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namely : Bedfordshire ( five lodges ) , which , however , has been represented at two out of the three Festivals that have been held since it was erected into a Province towards ( he close of last year—that is to say , at the Benevolent in February , when it raised £ 53 ( 2 s , and at the Girls' Festival in May , when it was still more successful , and gave £ 134 13 s . : Devonshire ( 50 lodges ) , which sent up a Steward or Stewards both in February and May ,

while to go no farther back than 18 S 5 it raised-in that year ^ , 28 9 for this Institution , and £ 135 for the Benevolent ; and Dorsetshire ( 13 lodges ) , which , not unnaturally , considers it is entitled to some respite after distributing over £ 323 between the other two Institutions . Last year it helped the two Schools , and in 18 S 4 it returned a Steward to the Benevolent Institution—in short , it takes its share of the responsibility of supporting our

Charities with a liberal margin over for unforeseen contingencies . Herefordshire ( four lodges ) contributed close on £ 75 to the Girls' School in May last , and when it has greater confidence in its ability to give help on these occasions it will , no doubt , appear more frequently in our Festival returns . North Hants and Hunts ( 10 lodges ) , which has figured regularly as an absentee since June , 1884 , when it raised £ 215 for this Institution , was in

the same predicament on Wednesday . Northumberland ( 21 lodges ) , by the hands of its worthy Prov . G . Secretary , Bro . B . J . Thompson , compiled the very large total of £ 906 for the Girls' in May , and in 18 S 3 it helped Bro . Binckes to score his greatest success by contributing towards his list , and by the hands of the same Bro . Thompson , the very substantial total of £ 1222 . Last year , too , it swelled his returns wilh close on £ 163 , so

that , if it does not enter an appearance regularly , it does so very effectively on occasions , as if it preferred concentrating its efforts on a few Festivals , and then having an interval of rest . Of course , there is no need to be surprised at the absence of Shropshire ( 10 lodges ) , seeing that it will need all its strength in May , 1 SS 7 , when Sir Offley Wakeman , its Provincial Grand Master , presides at the 99 th

Festival of the Girls' School . It has been represented once since its establishment as a separate province , and when conjoined with North Wales , under the late Sir W . Williams-Wynn , it honourably bore its share of the burden of our Institutions . As regards jersey ( eight lodges ) , tnough it has had no part in this year's celebrations , it figured among the supporters

of the Benevolent in 1885 , and among ( hose of the Boys' School in 1 SS 3 . The Isle of Man ( five lodges ) will always be a welcome contributor ; but , as , owing to its distance , it seems to be outside the sphere of anniversary influences , we do not appear to look for its presence , and are not disappointed by its absence . The contributing Provinces are headed as usual—that is , as they used to be before Bedfordshire appeared amongst them—by

BERKS AND BUCKS , The total of its five Stewards' lists being , £ 199 ios . The Abbey Lodge , No . 945 , takes the place of honour with £ 59 17 s ., and the Union , No . 414 , Reading , stands next with £ " 55 13 s ., the Buckingham Lodge , No . 591 , Aylesbury , Bucks , being a good third with £ 47 5 s . In February four of its lodges raised £ 159 l is . 6 d ., and in May three lodges made up a sum cf

£ 228 Ss ., the total lor the whole year being £ 587 6 s . fid . One thing we notice about the Returns for the current year is that the represented lodges have figured at one Festival only , and consequently this £ 587 and a fraction has been compiled by 12 out of the 21 lodges on the roll of ihe Province . Last year the aggregate for the three Festivals was , in round figures , £ 590 ; in 1884 it stood at £ 453 ; in 1 S 83 , 31 X 472 ; and in 1882 , at £ 620 ; s 0 that

in the last five years Berks and Bucks has contributed moneys amounting to mere than £ 2700 . BRISTOL , With one of its eight lodges represented by Bro . Purnell , gives £ 26 5 s ., in addition to £ ^ 145 19 s . for the Girls' School in May , and £ 318 ios . for the Benevolent in F ' ebruary , making the total for the year £ 49 ° 14 s ., or an average per lodge of upwards of £ 61 . This is an immense increase upon its 1 S 85 record , when it gave the Benevolent £ 59 us ., and the Boys '

£ 115 ios ., or together £ 175 is . ; while in 1884 it contented itself with £ 293 11 s . to the Benevolent , and the year previous wilh about £ 217 to the same Institution . It is worthy of mention that Bro . Purnell has acted as Steward singly , or in conjunction with other brethren , at six out of the seven Festivals in which during these four years his Province of Bristol has taken part , the Girls' School Anniversary in May being the only one in which he has not lent a helping hand . There is no doubt that

