Masonic Tidings.

Masonic Tidings .

Bro . John Graves , solicitor , of Peterborough , has been appointed Town Clerk of Salford at a salary of £ iooo . Bro . F . B . Chatterton's annual benefit at the Lyceum Theatre on Thursday week attracted a very

large audience . The receipts amounted to £ 500 . Mr . John Staples , Alderman of the City of London , was initiated into Freemasonry in the Grand Masters' Lodge , No . 1 , on Monday last . The Westbourne Lodge , No . 733 , have raised their initiation fee to fifteen guineas .

Bro . J . L . Toole , as energetic as he is clever , appeared at the Theatre Royal , Brighton , on Wednesday morning in the " Upper Crust , " and "Trying a Magistrate , " returning in time to play at his own theatre , the " Folly , " in the evening ,

Bro . Barry Sullivan , the eminent tragedian , is , we regret to learn , so seriously indisposed , as to compel him to cancel all his engagements for the present . A concert , under the direction of Bro . H . P . Matthews , will be given in the Town Hall , Shoreditch , on Monday , in aid of the Vellum Binders and Machine Rulers ' Pension Society .

Bro . Wilhelm Ganz , Past G . Org ., has arranged with Bro . Faulkner Leigh , G . Org . Herts , for his choir to produce two new works at his Orchestral Concerts in St . James's Hall , May 14 th and . 2 Sth , viz ., " Romeo et Juliette , " by Berlioz , and " Orpheus , " by Gluck . . Bro . James Bancroft presided at the half-yearl y meeting of . thelshareholders in the North London Railway

Company , at the offices in Euston-square , on Thursday week , when a dividend of 7 I per cent was declared . Bro . George Kenning has been selected as Senior Warden of the Gold and Silver Wire Drawers ' Company . Bro . C . T . Matthew has been elected Chairman of the Finance and Parliamentary Committee ( Markets ) .

Bro . H . J . Byron s ' version of "Michael Strogoff " will be produced next month at the Adelphi Theatre . Owing to the recent death of Bro . J . W . Anson , the hon . secretary of the Dramatic , Equestrian , and M usical Sick Fund Association , the committee of that institution have decided that the anniversary usually held on Ash-Wednesday will not take place this year .

Bro . R . Johnson ' s annual private ball takes place on the 3 rd proximo , at the Freemasons' Tavern , Great Queen-street . LONDON MASONIC CLUB LODGE OF INSTRUCTION . —At a meeting of the members of this lodge , held on Thursday week , a resolution was passed , changing the name from the "London Masonic Club " to that of the Langton

Lodge of Instruction , No . 16 73 , under the charter of which lodge it now meets every Thursday evening , at six o ' clock , at the Mansion House Station Restaurant , Queen Victoriastreet , E . C . The Rev . J . Sturdee , M . A ., was the initiate at the last meeting of the New Cross Lodge , No . 1559 , held at the Ship Hotel , Greenwich . Bro . Ernest E . Smith , who

performed the ceremony immediately after his installation , also invcsted ] Bro . Louis Beck , as I . P . M ., in lieu of Bro . Eugene H . Thiellay , who was elected and invested Treasurer of the lodge . Bro . James Willing ' s drama " Delilah " is to be revived at the Standard Theatre on Monday next . ALLIANCE LODGE , NO . 1 S 27 . —The next

meeting of this flourishing lodge takes place at the Guildhall Tavern , Gresham-street , on Wednesday next . Bro . David A . Davis , P . M ., the only Jewish member of the Devonshire Lodge , N 0 . . 125 , Glossop , has been presented with a handsome gold and diamond Past Master's jewel in recognition of his valuable services and as a mark of the esteem in which he is held by the brethren .

Since the last Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge warrants have been granted for eleven new lodges , the number of the last granted being 1 S 97 . Bro . -Eneas John Mclntyre , Q . C ., M . P ., Grand Reg ., presided at the seventeenth " session of the United Law Students' Society in Clement's-inn Hall , on Wednesday week .

