Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 39 Our Institutions and the Critics 39 Installation of Bro . Lord Saltoun as P . G . M . of Aberdeen 41 ] 3 ro . Hughan's New Work 41 C ORRESPONDENCE— "Rule 210 " 43 Old Editions of the Book of Constitutions 43 Grand Portrait Painter 43 Reviews 44 Presentation to Bro . Harley , P . M ., Treas . No . 30 44 R EPORTS or MASONIC MEETINGS— Craft Masonry 44 Instruction Si

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—faction Sa Ma / k Masonry '' . ' . ' . ' . ' . ' . " !!!!!' . " !!!!!""!!!' . !!' . ' . " . !! 52 Knights Templar !' . ' . !" . " !!!!! . ' . " !!!!! . ' !!!'" . !!! . ' . " . " ! S 3 Ancient and Accepted Rite S 3 Rosicrucian Society of England 53 Board of Benevolence S 3 A Gift to the Masonic Hall at Liverpool ... $ 3 The Earl of Onslow and the Onslow Mark Lodge , No . 3 61 S 4 Lodge of Sorrow—Pilgrim Lodge , No . 238 ... S 4 Obituary SS Theatres S 5 Masonic and General Tidings 5 b Lodge Meetings for Next Week iv .

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THE Quarterly General Court of the Royal Masonic Institution Quarterly for Boys will be held at Freemasons' Hall to-day ( Friday ) , and Courts . faat Q { ^ g R 0 ya [ Masonic Institution for Girls to-morrow ( Saturday ); but in neither case will there will be a lengthy programme of business to transact , the most important item being the settlement of the

lists of candidates and the declaration of the number of vacancies to be competed for in April . As the PHILBRICK Committee has acceded to a request that further evidence should be taken in respect of a certain point , or points , it may reasonably be assumed that there will be no report from the said Committee : but a motion will be made by Bro . J . S . CUMBERLAND

that the laws of the Institution be referred for the purposes of revision and correction to a Committee , which shall report to a Quarterly Court in April , or to one specially convened under Law 31 . At the Girls'School Court , to-morrow ( Saturday ) , Bro . C . J . PERCEVAL will submit a motion with

reference to the qualifications of candidates for admission into the School , precisely similar to one submitted by Bro . J AMES STEVENS at the Quarterly Court of the Boys' School in October last , and accepted , after careful consideration . With these exceptions , there will be nothing to occupy the attention of members .

* * * IT will be seen from the report we publish in another part of Board of our columns of the meeting of the Board of Benevolence on Benevolence . .... , ... Wednesday , that during the last ten years the expenditure has

very considerably exceeded the income , and , as we have before noted in our remarks on this subject , that the capital which , at the beginning of this period , exceeded ^ 50 , ooohas been , by slow but sure degrees , reduced to about

£ 38 , 000 . We have no time to say more just now , but as these figures have been issued officially from the Grand Secretary's office , it is clear the question we hinted at a little while ago about increasing the quarterages is one of greater imminence than the Craft generally imagines .

* * * THE banquet to Bro . the Earl of ONSLOW , on the eve of his Earl of o ' nsiow , departure for New Zealand to assume the Governor General-P . S . G . w . g ^ jp 0 f iY _ at distant colony , was a fitting compliment to one

of the most accomplished , and at the same time , one of the most enthusiastic Freemasons of our day . His lordship has done good service to the Craft . He is a Past Senior Grand Warden of United Grand Lodge , as well as of the Grand Lodgeof Mark Master Masons of England , and under both of these ruling bodies there are lodges which have adopted his name

and will do credit to his fame . Like his brother Past S . G . Warden , Lord CARRIKGTON , Governor General of New South Wales , he is visiting a colony in which Freemasonry has firmly established itself and is very popular , and in which the question of setting up an independent Grand Lodge has been raised by some of the lodges and brethren , if not fully and

to any great extent discussed . The case is not precisely similar to those of South Australia , New South Wales , and Victoria , for these were separate and distinct Masonic districts as well as separate colonies , while New Zealand , though it is a separate colony , is parcelled out , Masonically , into several districts . However , there is little doubt that Lord ONSLOW will

show himself as anxious to promote the welfare of New Zealand Freemasonry and as zealous , so far as his duties will permit , in cultivating the acquaintance of the brethren as his neighbouring Governor , Lord CAJJRINGTON , and we trust good fortune may attend him in all his undertakings , in the responsible office he has been called upon to fill .

