Masonic And General Tidings.

Masonic and General Tidings .

THE BANK RATE REDUCED . —The Bank rate was on Thursday reduced from 4 ! per cent ., at which it has stood since the 7 th instant , to 4 per cent ., as was fully anticipated in the City . BRO . THOMAS CATLING , the editor of Lloyd ' s , has left London for a short holiday at Algiers .

BRO . EARL ROBERTS and Countess Roberts have consented to their names being added to the General Committee of the Irish Distressed Ladies' Fund . BRO . SIR HENRY IRVING has just had another very successful week in Dublin , and he and Miss Ellen Terry have been entertained at luncheon by the Provost of the University . BRO . W . H . THOMAS , R . A . M ., Professor of Singing at the Guildhall School of Music , gave an organ recital at Queen's Hall on Friday afternoon last , before and after the meeting- of Grand Lodge .

THE NET COLLECTION of the London Lifeboat Saturday Fund amounted last year to £ 1715 Gs . iod . only . This shows a decrease of £ 3604 Gs . yd . compared with the amount for the previous year . BRO . EARL ROBERTS has consented to open the annual exhibition of the Royal Amateur Society , which will be held on the 25 th to 30 th prox ., inclusive , at Park House , Rutland Gate , for the benefit of the usual London charities .

THE DUKE OF GRAFTON and Bro . the Earl of Euston attended a meeting at Northampton on Saturday last , at which arrangements were made for the equipment of the fresh drafts of Northamptonshire Volunteers for the war . A LOYAL ADDRESS to the King has been adopted by the City of London General Pension Society , an organisation for the assistance of the aged and infirm , which was founded in 1 S 1 S by H . R . H . the Duke of Kent , and enjoyed the patronage of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort .

THE HABERDASHERS' COMPANY have made the following charitable grants : Widows of Clergy Fund , £ 70 ; Poor Clergymen Fund , £ 45 j Royal Sailors' Home , Devonport , £ 31 ios . j Poor Hatters' Fund , £ 20 ; and the Monmouth Hospital and the Lendon General Porters' Benevolent Association , 10 guineas each . To HIS congratulatory telegram the Archdruid of Wales has received with delight an autograph reply from King Edward . His Majesty is himself a Bard , and < vas

admitted to the sacred " Gorsedd " at the National Eisteddfod held in Carnarvon under the title of " lorweth Dywysog , " which means " Edward the Prince . " AMONG the passengers by the steamship Rome which arrived at Marseilles on Monday , was Bro . Sir John Aird , M . P ., who is returning to England from Egypt . Bro . Sir John has been inspecting the great works which his firm are carrying out for the Egyptian Government in connection with the damming of the Nile at Assouan .

AN ORDER has been issued at Portsmouth directing that the liner Ophir , which is to convey the Duke of Cornwall and York to Australia , is to carry a complement of 450 officers and men , and is to commission at Tilbury Dock to-morrow ( Saturday ) . She will then be taken to Portsmouth and completed , but the date of departure will be in March . THE LINOTYPE COMPANY ( LIMITED ) , of which Bro . Sheriff Lawrence is the chauman , haie , declared a dividend at the rate of 12 per cent , per annum on tbe deferred ordinary shares foi the half-year ended December 31 st . An 8 per cent , interim dividend has already been paid to June 30 th , 1 9 , making 10 per cent , for the whole year 1900 on the deferred shares .

THE REPORT of the London Taverns Company states that the trading of the Albion Tavern has resulted in a net profit of £ 854 17 s . 1 id ., exclusive of the balance ot £ 303 13 s . sd . brought forward . The directors recommend the payment of a dividend at the rate is . Gd . per share ( tax free ) . This will absorb £ 900 , and leave a balance of / 25 s us . 4 d . to be carried to the next account .

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION . —The distribution of prizes in connection with the nth junior and seventh senior examination of candidates under the Commercial Education Scheme of the London Chamber of Commerce will take place at the Mansion House on Monday , the 4 th prox . The Right Hon . C . T . Ritchie , M . P ., the Home Secretary , will distribute the prizes , and Bro . the Lord Mayor will preside .

