Contents.

CONTENTS .

PAGE

LEADERThe Approaching Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girli ... 115 The Grand Lodge of Tennessee ... ... •¦••••nfi United Grand Lodge ( Quarterly Communication ) ... ... ... nf >

Consecration of the Christ's Hospital Lodge , No . 2 C 50 ... ... ... lib Annual Festival of the Emulation Lodgeof Improvement ... ... ... 119 Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons ( Quarterly Communication ) ... ... 121 Annual Supper of the Citadel Lodge of Instruction , No . 1 S 95 ... ... 121 The Recent Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... ... 121 Secret Monitor ... ... ... ... ... ... 121

MASONIC NOTESQuarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge ... ... ... 123 Quarterly Communication of Grand Mark Lodge ... ... ... 123 Death of Mrs . Edward Terry ... ... ... ... ... 123 Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge of Victoria ... ... 123

Correspondence . . ... ... ... ... ... 124 Masonic Notes and Queries ... ... ,.. ... ... 124 Reviews _ ... ... ... ... ... ... •••12 4 Ladies'Night of the Gallery Lodge , No . 192 S ... ... ... ... 124 A Ball of the St . John ' s Lodge , No . 1343 ... ... ... ... i 2 ( i

Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 126 Royal Arch ... ... _ ... ... ... ... ... 12 S Consecration of New Masonic Chambers at Glasgow ... ... ... 129 Rosicrucian Srciety ... ... ... ... ... ... 129 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 130

The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

The Festivals of our three Institutions follow each other in , comparatively speaking , such rapid succession that now that ofthe Benevolent Institution has heen held , ancl verv successfully held , under thc presidency of his Royal Highness the Duke of

CONNAUGHT and STRATIIEARN , there is no time to be lost in presenting to our readers the claims which the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls has upon the generous support of the whole English Craft . It has been arranged that its 109 th Anniversary

shall be celebrated 011 Wednesday , the 12 th May , and R . W . Bro . Lord LLANGATTOCK , Prov . G . Master of South Wales ( Eastern Division ) , has very kindl y undertaken to preside as Chairman . We understand lhat Bro . F . R . W . HEDGES , tlie respected

Secretary of tlie Institution , has every reason to bc satisfied with thc success , which , up till now has attended his efforts to form an efficient Board of Stewards for the occasion ; but the satisfaction we feel at beinsr able to make this

announcement must not be understood to imply that litis success has been above the average he has met with during the last four or five years , or that it will justify any relaxation on his part in thc efforts it devolves upon him to make

in obtaining thc services of additional brethren as Stewards . In ordinary years the competition among the Secretaries of our Charities in order to obtain the requisite assistance has become so keen that it is not until the total of the Donations and

Subsenptions has been announced at thc very Festival itself that anything like relaxation in this direction is permissible . Moreover , the work which is being done by our several Charities has been so greatly extended

of late years , there are now so many more old men and widows receiving annuities from our Benevolent Institution and so many more children being educated in our Schools than there were some 20 or 25 years since , that it has become a terribly

hard struggle on the part of each of the three Charities to obtain the necessary amount of funds to maintain them in a state of efficiency . There is also this further difficulty that in the case of

none of them is thc permanent income sufficient for thc year ' s requirements . Thus , the Girls' School now has on its establishment some 270 girls , and its annual expenditure falls very little short of £ 14 , 000 . But the permanent income derived from the

The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

very modest grants bv Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter and the interest' on invested capital amounts onl y lo about £ 2000 . There is consequently a deficiency of between £ 11 , 0110 and / , 12 , 000 , which must be made yond annually or one of two

alternative results must follow—either the number of girls on the establishment must be reduced , or an inroad made upon the small amount of invested capital . Now we do not for one moment think that the Craft desires that recourse should

be had to either of these alternatives and as it is upon the proceeds of the Annual Festival lhat ihe authorities of the Institution have to rely year by year for the supply of the necessary ways and means , we sincerely trust between

now and the second Wednesday in May Bro . HEDGES will succeed in constituting a Board of Stewards sufficiently numerous and influential to place beyond all doubt the success of the approaching Festival . Our lodges and brethren must

bear in mind that it is at the instigation of the Craft generally that the School has been so greatly enlarged , and the present heavy annual expenditure made imperative . Some five and

twenty years ago , the School supported only roo girls , now it is well on its way towards supporting thrice that number . Moreover , the education and training , which the children now receive

is vastly superior to what it was then , and what tells still more strongly in favour of our appeal , the success of that education and training is more pronounced . It is but the other day that we had the pleasure of announcing that out of ig girls who were

entered lor tlie Cambridge Local Examinations ( Preliminary Stage ) one passed with honours and 17 satisfied the examiners , while last year and for several years previous , the results in the same or more important public examinations have been equally

or even more creditable still . Hence as it is b y the will of the Craft generally lhat the School has been so considerabl y enlarged , and as it is clear that the children who are elected upon the establishment are thus admirably trained and educated , it is the

manifest duty of the lodges and brethren to see that the efficiency of this magnificent School suffers no detriment from any relaxation of effort on their part to provide the ways and means for maintaining it . We , therefore , most earnestly appeal to

all lodges and brethren under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England to render such assistance as may be in their power towards raising the £ 11 , 000 or , £ 1 : 2 , 000 required towards the expenditure of the present year . We have every confidence that the Chairman and his Board of Stewards will do

their part towards ensuring a success , but , as the Duke of CONNAUGHT very properly pointed out in one of his speeches when presiding last week at our Benevolent Festival , there are just now many Funds being raised for different purposes in

connection with the approaching celebration of the QUEEN'S Diamond Jubilee , and in proportion as the number of applications is enlarged , so will the difficult )* of obtaining donations and subscriptions be increased . Still , in this year , above all

others , when her Gracious Majesty , who is Grand Patroness of our Girls' School , completes the 60 th year of her glorious reign , and every Society and Institution is bent on commemorating an event which is unique in the annals of this country , we English

Freemasons must not be behindhand in _ evincing our loyalty to her whose reign has been one long continuance of progress and prosperity throughout the whole of her vast empire , and whose

family has been so closely associated wilh our Order during 160 years out of the 1 S 0 years our Grand Lodge has been in existence .