Christmas Holiday Arrangements.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS .

Great Western Railway Company . THIS Company will issue tickets of all classes at the following City and West End offices : 193 and 407 Oxford Street ; 23 New Oxford Street ; 4 Holborn Circus ; 29 Charing Cross * , 17 Brompton Road ; 5 Arthur Street East , London Bridge ; 82 Queen Victoria Street ; 269 Strand ; Minories ( opposite Goodman ' s Yard ); 137

Borough High Street , Nag ' s Head Yard ; 26 Regent Street ; 67 Gresham Street * , 4 Cheapside ; 181 Tottenham Court Road ; Cambridge Circus , Shaftesbury Avenue ; The Piazza , Covent Garden Market ; and the L . B . & S . C . Company ' s Booking Office ( under Grand Hotel ) , Trafalgar Square . This arrangement cannot fail to be a boon to those travellers who desire to avoid the trouble of

obtaining tickets at a Railway Station . The Booking Office at the Paddington Station will be open for the issue of tickets tho whole of each day during the week preceding Christmas day . Ordinary tickets obtained in London between 18 th and 24 th December will be available for use on any day

between and including those days . Cheap Third class tickets at reduced fares will be issued from London to the Yeovil and Weymouth districts , to stations in the West of England , and to Guernsey and Jersey ; similar tickets will also be issued from those districts to London ( except the Channel Islands ) .

On Saturday Night , 22 nd December , Cheap Excursions will be run from Paddington at 11 * 10 p . m . for Bath and Bristol ; at 11 * 40 p . m . for Oxford , Worcester , Malvern , Hereford , Banbury , Leamington , Warwick , Birmingham , Wolverhampton , Shrewsbury , Aberystwyth , Oswestry , Barmouth , Chester , Birkenhead , Liverpool , & c , and at 12 * 40 a . m . ( Sunday Morning ) for Gloucester , Cheltenham , Newport , Cardiff , New Miiford , & c .

In order to meet the extraordinary demands upon the Company ' s resources occasioned by the enormous parcel traffic despatched both from and to London at Christmas timo , special fast trains carrying parcels only , and calling at tbo principal intermediate stations , will run between London and Plymouth , Birkenhead , Worcester and New Miiford .

On Saturday , 22 nd December and Monday , 24 tn December , the 5 * 0 p . m . and 12 * 15 Midnight trains from Paddington to Plymouth will be extended to Falmouth and Penzance ; and the 6 * 20 p . m . train from Paddington to Bristol will run to Exeter . On Monday , 24 th December , a special train will leave Paddington afc 10 * 0 p . m . for Now Miiford , and will call at the same stations as the 9 * 15 p . m . ordinary train . A special express to Reading , Gloucester , Cheltenham , Newport , Cardiff , Swansea , & c , will depart at 11 * 50 p . m .

Tho 12 * 15 Midnight ( Christmas Morning ) fast train from Paddington to Oxford , will be extended to Wolverhampton , and convey passengers to Banbury , Leamington , Warwick , Birmingham , & o . The usual Sunday service of trains will be run on Christmas day , but for the convenience of persons who aro unable to leave town before tho morning of Christmas day , the 5 * 30 a . m . train

from Paddington will run as on week days to Oxford , Bristol , Weston-super-Mare , Worcester , Banbury , Leamington , Birmingham , Dudley , and Wolverhampton . The trains will connect at Bathampton with the 8 * 57 a . m . train , thence to Frome , Yeovil , Dorchester , Weymouth , & c . The 12 * 15 Midnight fast train from Paddington to Oxford and Plymouth will be run at the usual times .

o o o London and North Western Railway . THIS Company announce that the Ticket Offices at Euston , Broad Street , Kensington , and Willesden Junction will be

open throughout , the day , from Monday , 17 th December , to Monday , 24 th December inclusive , so that Passengers wishing to obtain tickets for any destination on the London and North Western Railway can do so at any time of the day prior to the starting of the train .

Tickets , dated to suit the convenience of Passengers , can be obtained at any timo ( Sundays and Bank Holidays excepted ) afc any of the Town Receiving Offices of the Company , which are to be found in all parts of the metropolis . The ordinary service of express and mail trains will be supplemented by additional express trains as named below : —On

Saturday , 22 nd December , a special tram will leave Willesden Junction at 2 * 55 p . m . for Bletchley , . Wolverton , Rugby , principal stations on the Trent Valley Line , and Stafford , in advance of tho 2 * 45 p . m . ordinary train from London ( Euston ) . The 4 . 30 p . m . Euston to Birmingham will be divided—the first portion , which will run express to Coventry and Birmingham , will leave Euston

at 4 * 25 p . m . ; the second portion of the train will leave Euston at 4-30 p . m . as usual , and convey passengers for Northampton , Market Harboro' , Wellingboro' , Rugby , Coventry , Birmingham , Walsall , Dudley and Wolverhampton . On Monday , 24 th December th « night Irish mail due to leave Euston 8 * 20 p . m ., will not leave

until 9 * 5 p . m . The mail steamer for Kingstown will wait the arrival of the train at Holyhead . The 12 * 0 night train from London ( Euston ) , due at Warrington at 5 * 15 a . m . on Tuesday , 25 th December , will be extended from Warrington to Kendal and Carlisle as on ordinary week days .

