The Subscription Lists Of The Girls' School Festival.

THE SUBSCRIPTION LISTS OF THE GIRLS' SCHOOL FESTIVAL .

THE result of the Festival of the Eoyal Masonic Institution for Girls held on Friday , 16 th ult ., is deserving of special notice from more than one point of view . In the first case , the total actually announced is greatly in excess of anything that has been done before , so far as the Girls '

School is concerned , and nearly reaches the announcement made in connection with the Benevolent Institution last year , when £ 13 , 726 lis 6 d represented the grandest total ever collected for one of the Masonic Institutions . Thia

result must be most gratifying to all who take any interest in the welfare of the Charities . Another feature that may be worthy of mentioning is the great extent to whioh the

support is divided throughout the country . There are but six Provinces unrepresented a fact which goes far to prove how universal ia the desire on the part of Masons to maintain the great central Charities .

London was represented by 124 Stewards , and the amount announced as collected by them was £ 6 , 249 9 s 6 d . There are sixteen brethren whoso lists exceed a hundred

pounds , in two cases the total being in excess of two hundred , altogether the proportion of " large " lists proves that the brethren have worked hard in the good cause they had undertaken . We will now turn our attention to the Provinces ,

thirty-five out of the forty-one into which England is divided being on this occasion represented by 169 Stewards . As therefore there are but six to be accounted absent , wo will at once dispose of them . Heading the list , from an alphabetical point , comes Cambridgeshire , a small

Province it is true , consisting of but four Lodges , but surely , we should imagine , large enough to occasionally emerge from its apathy as regards the support of the Masonic Charities . We have to go back as far as 1878 before we find any reference to this district in our Festival

returns . That year it sent up five guineas for the Girls , and fifteen for the Boys ; but with these two exceptions , it has done nothing during the five and a half years that the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE has been in existence . Cornwall , absent thia time , has areputation which will suffice to excuse

its appearance on the present occasion , although we think it a bad system to allow a single Festival to pass unheeded . Still we must not forget that at the corresponding Anniversary of 1879 its two Stewards brone-hfc UD £ 378 . which

wc suppose is considered by our Cornish brethren as ample for a two years' contribution . Herefordshire , whose only support since the Benevolent Festival of 1876 was a donation often guineas to the Girls last year , is another district that seems to need cultivation . Here also there are four lod ges , a number which , judging : from experience , is rather

plucky from a Charity standpoint . Northamptonshire and Hunting donshire is absent also . It appeared at the Benevolent Festival this year with £ 115 10 s , and , as we have remarked on former occasions is not usually backward with its contributions . Northumberland adds one more to the

number of Festivals at which it has been conspicuous by its absence , the Boys' of 1877 being the last occasion on which it could answer " hern" fn the mnsfp . r roll . Tfin

, Western Division of Soutb Wales sent up ten gnineas last s nruary , ^ njfjh jg tbe only contribution thus far received this year from that district . As its support in 1878 was given to the Girls , and in 1879 to the Old People , we may "nagme , as we hope , that this year its energies will be Evoked to the Boys . The Isle of Man and the Channel

The Subscription Lists Of The Girls' School Festival.

Islands bring to a close the roll of absent Provinces , which it must be remarked is exceptionally small on the present occasion , and we think a strong effort on tho part of tho powers that be would remove the " absent" blot from our lists altogether . If we could enrol sympathy from every

Province on every occasion , be the amount ever so small , it would unmistakably prove that the spirit of Charity was prominent in them all . Let us trust that at the Boys' and

subsequent Festivals the number will permanently if gradually decrease , and that at no distant date we may find ifc unnecessary , and indeed impossible , to devote any portion of our periodical analyses to the subject .

First on the list of contributing provinces is Bedfordshire , the five Lodges of which find a worthy representative in Bro . Fisher , of No . 540 , the amount of his list being £ 48 6 s . We are at a loss to find words to express our pleasure in welcoming this district to the right side of the

division , and as we know it will also be represented afc the Boys' Festival in June , we now look forward to the time when ifc will be numbered among the zealous supporters of the Institutions ; when its past forgetfalness of their claims will be forgotten , and when its members will be able to

pride themselves on their array of votes , the best exponents we have of the extent of a province ' s liberality . As is usual , the representation of Berks and Bucks is of a onesided nature . Berks sends up all the money , while Bucks reaps an equal share in the honours , at least as regards

those who do not take the trouble to go fully into details are concerned . We were going to write that Bucks took their share of the honours , but so far as we know they do not take any trouble on the subject , being content to leave the matter entirely in the hands of their neighbours , who ,

in this respect , may be considered heavily handicapped . The nine Lodges of Berks , with a total of £ 506 14 s , are , on this occasion , represented by seven Stewards , one of whom , Bro . J . Early Danks , of No . 1101 , brings up a list amounting to £ 200 , and another , Bro . Dick Radclyffe ,

representing No . 209 , totals up £ 150 . The nine of Bucks , as we have already stated , leave to their friends the honour of maintaining the reputation of the united—so far as jurisdiction is concerned—district presided over by Sir Daniel Gooch . How long this state of affairs will continue we are

unable to imagine , bufc we hope the newly-appointed Deputy Prov G . Master will speedily make it his business to inquire into the cause of the anomaly . Bro . G . Pearson , as representative of the eight Lodges of the Province of Bristol , does well , with a total of £ 216 6 s . The contributions from this extensive centre of bnsiness have not been

of an enormous extent lately , but so large an amount as that contributed on the present occasion goes some considerable way towards excusing past omissions . Cheshire on the present occasion sends up five Stewards , with lists amounting to £ 151 4 s , and it also did remarkably well afc

the corresponding Festival of 18 / 9 , on which occasion its lists totalled up to something over £ 350 Tlie honour of Cumberland and Westmoreland is well maintained by Bro . G . J . McKay , who , as representing the province , adds £ 200 to the contributions of the year . In our list last week ifc

would appear that this district had other representatives than him to whom we have just referred , but this is an error . The six brethren whose names follow his reall y belong to Derbyshire , which is , therefore , entitled to the

credit of having raised £ 175 7 s . Devonshire , represented by four stewards , with lists which , among them , total up to £ 141 10 s , maintains its own position , and by thus supporting its " old love " clearly proves that its " new love " —a local charity—has notyefc grown into a very formidabl