Contents.

CONTENTS .

r 4 anrLodRe SeaVs ' of ' the ' ' Ancients' \\\\\ . ' 394 Masonic Festival in Brussels 395 provincial Grand lod ^ e of Kent ... 397 Provincial Grand Chapter of Leicestershire and Rutland 398 Consecration of the Barnato Lodge , No . 2265 39 8 Consecration of the Manchester Chapter , n <„ , Hn 400

Roval Masonic Institution for Girls 401 Roval Masonic Institution for Boys 401 Summer Outing of the Stability Lodge , No . 217 -t 01 The Annual Picnic of the Eboracum Lodge , No . 1611 4 ° i Annual Picnic of the Logic Club 401 Removal of the Townley Parker Lodge , No . 1033 , Whittle Springs 401 Testimonial Dinner to Bro . I . Conner , p P G . S . Lanark , at the Sandown Hotel 401

Presentation to Bro . W . C . Smith , P . M . 1503 401 CORRESPONDENCERoval Masonic Institution for Boys ... 403 Post Office Red Tap . —A Warning to Secretaries 403 Reviews 403 Notes and Queries 403

RETORTS OF MASONIC MEETING *—Craft Masonry , 404 Instruction 406 Royal Arch 406 Mark Masonry 407 Ancient and Accepted Rite 407 Allied Masonic Degrees 407 Esypt 4 ° 7 Obituary 407 Masonic and General Tidings 408 Lodge Meetings for Next Week iv .

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IT is gratifying to feel that we are within measurable distance ^ j JscE of the appointment of an independent Committee of Inquiry Inquiry . jnto the management of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys and that , at an early date , there is a possibility that the determined

hostility which has been exhibited towards its executive officers during the greater part of the current year will be put a stop to and the governing body be able to show it is entitled as much as ever to the confidence of the

Masonic public . It is still more gratifying to know that the proposal for the appointment ol this independent Committee of Inquiry has emanated from the House Committee itself , which has been the subject of so much virulent abuse and which has adopted this course in the belief that it will

prove the most conducive to the interests of the School . That Committee would have been fully justified in regarding its re-election to office last month by an overwhelming majority of votes as a conclusive answer to the charges so unscrupulously advanced against its administration of the School . But instead of contenting themselves with this renewal of the confidence

previously reposed in them , the members composing the House Committee have voluntarily announced their desire that a Committee of Inquiry into their conduct should be appointed , so that the whole body of English Freemasons may be as satisfied as they are themselves of the purity and

impartiality of their government . Accordingly when the General Committee holds its regular meeting to-morrow ( Saturday ) , a notice of motion for the appointment by the Quarterly General Court on the 27 th inst . of a Special Committee of Inquiry into the management of the Institution will be handed in and the election of the brethren to serve on this Committee will then rest

with the general body of Governors and Subscribers . There is , however , one suggestion it occurs to us to make , namely , that the members of the House Committee , both as individuals and collectively , should abstain from either recommending or taking part in the election of the members of this Special Committee . It is before all things imperative that the brethren who serve

on this Committee should be the elect of the Governors and Subscribers , so that their perfect impartiality may be above suspicion . It stands to reason that they must be well qualified for the task they are about to enter upon , as well as men of weight and influence , in whose judgment the whole English Craft is ready to repose entire confidence . But there is a good

deal of malignant feeling prevalent just now in sundry quarters , and the House Committee will lose much of the additional respect to which their present action entitles them , while the Governors and Subscribers will lose most of the advantages which may be expected to result from the Proposed inquiry , if the election or selection of the brethren to serve on the

Committee is not made independently of the House Committee or any ° ' 'ts members . We have no fear of the inquiry being conducted too minutel y—on the contrary , we are of the same mind in this matter as the House Committee , and most devoutly hope that every , even the smallest , detail will be made , if it should bs thought necessary or expedient , the

subject of the most rigid scrutiny . All the scrutiny in the world would Probabl y be unavailing to satisfy the malignity of the authors of the an onymous circular , but that will be a matter of indifference if the more reasonable of the critics are satisfied that the election of the Special Com-¦ ttee is an open one , and free from any intervention whatever on the part 0 ^ members of the House Committee .

