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his list contains . In the event of his giving 40 guineas , then in addition to the nine votes ordinarily allotted to him , he will receive 12 premium votes , namely , eight votes , being one for each of the eight completed sums of five guineas , and four "list" votes , being two for each of the two completed sums of " 20 guineas , thereby contained in his list , the total number of votes to be allowed

in this case being 21 , made up of nine ordinary , and 12 premium votes , as already shown . But if we suppose that our brother Steward represents a lodge or chapter , or a province of lodges or chapters , and that in addition to his own personal donation ( say ) of 20 guineas , he is successful in raising from his fellow members a sum of ( say ) 50 guineas , making the total of

his list 70 guineas ( £ 73 ios . ) . At an ordinary Festival such a Steward would be allowed four votes for his personal donation , one vote for his Stewardship , and two votes , being one for each completed sum of 25 guineas in excess of his personal donation , making in all 7 votes . A Centenary Steward , however , will receive , first of all , four votes for his personal

donation , one vote for his Stewardship , and in addition the following premium votes , namely : four votes , being one vote for each of the four completed sums of five guineas contained in his personal donation , and six votes , being two votes for each of the three completed sums ot 20 guineas contained in his gross list of 70 guineas ; making in all 15 votes . Should the

brother , in this or in any of the other cases we have imagined , have served already as a Steward , he will be allowed one more additional vote in accordance with the prescriptions of Law 24 , Clause 1 . In any circumstances , it

will be clear to our readers that the services of the Centenary Festival Stewards will be generously recognised , yet not in such a manner as to give cause for offence to brethren who have acted , or may in future act , as Stewards at ordinary Anniversaries .

* * * The Late Bro . OUR readers will be as much surprised as grieved at the an-John ' strp ^ nouncement we make elsewhere of the unexpected death of K . C . M . G . Bro . Alderman Sir J STAPLES , K . C . M . G ., ex-Lord Mayor

of London , and P . G . D . of England . In the early part of last week our respected brother was well and active as usual in the discharge of his multifarious duties . Towards the close it became known that he had been taken somewhat seriously ill , and then , almost before his friends had had time to realise that he was in any danger , came the sad intelligence of his

death , which took place at his residence , Regent ' s Park , early on Monday morning , in the 73 rd year of his age . As a citizen of London the late Alderman had been before the public for many years , had filled many high offices , including ] those of Sheriff of London and Middlesex in 18 77 and Lord Mayor of London in 1 S 85-6 , with signal credit , and enjoyed the

respect and esteem , not only of his own immediate circle of friends , but likewise of all with whom he had had business or official relations . During his year ol office as Lord Mayor , the hospitalities of the Mansion House were dispensed with an ever generous hand , while in the discharge of his various duties , and especially in his earnest efforts for the relief of the

unemployed London poor , he showed himself in every way the equal of the best and noblest among his predecessors . As a Mason , Sir J STAPLES had had only a brief experience , his connection with our Society dating back only as recently as the year 1881 . But in the comparatively brief interval that has since elapsed , he had worthily occupied the chair of St .

Botolph ' s Lodge , of which he was founder and first W . M ., for two years , had served as Z . of Aldersgate Chapter . and was a Life Governor and past Festival Steward of all the Masonic Charities . As a mark of his appreciation of these services , the Prince of WALES , as G . M ., was pleased to include our late brother among those on whom Masonic Jubilee honours were conferred ,

and there is no doubt that , had SirJoHN ' s life been further prolonged , he would have secured an even larger share than he already enjoyed of the esteem and respect of his brethren in Masonry . However , he has gone from our midst , at a ripe age and well laden vvith honours , and though his

place will know him no more , the memory of his many virtues and the services he rendered both as a citizen and as a Mason will abide among us for yet many a day . We have lost a good man , but the good that he achieved will remain as a testimony to his worth and as an incentive to others to follow in his footsteps .