Bros . cx-Shcriff Burt and Major Davies Sewell have received votes of condolence , unanimously voted at the last meeting of the Shipwrights' Company , on the death of Mrs . Sewell , daughter of Bro ., Burt . Bro . D . Deeves , W . M . of the United Military

Lodge , No . 1536 , was entertained at a farewell dinner on Saturday evening last by the brethren of Woolwich . Bro . Deeves , who is an Assistant Commissary of the Ordnance Branch of the Army Service Corps , has had to leave Woolwich for the Transvaal .

Bro . Killian H . Van Rensselaer , a native of Albany , N . Y ., but for nearly half a century a resident of Ohio , died at his residence in California , Hamilton County , Ohio , near Cincinnati , on Friday night , the 28 th ult ., at the age of eighty-two years . He was one of the oldest and

most distinguished Scottish Rite Masons in the country , was Sovereign Grand Inspector-General of Thirty-third Degree , and Past Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree of the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States .

Bro . the Earl of Carnarvon , M . W . Pro G . M ., is not expected home from Madeira until towards the end of April . Our contemporaries were in error in stating he was expected to arrive at Southampton in a few days . Thc Rev . Mr . Ross , of East Williams , Ontario , has forbidden Freemasons the Lord ' s Table in his church ,

on the ground that at Masonic funerals the name of the Saviour is not used in supplications to the Deity . St . Andrew ' s Lodge , of Kamptee , India , lately gave an entertainment through its members for the benefit of the Roman Catholic Orphanage , and the sum of 285 rupees was handed over to the institution .

Masonic Tidings.

Bro . Sir Patrick Colquhoun , Q . C ., LL . D ., is a candidate for the City Remembranceship . Bro . the Rig ht Hon . the Earl of Lathom , Great Prior , has accorded permission to the Temple Cressing Preceptory , No . 45 , to remove . The meetings in future will be held at the Shi p Hotel , Greenwich , on the third Friday in February , April , October , and November , after April next . As Good Friday is on the third this year , the Preceptory will meet on the fourth .

Bro . George Sims , C . C ., has been confined to his room during the past week through an attack of bronchical congestion , but we are glad to hear that he is nearly convalescent . On Wednesday next the Right Hon . the Lord Mayor , supported by Bro . H . B . Marshall , and others , will lay the foundation-stone of a new Wesleyan Chapel , in the Mile-end road , as a memorial to the late Sir F . Lycett .

Bro . J . M . Bell gave a lecture entitled " A Visit to the Oberammergau Passion Play" at Albion Hall , London-wall , on Thursday week , before the members of the Milton Conversational Class . The lecture was illustrated with photographs .

Bro . J . Whittaker Ellis , Alderman of the City of London , has contributed the sum of £ 10 , 000 to the building fund of the Birkbeck Institution . SOUTHAMPTON MASONIC HALL COMPANY . — The first annual report of the Directors of this undertaking for the year ending 31 st December , has been issued . The receiots durincr the vear have amounted to JC 26 S 12 s .. and

the expenditure to £ 141 4 s . 1 id . The Directors recommend payment of a dividend of 4 per cent , on the paid-up capital , which will leave a balance to be carried forward of £ 15 7 s . id . Bros . Miles , Thomas , Weston , Robson , and Le Feuvre , retire by rotation , but are eligible for re-election as Directors , and Bros . Cole and Cross are also eligible for re-election as Auditors .

Bro . H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , M . W . G . M ., attended by his suite , left Charing Cross on Thursday evening , by special South Eastern train en route for Germany , whither , as already announced in this column , he proceeds in order to attend the marriage of Prince William of Prussia , and Princess Augusta Victoria .

Lord Methuen , R . W . G . M . Wiltshire , has succeeded Lord Sandhurst as Lord in Waiting to the Queen . Bro . Lieut .-Col . Sir Henry Edwards , Bart ., D . L ., arrived in town on Monday , and is staying at the Park Hotel , St . James's . LECHMERE LODGE , NO . 1874 . —The consecration of this lodge took place on Wednesday at the Masonic Hall , Kidderminster . We hope to give a full report of the proceedings in our next .

