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Anwers To Correspondents.

Anwers to Correspondents .

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Thc following stand over : — Letters from "R . W . O . ; - ' J . II . Jukes ; D . W . Finney , P . M . ; " A Quotation ; " Reports of Prov . G . L . of Northumberland ; Prov . G . L . Sussex ; Prov . G . L . Cumberland and Westmoreland ; Lodges 442 , 14 . 1 8 1 V .. C-, Lodge 437 ; Chapter 73 , S . C . ; Prov . G . L . of Aberdeenshire , East ;

Masonic Banquet lo Bro . Banlee ; The Freemasons and the Railway Jubilee ; Freemasonry in Tasmania ; Thoughts on a Summer Sea , Bro . E . Holmes ; Presentation to Bro . J . W . Fowler at Liverpool ; Munificence of distinguished West Lancashire Brethren ; Masonic Ceremony at Largs ; Masonic Club in Glasgow .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , OCT . 9 , 187 < .

Our Royal Grand Master's Visit To India.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER'S VISIT TO INDIA .

There is " nothing new under the sun , ' we know , and we equally have to realize every now and then , that there is nothing reliable in the current news of the hour . The " Times " having g iven a most elaborate list of the daily movements of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales in India ,

and which appeared in the last " Freemason , " turns round quietly to-day , and offers us the following laconic " Communique . " " We are authorized to state that none of the programmes which have lately appeared regarding his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales ' s Indian tour are accurate in their details . In

fact , beyond Calcutta , nothing is settled , except that His Royal Hi ghness will go up country , probably as . far as Jummoo , visiting the Camp of Exercise at Delhi , and some of the native capitals of Northern and Central India . " This almost puts us in mind of a Delphic

oracular announcement , but we have thought it well to lay it before our readers . We shall not fail to communicate ourselves from time to time all the official and reliable information we can obtain of the expedition , which has such

interest for our great English people , and not the least for our Masonic confraternity . May all of health and happiness attend upon our Royal Grand Master in his most interesting and important journey ings .

The Extension Of The Girls School.

THE EXTENSION OF THE GIRLS SCHOOL .

There is " a tide in the affairs of men , " we are assured on great authority , and it seems that such a turn has taken place in the position and prospect of our Girls' School , that an extension of its educational good work is actually neetled . Three plans so far arc before us . The first comes

from our worthy and well-known Bro . Joshua Nunn , and is very simple and straightforward . The following is his motion , to be submitted to the Quarterly Court : — "With a view to enable the Institution to accommodate a greater number of children , found necessary by the increase of

applications ( four-fifths of the applicants at the next election cannot be admitted for want of room ) , and the vastly extending growth of the Craft generally , with the circumstance that space cannot be obtained on the limited site of the present school , as it is so hemmed in by railway

lines and buildings , and which at no distant period will be required ( or partially so ) for increased railway accommodation that year by year has extended since the school has been at Wandsworth . That , a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand pounds (__ * 35 , 000 ) be expended out of

the funds of the Institution in the purchase of land , and the erection of a suitable school-house and buildings , to educate and support two hundred children , and to be so arranged that in the event of the existing school being removed , space be found for extending the same , so as to

contain all the children under one roof . " By this motion if carried , our brethren will see that £ 2 . 5 , 000 is to be spent on a new site and school for 200 children , in addition to the existing number of children , thus making , when the existing school is removed , the number of inmates

3 *; o . Whether 350 cnildren can be accommodated with all the new requirements of educational establishments for , £ 25 , 000 , which sum is to include the purchase of the site , is , we think , prima facie a little questionable . But that is of course a matter of arrangement and detail . Bro .

Joshua Nunn reckons on a large sum for the present school-house and land , when sold , but , as we understand , does not at present contemplate either the sale or the removal ofthe existing school buildings . Bro . J . A . Rucker proposes : —ist . " That in the opinion of this Committee it is

advisable that arrangements be made for the admission of an increased number of children to the benefits ofthe institution ; " and 2 ndly . "That thisCommittee recommend that a Sub-Committee consisting of nine members , of whom not less than four shall be members of the House

Committee , together with the Treasurer and Trustees of the Institution , be appointed , three to form a quorum , to consider and report to the General Court on the arrangements to be made for the admission of from thirty to fifty more children to the benefits of the Institution that in case of

need a Special General Court be summoned to receive such report , and that such report be read for information at any House Committee or General Committee that may meet between the completion ofthe report and the meeting of the ( Quarterly or Special ) General Court . " The

way in which Bro . Rucker proposes to give practical effect to these resolutions is , as we understand , to expend £ 10 , 000 , and erect a preparatory school , from which the girls will be drafted in turn to the existing establishment , and both will be kept always full .

