The Approaching Elections.

Gloucestershire , Lincolnshire , Middlesex , Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire , Northumberland , North Wales , Somersetshire , Staffordshire , Suffolk , Warwick , and West Yorkshire . The other interested districts are Bengal , Dorset , Kent and Monmouthshire , each of which are concerned with others in a single case .

The election for the Boys' School will take place tbe following day , on Friday , 13 th prox ., when twenty-five candidates are to be elected from an approved list of forty-six . The lowest successful

candidate in April went in with a total of 2070 votes , while No . 9 , Francis Harry Wheeler , was unsuccessful with a record of 2023 . That was his first application , so that we may reasonably expect sufficient interest will be taken in him to ensure his admission next

month . He is one ot four children left to the care ol their mother , the widow of an old member of the Richmond Lodge , No . 2032 , London . No . 7 , Leonard Wilberforce Croft , is one of eight children dependent

on tne motner , and brings forward ibsu votes irom his first application in April . This is also a London case , the father having been initiated in St . Luke's Lodge , No . 144 , and subscribing thereto until his death , in 1892 . Other second application cases bring

forward votes aggregating 1388 , 1286 , 1159 , 270 and less respectively , while No . 6 on the list , Frederick Herbert Castle , has a record of 1374 , secured at the last two contests , and No . 1 , Benjamin Horace Good , who comes forward for the fourth time , has polled 1276 .

The complete list is made up ot 28 new cases , d fourth applications , 3 thirds ^ and 18 seconds . It includes three last application cases , as follows : No . 10 , John Barnes Walker , one of two children left to the care of their mother ; the father was an initiate of

the Royal Edward Lodge , No . 1088 , Cheshire , and subsequently joined Peveril of the Peak Lodge , No . 654 , Derbyshire . The lad brings forward 36 votes from the last contest . No . 28 , John Moor Brewis and No . 35 , John Alfred Wilson are the other last cases , and

they both now come forward for the first time . Hie former is one of two children dependent , the latter , one of six . The father of young Wilson was initiated in the Lebanon Lodge , No . 1326 , Middlesex , and was a most energetic worker on behalf of the Charities , for

which he served no less than nine Stewardships . He died in February of the present year , and we can but hope his family will reap an early reward for his zealous services to the Craft .

No . 25 , Albert George Milam , is the only case on the list where both parents are dead . He is one of two dependent children , and is accredited to the King Harold Lodge , No . 1327 , Hertfordshire , to which his father subscribed for upwards of eight years .

As in the case of the Girls' list London is largely interested in the coming contest , no lesa than 13 of the cases being accredited to metropolitan Lodges outright , while in two others London and Provincial Lodges share joint responsibility . Devonshire has

three candidates , West Lancashire two ot its own and two others in which it is jointly interested with other districts , Oxfordshire two cases of its own and one jointly with London , Norfolk and Worcestershire two each , Hampshire and the Isle of Wight one case of its

own and two others in which it is jointly interested , Dorset and Middlesex each one case of their own and interested with other districts in one other . The remaining cases are divided between Derbyshire , nernorusnire AentiNortn anci

. ussex , , jersey , , i ^ asr Yorkshire , Shropshire , South Wales ( Eastern Division ) , Suffolk , Sussex , West Yorkshire , the Eastern Archipelago and Western Australia , with one case

each , and Cheshire , Derbyshire and East Lancashire each jointly interested with other districts in single cases .

It is worthy of mention that on the Boys' list there is on this occasion a very good record of services

The Approaching Elections.

rendered by the candidates' fathers in the cause of Masonic Charity . We never by any means advocate a give and take principle in awarding the

benevolenes of Freemasonry , but all the same we feel that those who , in their time , did good service for our Charities should receive special consideration when the necessity arises for it .

Prov. Grand Lodge Of Cheshire.