CAMBRIDGESHIRE , Though it has a small array of only six lodges , is working tremendously hard , and with very great success , for our Charities . Its total for the current year is no less than " £ 547 5 s ., made up as follows : At the Benevolent Festival in February , £ 143 ; at that of the Girls' School in May , £ 273 ; and on Wednesday , £ 131 5 s . Last year it confined its efforts to the Royal in

Masonic Benevolent Institution , and raised for it ^ iofi us . 6 d . ; 1884 the Boys' School had its support to the extent of £ 174 6 s ., and the year previous the Girls' School was favoured to the extent of £ ^ 128 . Thus , instead of helping one Institution a year , turn and turn about , it has this year helped all three , and , what is still more creditable , its contributions in 1886 are more by some £ 130 than thev amounted to for llie vears ISS-J - I- *

put together . Our light blue friends deserve almost infinite kudos for this change of policy , and if they continue thus , as we hope they will , even Provinces that are considerably stronger will have to look to their laurels . CHESHIRE Has two of its 38 lodges represented in Wednesday ' s Returns , their joint contributions amounting to £ 47 5 s ., the De Tabley Lodge , No . 941 , Knutsford , figuring for £ ' 36 15 s ., raised by Bro . Wildgoose , and the Zetland

, No . 537 , Birkenhead , for £ 10 ios ., its representative being Bro . G . H . Brown , P . G . A . D . C . In May three lodges , the Zetland being one of them , and Bro . Brown being one of its Stewards , raised £ 78 15 s . ; and in February its total was £ 154 12 s ., the Zetland being again one of the three represented lod ges . This raises the total for 1 S 86 lo £ 280 12 s . as against £ 387 us . last year , and £ 680 in 1 SS 4 . These would be but poor returns tor so considerable a Province , were it not that it has an Educational Institute of its own of longstanding and approved merit .

I here can be no question that , under the able and persistent efforts of such men as Bros . Controller Bake , Charles Truscott , and some others , the Province of CORNWALL Has been doing admirable work for some time past . There is rarely a festival but it takes some part in it , while in the majority of cases its support is not only large-hearted , but substantial likewise . It commenced operations in 1 ebruary , under Bro . Bake , who put together a list of £ 152 53 ., and in Aiay the same worthy brother had a hand in the Girls' Festival , the amount ol his contribution being £ 31 ios . Cn Wednesday Bro . C , Truscott tried

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

what he could do , as he has tried on many previous occasions , and as on those previous occasions he tried very successfully , the sum of his figures being £ 250 , sothatduring thepresentyearthis Province has distributed amongst our Charities £ 433 'S - Last year Bro . Truscott raised over £ 400 for the Girls ' and Benevolent Institution , so that he has the satisfaction of having lent a helping hand—and a strong one , too—to all our Institutions . Wc trust he has many similar successes awaiting him in the future . In our Analysis of the Girls' School Festival , in May , we remarked that it was desirable the Province of

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND , With its 21 lodges , should give evidence of its continued vitality by again entering an appearance in these Festival Returns . We are glad to see it has itself arrived at this conclusion , and that its two Stewards , of whom Bro . Geo . J . McKay , Provincial Grand Secretary , was one . between them raised the very handsome sum of £ 500 . This will go a long way towards

restoring it to its old footing as compared with other Provinces of about equal strength , as , with the exception of two contributions Inst year , amounting together to close on £ ^ 103 , and pretty impartially divided between the Benevolent and the Boys * School , it has not shown up since its memorable effort at the Festival of this Institution in 18 S 3 , when it compiled the fine total of

£ 1050 . This gives it an average of about £ 400 per annum during the quadrennial period , 1883-6 , which , having regard toils being an agricultural rather than a commercial district , is very creditable . We must congratulate Bro . McKay , who has raised the lion ' s share of the four years' total , on this further triumph of his energy as a Festival Steward . Two of the 21 lodges of

DERBYSHIRE Appear in the list of Wednesday—the Royal Sussex , No . 353 , Winshill , which contributes per Bro . J . Cooper Webb £ 48 6 s ., and the Lodge of Repose , No . 802 , Derby , whose representative , Bro . Edwin Belfield , handed in a list of , £ 27 iSs . 6 d ., making the total £ 7 6 4 s . fid . In May two other lodges—Nos . 10 S 5 and 1688- —raised £ 37 ios . 6 d ., and in February

