Contents.

CONTENTS .

UAB 8 RS 53 Supreme Grand Chapter 54 The Dublin Pocket Companion , 1735 54 Masonic Thoughts for the New Year S 4 Board of Benevolence SS The Gavel Club SS Knights Templar SS

Ancient and Accepted Rite JJ Rosicrucian Society of England SS Red Cross of Rome and Constantine SS East Indies SS C ORRESPONDENCEMasonic Exhibition ...........,., „„„ ,, „ Jl " Masonic Records" SI

CORRESPONDENCE ( Continued)—The Frederick Binckes Presentation Fund Si Provincial Calendar for Middlesex 5 } The Masonic Collectors' Association ., ... SI Music in Lodges $ 1 Notes and Queries 57 Reviews $ 8

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 58 Instruction .., 62 Royal Arch 62 Mark Masonry 6 Masonic and GeneraUTidings 6 3 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 64

Ar00101

The WE have arrived within four weeks of the day fixed for the AP Fesfivai celebration of the first in order of time of our three great of the R . M . B . I . Anniversary Festivals for the current year , namely , lhat of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , which will take place at Freemasons '

Hall on Tuesday , the 22 nd February prox . It will be well , therefore , if we look about us for the purpose of noting if the outward and visible signs of preparation are such as to satisfy our indulging in the hope that the results of the gathering will be worthy , not merely of the Institution itself , but of the exceptionally pressing demands of the year , which are almost , if not

quite , without precedent in the history of the Charity . And , so far as we are able to judge , the indications just now are in the direction of fair , but not unusually fine , weather . There are not yet 300 Stewards . More than that number of names have been given in , but , as is very often the case , many have been withdrawn , and on reckoning up the gains and the losses

we find the Board of Stewards , as at present constituted , is within 300 . With this as a basis to work upon , and with the exceedingly fair average of £ 50 per list as our further guide , we are justified in assuming that , as far as present appearances go , the Benevolent Festival of 1887 will be about as productive as it was last year , when the yield was a small fraction

in excess of ^ 15 , 000 . But while the circumstances of that year were very pressing , and , notwithstanding that fact , it was adjudged impossible , even with so satisfactory a product as ^ 15 , , to increase the number of annuitants , it must be remembered that the circumstances of 1887 are so infinitely more pressing as to render it almost imperative that

more annuitants should be taken on . There were but few vacancies and many candidates then ; there are still fewer vacancies and more candidates now ; and if we do not resolve in our minds to make a supreme effort to grapple with the increasing difficulty , due to the huge disproportion between vacancies and applicants , we shall sooner or later find it beyond the

possibility of remedy . Thus , if the Festival Returns amount to about £ 15 , 000 , the financial requirements of the year will be satisfied , the strength of the two Funds will be maintained , the vacancies that have occurred and may occur in the interim will be filled up in May , and all will go on as usual , with this very important exception , that more than one hundred old men

and women candidates—instead of under one hundred candidates , as was the case last year—will be obliged to endure the pressure of extreme poverty for at least a further term of twelve months . Thus our readers can see for themselves that the Festival of next month must yield considerabl y more than £ 1 " 5 , 000 to enable the Institution to do more towards

alleviating the existing distress than it is capable of doing at present . We must therefore endeavour in the first place to repeat the success of the 1885 Festival , when R . W . Bro . Sir M . E . HICKS-BEACH , Bart ., M . P ., Provincial Grand Master of Gloucestershire , and cousin of the present Chairman , presided , and the subscriptions amounted to ^ 17 , 770 ; and having done our best to

ensure the possibility of such a result , we must again put our shoulder to the wheel with a view of carrying the looked-for total still nearer to , or even Past , £ 20 , 000 , so that the Jubilee Year of her MAJESTY ' S reign may indeed be a year of jubilee to as many as possible of those of her MAJESTY ' loyal subjects who are present applicants for admission into our Benevolent Institution .

What has been accomplished once can be repeated , and there is no reason wh y we should not have the £ 17 , 770 total of . 1885 raised in 1887 . More than this—there is no finality about Festival products . There was a time when a few hundreds sterling represented the total of a year ' s Festival ; graduall y the few hundreds became a few thousands , and the few thousands

several thousands . Now the circumstances of the Institution appear to us to justif y the necessity for the highest total yet obtained being in its turn surpassed , and we cannot have a better opportunity for attempting this achievement than when preparing for the celebration of the Q UEEN '

Jubilee . Meanwhile and till the eventful Tuesday , the 22 nd of next month , we have the Benevolent Institution in the position of TITYRUS , in the y ^ gilian Eclogue—" patulse recubans sub tegm ' mefagi "—reclining hopefull y under the shadow of a protecting "Beach . "