PROV . GRAND LODGE OF CHESHIRE .

r jHHE nnnual meeting of tbo Provincial Grand Lodgo of JL Cheshire was held on Wednesday , tho 13 th infant , in Nanfcwich Town Hall . Lord Egerton of Tatton Prov . Grand Master presided , attended by Bro . his Hononr Sir Horatio Lloyd D . P . G . M ., J . Bodenham P . G . D . C . England

P . P . G . W . Staffordshire , Thomas Bowers P . P . G . S . W ., Colonel Wilkinson P . P . G . S . W ., J . Salmon P . P . G . W ., John Clayton P . P . G . W ., J . Cookson P . P . G . T ., Lance Bentley P . P . G . R ., Edwin G . Simpson P . P . G . D ., Herbert Finch P . P . G . R ., Thomas Lockitt P . P . G . S . D ., T . E . Gibson

P . P . G . Treasurer , and many other Past Officers , besides the following among Provincial Grand Officers whoso time was expiring : —Bros . T . C . Thorburn S . W ., Thomas Steele Sheldon J . W ., Rev . R . Hodgson Chaplain , Rev . T . T . Biggins Chaplain , Thomas Drinkwater Registrar , Robert

Head Treasurer , Richard Newhonse Secretary , T . H . Maddocks S . D ., Henry Smith J . D ., Thomas Bowers Supt . of Works , George H . Browno Director of Ceremonies , H . G . Small Deputy Director of Ceremonies , W . G . Cronan

Assistant Director of Ceremonies , John Lee Sword Bearer , Edward Furnival and Alex . Owen Standard Bearers , Herbert Ellis Organist . Among those from whom letters of apology had been received was Bro . the Hon . Alan de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., P . P . G . W .

The Auditors' report , whioh was passed , showed the balances in the bank at tho end of the year to be £ 61 9 a o » the Fund of General Purposep , and £ 117 lis lid on the

Fund of Benevolence . Bro . Salmon read the report of the Committee of Benevolence . It stated that the balance to the credit of the Provincial Fund of Benevolence at the last audit was

£ 137 14 s 4 d , and the receipts from all sources during the year had amounted to £ 1 ' 24 lis Id , makiug a total of £ 262 5 s 5 d . The expenditure had been £ 144 13 s 6 d , which left a balance in hand of £ 117 lis lid . The

expenditure during the year included a grant of 50 guineas made to the recently inaugurated local Charity , the Cheshire M sonic Benevolent Institution . Tho applications for relief on behalf of worthy and indigent brethren , their widows and children , had been more in number than

usual , but all were of a very deserving character , and no case was refused by the Committee . At the end of 1892 the accepted Cheshire candidates for the Royal Masonic Institutions that were before the Province were two boys . The Province was in January 1893 entitled to the

renewal of the perpetual presentation to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , in consequence of the last boy ' s time having expired . Accordingly a boy was presented and duly entered the school , but another boy , who was afterwards elected to the same Institution , was taken ill and

died beforo admission . As the Province had made a supreme effort in the inauguration of the Cheshire Masonic Benevolent Institution , its contribution to the London Charities had only been on a small scale , but the magnificent contribution to the new Institution added to

£ 300 5 s 6 d donated to tho Cheshire Educational Masonic Institution , and £ 63 to the London Institutions , made up a grand total of £ 3 , 007 14 s 6 d actually paid by Cheshire Freemasons in the cause of Charity during the year now

ended . The first annual report of the Cheshire Masonic Benevolent Institution was taken as read . It stated that tho inception of this new Institution might be traced back to the increased interest in charitable effort which was

mated throughout the Province by the amended charity organisation which came into operation three years ago . At tin : first mn ( t 0 ' of ( he newly organised Committee of Benuvo . ' encc , hold at Crewe , on 26 th November 1800 , thti

-uhj ct of an institution of this character was incidentally referred to iu a paper read by Bro . Herbert Finch P . P . G . Registrar . It was pointed out in ( his piper that t ! ie necessity for such an institution in the Province was