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^ j ^ DLANE _ INSTITUTIONS . REFUGES , RAGGED and INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS , CRECHE , YOUTHS' INSTITUTE , CHRISTIAN MISSION , & c . FUNDS URGENTLY NEEDED . F INANCIAL YEAR ENDS 31 st MARCH . n ooo STILL REQUIRED ' to ENABLE the COMMITTEE to CLOSE the ACCOUNTS FREE OF DEBT . Bankets , Barclay & Co . ( Limited ) . Treasurer—W . A . BEVAN , Esq ., 54 . Lombard-st ., E . C . Secretary-PEREGRINE PLATT , The Institution , Vine-street , Clerkenwell , E . C .

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QPIERS AND pOND'S OTORES ( NO TICKETS REQUIRED ) . QUEEN VICTORIA STREET , E . C . Opposite Blackfriars Station ( Dist . Ry . ) and St . Paul ' s Station ( L . C . and D . Ry . ) PRICE BOOK . ( 1000 pages , illustrated ) , free on application . FREE DELIVERY n Suburbs by our own Vans . LIBERAL TERMS FOR COUNTRY ORDERS . For full details see Price Book .

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fwe ^ masQjig BjjsBll ^ CMJasa'BBSBSpW *^ SATURDAY , APRIL 14 , 1900 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

It must be a satisfaction to her Maj-sty the Queon ; in the first place to have met with so splendid a reception from her Irish subjects , and in the next , to find fiat the dastardly attempt made last week at Brussels , on the life of her eldest son and heir , the Prince of

Wales , our beloved Grand Master , has evoked such genuine sympathy from all parts of the world . Ireland is almost beside itself with joy over the Queen ' s visit , while , as regards the sympathy with the Prince , it is said that fully 1300 telegrams of congratulation on his escape , have been transmitted to his Royal Highness .

• * < We have to rt mind our readers that the School Elections which are usually held on the second Thursday and Friday in the present month , will take place on Friday and Saturday of next week . The Boys ' School Election will come off at the Quarterly Court of Governors and Subscribers at Freemasons' Tavern

Masonic Notes.

on Friday , the 20 th inst ., and the Girls' School Election at the same place on Saturday , the 21 st inst . The luur of meeting—12 noon—is the same on both days , while the poll will be opened in both cases , when the Court is over , or at 1 p . m ., and will close promptly at 3 P . m .

. * * » For the Boys' School election there is a list of 42 candidates , since reduced , by the withdrawal of one , to 41 . London sends up 12 boys and has a part interest in the success of two others , while the remaining

27 hail from Provinces or Districts Abroad , Essex being responsible for three , and Buckinghamshire , Sussex , Suffolk , and Cambridgeshire for two each . There are 15 who were unsuccessful in October , Nos .

1 and 2 on the list having taken part in as many as six ba )] ots , and 26 have bad their claims approved since . The number of boys to be elected out of these 41 are 30 ; each boy ' s chances of winning admission being in the proportion of about three to one .

* » * For the Girls' School election , which is fixed , as we have already said , for Saturday , the 21 st Instant , there are only 32 candidates , of whom exactly one half were unsuccessful last October and the other half are new

candidates . London sends up 12 girls and is interested in the success of three others , while the remaining 17 are furnished by Provinces or Districts Abroad , West Lancashire and Kent each contributing two . The number of vacancies to be filled is 17 , so that rather less than one half of the children will be disappointed

» * * There are , however , on the two lists taken together , quite a number of the children , who are what are commonly spoken of as " Inst cases , " that is , are children who , if they fail to win places this time , will , under

the operation of the laws placing the maximum limit of age for admission at 11 years , have their names removed from the lists altogether . These children are Nos . i , 2 , 13 , 15 , and 23 on the Boys' list , and Nos . i , 3 , 6 , 7 , 12 , and 16 on the Girls' list . For these 11

candidates we make , as usual , an earnest appeal to all Governors and Subscribers who are not already pledged to give their votes and use their influence in support of particular cases , to do what they can to ensure the success oi these boys and girls , so that they may not lose the benefits to

which , after due examination of their claims , they have been adjudged entitled . We do this on the usual grounds , that , as regards the other children , failure this time will entail no more serious hardship than the postponement of their election for a term of six months , but with these five boys and six girls it is a case * of " now or never . "

* # ? The Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution held their monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall on Wednesday , the nth inst ., the chair being occupied by Bro . Thomas Jones , P . G . D . The most important business was the

appointment of Bros . J . A . Farnfield , C . Kemptcn , and Tobias , as a Committee to draft the Report which will be submitted to the Governors and Subscribers at their annual general meeting on the third Friday in May , the 18 th prox . There were also four deaths—one male and three widow annuitants—reported by the Secretary .

