Freemasonry In 1897.

tulated on the events of the year . On the 12 th May il celebrated its 109 th Anniversary Festival , under thc presidency of Bro . Lord Llangattock , Prov . G . M . of South Wales ( E . D . ) , when the Secretary ( Bro . Hedges ) had thc pleasure of announcing a total of Donations and Subscriptions amounting to £ 16 , 026 , the

number of ladies and brethren who succeeded as Stewards 111 raising this sum being 395 . London , represented by 182 members of thc Board , contributed £ 8083 , thc most important lists being those of Bro . G . Pidduck , W . M . of the Woodgrange Lodge , No . 2409 , who compiled £ 233 , while Bro . Sir John B .

Monckton , representing the Lodge ol Fellowship , No . 2535 , and liro . Frank Richardson , of the House Committee , were entered in the Returns for £ 210 each . Of the Provinces , 35 , represented bv 213 Stewards , returned £ 7943 , the Chaii man ' s Province of South Wales ( E . D . ) very fitly taking the lead with £ 1050 ,

Surrey returning £ 629 ; West Yorkshire , £ 420 ; Hertfordshire , £ 412 ; Derbyshire , £ 335 ; Leicestershire and Rutland and Monmouthshire each £ 320 ; and Essex , £ 303 . The result was the third highest ever obtained at an ordinary Festival , and it is needless fo say that the noble Chairman , whose first experience

il was in that capacity in connection with Freemasonry , was delig hted with the liberal measure of support which the Institution had received under his auspices . The distribution ol prizes took place , as usual , at-the Institution on the Monday preceding the Festival , at which Lord Llangattock had the pleasure of being

present , while the agreeable duty of handing the awards to the successful children was gracefully undertaken by Lady Llangattock , to whom a most cordial vote of thaqks for her services was passed . On this occasion a change in the order of the programme was made , and fhe calisthenic display , in which the girls acquit

themselves so brilliantly , and which usually lakes place at the close of the day ' s proceedings , was included in the first Part , a special figure being introduced , in which the girls formed themselves so as to represent the figure 18 37 , thc date of the Queen ' s accession to the throne—and then into

1897—the year of her Diamond Jubilee . As regards the efficiency of the School as an educational institution , its reputation stands as high as ever , as shown by the result of the different public examinations at which girls have been entered as candidates , the most important being the Cambridge Local

Examinations for which , taking the Senior and Junior Divisions and the Preliminary together , 41 entered and 38 passed , honours and distinctions being awarded lo several of the latter , while for the College of Preceptors' Examination 25 out of 3 ! were successful in satisfying the examiners . The elections were held , as

usual , at the Quarterly General Courts 111 the spring and autumn respectively , there being elected on Thursday , the Sth April , 20 from an approved list of 28 candidates , and on Thursday , the 7 th October , 15 from an approved list of 26 . It further devolves upon us to record lhat at tlie April Court , Bro . Henry

Smith , P . G . D ., Past D . P . G . M ., who had filled the office of Treasurer for some years past , expressed a wish , not to re-elected , and a successor to him was accordingly found in Bro . Sir Reginald Hanson , Bart ., M . P . But the valuable services which Bro . Smith and the interest he had taken in its welfare during tbe

whole of his long career were not allowed to pass unrecognised , and a vote of thanks was passed lo him unanimously , the vote being accompanied by the wish that Bro . Smith might be spared for many years to exhibit his sympathy with the beneficent work of the Institution . At the October Court , a motion was made

by Bro . Sir John B . Monckton that an offer of £ 1155 made by Bro . George Heaton , of the Province of West Yorkshire , forthe purchase of a Perpetual Presentation , be accepted , but the motion was strongly opposed , and an amendment referring the question of Perpetual Presentations to a special Committee ,

which should consult with similar Committees appointed by the other Institutions and report at the earliest possible opportunity , was ultimately adopted . It only remains for us to add thai

expupils day was as happy and successful a gathering as in any year since the institution of the fixture , while the children paid their annual visit to the Crystal Palace , the expenses of the entertainment being defrayed by the Festival Stewards .

There remains the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , which has been less favoured by fortune than usual . In fact , since the new regime came into force in August , 1 S 90 , there has been only one year in which the Festival has been less productive and that was the vear 1892 , when the Royal Masonic Benevolent

Institution celebrated its Jubilee and very properly claimed and received the lion ' s share of the brethren's subscriptions . Moreover , the endless number of claims that were made by all kinds of Charitable and other Institutions for support during this special

year of years , very materially enhanced the difficulties which out Festival Stewards ordinarily experience in obtaining contributions , and this must have been most seriously felt by the Boys' School , which was the last of the three lo celebrate ils anniversary , and celebrated it in the very thick of the Diamond Jubilee Festivities .

