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Press , and we have traced his strong hand in some of the leaders of our contemporaries . He has come out especially strong as regards the recent promulgation of false news from Alexandria and statements dishonouring to the English Army , and telegrams hostile to English interests . Having been the first to promulgate them , he has been , of course , the foremost in

denouncing them ; and the sublime manner in which he has taken the high moral line on the occasion , and exposed the extreme immorality and impiopriety of such a procedure , is Pecksniffian and edifying in the extreme . Let us hope that editors and sub-editors will learn the very needful lessons just now of patriotic caution and decent restraint .

* * SOMK sharpish fighting has taken place in Egypt , in which our soldiers and Blue Jackets have greatly distinguished themselves , and which the 6 oth and

46 th , though young soldiers , have won the approval of their leaders . We grudge , however , the valuable lives lost in suppressing a disreputable mutineer , and trust , that when Sir GARNET WOLSELEY arrives , by one decisive blow , this cruel treachery and anarchy may be finally put down .

* * WE rejoice to note that the fine weather of the last Bank Holiday enabled so many thousands of all ranks , ages , classes , and sexes to participate in a day ' s agreeable outing and well-earned recreation .

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS .

A meeting of the General Committee of the Boys' School was held at Freemasons' Hall , on Saturday , the 5 th inst ., when Bro . Edgar Bowyer presided . There was also present Bros . Alfred Williams , C . F . Matier , I L . Mather , Raynham W . Stewart , Arthur E . Gladwell , L . Ruf , James Terry , Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , F . W . Ramsay , M . D ., and E . C . Massey , ( Freemason ) . The minutes of the last meeting of the General Committee were read and confirmed ; and the minutes of the House and Audit Committees were also read for information .

The account of the Sustentation Fund was reported by the SECRETARY to be overdrawn , and it was therefore moved by Bro . Matier and seconded , that £ 250 be transferred from the General Fund to the Sustentation Fund , and on being put to the vote was carried . Three petitions were considered on behalf of the Boys to be put on the list of candidates for election at next election meeting ; of which two were received and the names added to the list , while the third was deferred for

further information . An application was read by the SECRETARY for an outfit allowance for a former pupil—A . E . Breary , who was certified to be progressing favourably , and to be giving satisfaction in the situation which had been obtained for him ; and an outfit allowance of £$ , was granted to him .

The next business before the committee was Bro . Raynham Stewart ' s notice of motion as to the addition of £ 100 a year which he proposed that the committee should make to the salary of Bro . Binckes , the Secretary of the Institution . The Secretary therefore retired , and the question was discussed . ...

As a matter of propriety the discussion cannot be reported in detail , but as in the result the increase was made on a unanimous vote , the readers of the Freemason will understand that they lose nothing by the omission . It was , however , the wish of the committee that the following facts should be published , as otherwise it was possible that they might be misunderstood . It is seven or eicht years ago since any addition was made to the secretary ' s

salary , which , up to this present date , was £ 400 a year . In addition to this , Bro . Binckes was awarded a sum of £ 200 a year as compensation in lieu of the commission which he formerly received upon the annual subscriptions and donations to the charity . Two years ago a sum of £ 100 was voted to Bro . Binckes as a bonus or gratuity on the occasion of his completing his twenty-first year of service ; and as to this sum , from the manner in which

it was recorded in the published accounts , one of the members of the committee expressed a fear that unless it was specifically contradicted , some of the brethren mig ht be under an impression that this was a sum to be given annually , which was not the case . At the present time , therefore , Bro . Binckes' remuneration was a salary of £ 400 , and a commuted commission of £ 200 on the funds which he , principally by his energy and ability , has

been the means of bringing into the coffers of the Institution . It was now proposed by Bro . Raynham Stewart that the committee should increase the salary to £ 500 a year , as from the 3 rd March last , the allowance of £ 200 being , of course , continued , so that the Secretary ' s emoluments from the Institution should be in all £ 700 a year . He had originally intended to ask the committee for an increase of / 150 a year , but to this Bro . Binckes had