Bro . Raynham Stewart proposes another plan , which is to utilize the existing infirmary , and to rent another house near , and to turn it into an infirmary with a proper establishment . No doubt Bro . R . Stewart ' s plan will give probably the most immediate help to our candidates , as he proposes

to take in all approved candidates without ballot at once . But some subsidiary questions arise What is the accommodation which the infirmary will give , at the most ? And is it wise or safe to remove the infirmary to any material distance

from the school ? We understand that no ground can be obtained near the school for the purposes of extension , and therefore the new infirmary , if Bro . Raynham W . Stewart ' s motion be carried , must be at some distance from the school .

Is this practicable or advisable ? It seems that not long ago the girls were suffering severel y from " mumps / ' a very catching com-

The Extension Of The Girls School.

plaint , to the number of forty , and formerly there were from seventy to eighty cases of scarlet fever and it therefore seems to be an imperative coa ' dition for the infirmary that it should be as near the school as can be , to escape the difficulty 0 f removing cases of infection any considerable

distance . Snch are the three schemes before us . If some arrangements could be made b y which in the meantime the approved candidates could be dealt with , we should say , that would be most satisfactory to the Craft , and whatever decision the Quarterly Court may come to , we would

impress upon it , for the sake of some who , if not elected now , will be left poor orphans in the wide world , that that plan will be most gladly hailed by our entire brotherhood which will ensure the benefits and blessings of this invaluable institution to all present approved candidates . It is

possible that were we now to increase the accommodation so as to educate 200 girls , a plan might be matured for an enlarged building on a convenient site , whether for 200 or , 300 girls , and in the meantime 200 girls would be actuall y educating , a great fact and blessing . When a new

site is obtained and the new building erected , the girls could all be moved there once for all , and the present buildings and site would be sold , which would recoup the House Committee for much of their expenditure . We are looking more to the immediate wants of the Order , and claims of our poor orphans , than anything else ,

and we think that while Bro . R . Stewart ' s plan willaffordthe mostimmediate benefits to all alike , Bro . Joshua Nunn ' s plan is the plan of the future . Of course the practicability and advisability of Bro . R . Stewart ' s plan rests on the possibility of renting a house near for the infirmary . We shall await with great interest the result of Saturday ' s meeting of the Quarterl y Court .

The Lausanne Masonic Congress.

THE LAUSANNE MASONIC CONGRESS .

We are glad to hear , on the authority of the " Times , " that this meeting has been a great success . We predicated success for the movement , and we are happy to hear that for once our anticipatory views have been realised . But the telegram concluded with a statement that the next meeting is to be in London or Rome . We feel at once what intense difficulties

surround the question of such a congress in London , as far as English Freemasonry is concerned , and as far as relates to our Grand Lodge and if the " difficulty of the situation , " to use a term of the day , be successfully surmounted , then comes on another , and still more difficult question , cui

bono ? In the first place , we must bear in mind that the congress at Lausanne has been a meeting of the " Rite Ecossais , " which answers in England to the " Ancient and Accepted Rite . " Our Grand Lodge knows nothing , and can know nothing by its enduring and unchanging

Constitutions , of any grades beyond the R . A . It would be impossible for members of our Grand Lodge to meet together in another " Rite , " of which they are utterly ignorant , and with which they have no concern . Even supposing a congress could meet as " Master Masons , " it could

do no possible good , and could not have the slightest possible influence on our Grand Lodge-Happily , in England we have no points to discuss , and no difficulties to arrange . We prefer our own peaceful , and reli gious , and loyal system of Freemasonry to any other , and we do not

approve of any admixture of foreign views of Freemasonry in our purely indigenous and Ang lo-Saxon teaching and practice . We cannot even understand what such a congress could do while in England , the topics even it could discuss , the end of its meeting . It is hopeless to suppose ,

that amid the confusion of various systems abroad we in England are to be expected in any way to alter or accommodate our old , and long tried , and most successful organisation , whether in its formula ; or its outward manifestations , in a vain idea of uniformity of system and ritual . That is , we know beforehand , an utter impossibility , a

chimera of chimeras . Our English system is so simple , so sensible , so straig htforward , and so reasonable , that it commends itself alike to our feelings , our tastes , and our affections , and we would not exchange it for any other system , or in any way sap or weaken its fundamental princi ples . We speak here as much for Freemasonry