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

A Quarterly General Court of the above Institution was held on Saturday , the 14 th inst . Present : Bro . H . B . Marshall , J . P ., Past Grand Treasurer , Treasurer of the Institution , in the chair ; Bros . William Roebuck , J . H . Matthews , Edgar Bowyer , Ralph Glutton , Frederick Binckes , J . S . Cumberland , H . A . Hunt , J . Terry , Thomas Massa , C . H . Webb , Peter de Lande Long , William Masters , F . R . W . Hedges ( Secretary ) .

I he minutes of the last Quarterly General Court were read and confirmed , which included the resolutions relating to the special advantage to Stewards lor the coming Centenary Festival of the Institution . The following resolution , which stood in the name of Bro , J . L . Mather , was , in that brother ' s absence , proposed by Bro . Matthews , and carried . " That Laws 6 , 29 , 35 , and 60 , be amended as follows , viz . : —

'Law 6 — 1 o add after the word ' meeting' in the second line , the words ' on the Saturday following the last Friday . ' " " Law 29—To omit the word ' second , ' in the third line , and after word 'Saturday , ' in third line , to add 'following the last Friday . "' " Law 35—After word ' Court , ' in fifth line , to add ' on the Saturday following the last Friday . ' " " Law 60—After words ' Courts , ' in second line , to add - on the Saturday following the last Friday . '"

The ob-eet bsing to bring the Lnws of tnis Institution into conformity with the Report of a joint Committee of the three Institutions , which wa ' s approved by the Court at tlie October meeting , and which recommended that the Qu irterly General Courts of the Boys' School should be held on the third Friday in January , April , July , and October ; that those of the Girls' be held on the Saturdays following ; and that the Annual General

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

Meeting and Election of the Benevolent be held on the Monday following the last Friday in April . The above resolution does not of course come into force unless confirmed at a subsequent Court , and it will be seen that in order to achieve the objects of the Joint Courts , it is dependent on the action of the other two Institutions .

Forty-two ( 42 ) candidates were placed upon the list for the April Election , and 11 vacancies were declared . A resolution of sympathy wilh the family of the late Bro . Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , P . G . C ., was also passed . The proceedings were closed with a vote of thanks to the Chairman .

The Jubilee Festival Of The Girls School, 1838.

THE JUBILEE FESTIVAL OF THE GIRLS SCHOOL , 1838 .

At the present time , when every Freemason is directing his attention to the approaching Centenary Festival of the Girls' School , when the General Committee is busy organising its plans for the reconstruction and extension of the premises , when the Board of Stewards is mustering in its strength , and the members are preparing to canvass their friends , and , above all ,

when everyone is hoping that the modest proceeds of the Celebration , estimated variously at between £ 30 , 000 and £ 40 , 000 , will be realised , it will not be out of place if we lay before our readers a brief account o 5 the Jubilee Festival of the same Institution . That auspicious event was celebrated on the 16 th May , 1838 , but though the School was as deservedly popular then as it is now , though the appeals of the Stewards were as

generously answered , and though the scene was as brilliant and successful as the most enthusiastic well-wishers of the Charity could have desired , the reader must not run away with the idea that the Jubilee , except in those particulars and as regards the benevolent purpose for which it was held , bore any resemblance to what , from a long series of astounding successes , we are accustomed to associate with the Anniversary Festivals of our different

