The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

eluding Convalescent Boom , Laundry , and every necessary appliance thereto , and detached from the main building , " has enabled the Board of Management to extend the accommodation so as to admit of 148 children being maintained annually . This , of course , has entailed increased

expenditure , but the Board exhibit a just confidence in the Craft , and entertain no misgivings whatever as to obtaining the needful support . As to the education given , the object has been to adopt a solid system of training . No attempt has been made to develope the faculties of a few sharp and

quick girls , to the detriment of the majority who are slower and less showy . But the teaching is excellent , so that many girls , on leaving , have been at once enabled to take the position of governesses , while in the case of those who were entered as candidates at the CAMBRIDGE LOCAL

EXAMINATION , it is stated that " in nearly every instance honours with prizes , or certificates of having passed xvith credit , have been obtained . " Ten have been entered for the latest of these examinations , and every confidence is felt in the result being equally favourable . Need we repeat that all

this reflects the highest honour , both on those members of the Craft who support the School , and who , by their , we are happy to say , ever increasingly greater patronage , enable it to constantly extend its sphere of usefulness ; or

that to the matron and governess , with their subordinates , is due great credit for the excellence of their system , both of instruction and discipline , and the energy with which it is carried out ?

From that portion of the Boport which is devoted to the education and maintenance of the inmates , we gather that the dietary is on a most substantial scale , that the

needlework done by the girls during the year 1874 was very considerable , including bine stuff frocks , pinafores , night dresses , & c , while the most important prize winners , who received their honours at the last visit of the Stewards on

the 11 th May 18 / 4 , were Maria Louisa Plintoft , who earned off the gold medal for general proficiency , given annually by Bro . William Paas , with £ 5 given by Bro . Winn , besides prizes for French ( by Bro . Dr . Brctte ) , elocution ( by Mrs . Crick ) , drawing ( by Bro . J . Standing ) , and

passing Cambridge examination . Kate Isabella Barrett took the silver medal for good conduct , with £ 5 given by Bro . W . Winn , and a prize for " general usefulness , " Elizabeth J . Baxter , Cara B . Fletcher , and Leila Lucy Caparn , divided the prize of £ 5 5 s , given by Bro . W . Winn ,

and obtained likewise each a prize for passing the Cambridge Examination . Elizabeth J . Baxter also took prizes for drawing and model drawing- ; Cava B . Fletcher gained jjjr . Henry F . Bowker ' s prize for good conduct and a prize for n ^ ^ ' ing- Among the other prize winners wc

noticed + ' ^ ° name ° * Mary Alice Easthara , to whom was awarded a s ^ wa tcu , tho gift of Bro . H . W . Hemsworth , for amiability : ^ e awat'd being the result of a vote taken amonn- her schoo ^¦ f e ^ « Mary N . Fradelle Pratt carried off Bro . Collard j \/ urtrie ' s prize for music , and Clara M . Wicks Bro . John M Raton ' s prize for good conduct .

. The financial stateinc . 'nt of * he G ° ! ei'niQg Body we have properly kept till the last . Fl ' om thls lfc a PP ears * " »* the receipts from all sources , inc lud » ng a balance brought forward from last year of £ 2 , ' f „ ] amounted to £ 11559 9 s 4 dthere beingat thC ° . 7 > a ??*

, , , ^ J siderablesumoutstandinguponStewc /' rds llsts < Someof . ? has since been received . The donatio ^ s and subscriptions reached the handsome sum of £ 7 , 734 19 s la , of which Grand Lodge aud Grand Chapter contribute ^ * lo 0 , and ten guineas respectively . £ 947 Os 8 d was rece . " „ m res P *

of interest on invested moneys , viz ., on £ 16 , 5 ( k r P er cent - Consols , and £ 16 , 500 3 per Cent . Reduced . Ot ™ e latter amount £ 2 , 500 was purchased in the course of t . ycar ' and yielded a dividend for one half-year only . The 1 ! fst ' being casual receipts , include a contribution from L W . Winn of one hundred guineas . As regards tlu

per contra side of the account , the expenditure of all kinds connected with education , clothing , and maintenance of the girls reached £ 6 , 578 4 s 4 d . To this must be added £ 2 , 296 2 s Gd , laid out in the purchase of £ 2 , 500 3 per cent . Reduced Stock . Thus there remained a balance on

