Freemasonry In 1897.

organisation which was inaugurated in i 8 y 6 . The abolition of Convent General has greatly simplified matters , and the Great Priories which held under it have in the main fared prosperously . On the Sth April a special meeting of the Great Prion *

of England was held at Mark Masons' Hall , Great Queen-street , under the presidency of the Earl of Euston , G . Master , when deputations from the Great Priory of Ireland and the Chaptei General of Scotland were received with a most cordial welcome

the knights composing the former being Sir Charles A . Cameron , G . C . T ., Great Chancellor ; A . V . Davoren , G . C . T ., Great Constable ; J . Creed Meredith ; Colonel T . C . McCammon , Great Treasurer ; and R . N . Walker , Great Vice-Chancellor ; while the Scottish delegates were the Earl of Kintore , G . C . T ., Great

Senesciial ; Sir James Buchanan , K . C . T . ; Lindsay Mackcrsey , G . C . T ., Treasurer and Registrar ; G . M . Allan , Lord Saltoun , Grand Prior ; and Robert Inches . A most fraternal greeting was extended to the visitors by the Earl of liuston on behalf of

Great Priory , and after li . Knights the Hon . Alan de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., and Col . Harvey Byrde had been introduced and done homage as Provincial Priors respectively , of Cheshire and and Ceylon , and li . Knights the Hon . A . de Tatton Iigerton and the Earl of Onslow had been invested , the former with the

insignia of his new ollice , and the latter with those of Provincial Prior of Kent and Surrey , a candidate was installed as Knight Templar for the edification ol the visitors , and Great Priory was closed , a Special Priory of the Order of Malta being subsequently opened , and a number of Knights Templar admitted to

the Order . The delegates were afterwards entertained at a grand banquet by the English Templars . At the half-yearl y meeting of Great Priory , on the 14 th May , the minutes of the annual conference which had been held by the representatives of the Templars of England , Ireland , and Scotland , on the 7 II 1

April , were read , and the resolutions which it had seen lit to recommend on the subject of corresponding rank and other matters were adopted . An address of congratulation to the Queen on the completion of the Goth year of her reign was adopted by acclamation , and Ii . Knights the liarl of Yarborough

and Maj . G . C . Davie having been introduced and invested with their insignia as K . C . T ., and the officers forthe ensuing vear appointed , the proceedings closed , with the usual banquet . There have likewise been the usual meetingsof Provincial Priories , and all things considered , we think the Order has fully maintained

ils position , if , indeed , it has not materially strengthened it . Wc regret we cannot say the same of the Order of Rome and the Red Cross of Constantine . The Premier Conclave appears to have done its work admirably , and the Grand Imperial Council presides over the affairs of the Order , but that is about all we

feel justified in saying of the Order . The Royal and Select Masters , and the Allied Degrees likewise exist , but the evidences of a flourishing existence do not present themselves frequently , aad we judge of them rather by what we read in calendars than by the records of their doings which come under our notice .

The Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite has fully maintained its position . Its popularity is as deservedl y great as ever and it is not therefore surprising that it should continue to be one of the strongest and most influential and at the same time , one of the wealthiest , Masonic organisations in

the country The Royal Order of Scotland remains in aboul the same position as last year . The Metropolitan and Yorkshire Colleges of the Rosicrucian Society still meet ^ and discuss the more abstruse questions which find favour with ils members , and

the Order of the Secret Monitor , under the liarl of Warwick , as Supreme Grand Ruler , flourishes , though we do not gather that it is any nearer a settlement of its little differences with the Grand Council of thc Allied Degrees than it was 12 months since .

OUR INSTITUTIONS . We now pass on to a consideration ol what has happened in connection with our central Masonic Institutions . Thus we

nave certainly no reason to complain ol any shortcomings on the part of the Craft either as regards the contributions they have raised towards ( heir maintenance and support or in the interest which has been exhibited in their work . It is true that the

aggregate of the Returns al the Festivals held in their behalf during the year has been substantially less than it was in 18 9 6 , the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution having obtained subscriptions and donations amounting lo £ 19 , 083 ; the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls to / , 16 , 02 b ; and the Royal

Masonic Institution for Boys to £ 15 , 031 ; giving a total of £ 50 , 141 . 1 , as compared with a total for l . Sjb ranging from £ 54 , 000 to £ 54 , 500 . But for this diminution there was ample

compensation in the grants of £ 2000 made by ( irand Lodge to each Institution , and the £ 1166 which each received as its allotted portion of ( he sum paid lor admission to the memorable Diamond Jubilee meeting in the Roval Albert Hall

on the 14 th June . ' 1 hese gilts amount to over £ 9500 and raise the total of the aggregate distributed among the three Charities to not far short of £ 60 , 000 . Thus , their receipts from this the most important source of income on which they have to rely has been in all respects satisfactory , while as regards the beneficent

work they have done during the year there has never been , not never could be , the slightest question . This , how ever , will be more apparent from the particulars wc are able to furnish in respect of each Institution , taking them , as usual , in thc order in which their respective Festivals were held .