Bro . J . E . Harrison , acting lor No . 1235 , raised £ 63 , making the total for the current year £ 17 6 15 s ., which , after the grand contribution of , £ 1546 17 s . at the Boys' Festival last year , when the Marquis of Harlington , who is Grand Master of the Province , acted as Chairman , is the more welcome , because it might have claimed a generous measure of indulgence during the year 1 SS 6 . However , it is in keeping with most people ' s

experience that those who work hardest are most in love with hard work , and so with our labours of love in Masonry , those pursue them most eagerly on whom the greatest share of them devolves . Derbyshire has invariably shown well on these occasions , and the more it has of our Festival work , the more desirous it seems of undertaking it . We could wish the Returns that are credited to

DURHAM Were somewhat , heavier , and as it has 31 lodges on its roll , it might venture on the experiment and see if the idea might not be carried . It deserves great credit for the regularity of its contributions , and on Wednesday , Bro . C . D . Hill-Drury , who was no doubt influenced to the step through being a Norfolk as well as a Durham brother , entered a list of £ 63 its previous

con-, tiibutions for the year being £ io 5 per Bro . Hans B . Olsen , to the Benevolent Fund ; and £ 68 5 s . to the Girls' School , the total for the j ear being £ 236 5 s . This is slightly in excess of what it did in 1 S 85 , but considerably below the total of its performances in the previous year , when its aggregate was within a fraction of £ 452 . We can hardly realise what a Table of Stewards' Returns would bs like if

ESSEX Or some of its 24 lodges were not included in it . With a few exceptions , its lodges are held in places of comparatively small importance . Yet it always makes a very good show at our anniversary meetings , and every now and then takes quite a foremost place among our contributing provinces . This year , for instance , it had already raised £ 115 3 s . fid . for the Benevolent

and £ 245 14 s . for the Girls' School , when on Wednesday six of its lodges , represented by seven Stewards amongst them contributed a further amount ° f £ 3 - 6 d ., giving a total for the year of £ ' 593 . Last year it raised £ 45 6 13 s . 6 d . for the Benevolent Institution , £ 86 2 s . for the Girls ' School , and £ ' 253 for the Boys' School , or together £ 79 = ; 15 s . 6 d . ; while in

1884 , when its Prov . Grand Master took the chair at the Girls' Festival , its subscriptions to the three Charities amounted to £ 1546 17 s . 6 d ., of which £ 1000 very properly passed into the Girls'School coffers , and in 1 S 83 its total , distributed in like manner among all three Charities , was , in round figures , £ 490 . This gives a result for the last four years of £ 3425 13 s ., or an average per year of £ S 6 i 5 s . Well done , Essex !

GLOUCESTERSHIRE And its 14 lodges have done capitally this year . Its figure in February last was a small one , only £ 39 18 s . all told , but at the Girls' Festival in May , though only three of its lodges were represented and one of its five Stewards placed his personal contribution on the list of a brother Steward , it was entered for £ 222 12 s . On Wednesday , three brethren , acting for as many

lodges , compiled amongst them £ 133 is . fid . This raises the sum for the year t 0 £ 395 Is - Gd . which , following upon its £ 1247 Ss . 6 d . in 18 S 5 , when its Prov . Grand Master , R . W . Bro . Sir M . E . Hicks-Beach , Bart ., M . P ., occupied the chair at the Benevolent , and its contributions exceeded . £ 1210 , speaks well for the large-hearted generosity of the Province . In 1884 it subscribed over £ 600 , in 1883 some £ 850 , in 1882 , £ 548 , and in 1881 , when its chief

won his spurs as a Masonic Festival chairman , £ 1547 , the Girls' School , for which he presided , receiving £ ' 1000 . This gives a grand total for the last six years of some £ 5 190 , or an average of more than £ 86 5 per year . Yet the number of lodges on its roll is only 14 . It strikes us there must be a splendid amount of energy and goodwill in this part of the country . The next stage brings us to

HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT , Whose lodges—42 in number—are as generous in supporting our Institutions as thev are regular in sending up Stewards and impartial in the distribution of their moneys . On Wednesday seven of its lodgss were represented , two of them—the Royal Gloucester , No . 130 , and the Clausenturn , No . 1461—by Bro . George J . Tilling , and the other five each by a separate Steward . The total £ 496 15 s . 6 d ., must beset down as a good one ,

even for so strong a province as this , its previous contributions during vhe current year having been £ 142 5 s . to the Benevolent Institution in February , and £ 177 5 s . for the Girls' in May , raising the total for 1886 to £ 816 5 s . 6 d . Last year it contributed altogether £ 1025 6 s . Sd ., of which the Benevolent was fortunate enough to secure £ 550 14 s . 8 d ., while the Girls' received . £ 240 7 s ., and the Boys' £ 234 53 . In 188 4 it raised £ 'iiSo ios . 6 d ., and in 1883 something like £ 1832 , making £ 4834 for the quadrennial , or an