Our Institutions.

strikes us as being only reasonable it should treat all three of them with equal liberality . We can well understand Graud Lodge should have given more largely to the Benevolent till within the last few years , for was it not mainly

established by Grand Lodge itself ? But there is no sufficient or satisfactory reason now why all three should not receive an equal measure of support from both Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter . All three would then fare about equally well in respect of Permanent Income .

We will only carry our examination one step further . The Boys' School Festival last year was the most productive , and yielded over £ 14 , 000 . The Girls' School stood next with about £ 13 , 800 , and then came the Benevolent Institution with over £ 12 , 000 . Thus of the total

Subscriptions , Ac , of , in round figures , £ 44 , 500 , quite £ 40 , 000 were contributed at the Festivals . Other £ 1 , 200 comprise the Special Grants of £ 300 each by Grand Chapter and the three Legacies of £ 100 each . Tho Bentley Shaw Memorial accounts for £ 1 , 050 , and Purchased Admissions for

£ 357 . Adding theso together we get a total of £ 2 , 607 , which leaves about £ 1 , 900 as representing the subscriptions sent in apart from the Festivals , and the greater portion of this would appear to have gone into the coffers of the Benevolent and Girls' School . What , if any , amount

of promised subscriptions remains still outstanding at the end of the year we have no means of determining . We should imagine that , as the Boys' School Festival was the last of the three that was held , the bulk of what may yet have have to be received will have be credited to that

Institution . We will conclude by expressing a hope that as the aggregate of 1880 exceeded by £ 5 , 000 and upwards that of 1879 , so the results of the year we have just entered upon may be even more satisfactory still .

Bro. Binckes And The Boys' School.

BRO . BINCKES AND THE BOYS ' SCHOOL .

WE note with a great deal of pleasure that at the Quarterly General Court of the Boys' School , to be held on Monday , Bro . Raynham W . Stewart will submit a motion , of which he has given clue notice , and which reads as follows : " That to commemorate the twenty years' services of the Secretary , Bro . Binckes , and in recognition of

the ability shown by him during that period , and also with regard to the success achieved by his exertions , he be granted a gratuity of £ 200 out of the Funds of the Institution . " Such a motion as this cannot be too highly commended . Bro . Binckes has never missed an opportunity of

doing what lay in his power to advance the interests of the Institution with whose fortunes his name has been so long and so intimately associated . We are far from being desirous of over-praising any brother ' s services to Freemasonry . Such a course would be likely to do him a dis-service . We

do , however , take upon ourselves to say , emphatically and without reservation of any kind , that it is well-ni gh impossible to form anything like a correct estimate of the benefits which Bro . Binckes has , during the last twenty years , been enabled to render to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ,

through his indomitable energy , his thorough knowledge of official business , his tact , ability , and persuasive oratory , his ready mastery of the smallest detail , and his power of grasping at once and , as it were , by intuition , the general bearings of every subject that was submitted to him . He

has been described in these columns , not without reason , as " Our Hercules , " and , in very truth , his labours have been herculean in their nature . He has never spared himself , never given a thought to his own personal comfort and convenience when it was a question of promoting the interests

of the School . Possessing abilities of a high order , as well as powers of speech such as few among us can lay any pretensions to , he has worked , in season and out of season , in the Metropolis and in the Provinces ; indeed , whenever and wherever he thought a word or a deed of his would brine

some benefit to " Onr Boys . " To him the Craft is indebted for the gradual investment of a sum exceeding in amount what was converted into solid sterling money at the time it ' was resolved to erect the present premises at Wood Green .