* Then ' vacancy caused in the Prov . G . Mastership of West len \ Vest ' ' Aberdeenshire by the lamented death of Bro . Dr . BEVERIDGE Aberbeen . has been wel j fi i led by tbe appointment of Bro . Lord SALTOUN as his successor . His lordship is well known , both here and in Scotland ,

'' is connection with our Mark Grand Lodge having brought him into Rreat prominence . Bro . Sir A . C AMPBELL , Bart ., M . W . G . M ., by presiding at his lordship's installation , showed his sense of the worth of the new

P -G . Master , and at the same time had the satisfaction of being able tc Pay a compliment to a well-ordered and staunch province . We congratulate "' s lordshi p ; and we have every confidence that his relations with West Aberdeenshire will prove to be to the satisfaction and fame of both .

Our Institutions And The Critics.

OUR INSTITUTIONS AND THE CRITICS .

People who play at bowls must expect rubbers , and those who are now assailing our Institutions with charges of gross mismanagement , which we believe will be proved to be utterly groundless , must not be surprised

if their assaults are resented in language which is not particularly complimentary to their sense of self-esteem . We are prepared to admit that , in the war which is now being carried on against the administration and expenditure of our several Charities , some of the movements

are conducted in a manner which is almost entirely unobjectionable , the weapons employed being fair , open , and honest criticism , and their purpose a genuine desire to befriend the Institutions and , if possible , enlarge their sphere of usefulness . Our belief is that a full and friendl y discussion between the leaders of these movements and the authorities of the

Institution more immediately concerned would set all doubts and difficulties at rest . Ourchief , indeed , almost our only objection to this class of attack is , that with some seven months available for discussion it should have been delayed till a period when the officers and Festival Stewards are engaged in the endeavour to raise the necessary supplies for the coming year . Unfortunate ! v ,

however , these movements are inawoful minority . The bulk of the warfare is conducted in a manner opposed to all good feeling , the principal weapons being , not reason and argument , but abuse , assertion , wordy declamation , and innuendo . The authors of these attacks make pretence of being actuated b y the most friendly desire to benefit the Charities , but it is a question with us

whether their open and declared hostility would not be preferable to their alleged friendly interest . Here , for instance , are a few specimens of the criticism which , we presume , is intended to benefit our Institutions , and which , although we might have used a far stronger expression , we have contented ourselves with describing as " silly . "

One Critic , whom we will designate as No . 1 , speaking of the pay . ments to the collector of the R . M . B . I ., writes : "Granted that the collector is entitled to commission at all , surely it should only be on sums collected by him ; it appears , however , that no matter through what agency funds may flow into the coffers of the Charity , Mr . Collector gets a

percentage thereon . " Now it may or may not be "preposterous "—to use this Critic ' s own word—to pay " Mr . Collector " the commission agreed upon in the conditions of his bond , because in a particular year he has had more money to collect , has worked harder and more successfully , and is therefore entitled to a larger sum than usual ; but the suggestion in the

latter part of the sentence vve have quoted is certainly untrue , namely , that no matter through what agency funds may flow into the coffers of the Charity , " he " gets a percentage thereon . " The amount received in respect of "donations ^ and subscriptions" during the year in which "Mr . Collector ' s" commission , taking the two funds together , amounted to

£ 639 15 s . 8 d . was £ 18 , 266 13 s . iod ., and as the commission is payable at the rate of five per centum there must have been sums paid to the Institution under this head of receipt amounting to about £ 5500 on which no commission whatever was paid . It is no part of our duty to furnish this class of writer with the information which he is in honour

bound to obtain before he turns critic and condemns what he does not know ; but , if he is entitled to inquire at the offices of the R . M . B . I ., we have no doubt the Secretary or "Mr . Collector" himself will tell him on what sums the latter is entitled to charge commission , and on what he is not so entitled . It is sufficient that the conditions on which he is

employed were clearly defined at the time of his election to office , and that the sums he has since received as commission have been strictly in accordance therewith . It should likewise be stated to the credit of f 'Mr ,

Collector that night after night , and at his own expense , he visits lodges in town and country , pleading the cause of the Charity , and obtaining many a steward and many a handsome contribution as the result of these voluntary services .

But a still more flagrant case of error will be found two or three paragraphs further on in the letter from this same Critic , in which he says ; " The Boys' annual report , issued in 1888 , gives no account whatever , that I can find , so what they do with their funds it is impossible to say . This is a serious defect , and ought not to be allowed . Large sums of

money are paid to this Charity , and we ought to have certified accounts as to its expenditure . " Now we have lying before us , at the moment of writing , the '' Annual Report" of the Boys' Institution , which was issued by the Secretary in May , 18 S 8 , in accordance with a custom which has prevailed

for many many years , of issuing such a Report a few weeks before the Anniversary Festival of the year is appointed to be held . It contains on page 6 and following pages , a certified Statement of Accounts for 1 S 87 , signed by Bros . " Chas . Fred . Hogard , Thos . Griffiths , H . S . Goodall .