Holiday Arrangements.

privilege of returning within 16 days . On Monday , 7 th August , cheap day excursion trains to London will be run from Derby , Nottingham , Leicester , Bedford , Luton , Sfc . Albans , & o . ; a 2 and 4 days trip from Bradford , Leeds , Barnsley , Sheffield , Chesterfield , Blackburn , Bolton , Bury , Manchester , Stockport , & o . ; and a 1 , 2 , and 5 days trip from Birmingham , Walsall , Wolverhampton , & c .

Cheap daily and week-end excursion tickets are issued from St . Pancras and other Midland Stations to Southend-on-Sea , by the new and shorter route , via the Tottenham and Forest Gate Line . For holiday companions , travellers cannot do better than secure copies of the new publications which have just been issued by the Midland Railway Company , including " Country and Seaside Holidays , " 1899 ( an illustrated

guide , with list of furnished apartments in the country and by the seaside ); " Choose Aye the Middle Course , " an illustrated account of the most interesting route to Scotland ; " Pocket Guide to the Midland Bairway ; " " Pocket Diary and Guide to the Isle of Man and English Lake District " ; " The Peak of Derbyshire "; " Scotch Tourists' Programme , " & c . The books may be obtained at any Midland Station or agency .

GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY . THIS Company announce that on Friday night , 4 th August , and each alternate Friday until 29 th September ( for 4 and 10 days ) , cheap excursions will leave London [ Woolwich ( Arsenal and Dockyard ) , Greenwich ( S . E . ) , Victoria ( L . C . & D . ) , Ludgate Hill , Moorgate , Aldersgate , Farringdon ,

King ' s Cross ( G . N . ) , & c ] , for Northallerton , Darlington , Richmond , Durham , Newcastle , Alnwick , Berwick , Edinbnrgh , Glasgow , Perth , Dundee , Oban , Fort William , Aberdeen , Inverness , and other stations in Scotland . Passengers holding 4 days' tickets return on Tuesday following date of issue , and those holding ten days' tickets return on Monday week following date of

issue . Tickets at a single fare for the double journey will also be issued by above excursions to places named , available for return by one fixed train on any day within sixteen days , including days of issue and return . On Saturday , 5 th August , cheap fast excursions will also leave London

[ Woolwich ( Arsenal and Dockyard ) , Greenwich ( S . E . ) , Victoria ( L . C . & D . ) , Ludgate Hill , Moorgate , Aldersgate , Farringdon , King ' s Cross , & c ] , for the principal stations in the Lincolnshire , Nottinghamshire , Staffordshire , Lancashire , Yorkshire , and North Eastern districts , returning on 7 th and 10 th August .

Cheap excursions will also be run to Skegness , Sutton-on-Sea , and Mablethorpe , on Saturday , 5 th August , for 1 , 3 , or 4 days ; Bank Holiday , 7 th Angnst , for 1 day ; and to Skegness only on 8 th August for 1 day ; from Moorgate , Aldersgate , Farringdon , King ' s Cross , Finsbury Park , & c . .

On Bank Holiday , 7 th August , cheap day excursions will be run to St . Albans , Hertford , Wheathampstead , Harpenden , Luton , Dunstable , Hitchin , Baldock , Royston , Cambridge , Biggleswade , Sandy , Tempsford , St . Neots , Huntingdon , and Peterboro ' , from Moorgate , Aldersgate , Farringdon , King ' s Cross , ( G . N . ) , & c .

The cheap week-end tickets usually issued each Friday and Saturday will also be issued on Friday , 4 th August , and Saturday , 5 th August , returning on Sunday , 6 th August ( if train service admits ) , Monday , 7 th August , Tuesday , 8 th August , or Wednesday , 9 th August , except tickets to Skegness , Sutton-on-Sea , Mablethorpe , Woodhall Spa , Cromer , Sheringham , North Walsham , Mundesley-on-Sea , and Yarmouth , which are available for return on day of issue , or any day up to and including Wednesday , 9 th August ( if train service admits ) .

To prevent inconvenience from crowding at the Company ' s principal terminal station , King ' s Cross , tickets , dated in advance , will bo issued at King ' s Cross ( G . N . R . ) , Victoria ( L . C . & D . ) , Ludgate Hill , Moorgate , Aldersgate , Farringdon , and suburban stations , and at the Company ' s ticket offices throughout the metropolis .

GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY . rTIHIS Company announce a number of summer excursions from the JL new station at Marylebone , and no doubt they will be largely patronised by holiday seekers who desire to see for themselves the new country so recently opened up by the extension of this Company ' s system to the metropolis .

Fortnighly excursions will be run to Northallerton , Darlington , Newcastle , Berwick , Edinburgh , Glasgow , & c , for 4 , 10 , or 16 days , and like trips are also arranged to Ireland , via Liverpool , for 16 days . Every Friday and Saturday until further notice excursions will be run to Douglas ( Isle of Man ) , for 3 , 8 , 10 , 15 , or 17 days ; and every Saturday to a large number of other holiday resorts , in Lancashire , Yorkshire , & c .

Special trips are arranged for the Saturday preceding the Bank holiday , and following Saturdays , to a large number of the best known tourist centres of the north , and in many other ways the needs of the publio will be catered for by this latest addition to the great trunk lines running to and from the metropolis , with results which , in view of the ever increasing growth of holiday traffic on all our railways , must be of benefit to the tired Londoner seeking rest and change away from the great city .

Mr . Thomas Smith , the founder of " Smith ' s Advertising Agency , " has written a retrospect of his experiences , under the title "Twenty-one years in Fleet Street , " which may be regarded as a speaking testimony of the advantages of his " Successful Advertising . " Mr . Smith nofc only blows his own trumpet , bufc adds such a mass of outside testimony to his ability as to

fully justify the " nourish . " We have often looked with envious eyes on our namesake , "Fleet Printing Works , " at Sfc . Albans , the " country quarters " of this go-ahead firm , and compared the surroundings with what our forefathers had to be content with , in the " good-old times . " The workpeople , if no others , have to thank such firms as Messrs . Smith , for the altered conditions o £ labour—one of the results of their enterprise .

THE quarterly issue of the " Life-boat , " the journal of the Royal National Life-boat Institution , devotes special attention to a report of the dinner over which our Grand Master presided in May last , after having accepted the post of President of the Institution . Details are also given of some excellent services rendered by the boats , which now number 295 . Funds are much needed to maintain these , and also provide rewards for saving lives from shipwrecks on our coast , the number so dealt with last year being 756 .

Devonshire.

DEVONSHIRE .

THE annual Provincial Grand Lodge is to be held in the Drill Hall , Tiverton , on Thursday , ioth prox ., at 3 . 30 p . m . The Committee of Petitions will assemble at the Town Hall , at one p . m . The railway arrangements for both

meetings will be as usual . The luncheon , at two p . m ., will be served in the Public Schools , St . Andrew Street . Tickets to be obtained on or before the previous Saturday from Bro . J . W . A . PleassAngel Hill , Tiverton .

, There are now fifty-nine Lodges in the county of Devon , having some 3 , 900 subscribing members ; financially and numerically the Province never having been so prosperous as now . A number of reports will be read for adoption , and

the Officers for the year ensuing will be appointed and invested by the Provincial Grand Master the Hon . Sir Stafford Northcote , C . B ., M . P ., who is one of the most popular and esteemed Masonic rulers in the country .

R. M. I. Boys.

R . M . I . BOYS .

WE have much pleasure in announcing that Ewart Richardson—one of the boys retained for higher education—has passed in the first division of the London University Matriculation at the examination held recently . Richardson's success is the more creditable as he was

entered for the examination in January , but could not sit , on account of ill-health at that time , and since leaving the School has had no tuition . Six boys have now passed in the first division , and one in the second division , during the past four years .

The annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex was held on Wednesday , at Tilbury , and proved in every way a success . A full report of the proceedings will appear in our next issue .

Ad00503

SPIESPOP's STORES ( No Tickets Required ) , QUEEN VICTORIA STREET , E . G ., Opposite St . Paul ' s Station ( L . C . & D . Rly . ) . PRICE BOOK ( 1 , 000 pages ) , illustrated , free on application . FREE DELIVERY IN SUBURBS by our ovOn Vans . Liberal terms for Country Orders . FOR FUnLI * DETAILS SEE PRICE BOOK .