Contents.

CONTENTS .

f . IAD ! RS •••••¦ ; 35 i ¦ tannic Reprints of No . 2076 37 a Grand Festival of the Order ' of the Secret _ Monitor ••> 373 Provincial Grand Lodge of Nottinghamshire 374 Consecration of the Cecil Chapter , No . 449 374 Cons-cration of the Sterndale Bennett Chapter , No . 2183 374 Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Middlesex and Surrey 376 Masonic Loyalty 377 South Africa . ¦ . . ¦¦»¦ 377 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 377 Proposed New Scottish Lodge in London 377

CORRESPONDENCEThe Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 379 Liberal Freemasons 380 Bro . R . F . Gould and the " Kegius " MS . 3 80 Our Benevolent Institutions 381 REPORTS OF MASONIC M EETINGSCraft Masonry -. 3 81 Instruction 384 Royal Arch 3 S 4 Mark Masonry 384 Knights Templar 383 Straits Settlements 383 Proposed Memorial o £ the Late Canon Portal 38 S Masonic and General Tidings 386 Lodge Meetings for Next Week iv .

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The THE meeting of the General Committee of the Royal Masonic Boys ' School Institution for Boys , which was adjourned on Saturday , the Committee , ist inst ., for four weeks , and not as was commonly supposed , till its next regular meeting , will be resumed to-morrow ( Saturday ) , and as

everyone is anxious that the present provisional state of affairs should be brought to as speedy a conclusion as possible , we trust its labours will be directed wholly and solely to the attainment of this particular object . Thus , thoug h it seems to be generally admitted that the Provisional Committee of Management is not legally competent , under the Rules and Regulations

of the Institution , to perform the duties with which it has been entrusted , we shall be greatly disappointed if the General Committee does not accept it as for the time being invested with the functions ordinarily exercised by the House and Audit Committees . Indeed , if it is possible for any such course to be adopted , we see no reason why the 21 members of the Provisional Committee should not be nominated to-morrow , and elected at the

regular meeting , on Saturday , the 6 th prox ., as the regular House and Audit Committees , 12 of the 21 being assigned to act as the former , and the remaining nine as the latter . By this arrangement the Provisional Committee would become the de jure , as well as the de facto Administrative Committees of the Institution , and it would be for them , when thus elected ,

to act together or separately , as , in the exercise of their discretion , they might hereafter see fit to determine . In any circumstances , however , it is to be hoped that the General Committee , which is charged with the transaction

of " the ordinary business of the Institution , " will show'its appreciation of the present difficulties in which the School is placed , by lending a helping hand to the Provisional Committee , and assisting it to the , utmost of its ability in the very responsible task it has undertaken .

* .. i * K The Boys' THERE is probably not a single brother who has interested on Wednesday ' himself in the progress of the Royal Masonic Institution for next . Boys , or been in any way concerned in its management , who can call to mind a single one of its Anniversary Festivals as having been held under circumstances of so much doubt and calculated to create so

much uneasiness , as that which is appointed to take place at the Alexandra " alace on Wednesday next , the 3 rd prox . Last year every one was prepared for a very considerable diminution in the total of receipts as compared with those of the preceding 13 years , though we imagine there were not a few who were somewhat surprised at the extent of the falling off . But e Girls' Centenary had been too attractive , and sensible people accepted a re _ sult which they had to a greater or less extent anticipated . In Previous years the total had been sometimes greater and sometimes less an was hoped for , but always fairly approximate to the average . This y ar , however , though , as we have more than once pointed out already ,

e 's an excellent and energetic Chairman , and a Board of Stewards of OOQ ra **' e str ength—stronger by quite 100 brethren than the Board of —¦ no one seems to have the courage to attempt a forecast of an issue which the well-being of the Institution for the next 12 months so materiall y depends . This is due no doubt to the position of the School , government of which is , as it were , in commission , while the Rules and del f tlons a PPear to be in a state of suspense . There is also a great ° ggeration abroad as to what has been , and what has not been ¦ oome people talk as if the affairs of the School had been Bedl ' Sterec ^ during the last three years by a number of lunatics from a fe !? ° Cr ' ' nals from Newgate , while others are content with uttering or th «? P ' ' * d es » as > f ° example , that " everything is for the best , " unlim' , ever ytt-i * -g will come right in the end . " Again , every one has C 0 m . C 01 , fidence in the wisdom , zeal , and ability of the Provisional Plain H , ee" ~ t ' - gh in issuing the circular of which a correspondent comsCr -L * week , it has shown less discretion than the Governors and Subit j s 1 .. a r'ght to expect from it—but it is not by any means clear that Audit r ^ . P etent to exercise the powers with which the House and e ' Pseh f ' ttees are by law invested , and even if it is , a long time must '¦*' - 's most t government of the Institution can be restored to order . All its f 0 r t u Un » ortunate for the School and , taking the approaching Festival " ¦ oment , overshadowing everything , still more unfortunate for the