himself objected . The motion was seconded by Bro . Matier , as a member of the Audit Committee , who expressed the belief that if it had not been for Bro . Binckes the Institution would not be in its present flourishing condition . The motion , on being put to the vote , was carried unanimously . Bro . Binckes , upon being summoned and informed of the resolution which had been come to , thanked the committee for what they had done ,

and for the compliment which was implied in their unanimous resolution . He was the last man in the world to wish that anything should be done in his favour which was not for the benefit of the Institution . He was no longer exactly in the possession of the same faculties as when he was younger and stronger ; but the committee ' s resolution showed that they considered that he was not as yet failing in his endeavours in behalf of the Boys' School .

This was the whole of the business , and a vote of thanks to the chair man closed the proceedings .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION .

The monthly meeting of the Committee of this Institution was held on Wednesday afternoon at Freemasons' Hall . There were present Bros . Col . Creaton , Grand Treasurer , in the chair ; Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , James Brett , Edgar Bowyer , George Bolton , Raynham W . Stewart , J . March Case , Thomas Cubitt , A . H . Tattershall , William Stephens , J . G . Gordon Robbins , H . McPherson , Thomas W . C . Bush , C . H .. Webb , Robert P .

Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution.

Tate , W . Hilton , Charles Godtsehalk . W . J . Murlis , James Terry , Secretary , and H . Massey ( Freemason ) . After the reading and confirmation of the minutes , the Chairman was authorised to sign cheques for £ 1570 fort he quarter's annuities in advance to male annuitants , and to the amount of £ 1355 f ° females , besides other cheques for office and other expenses .

A petition from a widow for half her late husband ' s annuity was granted . Six petitions were read , and the petitioners were ordered to be placed on the list of candidates for next election . The candidates were Bros . Newsham , Scarborough ; West , Deptford ; Towing , Exmouth ; Wade , Blackpool ; and Mrs . Polkington , Penzance ; and Mrs . Timbs , London .

Bro . TERRY reminded the brethren that before the next meeting of the Committee Grand Lodge would have met , when Bro . Raynham Stewart's motion for £ 800 to the Benevolent Institution would be again mentioned , and he would ask the brethren to attend and vote for the gift . The Committee separated after passing a vote of thanks to the Chairman .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Essex.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF ESSEX .

The annual meeting of this Prov . Grand Lodge took place on Thursday , the 3 rd inst ., under the banner of the Chigwell Lodge , No . 453 , at the Forest Hotel , Chingford . The Prov . Grand Master , the Right Hon . the Lord Tenderden , K . C . B ., presided , and was supported by R . W . Bros , the Lord Mayor , J . G . W ., W . M . No . 1 ; Lord Waveney , P . G . M . Suffolk ; Sir Francis Burdett , Bart ., P . G . M . Middx . ; Sir Chas . Bright , D . P . G . M .

Middx . ; Col . Creaton , Grand Treasurer ; Col . Shadwell H . Clerke , Grand Secretary ; the Rev . Thos . Cochrane , Grand Chaplain , P . P . S . G . W . ; VV . Bro . Matthew Clark , P . G . D ., P . D . P . G . M . Essex ; Bros . G . Prior Goldney , P . G . Steward ; H . N . Dering ( of the Di plomatic Service ); Brackstone Baker , P . G . D . ; Edgar Bowyer , P . P . G . S . W . Herts ; and others . There was also a large gathering of Present and Past P . G . Officers and members of lodges in the provinces . Soon after one o'clock , the brethren

assembled in the great Dining Hall of the Forest Hotel , which had been transformed into an imposing Lodge-room . The minutes of the last P . G . L . ( held at Southend ) were confirmed , and the P . G . Sec . read letters of apology for their non-attendance from R . W . Bros . Lord Holmesdale , P . G . M . Kent ; T . F . Halsey , M . P ., P . G . M . Herts ; Rev . C . J . Martyn , P . G . C , D . P . G . M . Suffolk ; Sir John Monckton , President of the Board of General Purposes ; J ustice Cave , P . J . G . D . ; Reginald Hanson ( Sheriff of London ) , and others .