To him we owe it chiefly that the School is now capable ol housing , feeding , clothing , and educating considerably ovei 200 pupils . During the earlier years of his Secretaryshi p an annual Festival which yielded subscriptions amounting to £ 2 , 000 was deemed a great success . During the last

Bro. Binckes And The Boys' School.

five or six years the subscription lists on these occasions have ranged from £ 10 , 000 to £ 14 , 000 , and there is no doubt his influence has been felt outside the immediate circle in which he has laboured so incessantly . He has devoted the best years of his life , and during those years all the time

and care and labour he was capable of bestowing , to his official duties . And no more appropriate time could have been selected by the Governors and Subscribers of the Boys ' School for exhibiting their grateful sense of the obligations they are under to him for his valuable services than the

present . As we have already said , the modest store of money which years ago was expended in the erection of the School has just been more than replaced . Many perhaps may suggest that , having regard to the magnitude of the task he has fulfilled , the proposed amount of the gratuity

is insignificant . We do not think so , for the reason that we have no faith in an exact adjustment , if such were possible , between the recognition of a service and the service that is recognised . From our knowledge of the man , we believe that what Bro . Binckes will most deeply appreciate is the

act of recognition , its completeness , and the heartiness with which , as we anticipate , it will be granted . Herein lies all that is valuable about a vote of approval , when it relates to a man ' s conduct in any capacity . The amount of an honorarium is purely of secondary consideration . Yet the

amount of the proposed gift will make a worthy donation , worthy alike of Bro . Binckes and of the School in whose name and on whose behalf it is presented . May Bro . Binckes have many more years of equally successful labour

before him ; and if ever declining years and health necessitate his retirement , may he , in his time of rest , enjoy , as he now enjoys , the esteem and respect of all his fellow Masons !

Mr. Frank Buckland's Last Words To The Public.

MR . FRANK BUCKLAND'S LAST WORDS TO THE PUBLIC .

WE need make no apology for quoting from the pages of Land and Water for last week the concluding paragraphs of the late Frank Buckland ' s Preface to the new edition , now being issued by the Society for

Promoting Christian Knowledge , of his well known work , " The Natural History of British Fishes . " As to the circumstances under which the said Preface was written , the Editor of our esteemed contemporary writes : —

" We can ourselves vouch for the fact that this preface was composed during the sleepless and suffering ; nights of the last few weeks , when Mr . Buckland , nnable to lie down in bed , had to sit upright , his head resting on a table in front of him . This was tho only position in which he conld breathe , and even then each breath was a

struggle . When morning came , he sent for Mr . Searle , his Secretary , and gasping out each word separately in a whisper , dictated the last pages with great effort . As will be seen by the date , he concluded the correction of the proofs two days before he died , when each hour

it was supposed would be his last . Truly , as thoso standing round him remarked , this was a triumph of mind over body . We think the public , for whom he laboured so faithfully , will value these last few words , when they reflect under what conditions they were composed and dictated . "

The following aro the paragraphs : — " I have another object in writing this book ; it is to endeavour to show the truth of the good old doctrines of the Bridgwater Treatises , which have so ably demonstrated the ' poiver , wisdom ,, and goodness of God , as manifested in the Creation . '

Of late years , the doctrines of so-cslled ' Evolution and ' Development' have seemingly gained ground amongst those interested in natural history ; but I have too much faith in the good sense and natural acumen of my fellow countrymen to think that these

tenets will be very long lived . To put matters very straight , I stedfastly believe that the Great Creator , as indeed we are directly told , made all things perfect and ' Very Good' from the beginning ; perfect and very good every created thing is now found to be , and will so continue to the end of

time . I am very willing to prove my case by holding a court at any time or place , before any nnmber of people of any class . I would empanel a jury of the most eminent and skilful railway and mechanical engineers , while the only witnesses I should call would be the fish

fres ; h from tho deep sea trawler , the Gity fish market , or the fishmonger ' s slab . I would adduce from them evidence of 'design , beauty , and order , ' as evinced in snch as the electric organs of the torpedo—the gun-lock spine of the file-fish—the water reservoirs and spectacles of the eel—the teeth of the gilthead , bream , and

throatteov . h of the carp , bream , & c . —the anchor of the lumpaucker and remora—the colouring of the perch and bleak—the iefchyophagonS tee ; , h of the pike , shark , and silvery hairtail—the tail of the fox shark—the prehensile lips of the dory and sprat—the nose of the barbel and dog-fish—the resplendence of tho Arctic gymnotrns and