Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 3 Rt Installation of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales as W . M . of the Alpha Loch-e 3 S 2 Royal Alasonic Institution for Boys 3 S 2 Consecration of the Beacon Court l-nihre , No . 10 ( 17 , nt N" ™* Brompton 3 S : Freemasonry in Australia 3 S 3 CoRKESI-ONnEXCEKlection Voting 3 S . < Masonic Insurance 385 . Arch Names 3 S 3 Ancient anil Accepted Scottish Rite-Supreme Council of New Zealand 3 ^? Blackhalling Candidates 5 S 3 l ' nrc Water in Hotels 3 S 5 A Correction 3811

I Reviews 3 R 6 I Masonic Notes and Queries 3 S 6 Kspecial Provincial Grand I . ode ; e of ; Cheshire 3 S 6 j Scotaml 387 j REI' - 'R TS OI- MASONIC MKETIN-OSI Craft Masonry 3 SS j Instruction 38 ( 1 I Royal Arch 390 ! Mark Masonry- 31 J 0 Red Cross of ' Const .-inline -, tio i The Theatres 301 ' Music 3 or ' . Science anil Art 301 j Masonic nnd Cleneral Tidinj-s 30-! I . odge Meclinejs for Next Week 31 . 13

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His ROYAL HIGHNESS tlio GRAND MASTER has , ns will be seen by our report , been installed VV . M . of the Alpha Lodge . The meeting , which took p lace on Monday last , was composed of some of the most distinguished members of our Order , and passed off with great " eclat . " His ROYAL HIGHNESS presided over the banquet .

• * * WE propose now to give our readers a short and succcinct account of the Stewards list at the last Boys' Festival , feeling certain that few will care to read , or trouble themselves to wade through a lengthy account of a thrice told tale . Still , as good Masonic work always deserves to be carefully

recorded and gratefully remembered , we think it well , following previous precedents , to mention thc names of those who have distinguished themselves by their returns nnd exertions in the last Boys' School Festival . Thc whole amount of thc Stewards return , as previously stated , was ^ , " , 693 . 145 . id ., of which - £ 5722 iSs . was sent by London , £ 5970 from the provinces , & : c . Thc

hig hest of the London lists was that of No . 1728 , Temple Bar Lodge , Bvo . T , W . C . BUSH , S ., viz ., £ 291 7 s . * which is followed by the Earl of Carnarvon Lodge , No . 1642 , Bro . S . S MOUT , £ 261 9 s ., and which is succeeded by Montague Guest Lodge , No . 1900 ( quite a new lodge ) , G . P . FESTA , / 17713 s . 1 id ., a very good amount . Creaton Lodge , No . 1791 , J

WILLIAMS , with £ 164 , now comes forward smilingly , to be pressed upon by the Metropolitan Lodge , No . 1507 , Bro . W . M . STILES , and which has just behindit Kilburn . Lodge , No . 160 S , Bro . F . BREWER , £ 142 16 s . The London Rifle Brigade Lodge , No . 19 62 , Bro . NEVILLE GREEN here comes tothe rescue with £ 130 12 s . fid ., and is followed by thc following worthy lodges and

Brethren-Stewards in quick and close succession . Aldersgate Lodge , No . 1657 , Bro . A . B ROOKMAN , £ 115 ios . ; Islington Lodge , No . 1471 , Bro . D . P . HOLMES , ^ 112 7 s . ; Felicity Lodge , No . 5 8 , Bro . W . J . CRUMP , £ 110 5 s ; Royal Athelstan Lodge , No . 19 , Bro . E . B . GRABHAM , £ 105 16 s . ; Duke of Edinburgh Lodge , No . 1259 , Bro . E . J , £ 105 ; Friends 8

in Council Lodge , No . 1383 , Bro . K . R . MURCHISON , ^ 103 s . ; H . S . G OODALL ( Committee Dinner Club R . M . B . I . ) , £ 102 iSs . And though many lodges and Stewards unattached have done well , yet we think that it is but fair to all alike to point out those who have done " exceedingly well . " The mere amount of the returns is not , we

admit , a perfect criterion or altogether safe test of work done , of success achieved ; but it is both plain and practical , easily understood and realized by our readers , Wc note that from 1800 eight lodges only have sent Stewards ; from 1500 to 1800 , twenty ; from 300 to 1-500 , twenty-two ; and from 1 to 300 , forty-six . " Verbum sat sapient !!"

In the provinces the returns amount to £ 5970 iCs ., or £ 200 in excess of the metropolis , and which , considering that the London lodges only amount to about 300 speaks volumes for the zeal and energy of our good metropolitan brethren ; though , indeed , the whole return is alike creditable to town and country . We wish all provinces would tottle up their retums . imitating the " good

form " of our old friends of West V orkshire , always practical and energetic , and save a poor , weary scribe the painful , if necessary , duty of adding up long rows of interminable figures . West Yorkshire leads the van , in its usual gallant style , with - £ 603 15 s . ; and is followed by Middlesex , at some little distance with £ 450 6 s . 6 d . South Wales appears most creditably with

£ 373 6 s . 66 ., nearly " bumped " by West Lancashire , with ^ 367 13 s ., while Staffordshire is not far off vvith £ 348 2 s . 6 d . We note now a set of returns all , as it were , close together , viz ., Durham , with £ 288 15 s . ; East Lancashire , with £ 263 ios . ; Essex , with £ 25 1 is . ; Kent , with £ 248 iCs . ; Gloucestershire , with £ 247 16 s . ; and Devon , with £ 24 1 10 s .