The returns from the lodges showed that the number of subscribing members is 866 , as compared with S 96 last year , so that there is a decrease of thirty ; while the contributions have amounted to £ 62 3 s . 6 d ., against £ 66 is . 6 d ., last year . The Auditor ' s report showed a balance in hand of £ 79 17 s . 6 d . The R . W . P . G . M . then addressed the brethren at some length . His lordship remarked that it had been said that the country was happy which

had no history , by which he presumed was meant that the country was fortunate which had least experience of the wars and revolutions of which history was for the most part composed . If that were so , they were certainly very well off in Masonry in their provinceof Essex . Under the able and popular rule of His Royal Highness their Grand Master , the Prince of Wales , they knew nothingof revolutions . ( Much applause . ) Thev had , happily , amongst "

themselves no petty internal discords , and , except ifit be in the friendly and fraternal struggle of who should be the foremost in the cause of charity , they had nothing which even faintly resembled war or even rivalry . ( Hear , hear . ) At the same time , if they came to consider their Masonic history for the past year they were not driven to say , like the schoolboy in the examination , when asked what happened after the death of Oueen Elizabeth

, " nothing happened "—( laughter)—or , like Canning ' s knife-grinder , " Story , Lord bless you , I have none to tell . " ( Renewed laughter . ) It was not good either for a country or for an institution to be stagnant . Happily , Freemasonry was very far indeed from being stagnant . Since 1874 , when His Royal Highness succeeded the Marquis of Ripon as Grand Master , the number of English lodges had increased by upwards of five hundred . There were then

a little over fourteen hundred lodges ; there were now nearly two thousand . ( Hear , hear . ) He asked their Grand Secretary , whom he was glad to see there that day —( hear , hear)—how many Masons they now numbered in England and Wales . Bro . Col . Clerke told him that without a Masonic census it would be impossible to say , except approximately , but that there were , at least , 100 , 000 subscribing Masons on the active list

under our Grand Master ' s banner , and that there were probably another 100 , 000 retired or honorary members . ( Applause ) . The number , no doubt , continually fluctuated — at least they found that it did so in Essex . According to the last return , there were now , as they had heard , 866 on the active list . This was a slight falling off from last year , but an increase on 1879 . There were 62 initiations—so that they had not been badly off for recruits—and . 0

joining members . No doubt the diminution in the last year was to be accounted for by the agricultural depression , which has , unhappily , affected the county , which was purely agricultural . Their funds , as they had learned from their Treasurer ' s Report , were flourishing , and in other respects Masonry in the Province had been by no means stagnant . He had had brought before him two applications for warrants for new lodges , one within

the last few days , upon which he was consulting with their Deputy Provincial Grand Master , who had the interests of the Province so truly at heart —( applause)—whose unavoidable absence that day they all so much regretted . ( Renewed applause ) . These applications showed that Masonry was on the alert . He was sure , however , that they would agree with him that it would be a mistake and a misfortune to multiply lodges in the

frovince , unless there was a confident assurance that they would prosper , t would be a great pity to try and set up ricketty lod ges , over which , in a year or two , they should have to write the American epitaph on a baby , " What was I begun for , to be so soon done for ? " ( Laughter ) . The past year had also been marked by an incident which had more especially left happy memories among many of those who were entertaining them so

hospitably that day . He referred to the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught , in attendance on the Queen , to Epping Forest , of which he was the Ranger , and which had been preserved ior the benefit of the population of London by the exertions of the Lord Mayor —( applause ) whom they were honoured by receiving as a guest to-day —( hear , hear)—and his fellow citizens . On that occasion , the Chigwell Lodge presented to His Royal Highness the following address . * —