* * * The ^ is not our intention to examine particularly the various items ^ pe nditure' contained in the tabular statement which appeared in our ' advertisement columns a short time since , and in which it was u ght to institute a comparison between the cost per boy in the Royal

^ asomc Institution for Boys , and the cost per child in four other Institu-0 n s , in three of which the children were of both sexes . But it is our duty to u ion our readers against allowing themselves to be influenced by a comirriD Wh ' ' sobvious 'y unjust , and , indeed , we might go further and say , the ' ' ' under tne circumstances . If , for instance , a comparison between cos ' per head per annum in any two Institutions is to possess any real

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value , the conditions under which they exist must be as nearly alike as possible . That is to say , the children should be of the same sex in both cases ; they should be as nearly as possible of the same social status in both cases ; and the cost of living should be about the same in the localities in which the Institutions are respectively situated . But the compiler of this

tabular statement has carefully ignored these conditions . The Masonic B «* Scn ° o 1 contains 258 boys , but the Commercial Travellers' Schools coe . ain 217 boys and 124 girls , or , 341 children in all ; the London Orphan Asylum , 496 children ; and the British Orphan Asylum , 118 boys and gS girls , or , 216 children in all ; and , therefore , to establish anything like

a just comparison between our Boys' School and the other three Charities , the expenditure incurred by the latter in respect of girls should have been omitted from the calculation . Or , the expenditure of our Girls ' School , including both Ordinary and Special , so far as might be necessary , should have been added to the former , and the cost per child reckoned on

a basis of 258 boys and 242 girls , or 500 children together . Had the latter of these courses been adopted , the comparison would have remained in favour of the three non-Masonic Charities , but the difference in the cost per child between them and the two Masonic Charities conjoined would not have been so conspicuous . Again , Bro . GREATBATCH , in the first footnote

appended to his statement , remarks of " the expenditure of the London Orphan Asylum" in J 888 that it " was unusually heavy in consequence of an outbreak of sickness , " and that " the average cost per head at that institution in previous seven years was £ 31 8 s . 7 d . " But as Bro . BINCKES , in his speech at the Festival , very properly oointed out , there was an

outbreak of scarlet fever in our Boys' School in the autumn of the same year . Then , as regards the item of " Rates and Taxes , " to which Bro . BINCKES also referred on the same occasion , the expenditure per child under this head at Wood Green was £ 2 is . 2 d . ; in the Commercial Travellers' Schools , i 8 s . 6 § d . ; in the London Orphan Asylum ,

10 s . iod . ; in the British Orphan Asylum , 8 s . ojd . ; but only a partial critic would hold the Executive of our Boys' School responsible for this excess of expenditure in an item over which it is impossible they can exercise any control . In a second footnote , Bro . GREATBATCH estimates " the actual cost" per boy at Wood Green at £ 50 16 s ., as against X 41 133 . iod ., which

is the average fixed by the Committee , and remarks that the said " actual cost ' 'is " exclusive of any charge for rent , although £ 94 , 650 has been expended on the establishment at Wood Green . " He very considerately says nothing about " charge for rent" in connection with the four non-Masonic Charities he has selected for the purposes of his comparison ,

neither does he tell us anything about the sums , if any , which they have expended on their respective establishments . But as he lays some stress on the ^ 94 , 650 which has been txpended at Wood Green it is only just to the management of the Institution to point out that the handsome buildings which have been erected from time to time at Wood Green and the

16 acres and upwards of valuable land in close proximity to , and easil y accessible by rail or omnibus from , the Metropolis , represent a by no means inconsiderable " value received " even for so large an outlay . Other remarks might be added in explanation of other heads of expenditureespecially as regards the three sums of " office , " " salaries , " and " wages , "

which certainly do not increase " pari passu " with an increased number of children—but what we have said already will no doubt serve the purpose we had in view in offering these criticisms , and will prevent our readers from accepting a comparison which is founded on unequal or dissimilar data , and which , in the nature of things , therefore , must be utterly misleading .

• • • The Prov Grand ^ stati ' ' d otner information which was submitted to Lodge of Berks the Prov . Grand Lodge of Berks and Bucks at its annual and Bucks . meeting , at High Wycombe , on Monday , the 25 th ult ., was

in all respects satisfactory . The Prov . Grand Secretary was able to report an increase during the past year in the membership of the province—from 794 to 834 , while the Charity Fund of Prov . Grand Lodge had been able to furnish contributions to our Charities amounting to 105 guineas (^ 110 5 s . ) Moreover , the Prov . Grand Master had occasion to congratulate the

brethren on an addition of two new lodges to the muster roll of the province , so that in lodges , in membership , and pecuniarily the past year has been one of considerable prosperity with our Berks and Bucks friends . We congratulate them on the progress they have made , and we . trust they will continue to work on as steadily and surely in the future as in the past . They

have an excellent ruler in the person of Bro . Sir DANIEL GOOCH , Bart ., who has been at the head of the province for some 20 years , and their affairs are well administered under his superintendence b y his Deputy , Bro . the Rev . J . S . BROWNRIGG , P . G . C ., Bro . C . STEPHENS . Prov . G . Treas . —

who , we regret to learn , was absent from Prov . Grand Lodge in consequence of illness—and Bro . R . BRADLEY , Prov . G . Sec . The Prov . Grand Officers , also as a body , do their duty thoroughly , so that it is not surprising , after all , that matters should have gone on so satisfactorily .