Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADKRS 313 Ashmole as a Freemason .. 3 u United Grand Lodge of England 314 Mark Grand Lodge 313 Consecration of the Matier Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners , No . 400 315 C ORRESPONDENCERoyal Masonic Institution for Bovs 317 The Grand Lodge of New South Wales 317 Election of Members for the Board of General Purposes 318 Reviews 3 lS Notes and Queries 31 S Fourth CityMasonic Benevolent Association 318 R IPORTS OF M ASONIC MIKTINOSCraft Masonry 318 Instruction 321 Roval Arch 322 Instruction 323 Mark Masonry 322 Knights Templar 322 Red Cross of Rome and Constantine 323 Allied Masonic Degrees 323 Order of the Secret Monitor 323

Straits Settlements , 3-3 Jamaica 3 H West Indies 3 * 4 Masonic Service at Beswick , Manchester 334 Presentation to Bro . Metham , P . Prov . D . G . M . Devon 324 A Masonic Lodge held " Al Fresco " 335 Dedication of a New Masonic Hall at Monkwearmouth 325 - The Poet Burns 3 * 5 The late Bro . Col . W . A . Adair 323 Carnarvon Lodge , No . 1372 , and the Boys ' School 33 5 Fit for Freemasonry 333 United Northern Counties Lodge , No . 2128 336 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 326 The Province of Staffordshire 336 Ireland 326 Presentation to Bro . Samuel Smither , W . M . 193 336 Theatres 336 Obituary 337 Masonic and General Tidings 338 Lodge Meetings for Next Week iv .

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United THERE is a very fair programme of business to be transacted Grand Lodge . at the g uarter ] y Communication of United Grand Lodge on Wednesday next , the 5 th instant . There will , in the first place , be a communication from the M . W . GRAND MASTER , in which his Royal Highness will recommend the recognition of the newly constituted United Grand Lodge of Victoria , and as there cannot be the slightest doubt that the said

Grand Lodge has been established in accordance with Masonic law , so far as there is any recognised general law on the subject , and with the practically unanimous consent of the lodges and brethren under the various Constitutions hitherto existing in the Colony , we may reasonably assume that the recommendation will be adopted . Subsequent to this , there will be

an election of brethren to serve on the Board of General Purposes and the Colonial Board , as well as of a Grand Lodge Auditor , and of a section of the Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . The Reports of the Boards of Benevolence and General Purposes will be submitted , and also the Annual Report of the Royal Masonic Benevolent

Institution , but we are not aware of anything in these Reports which is calculated to evoke discussion . The number of lodges for which warrants have been granted by the M . W . G . M . since the Quarterly Communication in

March is stated to be nine , two having been granted for London , three for the Provinces ( Bucks , Kent , and Shropshire ) , and four for the Colonies and Possessions abroad ( one for Bombay , one for Queensland , and two for Victoria ) .

* * The Approach- ^ arrangements , so far as it is possible for them to be t ^ s Festival of made , for the 91 st Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic ys c 00 . jnstitutipn for Boys have now been settled . Bro . R . EVE , P-G . Treasurer , and a Patron of all three Institutions , has undertaken to

preside as Chairman , and the Festival itself will be held at the Alexandra Palace on Wednesday , the 3 rd July . The Board of Stewards already musters upwards of 300 brethren , the representation of London and the Provinces being provided for in about the usual proportions , and there is ample time in the five weeks that are still available for a further and

substantial increase in the number of those who are prepared to act as canvassers whenever a more than usually pressing need can be shown for their services in that capacity . That this need exists at the present time there cannot be the shadow of a doubt . There are 260 boys on the establishment at Wood Green , and the cost of maintaining , educating , and clothing them

amounts to between £ 11 . oooand ^ 12 , 000 . The permanentincomeisonly about j 6 ° oo , and , therefore , the Institution is under the necessity of relying for the u k of its ways and means on the proceeds of its Anniversary Festival . ' 1 last year this reliance was not in vain , but in 1888 , owing to the overwhelming attractions of the Girls' School Centenary , the Festival receiots

th -e School amounted to less than £ 8700 , or about three-fourths of the quired sum . Thus , in order to restore the equilibrium between receipts " expenditure , and afford the Institution a fresh and encouraging start , proceeds of the Anniversary which is now so rapidly approaching should ain to a minimum of £ 14 , , or thereabouts ; and the question which is a ° exer cising the minds of the brethren is—Will this sum , or anything th r ° tIlis sum ' ' f ° rthcoming ? The appearances are favourable—- > s to say , there is a good Chairman , and a pretty numerous Board of du There has been no heavy drain on the resources of the Craft was rf P resent year > and the Girls' School authorities , in face of what of th ° '' '" ^ ' ^ cons'derately refrained from pressing the claims reco - . titutio 1 : 1 > in order that the Boys' School might have the chance of should U 1 ^ 'tS ' ° St S rou"d . Therefore , under ordinary circumstances , we PUrp 0- the latter would experience little or no difficulty in achieving its A Q S ' . ut ' "" fortunately , the circumstances are the reverse of ordinary . 01 the " s 'l ! 66 °£ Inquiry int 0 the discipline , expenditure , and management deliver rf ° WaS a PP ointed in J < l 888 and ils Report , which was ea at the Quarterly General Court , held on the 26 th April last , is