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Stewards , who , in the course of their canvass , may perhaps have been jeeringly asked about the great " vermin " question , the great * ' cucumber " question , or the great " cocoa , " or " plunge bath " question . At all events , the difficulties and uncertainties in which the Institution is placed must

have had the effect of making the work of the Stewards more than ordinarily trying , and does not encourage us to be very sanguine about the result of Wednesday ' s gathering . However , we fully agree with the Provisional Committee in their statement that " the circumstances under which

the Institution is placed imperatively demand a most generous response from all its friends . " We trust , therefore , that , forgetting their differences about the manner in which the School has been conducted , all who are anxious for its welfare will loyally join together and assist the Stewards to the utmost of their ability in obtaining such a Return of subscriptions and

donations on VVednesday next as will , in the first place , make good any deficiency in last year ' s account , and in the next will place it in possession of ample funds for the expenses of the current year . If Masons on entering a lodge have no difficulty in laying aside their religious and political differences , it should be still less difficult for them to suspend their

differences of opinion as to the manner in which one of their Charitable Institutions has been conducted , when the question is not how it shall be managed , but how and whence the necessary funds , without which it cannot be carried on , shall be raised . Let us all strive our utmost to make the Festival of Wednesday under Past G . Treasurer EVE a great success , and

then , if it must be so , let us fight it out all along the line till one or other side has prevailed , and a complete reconciliation has taken place . Let us first catch our hare before we consider how it shall be cooked ; in other words , let us raise the funds lor the support of the School , and then let us settle afterwards how they can be best and most advantageously appropriated .

* * THE second annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Norths and of Northants and Hunts since the installation of Bro . the Hunts . g j 0 f frusr 0 N as Provincial Grand Master was held in Huntingdon , on the 13 th inst ., under the banner of the Socrates Lodge ,

No . 373 , about one-fourth of the brethren in the province being in attendance under the presidency of their chief . The reports of the work done during the past year were very satisfactory , the most gratifying record of all being relative to the support given by the lodges and members to the Provincial Grand Master on the occasion of his taking the chair at the

Festival of the Benevolent Institution in February last . As our readers are aware , the sum then raised by Northants and Hunts exceeded ^ 900 , and as there are only 12 lodges on the roll , of which one is less than a year old , the exertions made must have been very great , and are in a corresponding degree most praiseworthy . No wonder , then , that with so

much to gratify them , there should have been a full attendance at the banquet , and that the proceedings of the day should have been concluded with a highly successful ball , at which a large number of the fair sex and

many influential county people were present . The meeting , indeed , seems to have afforded unmixed pleasure to all who took part in its business proceedings and its festivities , and we trust that future annual gatherings of a similar character may always pass off as agreeably .

* * * R 1 Ar 1 THERE can be no doubt that Suffolk , though by no means Masonry in a large Province , is well furnished in the matter of Royal Suffolk . j ^ ^ chapterSl It has but 21 Craft lodges on its roll , and yet on Monday , the 17 th instant , a ninth Royal Arch chapter—the Henniker ,

No . 555 , attached to the Fidelity Lodge , No . 555 , Framlingham—was consecrated by Comp . the Rev . C . J . MARTYN , G . Superintendent , the eig ht having been constituted as recently as last year . This undoubtedl y justifies the opinion expressed by Comp . MARTYN on the occasion , to the effect that " he thought he might say they were making very favourable

progress . ' The proportion of chapters to lodges is above the average even in such strong Provinces as the two Lancashires and West Yorkshire , while it shows to still greater advantage in the smaller Provinces of about the same strength as Suffolk itself . Thus the proceedings at Prov . G .

Chapter , as they were of a more than usually gratifying character , were at the same time productive of more than the ordinary display of enthusiasm , and we congratulate the Grand Superintendent and the members of the R . A . chapters on the very auspicious event in vvhich they took part last week . May their labours be always as successful .

* »* GREAT activity has been shown among the Craft in Hertford in shire during the last five years , but it has been confined to Craft

Hertfordshire . and Mark Masonry , in the former of which five lodges , and in the latter three out of its four lodges and the Provincial G . Lodge , have been constituted in that period . In R . A . Masonry , however , no step in advance had been made since 1877 , until Thursday , the 20 th instant , when the Grand Superintendent , Comp , T . F . HALSEY , M . P ., had the satisfao