The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution celebrated its anniversary at the Freemasons' Tavern , un Wednesday , the 24 th February , under the presidency of I I . R . I I . thc Duke ol Connaught , K . G ., Past G . Mast er , Prov . G . Master of Sussex , and District G . Master of Bombay , and when in the course ol

the evening , thc duty ol announcing the Returns devolved on the Secretary , that brother had the pleasure of declaring that the total contributed reached £ 18 , 197 which was subsequently augmented by the receipt of outstanding lists and donations , & c , to £ 19 , 083 . 'towards this handsome total London ,

by the medium of 198 Stewards , gave £ 10 , 405 , thc highest individual Stewards' lists being those of Bro . John R . Roberts , Fellowship Lodge , No . 2535 , for £ 259 ; Mro . Charles Spencer , of St . John ' s Lodge , No . 130 b . for £ 215 ; and of Mro . James Terry himself , unattached , for £ 187 . The Provinces , of

which 35 were represented by 234 Stewards contributed £ 8 ( 107 towards which Sussex , as the Chairman ' s Province , gave £ 1263 , 1 lertfordshire £ 857 , West Yorkshire £ 009 , Worcestershire £ 504 , Iiasl Lancashire £ 4 64 , Berkshire £ 455 , Essex £ 415 , Middlesex £ 352 , Suffolk £ 325 , and Cambridgeshire £ . 302 . It was a grand

result worthy of his Royal Highness the Chairman , of the Institution , and especially of tbe auspicious vear in which the Festival was held , and most cordial were the thanks which the Committee of Management returned lo the Royal Chairman , and the Board of 432 Stewards which had so energetically and so

successfully supported his Royal Highness . At the annual meeting of the Governors and Subscribers , which was held on the 21 st May , the Report of the Committee embod y ing their thanks was accepted with acclamation ; but no increase in the number of annuitants was made on either Fund , and only the

vacancies whicli had occurred up to that day were filled up , the numbers remaining as at the previous annual meeting , that is to say , at 200 annuitants on the Male Fund , and 242 on the Widows ' F ' und , there being at the same lime 28 widows of more or less recently deceased male annuitants in receipt of half of their late

husbands annuities . I he Committee—in our opinion verv wisely—considered lhat the raising of £ 15 , 744 for annuities , and £ 560 for the half annuities , or together £ 16 , 204 nas a sufficientl y heavy responsibility for the Institution to bear , but they were b y no means oblivious ol the generous support which they had

received at the Festival , or of the national rejoicing over the Queen ' s Diamond Jubilee , and by way of celebrating ( he latter event they presented each of the unsuccessful candidates with £ 5 as a solatium for their unsuccess ; the numbers elected being in the case of the Male Fund 2 *—inclusive of the three deferred

annuitants—from a list ol 65 candidates , and in that of the Widows' Fund , and also inclusive of the three deferred annuitants , JI from a list of 52 candidates . There thus remained 42 men and 31 widows , and to 39 of the former and 28 ' of the latter , this most acceptable gift of the Committee was presented

a lew days after the meeting , the remaining three candidates for each Fund having apportioned amongst them the interest on the " Hervey Memorial Fund , " anil the annua ! grant by the Simulation Lodge of Improvement . There is but one other matter of importance to record , the alteration in the law defining the

qualifications of widows which had been amended a few years previously , and was held to be ( 00 stringent in requiring that ( he husbands should have been subscribing members to a lodge or lodges for 15 years . Hence a Special General Meeting was called ior thc loth February , at whicli it was resolved

that while the minimum age ol a widow candidate should remain at 60 years , her husband must have been a subscribing member for only 10 years , and the amended law was sanctioned and approved by United ( Irand Lodge at its Quarterl y Communication on the * rd March . Il only remains for us to add that the

Festival Stewards ol I lie year paid their customary visit to the Asylum at Croydon , and found everything to their satisfaction ; that the New Year ' s Day and Midsummer Entertainments were given , as usual , to the inmates of the aforesaid Asylum and thai oilier arrangements were made on occasions for affording

them pleasure ; and when the year closes , as it will do in the course of two or ( luce weeks , wc doubt not that , thanks to tlie generosity ol ihe Craft and the special grants of ( irand Lodge , it will be found to have been financially and in all other respects one of the most successful known for some time past . The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls may also be congra-