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most unfavourable as regards [ the management and expenditure . A Special Courtof Governors and Subscribers has been summoned for Thursday , the 6 th inst ., when no doubt the Committee ' s recommendations will be duly and impartially considered . It is impossible to determine beforehand what course this Special Court may see fit to adopt , but whether it resolves on accepting the recommendations of the Committee and giving effect to them , or on adopting measures of its own which it may consider preferable , in either case a period of time must elapse before the government of the Boys ' School can be again brought into proper working order . In the meanwhile there is the establishment of 260 boys at Wood Green to be provided for , and that cannot be done under any circumstances unless the necessary supplies are forthcoming , or , in other words , unless the approaching Festival is p far arMrpr Qiirrpqt ; Irian wai tVi p Pp ^ rival nf last vpar . Tt mav or lfc « — & — »— — *— . —

. - - —~ .... ... .. . _ , -- --- _ , may not be wise or expedient that certain measures for the future management of the School should be adopted in preference to certain other measures—that is a matter of opinion ; but the School itself and the obligation which the Craft of England has entered into to maintain it are a fact , which cannot be got rid of . The management may remain in the same hands , but under a new code of regulations , or it may be entrusted to other hands under the existing- or a new code—that , as we have said , is a

question which it will take time to settle ; but the 260 boys , who are to be fed , clothed , and educated at the expense of the Craft , remain always . We therefore exhort our readers to keep the Festival and the differences about government and officials as separate and distinct from one another as possible , so that , whatever may be the result of the impending contest between the Committees and the officials on the one hand , and their opponents on the other , the resources of the Institution—the supplies on which it is almost entirely dependent for the means with which to discharge its appointed duties—may remain undiminished .

# Centenary A SPECIAL General Court of Governors and Subscribers to the SchTme— R ° ya ' Masonic Institution for Girls was held at Freemasons ' R . M . I . G . Hall on Thursday , the 30 th ult ., for the purpose of confirming the resolution adopted , at the Special General Court on the 16 th ult ,, authorising the expenditure of £ 31 , 000 , in order to carry out the Centenary Memorial Scheme , as recently revised and extended . The necessary confirmation was passed without a dissentient voice , and the Building Com . mittee will , therefore , at once set abo ut the task entrusted to them .

Bro # WE congratulate the Supreme Council 33 A . and A . Rite F . Richardson on their selection of Bro . FRANK RICHARDSON , and Bro . FRANK and the RICHARDSON himself , on having been selected to fill the office of Grand Captain of Guards , rendered vacant by the lamented death of Bro . Colonel ADAIR . Bro . RICHARDSON is one of the ablest and most active Masons of our day , and the news that he has been appointed a member of the Supreme Council of this branch of our Society will be received everywhere with satisfaction . *

The Carnarvon WE must protest against the course that has been adopted by L anf the ' Boy »^ tnose members of the Carnarvon Lodge , No . 1572 , who are School . Subscribers to the Masonic Boys' School . It seems that the . W . M . of the lodge was some time since " appointed "—whether by the members generally or by the aforesaid Subscribers only is not stated—to act as Steward at the coming Festival of the Institution . " Under present circumstances , " however , he has seen fit to withdraw from his Stewardship , and the Subscribers have not only endorsed his action with their approval ,

but have likewise resolved , among other things , "that under present circumstances of the School no subscriptions should be paid to it . " We consider this the very height of midsummer madness . A wise man does not set about repairing his house by pulling it about his ears . On the contrary , he takes counsel with himself , and probably also with some experienced architect , and when they have ascertained the defects which have rendered his house less convenient as a residence than

he had expected it would be , he has these defects remedied . So in this case of the Boys' School , " under present circumstances . " A Committee has reported that its management is faulty , and its expenditure has been extravagant , and next week it will be the duty of a Special Court of Governors to confirm or non-confirm this Report , and , in the event of confirmation , to determine what measures

shall be taken with a view to curing the taultiness ana extravagance which the Committee of Inquiry is of opinion exists in the conduct of the Institution . But . to suggest an entire stoppage of supplies until a cure has been effected is tantamount to suggesting that the Institution must be closed until it is set in order . This is utterly monstrous . What is now needed is a remedy for the disease with which the PHILBRICK Committee says the Institution is afflicted , but the remedy which the Carnarvon Lodge would have us adopt will kill , not cure , the patient .