Ar00102

IT will be seen from the letter we published last week from Pft Cohars erS' ^ 10 , ^ ' NICHOLL , P . M . 317 , lhat he purposes attending Grand Lodge , if possible , on Wednesday , the 2 nd March prox ., with a view , as he says , " to assist at the arrangement of this question , " and considering the correspondence which has taken place on

the subject and the interest we are in consequence justified m assuming it has created , we sincerely hope that Grand Lodge will see its way to a settlement which will be generally , if not universally , acceptable . In December last the Board of General Purposes , carried by a bare majority of one vote , its proposal to allow P . M . 's and Officers to wear their collars in their own

lodges and in Grand and Provincial or District Grand Lodge , and such a vote in a tolerably full house is certainly nothing to boast of . Since then Bro . POPE , S . G . D ., who spoke so strongly against the amendment which , if carried , would have allowed of P . M . 's wearing their collars on all occasions , has so far modified his opposition as to suggest that , if Grand

Lodge is willing , there can be no objection to a P . M . wearing a collar " of rank , " We need not concern ourselves about the difference between a collar " of office" and a collar " of rank , " but we fancy this suggestion affords an opportunity for arriving at a settlement of the question . At all events , it

seems desirable the brethren between now and the next meeting of Grand Lodge should give the matter their fullest consideration so that they may resolve one way or the other , and by a respectable majority of votes , whether a P . M . shall appear " collared " only at certain meetings or always .

* * * THE report of the Council of the Masonic School Fund , Masonic School ~ . . ... , _ , . , . , , , , ,-, Fund , Northern District of Northern China , tor the period ended the 31 st Oct ., China . ... ... - . ~ __ - _

_ r 8 S 6 , which was submitted at the General Court of Governors , held at the Masonic Hall , Shanghai , on the 29 th November following , is very gratifying , and affords yet one more proof that , wherever Freemasonry establishes itself , it sooner or later finds for itself some work of benevolence

on which to expend its energies . The idea of establishing a Masonic School Fund at Shanghai was only mooted at the meeting of the District Grand Lodge of Northern China , on the 22 nd Septemder , 1884 . On the 27 th October next ensuing , a Committee consisting of Bro . CORNELIUS THORNE , then D . G . M ., and representatives of the different lodges and olher

Masonic bodies in the district was formed . On the 24 th August , 1885 , a general meeting of members of the Masonic bodies vvas held at Shanghai , at which the scheme proposed by the Committee was submitted , discussed , and unanimously adopted , its leading principle being the establishment of a " Masonic School at Shanghai to provide for

the Education of the Children of Foreign Residents , Masons and others , and to afford a home for such children as may from time to time become chargeable to the Fraternity . " It was arranged that there should be two departments— " one for boys over a certain age ( say seven years ) and one for younger boys , with girls of all ages , ' ' while accommodation was to be

provided for a certain number of boarders , the boarding-house arrangements being open to the supervision of the School Council . All these and other matters were carefully arranged and provided for , and the greatest care was taken in order to ensure that everything was under proper control . A sum of about 3000 taels having been subscribed or promised by the Masonic

Bodies and individual brethren , a meeting was held on the 2 nd November , 1885 , when a Council , with Bro . C . THORNE as its President , was organised , a Head Master and Lady Principal Mr . and Mrs . C . H . DALLAS—were appointed , premises at 22 , Peking-road were taken , the year was divided into three terms , and the amount of fees payable per term was fixed . On

the 5 th April , 1886 , the School was publicly opened by Bro . C THORNE , Past District Grand Master , President of the Council , in the presence of Bro . J . I . MILLER , Dist . Grand Master , Northern China , and the brethren generally , there being thirty-nine pupils at the time , and by the end of the first term , fifty-three . In the second month of the third term , the number

was still further increased to eighty-seven , whose fees were almost sufficient to defray the expenses of the School , while the main Fund subscribed by the brethren enables the Council to reduce the fees payable for the children of brethren not in affluent circumstances , and will be used in time to give free tuition and maintenance to the children of deceased and indigent

Masons . This is the outcome of a scheme propounded less than three years ago , and there is no doubt the Council have done their work admirably , and will receive from the Craft generally the thanks they are so clearly entitled to . It is a great thing to find Freemasonry doing such excellent work in

Northern China , and we sincerely trust that a School Fund which has begun under such favourable circumstances , and is being so usefully applied , may continue to flourish as long as there are Freemasons in Northern China to support and administer it for the benefit of their less prosperous members .