . George Andrews ,

J . P .,- P . P . S . G . W . Chairman of Committee , j . H . Gault P . P . S . G . W . and Thomas Campbell P . M . P . Z . Vice-Chairmen , Arthur Martin P . P . S . G . D . Honorary Treasurer , R . B . Andrews P . P . G . S . B . Honorary Secretary , S . Pink and W . Minshell Honorary Architects , D . PI . Matthews Chairman

Irish Charity.

Ladies Committee . Bros . Gault and Matthews suitably responded . Votes of thanks to the ladies who assisted at the bazaar and to the Chairman brought a most interesting ceremony to a close . Dancing then commenced , and continued until an advanced hour .

The " Celebrity at Home " in the " World " this week is Mr . W . W . Bramston Beach , M . P ., the new "Father of the House of Commons , " in succession to the late Sir John Mowbray . Though the narne of Beach ( we are told ) is now quite a household word in the northern and western parts of

Hampshire , the family has not been connected with the county for many generations . Mr . Beach , who is now in his seventy-fourth year , is the son of the late Mr . William Hicks-Beach , M . P . for Malmesbury , who was himself the son of Mr . Michael Hicks-Beach , a well-known Gloucestershire

squire . He is a cousin of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer , whose family has been a leading one in Gloucestershire for a great number of years , while his wife , Mrs . Beach , was a Chichester of the Devonshire branch . But your host regards himself as essentially a Hampshire man

among Hampshire men ; and he certainly has a right to do so , considering that he has almost continuously resided , worked , and sported in the county , since leaving Oxford in the early fifties . He possesses , it is true , a second place in the south of England—namely , the old Elizabethan manor

house of Keevil , in Wiltshire ; but it is at Oakley Hall that the member for the North-West or Andover Division of Hampshire is really at home . In addition to his political activities , Mr . Beach has at one time or other served in many different capacities . He has taken his share of Hampshire

Yeomanry work ; has been—and is still—a Deputy Lieutenant for the county , as well as an Alderman on its Council ; then for twenty-one years he acted as president of the County Cricket Club , and for almost as long a period was president of the Hampshire Chamber of Agriculture , which , by the way ,

he himself established . Nor will it be forgotten that Mr . Beach has long been a prominent figure in the world of Freemasonry . A year or two ago he was deputed to take the Prince of Wales ' s place on the occasion of a great gathering of Masons in London . His career in the Craft

commenced upwards of fifty years ago , when he took up the art and mystery with zeal while yet an undergraduate . After leaving college , Mr . Beach became more and more closely identified with Freemasonry , and he was in 1861 made Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight .

Earl Egerton of Tatton Provincial Grand Master of Cheshire was , we regret to hear , taken suddenly with illness in Paris , on his homeward journey from a tour in the east . Fortunately , it was of a temporary , though at the time severe , character , and his lordship is now discharging his public duties with his accustomed energy .

From Our Exchanges.

FROM OUR EXCHANGES .

The vote on an application for affiliation in New York is taken by a show of hands , and a majority governs . 000 While a candidate was being initiated into a secret society in Chicago some time ago he was led around the

Lodge room blindfolded , and was directed to leap into an imaginary lake of liquid fire . He leaped with such force that he broke his leg , and afterwards sued the Lodge for $ 25 , 000 damages .

There is a proposition before the Grand Lodge of Switzerland for giving the Government pecuniary assistance in the maintenance of its Public Schools . It is to be hoped

that our Swiss Brethren will adopt the proposal . Intelligence and intellectual culture are the handmaids of Masonry , and they will surely be benefited thereby .

The Grand Lodge of Cuba is to meet next month in Havana , and it will , no doubt , be a memorable event to hold a communication undisturbed by the awful menace of Spanish persecution . There will be some American Masons present as visitors .