Still , when the appointed day—the- 30 th June—came round , and the brethren , with a number of ladies , met at the Hotel Cecil , under the presidency of Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck , M . P ., Prov . G . Master of Cumberland and Westmorland , the Secretary had the pleasure of announcing that the donations and

subscriptions raised by a Board ol 3 88 Stewards amounted to £ 15 , 031 , towards which London ! represented b y 192 Stewards , returned £ 8425 , and thc Provinces , with 196 representatives , £ 6606 . The principal London lists were those of Bros . li . L . P . Valeriani , W . M . of the Lodge of Fellowship , No . 2535—which

also stood first at the Benevolent Festival and second at the Girls' in . this section of thc Board—who raised £ 415 ; Bro . Belrouth , of the Clarence and Avondale Lodge , No . 2411 , being next , with £ 410 ; while Bros . J . W . Westmoreland , W . M . ol thc Duke of Edinburgh Lodge , No . 1259 , and R . N . Lister ,

Creaton Lodge , No . 179 1 , returned respectively £ 23 8 and £ 202 . As for ihe Provinces , of which only 32 sent up Stewards , Cumberland and Westmorland very loyally supported its chief as the Chairman of the day , and raised £ 1260 , while Northants and Hunts gave £ 593 , Middlesex , £ 493 ; Kent , £ 419 ; Dorsetshire

£ 375 ; West Yorkshire , £ 350 ; Surrey , £ 325 ; and Gloucestershire , £ 304 . Tbe distribution of prizes , by Lady Henry Cavendish Bentinck—to whom a most hearty vote of thanks was accorded for her kindness in attending and undertaking the pleasant duty —took place al the Institution , Wood Green , the day

immediately preceding the Festival , and afforded the Head Master—Bro . the Rev . 11 . Hebb , M . A . —the opportunity of recounting the successes which had been achieved by the pupils of the School at the public examinations for which the ) - had been entered , the most important being , as in the case of the Girls' School , the

Cambridge Local lixaminalions for the Senior , Junior , and Preliminary , of which about one-third out of the 258 boys in training had gone in , with the result that all but 13 satisfied the Examiners . Moreover , as Bro . Hebb was careful lo point out , while the age of candidates for the Seniors ranges from over 16

to 19 , the age of the 14 from our Boys' I ^ thool averaged 16 ; for the Juniors , the maximum limit of which is 16 , it averaged 14 . 2 , and in the Preliminary , the maximum limit of which is 14 years , it averaged 13 . 2 . At the lixaminalions b y the Science and Art Department , South Kensington , the Head Master

remarked that the results were meagre , which he accounted for by the lack of room at Wood Green for the necessary appliances for Technical Instruction . F " or the London Matriculation , three boys had been awarded places in the Senior Division , and that without their having

undergone any special preparation for the ordeal . It should be added that Mr . A . Coupland , the holder of the lirst of the recently-established School Scholarships , has since been awarded an exhibition , or scholarship , at one of our Medical Colleges , and will thus , by his own ability and the hel p he has received from

the Scholarship just referred to , be enabled to prosecute his studies for the profession he has elected to follow . We may further mention thai the independent lixamiiiers invited lo test the acquirements of the boys reported very favourably of their progress during the year , while the Head Master added his

personal testimony lo the tone and character of the School generally . In respect of the physical training of the boys , that was fully and satisfactorily exemplified at the Athletic Sports , held at Wood Green on the 29 II 1 May , when the boys showed a keen sense of honourable rivalry , many of the events being very

closely contested . The elections were held at the Quarterly Courts in April and October respectively , lh _ re being 22 elected at the former out of an approved list of 54 candidates , and at the latter 16 from a list of 49 , reduced by willwtrawals to 47 . With regard to the administration of the School , we note , in the

first place , that Bro . John Strachan , Q . C , P . D . G . Reg ., was elected by the Council to fill a London vacancy thai had occurred on the Board of Management by a substantial majority over Bro . Thomson Lyon . Later in the year the latter brought I or ward a motion providing that the election lo fill a vacancy on the said

Board should devolve upon the Board itself , instead of upon tbe Council ; but the Court of Governors did not see their way to adopting the proposal , and it was rejected . At the July Court it was resolved , on the recommendation of the Board of Management , thai Law 85 , which relates to " Boys Maintained and

Educated out of the Institution , " should be altered in such a manner as lo allow of the Board , with the approval ol the Council , " making a yearly grant , not exceeding £ 30 , to each boy up to the age of 15 years , sons of Jewish parents being eligible for outeducation in the event of their guardians desiring it . " A

scheme lor granting additional premium voles lo those who serve the ollice of Steward at the approaching Centenary Festival has likewise been adopted , it being fell thai as extra votes had been granted at the Girls' School Centenary in 1888 , and the Benevolent Jubilee in 1892 , the interests of the Boys' School might sutler unlessin its case also a similar course were adonted . With