Bro . Thomas Kingston , P . M . 862 , is , we regret to learn , confined to the house owing to severe illness . Comp . Sir Daniel Gooch , Bart ., M . P .. M . E . G . Z ., presided at the annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Chapter of Berks and Bucks at the Masonic Hall , Reading , on Thursday week , the 17 th inst . Bro . Lord Suffield , K . C . B ., R . W . G . M . Norfolk , was present at the meeting of the Friendship- Lodge , No . 100 , held at the Assembly Rooms , Yarmouth , on Thursday week .

Bro . P . de Keyser has had conferred upon him by His Majesty the King of the Belgians , the distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Leopold . Bro . H . R . H . the Dukeof Connaught , P . G . W ., presided at the annual dinner in connection with Mr . W . C . Garth's foxhounds at the Town Hall , Wokingham , on Tuesday night . The town was appropriately decorated on the

occasion of the Royal | visit . THE ANNUAL LIVERPOOL MASONIC BALL . — The final meeting of the committee entrusted with the arrangements of the annual Masonic ball held at the Town Hall , Liverpool , on the nth ultimo took place on Friday week , at the Masonic Hall , Hope-street , under the presidency of Bro . R . Martin , jun ., P . M . 1182 , vice-chairman . Bro . H . A . Tobias , I . P . M . 1502 ( the honorary secretary ) ,

submitted lus report , from which it appeared that about £ 40 had been realised from the ball in aid of the funds of the West Lancashire Masonic Educational Institution . Votes of thanks were given with cordiality to the honorary secretary , the refreshment committee ( of which Bro . John Houlding , . P . M . S 23 , was the the chairman ) , the treasurer ( Bro . A . ' C . Wylie , W . M . 1364 ) , and the executive committee .

THE WEST YORKSHIRE BRETHREN AND THE MASONIC INSTITUTIONS . —Sir Henry Edwards , Bart ., Bro . Tew , and several of the West Yorkshire brethren who were in town for the festival of the Benevolent Institution on Wednesday , on Thursday paid a visit to the Boys' School at Wood Green , and the

Girls School at Battersca-nse . They were conducted over those Institutions by the Secretaries , and the head master of one and the head mistress of the other , and after a careful inspection of the arrangements of those schools , expressed themselves highly satisfied with what they had seen .

Bro . Sir Charles Lowther , Bart ., of Swillington House , Leeds , at his Candlemas rent audit , recently held , has again made a return of 10 per cent , to all his farm tenants . Bro . Louis Hirsch was on Wednesday evening last installed a second time W . M . of the Clapham Lodge , No . 181 S , at the Grosvenor Hotel . A report of the

proceedings will appear in our next . The Masonic Hall , Wyndford-street , Mary-hill , Glasgow , was consecrated on Wednesday last by Bro . W . Pearce , R . W . Prov . Grand Master of Glasgow , in the presence of a large assembly of brethren .

Bro . Robert Macoy , of New York ( U . S . A . ) , is the oldest Grand Red Cross Recorder in America , having been elected without intermission for thirty years . The oldest lodge on the American continent is the Albion Lodge , formerly No . 17 ( now No . o ) , Quebec , inaugurated A . D . 1721 .

General Tidings.

General Tidings .

Lord ' Rosebery has accepted an invitation to preside at the dinner of the Palmerston Club , Oxford University , on the 12 th proximo . The death is announced of the Hon . Grantley Berkeley , who represented West Gloucestershire for nearly twenty years , and was heir presumptive to the earldom of Berkeley , which event took place last Wednesday at Poole .

The French Society of Agriculturists passed a resolution last Wednesday in favour of having in future but one general customs tariff , and doing away altogether with treaties of commerce . The Gaze tie announces the elevation of Lord Odo Russell to the peerage under the title of Baron Ampthill , of Ampthill , in the county of Bedford .

On Wednesday a public meeting was held to cohsider the best means of providing a park for Paddihgton . Lord George Hamilton , who -presided , said that £ 300 , 000 would be required , and he thought some rich people in the district would willingly aid in raising this sum . Resolutions were passed in accordance with the object of the meeting .