Institutions . In 1838 , the Girls' School , then situated in St . George ' s Fields , was on a very modest scale . Its income and expenditure , for ordinary purposes , amounted lo about £ 2000 , and the number of children it accommodated was under 70 . The education was of a very elementary character , and the girls , on leaving , were in the majority of cases apprenticed to small trades or domestic service . Far be it Irom us to

suggest that its affairs were less ably administered , that the objects of its solicitude were less tenderly cared for , that its requirements were less readily met , or that , as an Institution , it was a less noble testimony to the benevolent instincts of our Fraternity than the greater , more costly , and more ambitious Institution of to-day . Our Society , as compared with what it was in the year of the Queen ' s Coronation , has grown almost out of all knowledge ,

so that living Masons who were members of our lodges at that epoch must have some difficulty in recognising it as the same body . As a consequence , our two Schools have been altered and adapted to the ever-increasing requirements of later generations of brethren . Their growing expenditure has been annually met by larger contributions ; their inmates have been augmented in number , and for the plain English education of by-gone days

has been substituted a sound middle-class training which enables those who undergo it to aspire to something higher than domestic service . But , after all , these are changes which everyone must have foieseen were inevitable , and we refer to them chiefly because , whatever else may be said in praise or dispraise of English Masons as a body , there is no doubt they have been actuated by the purest benevolence in the conduct of their Institutions .

All this , however , has little or nothing to do with the Jubilee , which , as we have said already , was celebrated on the 16 th May , 1838 . "It had been expected that the Dukeof Sussex , G . Master and President of the Institution , would occupy the chair , but circumstances unfortunately prevented this , and the place of his Royal Highness was taken by Bro . Lord Worsley , M . P . —afterwards Earl of Yarborough—the S . G . Warden of the year , than

whom it would have been difficult to find an abler or a worthier President among the brethren of that day . According to the account in the Freemasons' Quarterly Review , his lordship was supported by his father , Bro , the Earl ot Yarborough , P . G . M . Isle of Wight ; " a large assembly of Grand Officers ; and other brethren , amounting to nearly three hundred . ' After the usual loyal and other toasts had been honoured , there followed the

interesting episode which then constituted the most attractive part of the proceedings , but has since been omitted in deference to the altered tastes of the day—we allude to the procession of the children , which as the Review tells us , " was headed by the Board of Stewards ; then followed the Treasurer leading in two of the youngest children , afterwards the General School , and lastly , their Guardians , the House Committee . " Then " after parading

round the hall , the children were marshalled upon the platform , so as to give the company an opportunity ol observing their neat and even elegant appearance . " A hymn followed , composed for the occasion by Bro . Sir G . Smart , G . Organist , and sung by the children , and then the Chairman gave the toast of the evening , laying stress in the course of his speech on the benefits conferred by the Institution , and pointing out , among other things , that during the 50 years of its existence , it had " clothed , supported , and

educated some " five hundred poor and orphan children of worthy and respected Brother Masons , " who , " with scarcely a partial exception " had " become useful and respected members of Society . " The toast was acknowledged by Bro . B . B . Cabbell , P . G . W ., President of the Board of Stewards , and other toasts having been given and responded to , a list of donations and subscriptions " amounting to nearly £ iooo " was read out " amidst much confusion , " and the proceedings shortly afterwards terminated .

It should be added that the Board of Stewards consisted of 57 brethren , of whom all but two were members of London Lodges . Bro . Cabbell was its President , and among the Vice-Presidents were Bros , the Rev . John Vane , G . Chap . ; W . C . Clarkson , the last G . Treasurer of the "Ancient " G . Lodge ; and H . J . Prescott , the J . G . Warden of the year ; the Treasurer being Bro . W . H . Smith , of the Lodge of Antiquity ; and the Hon . Secretary , Bro- D . Caliington , the VV . M . of the Burlington Lodge . It will

also , no doubt , interest our readers to know that the Dowager Queen Adelaide was the Patroness of the Institution , that a medal to commemorate the occasion was struck , and that a day was set apart later on for the children to celebrate the event , the Patronesses and Governors being present and helping the children to enjoy themselves to their hearts' content , several of the children whose time had expired having been specially permitted by the House Committee to remain and participate in the rejoicings .

As regards the more important celebration to wnich we are looking forward , we trust the anticipations of success will be realised , and that at least as many brethren will give their services as Stewards for the Centenary in 1888 as there vyere pounds subscribed for the Jubilee in 1838 .