Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 4 ° ' Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex 401 Provincial Grand Lodge of Hampshire and the Isle o £ Wight 4 » 4 Consecration of the Pentangle Conclave , No . 147 , Red Cross of Rome ancl Constantine 4 ° 4

Preparatory Boys' School Fund 40 s Masonic Bazaar and Fancy Fair at Coleraine 4 ° S Picnic at West Grinstead 405 Report of Representatives of the Essex Provincial Charity Committee 40 $ Tho Recent Grand Mark I . odge Meeting in Liverpool 4 ° S

CORRESPONDENCEA Correction 407 Masonic Benefit Society 407 St . John's Festival 4 ° 7 REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 40 S

Instruction 409 Royal Arch 4 ° 9 Mark Masonry , 409 Obituary 409 District Grand Lodge of Bom - Day 409 Masonic and General Tidings 410 Lodge Meetings for Next Week Cover .

Ar00101

THERE is one point as regards the Boys' School on which Bro . BINCKES , in advance of many of his critics , ma ) ' justly claim recognition and commendation . It is the substantial manner in which all the work for the School has been executed by the contractors . In all circumstances , Bro . BINCKES has remarked on several occasions , public and private , his great aim has always

been to render the School unique and lasting , an edifice of which the Craft might be justly proud , and which at the same time would minister fully and perfectly to the educational requirements of the day . Education , alike in its apparatus and its accessories , its system and its appliances , has advanced with giant strides in the last generation . The Boys' School , we believe , may now fairly challenge comparison with any similar institution in

this or any other country , and is at the present time in a very high state of efficiency and progress . This will be a gratifying realization and remembrance to those who have for so many years laboured to advance its prestige and extend its usefulness , and will be an incentive and encouragement to the appeal so lately and forcibly made to its many warm friends at home and abroad , on behalf of the Preparatory School and the double votes .

* * * OUR readers will not forget that the charitable work as regards the three great metropolitan Charities of our Order has closed , as regards public gatherings , with the Boys' School assemblage of last week . But early in the year Bro . TERRY , who is now away for a long-needed holiday and rest , will again " open the ball " with the Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent

Institution . That most excellent Charity has a large number of candidates pressing for and awaiting admission , and while too much praise cannot be accorded to its administration , no words of ours are needed to set forth its many and prevailing claims on the Craft for sympathy and support . Bro . TERRY will be truly glad to receive the names of brethren intending to be or desirous of being Stewards .

* * # IT is indeed a matter of rejoicing and gratification to our Craft to think that we have three such Institutions in full and successful operation amongst us , —the R . M . Benevobnt Institution for the Aged and Decayed , the R . M . Institution for Boys , and last , but not least , the R . M . I , for Girls . As wc

have said before , these Institutions are in themselves really most remarkable , and can well be compared wilh any known existing institution of a similar tendency and aim . Not the least successful of these Institutions , most perfectly adapted to the end it has in view , and the wishes of its subscribers and the welfare of its inmates , is our admirable Girls' School . Economically

managed and scholastically most strikingly efficient and remarkable in its work and development , it enjoys and retains the confidence of a large number of ardent and loyal supporters . Long may it progress , long may it flourish ! And may our three great Metropolitan Institutions continue to advance in efficiency and thoroughness , enjoying the unchanged sympathy

and approval of a large body of well affectioned and liberal subscribers , illustrating well the beneficent principles of Freemasonry proper , and conducing forcibly to the present and future welfare of those many , old and young , who participate in their abounding benefits , and are cheered and aided , instructed and helped forward in the rough battle of life , by sheltering homes and ungrudging beneficence .

* * * BY the death of Lord HOUGHTON English literature suffers a great and abiding loss . Though not a Freemason himself , he was a Lewis , the son of an old and distinguished Freemason , Provincial Grand Master for West Vorkshire , in which post he was succeeded by Lord MExnoROuon . Lord HOUGHTON was a man of wide sympathies and a genial and tolerant mind ,

s perfect "citizen of tbe world , " and one who always retained most cosmopolitan sympathies in thought and action . Of a very kindly disposition , always considerate and ever social ; his associates liked to compare him with a worth y of another generation , "The Hare of many friends . " At home he was thc courteous host and the pleasant conversationist , and he will be much and long missed by an attached and grieving circle of relatives and friends .

Ar00102

I HE report of the Commissioners of Police for 18 S 4 has appeared in a Blue Book , and is very interesting and suggestive . " The Force " is now 12 , 800 strong , including 25 superintendents , 637 inspectors , 105 7 Serjeants , and 11 , 151 constables . The "little village , " which is ever extending , so much so as to suggest often many uncomfortable suggestions as to ita

eventual area , witnessed 46 miles of new streets and squares handed over to police surveillance in 1 SS 4 . Crime seems not to have increased , despite the mighty aggregate of population in the metropolitan police district . 17 , 203 persons were charged with drunkenness , being a decrease of over 2000 cases in respect of 1 S 83 . It is a very serious thing to reflect aud remember lhat

the average proportion per 1000 of the estimated population apprehended for drunkenness has an average of the last five years of 549 1 . There was a decrease in 1884 of serious offences to the amount of 1513 , and that too in the face of serious attacks on the police by armed burglars , at which the public is very sensitive and greatly alarmed . Larcenies decreased 2045 ,