AN IDEAL THAMES SERVICE . —Mr . John Burns , M . P ., speaking at an L . C . C . election meeting at Battersea on Monday , said he hoped to introduce a Bill in the House of Commons to authorise the Council to spend £ 500 , 000 on 40 new Thames steamboats and new piers , and obtain a five-minute service all the year round , and by universal ticket system form a connecting link with the electric trams .

J . AND P . COATS ( Limited ) have sent £ 2000 to the Lord Mayor in response to the Princess of Wales's appeal in behalf of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association . In addition they have given £ 1000 to the Royal Patriotic Fund Branch of the Transvaal War Fund ( Widows and Orphans ) . Among other sums which have recently been received at the Mansion House are the following : Lord Dunsandle , £ 20 ; Mr . VVilliam Forbes , £ 100 ; some members of the Devonshire Club , £ 40 ; Mr . W . Austin Leigh , £ 5 j and London Association of Correctors of the Press , £ 1 2 s . Gd .

AT THE FUNERAL of her late Majesty , not only Queen Alexandra , but all the Royal ladies , wore dresses of dull black material , with crape , and crape bonnets with long folded ends of crape behind and crape veils falling below the waist . This accounts fui the statement in the Court Circular , " it is not surprising that the great ones of this country should follow the Royal lead , " and we quite agree with the opinion , " the Royal command for Court mourning that the black dresses be trimmed with crape , will , doubtless , affect the community at large , and generally be followed in future ordinary mourning . "

THE CORDWAINERS' COMPANY have voted £ 100 to Clergymen s Widows ; 30 guineas each to the fund for building a mission room at Edmonton , and tbe poor boxes at the Metropolitan Police Courts ; 25 guineas to the prize fund of the City and Guilds Institute ; 20 guineas to the United Clickers and Assistants' Benevolent and Pension Society ; 15 guineas to the Earlswood Asylum for Idiots ; 10 guineas each to the City Dispensary , the Westminster Boys' Home , the London School Dinners' Association , the Stockwell Orphanage , and the poor of the parish of St . Anne and Agnes , Aldersgate j and five guineas each to the City Kitchen and the Cordwainer and Bread-street Ward Schools .

BRO . A . J . TONKIN has recently written and published a work upon the art of draping the human figure , wherein he follows and extends the principles laid down by the late Henry Wampen , Ph . D ., Professor of Mathematics . It promises to be a success both in this country and in America . In addition to dealing with costume fro n a technical standpoint , it treats of dress from a fine art point of view , and really th e book is made of an educational character as regards "drapery , " whether consider ed from the designer ' s position or that of the artist or sculptor . A copy of this volume

having been brought to the notice ot the King , a very gracious acknowledgment has been received through Sir Francis Knollys .- Bro . Tonkin has been invited to give a lecture upon the technics of the above publication on the 19 th prox . This will be delivered before the Metropolitan Society in London , the largest and most influential body of its kind in the kingdom . The writer is now busily engaged upon an illustrated work dealing exclusively with clerical costume , which is about to be published in parts by Messrs . John Williamson , Limited .

BRO . DR . C HARLES FORSHAW , F . R . S . L . of Bradford , is engaged editing a work which promises to be not only interesting but valuable . This is a couple of volumes ent'tled " Poetical Tributes in Memory of Her Late Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria . " This work is dedicated , by permission , to his Grace the Duke of Argyll , LL . D ., D . Sc , who is a personal friend of Bro . Forshaw , and will be published early in April by Messrs . Swann , Sonneschein and Co . Bro . Dr . Forshaw has obtained the

permission of many of the leading literary lights of the day to include their poems in Ihe book , among whom may be mentioned Earl Percy , the Countess of Cork , Sir Lewis Morris , M . A ., Wm . Allen , M . P ., Bro . the Very Rev . Dean Hole , Mr . James Rhoades , Mr . A . C . Benson , M . A ., of Eton College , Windsor , W . E . Henley , LL . D ., Miss Nora Hopper , Miss Annie Flora Steele , Mrs . Ella Gordon , Canon Rawnsley , the Lady Mayoress of London , Bro . Emra Holmes , Bro . Wilson Barrett , Mrs . Harcourt Mitchell , Bro . Morgan , the Welsh Bard , and some 500 others .

Masonic And General Tidings.

