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CONTENTS . LEADERS— P AGE . The Belfast Masonic Widows'Fund ... ... ... ... 579 "Some Antique Topics" ... ... ... ... ... 579 Provincial Grand Lodgeof Herefordshire .,, ... ... ... " 580 Consecration of the Sancta Maria Lodge , No . 26 S 2 ... ... ... 5 S 1

Consecration of the Victoria Diamond Jubilee Lodge , No . 2675 ... ... 5 S 2 Presentation to Bro . Robert Michie .,. ... ... ... 5 S 3 The Old Masonians ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 S 3 Unveiling of a Masonic Monument to the late Bro . W . II . Kirby , jun . ... 5 S 4 Craft Masonry ... .,. .,. ... ... ... 5 S 4 MASONIC

NOTESBi-Centenary at St . Paul ' s Cathedral .,. ... ... ... 5 S 7 Provincial Grand Lodge of Herefordshire ... ... ... ... 5 S 7 Death of Bro . Alderman Walter Hopekirk , A . G . Purst ., ... ... 5 S 7 Consecration of the Sancta Maria Lodge , No . 26 S 2 ... ... ... 5 S 7 Boards of Stewards for Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution Festival ... 5 S 7

Correspondence ... .,. . „ ... ... ... 5 SS Masonic Notes and Queries ... ... ... .,, .,. 588 General Committee of Grand Lodge and Board of Benevolence ... ... 58 S Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 58 S Provincial Grand Ledge of Cambridgeshire ... ... ... ... 590 Royal Arch ... .,. ... ... ... ... ... 590 Obituary ... ... .,. ... ... ... ... 590 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... W 2 .

The Belfast Masonic Widows' Fund.

THE BELFAST MASONIC WIDOWS' FUND .

We are so taken up with the attention which our Central Masonic Charitable Institutions in London are justly entitled to that we are apt to lose sight of the claims of . other institutions of a similar character , which are of less importance only because the area of their duties is more restricted . In the case of the

Irish Institutions this is perhaps not so much to be wondered at . Irish Masons do not seem to object to furnish accounts of their proceedings to the ordinary daily and weekly press , but no such favour is shown to the Masonic periodicals , and it is only

through the kindness of an influential Irish brother that we have been enabled this year to lay before our readers reports of certain important meetings of the Craft the other side of St . George ' s Channel and the Charities which are associated with

it . Within tlie last lew days we have been favoured with a copy of the annual report of the Belfast Masonic Widows' Fund . The Institution completed an existence of 24 years on the 31 st December , 1806 , and it is with the utmost satisfactioh that

we describe , from the report itself and the particulars appended thereto , the important services it has rendered , during the ' year 18 9 6 particularly and the period that has elapsed since its establishment . Firstly , as regards the year 18 96 , thc report

shows that on comparing the incomes for the years 18 95 and 18 5 6 , that of the latter exceeded the 1895 income by upwards of £ ^ 0 , there being an increase in the subscriptions from the County of Antrim , in interest on invested capital ,

and in miscellaneous , and a decrease in subscriptions from County Down and Donations , thc total income for 18 ^ 5 being £ 35 i and for 18 9 6 - £ 1077 . During the latter year there were 95 widows and their families assisted , the total of the grants

distributed amongst them being , 6779 , of which ^ , 665 was awarded amongst 79 widows from , the Province of Antrim , and £ 115 among 16 widows from County Down . The general expenses slightly exceeded £ 41 , of which all but £ 5 for rent of

Committee Room was disbursed for Printing , Stationery , and Postage . The Capital Account shows a total of , £ 5932 , all of which , with the exception of two trifling amounts , has been laid out to considerable advantage in mortgage . During the whole

period of 24 years which has elapsed since the Fund was established , we lind that the total sum received is within a fraction ol j 6 r 5 i 95 ° i ° f which £ 8627 is in respect of Donations and Subscriptions ; £ 415 ° in respect of Fancy Fair and Bazaar , Legacy , and Miscellaneous sources ; and , £ 317-2 for interest : on investments ,

The Belfast Masonic Widows' Fund.

The amount expended in grants , tkc , for general expenses , and investments is £ 15 , 108 , the total of the grants being £ 8591 , inclusive of a donation of / , loo to the Masonic Female Orphan Schools ; £ 585 for General Exnenses ; and £ wi 2 , as before

stated , on investments ; the balance in hand at the ; close of tho year 18 9 6 being £ 841 . These figures show that this Fund during the period of its existence has been conferring great benelits on

thc widows and families of a large number of worthv brethren , while the Committee of Management must have fulfilled their duties ably , in order to have been able to accumulate so considerable an amount of capital .

We gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity which the receipt of this 24 th annual report of the Belfast Masonic Widows' Fund has afforded us of laying this information before our readers . No one has ever doubted that our Irish brethren are as strict in

thc discharge of their Masonic duties and as generous in dispensing help to unfortunate brethren and their families as arc those in other jurisdictions , but thc jealous care wilh which all information respecting the doings of * Irish Masonic bodies , as we

mentioned at the commencement of this article , is kept from the Masonic press , though freely enough communicated to the general public press , will explain why it is that the English brethren are so unfamiliar with these Irish Charitable

organisations , * ind thc admirable duties which they an : engaged in discharging . We have , of course , heard every now and then of the successes achieved by thc Orphan Girls' and Roys' Schools in Dublin , the former of which was founded onlv a few . years

after , and will compare favourably with , our English Girls' Institution in London , and we trust that it may not be long befor * we arc at least as well informed as to the good that is bein $ > done in the Provinces of Antrim and Down . We heartily congratulate the brethren in those parts on the very sat is factor * , report for 1 S 9 6 with which wc have been favoured .

"Some Antique Topics."

"SOME ANTIQUE TOPICS . "

Under this title thc Voice of Masonry for October has a long extract from the Report on Correspondence compiled by Bro . W . H . UPTON , and appended to thc proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Washington , at its annunl meeting during the

present year . 'Io this report we have more than once had occasion to refer as being in the nature of a model of what such reports should be , that is to say , as containing more in the way of criticism and less in wholesale quotation from other

correspondence than is to be found in a majority of the reports on correspondence which it has been our privilege to wade through , Curiously enough , among the " antique topics , " in the extract we are considering , will be found sundry to which pointed reference

was made in the Paper on Degrees which Bro . W . J . Ill'Gil AN read before Lodge Quatuor Coronati on the 24 th June last , and the remarks thereon by Bros . R . F . GOULD and Dr . \ V . J . CHETWODE CRAWLKV . For instance , in reference to this particular question

of Degrees and their antiquity , Bro . UPTON mentions that in the Colorado Report on Correspondence Bro . LAWRENCE N . GttEENLEAI' contributes the following interesting bit of evidence on the subject , "June 24 , 1 734—so soon after the organisation of

Masonry in America , but seventeen years after the organisation of thc first Grand Lodge of the world , and four years before the appearance of the second edition of ANDERSON ' Constitutions —the ( irst in which hc alludes to three degrees—is a discourse delivered apparently at Boston , Massachusetts , the speaker ,