but burglaries increased from 331 , in 1 S 83 , to 387 , in 1 SS 4 . The reported loss of property was £ 108 , 406 , of which £ 21 , 737 were recovered , leaving a net loss of £ 86 , 669 . There is no doubt that these burglaries and larcenies aro encouraged by the fact that 1157 houses had no persons in charge of them , and 27 , 984 windows or doors were left open . 14 , 478 children under ten

years were reporied to the police as missing , as well as 393 S adults . Of these , 84 S 5 children and S 21 adults were found by the police ; 74 adults committed suicide , and the rest returned to their homes or friends , except 121 adt ' . lts and eight children , who have , never been traced . It is a most serious fact , is it not , that adults and children can thus disappear year by

year and "leave no trace behind . " It is highl y suggestive both of the apogee of civilization at-which our mighty Babylon has arrived , that with our skilled police , and trained detectives , 121 adults and eight children can utterly disappear from our midst without the possibility of discovery or recovery . It is awful to think what their fate may have been , and recent

revelations seem to point unmistakably to the conclusion that there is a darker side to the civilizing progress of great cities than has hitherto been realized or reached by the student , the legislator , or the philanthropist . Certain matters are a great scandal , and constitute a great danger to our highly-polished and most artificial state of Society , and call for the most

thoughtful and effective measures of surveillance and repression . A good deal is often said about the police , but , we confess , we cannot but feel very grateful for their ceaseless labours , and their organized care of all classes amongst us . It is something to feel and to remember , surely with kindly feelings of satisfied security , that as night after night this extraordinary

agglomeration of all nations , castes , climes , and criminals , —the hunted , the outcast , and the forlorn , seems to sink to rest , —a huge cordon of " watchers of the night " pervades our squares and crescents , our streets and alleys , keeps an eye on the haunts of misery and vice , of sin and shame , and affords protection to the honest and well disposed , and constitutes a terror to the

rogue and the criminal . Never before in the history of our world has such a spectacle been exhibited , and Sir E . HENDERSON may well record , with pride and satisfaction , the useful , the striking , the unprecedented work and duties , returns , and revelations , of that well-disci plined force over which he presides ,

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Essex.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF ESSEX .

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex was held on the 13 th inst ., at Saffron Walden , under the presidency of Lord Brooke , Prov . G . M ., who was supported by the Very VVorshipful Bro . F . A . Philbrick , Q . C , Grand Registrar , and a large number of other influential Masons . Among those present were the following brethren * . — Bros , the Right Hon . the Lord Brooke , M . P ., R . W . P . G . M . ; F . A . Philbrick , Q . C , G . Reg-. England , Deputy Prov . G . M . ; Rev . W . Morgan Jones , Prov . G . Chaplain ;

Andrew Durrant , Prov . G . Treas . ; William Herbage , Prov . G . Reg . ; T . J . Railing , Prov . G . Sec ; J . Gilling , Prov . G . J . D . ; Arthur Mead , Prov . G . S . of Works ; A . Lucking , G . A . P . England , Prov . G . D . of C . * , S . Sarel , Prov . G . Tyler ; Andrew C . Durrant and W . Strutt , Prov . G . Stwds . ; Rev . C . J . Martyn , P . G . Chap . England , Deputy Prov . G . M . Suffolk ; Shadwell H . Clerke , G . Sec . England ; Rev . John Sedgwick , D . D ., P . G . Chap . England ; F . Binckes , P . G . Stivd . England ; Griffiths Smith , P . G . A . D . of C . England ; A . Buck , P . M . 453 , P . P . G . S . W . ; F . Wood , P . M .

and Treas . 1000 , P . P . G . S . W . ; Richard Clowes , P . P . G . S . W . ; Herbert Taylor , P . P . G . J . W . ; VV . Sowman , P . P . G . J . W . ; Joseph Bell , P . P . G . J . W . ; J . C . Earle , P . M . 214 , P . P . G . J . W . ; J . W . B . Glasier , P . M . 107 , P . P . G . J . W . Norfolk ; Rev . F . B . Shephard , P . M . 2 fi , P . P . G . Chap . ; E . H . Crate , P . P . G . Chap . ; J . C . White , P . M . 1437 , P . P . G . Reg . ; J . W . Hair , P . P . G . Reg . ; C . II . Vincent , P . P . G . Reg . Suffolk ; R . IS . Poppleston , P . P . G . S . D . ; II . E . Dehane , P . P . G . S . D . ; J . G . Bellingham , P . P . G . S . D . ; Stehhinsr Leverett , P . P . G . S . D . ; lames S . Brown , P . P . G . S . D . ; Robert

Martin , P . M ., Treas . 453 , P . P . G . S . D . ; W . J . Nunn , P . P . G . S . D . Suffolk ; G . Thompson , P . P . G . S . D . Suffolk ; J . J . Cavill , P . P . G . J . D . ; J . B . Lewin , P . P . G . S . of W . ; T . Vincent , P . M . 1861 , P . P . G . S . B . Surrey ; 1 . Rix , P . M . G 97 , P . P . G . S . B . ; G . A . Eustace , P . M . O 97 , P . P . G . S . B ; J . J . C . Turner , P . P . G . O . ; VV . C . Dewsberry , P . P . G . O . Cambs ; F . Dewsberry , P . P . G . O . Cambs ; R . Haward Ives , I . P . M . 51 , P . P . G . Stwd . ; F . C . Emson , P . M . 12 S 0 ; C . Beaumont , W . M . 1343 ; J . Corbie , W . M . 453 : A , Rattray , W . M . 1543 ; F . Dorrell Grayson , W . M . loon , P . M . 1 G 0 ; j . Sadler