LORD KINTORE has returned to Aldershot , where he is in command of the jf j Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders . THE KING , on Thursday Isst , gave a sitting- to Mr . G . VV . de Saulles , Engraver to the Royal Mint , for the purposes of the new coinage . AT THE ANNUAL Court of Governors of the Charing-cross Hospital on the 20 th inst ., Lord Wantage was elected president of the hospital in the room of the late Duke of Coburg .

LORD DONOUGHMORE has returned to England . He only succeeded to the titi e last December , and as Lord Suirdale has held the post of private secretary to Sir Henry Blake , Governor of Hong Kong . ORDER OF THE SECRET MONITOR . —The installation meeting of the Horatio Shirley Conclave , No . 5 , will be held at the Holborn Restaurant , Holborn , W . C , on Monday , the 25 th instant , at six p . m . punctually . The Audit Committee will meet at 5 . 30 p . m .

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CORNWALL AND YORK visited Tilbury Docks on Thursday , and inspected the Ophir , which is to bear them to Australia , It is announced that their Royal Hignesses will spend three days at St . John ' s , Newfoundland , reaching the port on October 21 . NINETY-TWO additions were made to the Zoological Society ' s menagerie during the month of January , the most noteworthy being three examples of the open-bill ( anas , tomus oscitans ) , a species of the stork family , which , hitherto , had not been represented in the collection .

BRO . EMRA HOLMES has received the thanks of his Majesty for his poem on the "Passing of the Queen , " published in our last week's issue , as also for the verses " Victoria Regina lmperatrix , " which recently appeared in the Freemason , and were copied into many of . our contemporaries . THE ROYAL YACHT Victoria and Albert , which is to convey the King to Germany sailed on Thursday evening for Port Victoria , where his Majesty has arranged to embark to-morrow ( Saturday ) . The cruisers Australia and Severn , which are to convoy the yacht across the North Sea , have also proceeded there .

THE CITY CORPORATION some time since resolved to invite the mayors , town clerks , and the aldermen and councillors of the new metropolitan boroughs , with their ladies , to an entertainment in Guildhall , the circumstances , of course , necessitated a postponement , and the Lord Mayor ( Bro . Alderman Green ) has now fixed Monday , May 13 th , as aconvenient date for the proposed reception and musical conversazione .

MOIRA CHAPTER , No . 92 . —The M . E . Z . desires to recommend to the companions the case of the daughter of Ihe late Comp . T . W . Wright , of Shanghai , who will be a candidate for the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls in October next . The case is warmly supported by Comp . C . Thorne , P . Z ., the Father of the Moira Lodge and Chapter . Votes for the April Election ( to be made available by exchange ) will be received by Comp . R . F . Gould , P . Z . and Scribe E ., " Kingfield , " Woking .

AT THE GREAT DOG SHOW at the Royal Agricultural Hall in the course of Wed . nesday , the 13 th inst ., the Duchess of Newcastle presented Mr . Charles Cruft with a magnificent pair of silver candelabras on the part of herself and the other ladies and gentlemen who were interested in the Ranelagh Hound Show held last summer . Upon the occasion in question , Mr . Charles Cruft devoted his time and experience tb the management of the show , and the presentation was in recognition of the valuable services which he gratuitously rendered to the committee .

THE SHUTTLEWORTH MEMORIAL FUND . —The action of the Corporation of the City of London in voting £ 50 towards this fund has given an additional impetus '; to the subscriptions , a fact which the promoters must hail with gratification . The Corporation grant considerably strengthens the claim of the fund on the citizens' pockets , and this has been recognised by at least two civic dignitaries—Bros . Alderman Sir Reginald Hanson , Bart ., and Alderman Sir Horatio Davies , M . P ., who have each contributcd the sum of 10 guineas . Bro . Alderman Sir William Treloar , of 69 , Ludgate-hill , the treasurer of the fund , will be glad to receive further donations .

ON RECEIPT of the news of the Queen's death , the members of the Royal Solomon Mother Lodge , No . 293 , at the Holy City of Jerusalem , assembled , and , after the opening of the lodge , which was draped in black , the W . M . moved the following resolution : " That an address be drawn up for signature by the officers and members of the lodge , to be forwarded to the Most Worshipful Grand Master , his Majesty King Edward VII ., recording their heartfelt sorrow at the death of the great and beloved Queen , and express their respectful sympathy with his Majesty and his Royal House , and at the same time wishing his Majesty a long and glorious reign . " The resolution was carried unanimously .