* * We are glad to see that the " South African Relief Fund" is making such substantial progress . Up to Saturday , the 31 st ult ., there had been announced in our columns contributions amounting to . £ 856 15 s . 6 d ,

This , added to the ^ 1050 voted by Grand Lodge and the £ 346 7 s . 2 d . previously subscribed to R . W . Bro . G . Richards ' s Fund , gave a total of £ 2253 2 s . 8 d . Last week further contributions amounting in the aggregate

to . 6451 8 s . 4 d ., and raising the total to £ 2704 1 is . were acknowledged , the principal items being ^ 100 voted by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Bristol , and 50 guineas ( £ 52 ios . ) by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Lincolnshire .

This week further sums have been . received which carry the total well beyond . £ 3000 , the contribution from the Strong Man Lodge , No . 45 , amounting to £ 45 . We look upon this as a satisfactory result , considering that only four weeks have elapsed since the Fund was brought publicly to the notice of the lodges

and the brethren . It is evident , however , both from the communications we have published and the statements contained in the daily press as to the destruction of private property , lhat a large sum will be required , and the subscriptions so far justify our belief that what is so urgently needed will bc forthcoming .

Masonic Notes.

We regret to learn from the Indian Freemason of the 15 th February that the District of Bombay has sustained a great loss by the untimely death of Bro . E . J . Smith , who had served as Dist . G . Secretary since 1 S 96 , and was also Dist . G . Scribe E . of the Dist . G . Chapter , and Past G . Std . Br . of Supreme

Grand Chapter . The sad event occurred on the 30 th January last , at the ( Sbmparatively early age of 51 Our contemporary pays a warm tribute of respect to the deceased , whom it declares to have been " one who did a great deal for the Order in a quiet unostentatious manner , and was universally respected by reason of his amiable and courteous disposition . "

The same journal , in its issue of the 15 th January last , reports the death on the 2 nd of that month of Bro . Wm . Barnard Mactavish , who was initiated on the 3 rd May , 186 7 , in Lodge Industry and Perseverance , No . 109 , Calcutta , and remained a subscribing membei till the day of his death . After successively filling the

offices of Dist . G . D . C . ( 1870 ) , Dist . G . Treasurer ( 1872 ) , and Dist . S . G . W . ( 1895 ) , he was in 1896 appointed to the office of Deputy Dist . G . M . Bengal He had also served as Dist . G . H . in the District Grand Chapter , and in Mark Masonry was a Past District S . G . W . Bengal , and P . G . D . of the Mark G . Lodgs .

• # We learn from the February issue of the A astralasian Keystone that with that number was completed the first volume of the new series of our worthy contemporary . This particular Keystone is described as the " Official Organ of the Grand Lodges of Victoria

and Tasmania , " and very ably indeed has it acquitted itself in that character . Its articles are well written and the information it contains of the doings of the brethren in those Colonies in their Grand and private lodges most interesting and , so far as we are able to hazard an opinion , accurate . Moreover , its views

are very temperately expressed , while as regards the printing and paper , it is one of the most acceptable of our exchanges . Our contemporary in referring to the subject announces that what it believes to be " beneficial changes " will be introduced in the second volume

" as funds and opportunity are afforded . " We warmly congratulate the Australasian Keystone on the progress it has made , and we hope that it . nay have a large measure of that good fortune it is striving for and so well deserves .

» ? * We are indebted to its February number for certain interesting particulars relating to the " Freemasons ' Charitable Institution of Victoria , " from which it appears that notwithstanding a diminution in the receipts from lodges , chapters , members , balls ,

concerts , & c , and an increase in the payments to the inmates of the cottages , there is still a balance of upwards of / soo to the good on the Maintenance Fund . On the building , owing to a special expenditure for sewerage and repairs , there is a balance of less than £ 70 in hand , as compared with one of £ 224 at the

close of the year 1898 . In respect of the Endo wment there is a total to the credit , of the Institution amounting to . £ 1464 , Thus , with its fixed deposits shares , and cash balance at bank , the " Freemasons ' Charitable Institution of Victoria" has funds amounting to close upon £ 2050 wherewith to keep

its eight cottages and maintain their inmates . We trust that the falling off in contributions from lodges , brethren , and other sources last year , to which the Committee call attention in their Report , will be made good during the current year , and that in time the Institution may be enabled to extend its benefits .

« * * We gather from the Indian Freemason for the ist March that the Committee of the " Bengal Masonic Association for Educating Children of Indigent Free masons , " in their Report for the half-year ending the 31 st December , 1899 , were able to lay before the

Governors and Subscribers a very gratifying report of the position of the Charity . There was an increase on the Capital Account of 3303 Rupees , the contributions which amounted to 6 371 Rupees , being in excess to that extent over those of the corresponding half of last year ; theinvested funds now amounting 10147 , 000

Rupees . The Reserve Account shows a total received of 2707 Rupees , as against 1484 Rupees in the second , half year of 1898 . The Committee further state that " by a judicious change in the securities and the investments made during the half year , the annual income of the Association has been increased by over 600 Rupees , " and it isadded that " a further expansion

111 the income of the Association and its consequent usefulness " is expected , when the rules adopted in March , 18 99 , as to the presentation of jewels to contributors are better known and appreciated . At the annual meeting , at which the report was presented and adopted , four children were elected from a list of 10 candidates , raising the number provided for b y the Associa ion to 43 .