Another division succeeds , over whom , to use a Newmarket simile , you might throw a handkerchief , to wit , Herts with £ 190 9 s . Cd . ; Hants with £ 188 7 s . 6 d . ; Warwickshire with £ ' 75 15 s . ; Sussex with £ 179 us . ; Berks and Bucks with £ 176 18 s . ; Derbyshire with £ 176 14 s . ; Worcestershire with £ i 6 g is . ; and last , not least , Wiltshire with £ 161 14 s A small neat trio complete the three-figured returns , namely , Somersetshire

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with £ 118 13 s . ; Suffolk with £ 110 ; and N . and E . Yorkshire with £ 103 2 s . From No . 1500 downwards there are twenty-one contributory lodges ; from No . 300 to 1500 there arc seventy-three . ; and from I 10300 nineteen . We must again impress on our youngest lodges the imperative duty which lies upon them of faithfully and manfully bearing a due portion of thc " burden and heat of thc day . "

Exr . Lisii 1 ' reemasonry may be very much asleep , as some foreign critics have I hastily said ; but what we wish to ask such rash objectors , where else are the i genuine principles so cheerfully and generously upheld V And we ask this I question in no spirit of swagger 01 * self-laudation , no boasting of merely charitable efforts or financial results . Far be from us any such unworth y

teelmgs , any such unmasonic sentiments . But if Freemasonry is to be known , seen ancl valued by its " prints , " what other better results can be shown than those of English Freemasonry at this hour . Freemasonry , is certainly not to be commene ' ed when it throws itself into the noisy arena * of political parties or sectarian conventions . Freemasonry's use and food

would be gone if it were for one moment to be supposed that it condescended to pay attention to thc pettier interests of municipal or general struggles , the wire pulling , the caucuses , the lower aspirations of partizan claims , or sectional differences . To discuss affairs of slate like a debating club , to exhaust social questions , to encourage wild themes , or patronize individual idiosyncraof its

sies , would soon deprive Freemason ^ ' prestige , and lower it for ever in the good opinion of the world . And therefore we in England especially . though thc same may be predicated happily of all Anglo Saxon Freemasonry , keep to Freemasonry ' s grand design of being happy and promoting happiness , and in reverence to God , loyalty to our rulers , and charity to all men , and especially

those of our excellent brotherhood , we seek to evince that for us Benevolence in its most sense is both of profession and of practice . Wc all then can 1 00 k with pride on the returns , for instance .

for our Charities , and feel assured that the most distinguished brethren amongst us are never better employed , and the unextinguishable zeal of the Craft never more truly displayed , than in offering hearty , sympathetic , and liberal aid to our great Metropolitan Charities .

* * IN the recent "Monde Maconnique" appears a very able and interesting article by Bro . A . GRI M AUX , which deserves to be read by all who are interested in what concerns Freemasonry in France . There has been for some time a movement , mainly set on foot by that peculiar body , the " G . Loge

Symbolique , as it terms itself , to reduce all French Freemasonry into two great systems , —one of Craft , or Symbolic Masonr }* , under the G . Orient , one of the higher grades , from Fourth to Thirty-third Degrees , under the Supreme Conseil of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite . In the abstract we should greatly favour an } ' such proposal , as such a system works well with

Anglo-Saxon Masonry , but , practically , we doubt the possibility of its achievement in the present position of French Freemasonry . The new departure of the G . Orient , deplored as it is by all Anglo-Saxon Freemasons , would prevent the lodges under the Ancient and Accepted Rite giving up their independence of thought and liberty of conscience ; for under the new

regime of the G . Orient , unfortunately , nothing is proscribed but the consciences of believers . Mournful , most mournful paradox ! Under the Rite Ecossais the sacred name of T . G . A . O . T . U . is still acknowledged and invoked , whereas , through a mournful departure from the great universal landmarks of Freemasonry , the G . Orient of France has removed from

its official and authentic declarations any recognition of the Most High . But , as Bro . GRIMAUX well puts it , the inordinate pretensions of the twenty lodges of the so-called Grand Lodge Symbolique must hinder any Masonic concordat , the more so in the Ancient and Accepted Rite and the Rite of Mizraim destined to take any part in the proceedings . It seems

that the representatives of these twenty lodges have made propositions which arc to bind the 276 lodges of the Grand Orient , with , we agree heartily with Bro . GRIMAUX , little cosideration for the Grand Orient itself , and proposing changes as a " sine qua non , without even consulting the Grand Orient ; which , to say the truth , is alike unmasonic and absurd .

Wc , ourselves , never could understand why , on its own principles , the Grand Orient recognised this offshoot or swarm from the Rite Ecossais . We can * quite iindeistand the Grand Orient recognizing even a small body

of pure Craft lodges , but here were certain bodies of certain grades , in a system of 33 ° , having no independent right of action , no status of homogeneity , claiming the right to form themselves into a Craft G . lodge . no previous precedent of the kind ever having been heard of . But so it was j