31 st December 1874 of £ 2 , 683 2 s Gd , against which must be reckoned Christmas accounts unpaid to the extent of £ 1 , 314 lis 2 d , leaving ouly au available balance for the

current ^ year of £ 1 , 368 lis 4 d . The principal items are £ 188 17 s 3 d for new building and improvements ; painting £ 929 10 s ; laying out the grounds £ 263 18 s ; various expenditures , including prizes , gratuities , pension to late secretary , & c , £ 38 , 6 7 s , and for ordinary expenses

The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

£ 4 , 772 6 s 8 d . This last amount is composed of the outlay on provisions , clothing , furniture , medical attendance , & c ., with only £ 500 for office salaries and wages , and £ 565 6 s 3 d for ditto at the school . Stationery , advertisements , postage , & c , cost in round figures £ 213 , the elections

£ 71 , while the secretarial disbursements reached the very modest sum of £ 14 , poundage to the collector being just over £ 180 . We gather from these figures , that while the annual income of the Institution from invested property is within £ 1 , 000 , the annual expenditure is in excess of £ 6 , 500 , thus

leaving an annual sum of £ 5 , 500 , for which the School is indebted to the voluntary contributions of the Craft . We may add that there is a Snstentation , Improving and Building Fund , amounting , as regards receipts , to £ 926 , including a balance of over £ 893 , the expenditure being £ 700 on account of improvements .

We may appropriately repeat here the announcement we made last week , that the eighty-seventh Anniversary Festival will be held at Freemasons' Tavern on Tuesday , the 11 th instant , and that our respected Brother the Lord Mayor of London will preside on the occasion . We express

the hope that the lists handed in by the Stewards will prove far in advance of last year ' s contributions ; that , in fact , the aggregate of these lists may be greater every

yeai' , so that the ability of the Institution to confer aid on the indigent orphan , or daughters of indigent parents , may be proportionately increased . We are sure our readers will echo this wish again and again .

The Press And The Installation.

THE PRESS AND THE INSTALLATION .

WE quote on another page the opinions of some of our morning contemporaries in reference to the grand and imposing ceremonial of Wednesday last . Our readers will see that these opinions are genial in their tone , if they are not wholly favourable to the pretensions of the great Order which now boasts of a Grand Master who , in

all human probability , will one day occupy the throne of the greatest Empire in the World . The Times , for example , is unusually " genial" in its remarks , and if Freemasons were thin skinned , they might feel a little annoyed at tho comparison which the leading journal institutes between

the members of the Fraternity and children . Freemasons however are never annoyed at a little " chaff , " and for our own part we are so fully conscious that the Times in its own grand way is systematically hostile to the Order that we do not much regard its jests at our expense . It

has always assumed a very dignified attitude with reference to Masonry , and hitherto , when it has condescended to report the proceedings of Grand Lodge , it has endeavoured to make us feel the obligation . The ceremonial of Wednesday last was of such vast public importance that even

the Times could not afford to ignore it , and as it felt compelled to devote a leader to tho subject it doubtless thought that grave criticism of anything so frivolous as Masonry would ill become the Deity of Printing House Square . Perhaps wo are all in the wrong , and the Times

is just in its strictures . But if we are silly persons , we at all events err in good company , and wo aro under the impression that when a solitary individual recklessly dubs a multitude of gentlemen " fools , " the folly rests on the side of the minority . Either tho Times knows

nothing of the Craft , or it is fully informed , and knows all about the mysteries of which it makes light . If it is ignorant , it has no business to attempt the task of criticism , and if it be well-informed it , or rather the writer of tho article , must bo a most disloyal Mason . We do not forget

that the Times has often attempted to ignore the Order . Recently it entirely ignored the Anniversary Meeting of the Masonic Benevolent Institution , although nearly £ 7 , 000 was subscribed on the occasion . Under similar c . ' "cumstances it could not have avoided reporting a

Ma \ ' Meeting , however much it might have felt inclined to be hostile to the principles enunciated by its conductors . We vem '' uro * ° think that an Institution which can command subscriptn * ° ^ amount of £ 7 , 000 is too important to be io-n ^ prl W + he leading journal on the childish plea that the

subscribers w \ ore a P ronS ) aB ( J indulged in mystic ceremonial . Reverting to * Installation of his Royal Highness the Grand Master wL' * * * " % ^ ^ * * ari ° ther column , we are gratified to notice that Lord Mayor Stone , on his appointment as JtiniiW Warden was received with the greatest enthusiasm , Jt *» felt W »* w selecting the