On Christmas Day , a Special Train will leave Euston at 6 * 15 a . m . for Northampton , Rugby , Birmingham , Stafford , Crewe , Manchester , Liverpool , Chester , Ireland , Lancaster , Preston , Carlisle , Edinburgh , Glasgow , & c . The ordinary Sunday service of trains will be run . On Bank Holiday , Wednesday , 26 th December , the Express Trains usually leaving London ( Euston ) at 12 * 0 noon and

4 * 0 p . m . will not be run , passengers will be conveyed by the 12 * 10 and 4 * 10 p . m . trains respectively . The 4 * 30 p . m ., London ( Euston ) to Birmingham and Wolverhampton , will also be discontinued , and passengers will be conveyed by tho 5 . 0 p . m . train , except those for Sfarket Harboro' , Melton Mowbray , Nottingham , Wellingboro ' , & c . who will travel by the 3 * 15 p . m . train from Euston . The 8 * 10 p . m .

Christmas Holiday Arrangements.

Euston to Northampton will nofc be run . Numerous residential trains will not run , particulars of which can be ascertained on reference to the Company ' s local notices . The Up and Down Dining Saloons between London , Liverpool , and Manchester will not be run on Bank Holiday , but the Corridor Dining Car Traina between London and Edinburgh and Glasgow will be run as usual .

The Company also announce cheap excursions to Coventry , Leamington , Birmingham , South Staffordshire Stations , Wolverhampton , Nuneaton , Liverpool , Warrington , Lancaster , tha English Lake District , Manchester , Oldham , Stoke , Chester , North and South Wales , and the Cambrian Line , Shrewsbury , Carlisle , Scotland , Ireland , & c . For full particulars see special notices .

Royal Aquarium . —Mr . J . Ritchie , Chairman and Managing Director , promises his Christmas visitors the biggest bill of attractions yet put forward . The performances aro to commence afc 10 am ., and will embrace every known form of varieties , The

programme is a yard and half long , wifch upwards of one hundred turns . The list is a long one , and nearly all the artistes are exclusively engaged at the Aquarium . The great Morritt , late of Prince ' s Hall , premier illusionist and conjuror , is specially and exclusively retained by the Aquarium Management .

The Musical World has been looking forward with a very considerable amount of interest to the Exhibition of matters connected with the art that " soothes the savage breast , " which opened at the Royal Aquarium on tho 12 th inst . The Main Hall has been devoted entirely to trade Exhibits , whilst the Loan

Collection is placed in the spacious Galleries . It is this latter which will doubtless excite the greater attention amongst musicians , for it has been so arranged that it is possible to trace the evolution of our modern musical instruments at a glance , tha

various exhibits being classified and arranged in chronological order and according to their varieties . The catalogue is admirable , and contains an enormous amount of information , written in an agreeable style .

THE Directors of Spiers and Pond Limited announce that the Share Transfer Books will be closed from the 17 th to the 31 st inst ., both inclusive , for tho purpose of preparing Dividend Warrants for the second Instalment o £ four shillings por share , less Incomo Tax , making eight shillings per share paid on account of the Dividend for the year ending 31 st March 1895 .

Opinions On Scottish Masonry.

OPINIONS ON SCOTTISH MASONRY .

THE following letters have appeared in our northern contemporary , the " Glasgow Evening News . " SIB , —As a Mark Master Mason I am exceedingly annoyed at the low state to which Masonry in general has fallen . Only the other day I learned from a Brother that a lady friend was in a position to inform him all the rites and ceremonies in connection with the third degree , and was also able to give him fche passwords

in all degrees . I infer she got them from her sweetheart , but all the same is it not scandalous that such should be ? The fact is , young men are initiated who have no real conception of our Order , and until someone is made to pay the penalty of his obligation such things will nofc cease . I am , & c , MASON .

o o o SIR , —Although ifc is not customary to ventilate Masonic grievances in a public paper , I cannot refrain from a few remarks on a letter appearing in your columns of the 4 th inst . " Mason " says , and says truly , that a number of men are now admitted who

care nothing for , and show nothing of , the real purpose and grand beauties of the beloved Order . Their entrance is due to the pernicious system of touting , a hideous and un-Masonic device to swell the numbers of a Lodge . What is the result ? Why , persons of fcho type referred to by " Mason . " I have been in many quarters

of the globe , and everywhere I observed the same blight in Scottish Freemasonry—a low class of men induced by the touting system . In the colonies a Scottish Freemason too frequently is an alias for " shady character . " Alas , that I should have to say so , but the pity is 'tis true . Until Grand Lodge makes a determined stand , so long

will touting endure , and so long will " knife and fork " Freemasons flourish to the detriment of the Craffc and fche increase of perjured homunculi . I am , & c , DISGUSTED , 5 th December 1894 .

o o o SIB , — " Mason " must know , as most Brethren who have bean " made " for six months do , that the " secrets " have been in print since 1835 , if not before . In fact , fche existence and success of fche Order do nofc depend on tho " secrets , " but on the indisputable fact that its principles are above reproach , and , if carried into practice , would do not only the Brethren bufc the world an immense amount

of good . " Mason" should also know that no honourable man would seek to benefit by a knowledge of the , " secrets , " or seek admission to a Lodge unless ho had been legitimately initiated . I hope the time is immeasurably distant when " Mason ' s" bloodthirsty suggestion will be carried into effect in this or any other country . He is at heart no Mason . I am , & c , P . M .