LIST OF AGRICULTURAL SHOWS , DOG AND POULTRY SHOWS , CATTLE AND HORSE FAIRS , RACING FIXTURES , & c—The Great Northern Railway Company have issued the 1901 edition of their handy little book containing a list of the principal Agricultural Shows , Dog and Poultry Shows , Cattle and Horse Fairs , Racing Fixtures , & c , for the year . Copies of the book can be obtained gratis of the Company ' s agents

in the various towns , or on enclosing stamp for postage to the Superintendent of the line , Great Northern Railway , King ' s Cross Station , London , N . A neat folding card for the pocket has also been prepared , giving full particulars of the principal Agricultural Shows to be held during the year 1901 , and copies can be obtained on enclosing stamp for postage to Mr . F . Elliott , Goods Canvassing Department , Great Northern Railway , King's Cross Station , London , N .

MEMBERS of the Great Pno . y of the United Religious and Military Orders of the Temple , and of St . John of Jerusalem , Palestine , Rome , and Malta in England and Wales and the Dependencies thereof , met in special assembly at Mark Masons' Hall , on Thursday last , to pass a vote of condolence to King Edward VII ., who is Sovereign of the Order in the United Kingdom , on the death of his Royal and beloved mother , The Earl of Euston presided , and , on the entry of the procession , Sir Knight H . R . Rose ,

Grand Organist , played Chopin ' s Funeral March . His lordship proposed the Address to his Majesty , wbitVi was seconded by Sir Knight tbe Earl of Lathom . The document concluded : " We also beg to effer to your Majesty the earnest assurance of our unswerving loyalty and devotion to the Throne , and pray that your Majesty's reign may be long and prosperous , and that the Most High may ever have you in His Holy keeping . " The address was adopted unanimously , alt the brethren standing , andat the conclusion singing " God save the King . "

FOR MANY YEARS it has been a custom at Windsor for the bombardier to the Corporation to fire salutes on all Royal birthdays and anniversaries in connection with the Coutt . By order of King Edward the list has been revised for 1901 , and salutes will be fired in the Long Walk , Great Park , as follows : March ioth , wedding-day of the King and Queen j March iSth , birthday of Princess Louise , Duchess of Argyll ; April 14 th , Princess Henry of Battenberg ,- May 1 st , Duke of Connaught ; May 24 th ,

berlate Majesty Queen Victoria j May 25 th , Princess Christian j May 26 th , Duchess of Cornwall and York j June 3 rd , Duke of Cornwall and York ,- June 20 th , accession of her late Majesty Queen Victoria j June 23 rd , birthday of Prince Edward of York ; July 6 th , wedding-day of the Duke of Cornwall and Yorkj November 9 th , birthday of his Majesty the King ; November 21 st , the Empress Frederick j December ist , ths Queen . Coronation Day ( June 28 th ) of her late Majesty the Queen to be omitted . In 1902 the anniversary of the late Queen ' s accession is also to be omitted .

THE HALF-YEARLY social gathering of the Kingsland P . S . A . Society was held at the Congregational Church , Sandringham-road , on the 21 st instant , and , notwithstanding the inclement weather , about 1 G 0 sat down to tea . At eight o ' clock a public meeting was held under the presidency of the Rev . M . H . Le Pla , who was supported by the Rev . M . Duffield , Bro . C . Bolton , and others . According to the report read by the Hon . Secretary , Mr . Thomas Tyler , this society is in a very flourishing condition . The Slate Club ( of which Mr . Wade is Secretary ) it appears now numbers Soa

members . The total receipts for the past year were £ 1024 4 s . 3 d ., and the expenditure ^ 338 Ss . Gd ., leaving a balance of £ 639 10 s . 3 d . to be divided , the lemaining sum of £ 46 5 s . Gd . being left in hand . The loan club , although it has only been in existence two years , has lent to its members about £ 450 , and paid five per cent , interest . This club is under the able direction 01 Mr . Day . The other branches of this P . S . A . are of the highest order , and reflects great credit on all who work so ably , The singing of Madame Kate Hull and Mr . Bennett Griffiths , and the string band under the able direction of Mr . Payne , greatly added to the enjoyment of the evening .