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CONTENTS . PAGH . L EADERSMiss Davis and her Pension ... ... ... 4 ° 9 The New Zealand Question ... ... ... ... ... 410 Provincial Grand Lodge of Berkshire ... ... ... ... 410 Provincial Grard Lodge of Essex ... _ ... ... ... ... 411 Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire ... ... ... ... 412 Provincial Grand Lodge of Nottinghamshire ... ... ... ... 412

Provincial Grand Chapter of Buckinghamshire ... ... ... 412 Ladies'Banquet of the Grand Master ' s Lodge , No . 1 ... ... ... 413 Annual Outing of the Queen Victoria Lodge , No . 25 S 4 ... " ... ... 413 Summer Outing of the New Concord Lodge , No . S 13 ... ... ... 413 The Old Masonians ... ... ... ... ... ... 413 M ASONIC NOTESMarriage of the Princess Maud of Wales ... ... ... 415 General Meeting of the Governors and Subscribers of the Royal Masonic

Benevolent Institution ... ... ... ... ... 415 The Provincial Grand Lodges of Berkshire and Nottinghamshire and the Proposed Removal of the Boys' School _ ... ... ... 415 Memorial to the late Bro . Sir Augustus Harris ... ... ... 415 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 416 Summer Entertainment to the Annuitants of the Royal Masonic Benevolent

Institution ... ... ... •••... ... 41 G Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 417 Royal Arch Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 418 Mark Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 418 Board of Benevolence ... ... ... ... ... ... 41 S Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 420

Miss Davis And Her Pension.

MISS DAVIS AND HER PENSION .

We publish elsewhere a letter from Bro . W . D . SHOEBRIDGE , P . M . St . James's Lodge , No . 441 S , Halifax , in which he takes the authorities of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls roundly to

task because they have granted Miss DAVIS , lately Head Governess , a pension of ^ 225 per annum in respect of the services of incalculable value which she has rendered in that

capacity during the exceptionally long period of 35 years . Bro . SHOEBRIDGE objects " most strongly to money being voted away for pensions which has been given solely for Charity . " ft is " most astonishing" to him how the General Court " can vote

away this money in the unanimous way they appear to have done , " and accordingly it appears as if " the financial interests of the School are less to be considered than private interests . " Miss DAVIS " has been in receipt of an income from the School

of about ^ , 360 per annum , ' and out of this she ought to have saved " sufficient to keep her for the rest of her life . " Instead , however , of leaving this lady , who retires on the ground of failing health after 35 years' service of incalculable value as Head

Governess , to rub along as best she can " for the rest of her life , " the General Court of Governors with a unanimity which is astonishing to our correspondent , and a liberality which , in his opinion , cannot be too strongly condemned , having paid her

this handsome salary , stupidly votes her a pension of £ 225 a year , while the " poor distressed brother Mason " who " may have subscribed 30 or 40 years to the Charities and who , perhaps throug h no fault of his own , has to seek the assistance of his

brother Masons , " is granted , if he is " fortunate enough to be elected , " a miserable pittance of ^ 40 a year . Bro . SHOEMRIDGE considers this " most inconsistent , " and that it will have ' a very bad effect upon those Subscribers who read , mark , and

'earn the contents of the balance-sheets as they come out year " } ' year . " He has been a Subscriber to the Charities during the 17 years he has been a member of our Society , but he will subscribe no longer , and while it is not his wish "to injure the

Charities , far from it , " he will do his best " to open the eyes of l " Subscribers" to the manner in which their donations and sl , bscri ptions are frittered away in pensions to servants who lave ° een handsomely paid for their services .

Our correspondent has a perfect right to form his own opinions 11 this and other subjects , and is fully justified in acting in •c coixlance with those opinions , but we cannot say that we ' ) ni pathise with him in respect of those he has formed in

Miss Davis And Her Pension.

reference to this particular subject . We cannot , however ' avoid congratulating him on the exceeding ingenuity he has shown in piecing his statement together . It sounds plausible enough , and doubtless will have the desired effect on that very

numerous body of Subscribers who never take the trouble of thinking a matter out for themselves , but always accept the opinions of others . To assert that the sum voted as a pension to Miss DAVIS is a diversion of the money from the purpose for

which it was subscribed is , with all respect to our correspondent and those who agree with him , sheer nonsense , while the contrast between the liberal pension to a servant who has been handsomely remunerated for her services , and the

wretched pension to the poor distressed brother Mason " who may have subscribed 30 or 40 years to the Charities , " and is " fortunate enough to be elected , " is effective enough in its way , but , none the less , is it not what is commonly known as

" claptrap / ' pure and simple . We are aware that the terms we have fell constrained to apply to the statements in our brother ' s letter are the reverse of complimentary , but it is not our fault that he should have gone out of his way to place the

circumstances before our readers in a false light . Wc have said that the services which Miss DAVIS has rendered as Head Governess , during her 35 years' tenure of that office , have been of incalculable value to the Institution . When she entered upon her duties

at Midsummer , iSor , the School most nearly resembled a parish school of the better class , in which the children were well looked after , but were taught only the rudiments of a plain English education . They learned to read , write , and cipher , and to make

and repair their own clothes ; and on leaving they were fitted out and apprenticed as domestic servants or in the humbler callings then open to young women . Two or three years before Miss DAVIS was elected , a determined attempt had been made to

raise the character of the School ; but it was not until she appeared upon the scene that it was found possible to give effect to the new scheme which had been suggested , rather than

adopted . Since then , and under her auspices , the School has gone on steadily improving , until it may be affirmed with truth that there does not now exist throughout the length and breadth of the United Kingdom a better school of its

class than our Royal Masonic Institution for Girls . If we are asked to whom , or to what do we attribute this marvellous progress , we reply unhesitatingly , so far as the educational results are concerned , to the energy and ability and motherly care

of Miss DAVIS . But , rejoins our correspondent , she has been handsomely paid for her services , she has been in receipt of an income of £ 360 per annum , out of which she ought to have saved enough to maintain her for the rest of her days . As

regards this statement , we are not in a position to determine the precise value of Miss DAVIS ' emoluments . She received board and residence in addition to her salary of ^ 225 per annum , but it was only during the later years oi her service that she

was thus remunerated . The board and residence always formed part of her emoluments , but she was appointed in June , zS 6 i , ata salaryof . £ 84 a year , and this was increased from time totime during

her long career , until in 1892 it was raised to the sum of £ 215 as before stated . Nor have these successive increases of salary been granted merely for length of service , but principally owing to the enormous increase in the number of children on the

establishment , and the corresponding increase in the extent of her duties and responsibilites . In June , 1861 , there were 80 girls in the School ; in 1 S 64 there were 100 ; in 18 72 , 112 ; in 18 74 ,