On Wednesday the anniversary festival of the Royal Asylum of St . Anne ' s Society was held at Wiliis's Rooms , under ths presidency of the Lord Mayor , when subscriptions to the amount of £ 47 , 66 were announced . One of the large mains of Portsmouth Waterworks has burst , leaving a considerale portion of the town without water .

At the ordinary meeting of the Society of Arts on the gth of March , Mr . Edward Whymper will give an account of his recent ascents of Chimborazo and Catopajci . An experimental trial of the electric light is to be made in lighting . some of the principal streets ol Norwich . Several large firms in the city are also about to adopt the new system at their establishments .

Intelligence from Panama to the 15 th inst ., announces that M . de Lesseps' engineers have established five surveying camps , and that the entire party is now at work . - v THE FISHERY ON THE EAST COAST . —The

question of the depredations commmitteJ by foreign fishermen upon the property of the British fishing interest is about to be brought under the notice of the House of Commons by Colonel Barne , M . P . for East Suffolk . At a consultative meeting at Lowestoft it was unanimously agreed that a convention between Great Britain , Holland , Belgium , and France would settle the question .

A quaint relic of early steam navigation is now owned by the Chicago Historical Society—the original working plan from which was constructed the first vessel which crossed the Atlantic entirely propelled by steam . This was the Royal William , built at Quebec in 1831 , which made the passage in twenty-five days , and was subsequently bought by the Spanish Government , who converted it into the first steam man-of-war .

On Wednesday Viscount Sherbrooke distributed prizes to the students of the Nottingham School of Art , and in subsequently addressing them , he said he had heard considerable complaints with regard to the severe competition to which this country was subjected , and there were many who thought something ought to be done to make trade easier in the future . In his humble judgment

all this was erroneous . If they did not like competition , there was nothing easier than to go where they would not have it . He would urge them not to waste their time in trying to get rid of competition , but to employ their time in making their own occupations and busincssess as efficient as possible , leaving it to others to do as well as they could for themselves .

ST . JOHN ' AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION . —On Tuesday week a crowded meeting in support of the objects of the ; St . John Ambulance Association was held in the Long Parlour of the Mansion House . The Lord Mayor , M . P ., presided , and there were present , among others , the Earl of Glasgow , Viscount Templetown , Sir Bartle Frere , Bro . Sir Edmund Lechmere , M . P ., General Sir Henry

Uaubeney , - iir fcdward Perrott , Major Duncan , Dr . Farquharson , M . P ., Dr . Hardwicke , Mr . E . Howley Palmer , Major Malet , Mr . Edwin Frcshfield , and General Lowry . The association was founded in 1 S 77 by the Chapter of the Order of St . John of Jerusalem in England , to disseminate general information as to the preliminary treatment of the sick and injured among all classes of society . Bro .

bir Edmund Lechmere , Major Duncan , and Mr . Furley , the chairman of the City district , having described the work of the society , it was resolved on the motion of Lord Glasgow , seconded by Mr . E . Howley Palmer , late Governor of the Bank of England , "That ' this meeting having heard the statements of the executive officers respecting the origin and progress of the St . John

Ambulance Association , desires to express its opinion that , notwithstanding somewhat limited resources , the movement has , by the almost unpreceden ted success attending its efforts for the prevention and alleviation of human suffering , shown itself fully deserving of national support and confidence . " The next resolution , which was moved by General Sir Henry Daubeney , and seconded bv Major

Malet , requested all employers of labour and officials connected with literary and other institutions to communicate with the association at St . John's-gate , with a view to the formation of classes ( either male or female ) for instruction in the first treatment of the sick and wounded , some knowledge of which was so essential for those employed in docks , warehouses , and workshopswhere accidents were

, of frequent occurrence . This was adopted unanimously , as was also a third , proposed by Mr . Edwin Freshfield , commending the movement to the favourable consideration of the great City companies and to bankers , merchants , employers , and others in the metronolis . in order to put the

financial position of the association on a less precarious basis . The meeting was further addressed by General Lowry , Dr . Farquharson , M . P ., Dr . Hardwicke ( Coroner for Middlesex ) , Mr . James Payn , and others , and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor , proposed by General Lord Templetowji ,