Contents.

CONTENTS .

L EADERS 311 Old Warrants . —X . and XI 3 J 8 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys—90 th Anniversary Festival 35 S Provincial Grand Lodge of Berks and Bucks 3 S 4 ;

Burns and Freemasonry 3 8 4 , Order of the Secret Monitor 385 i East Indies 3 Presentation to Bro . J . Baker 383 ; A Distinguished Masonic Career 385 !

CORRESPONDENCEThe German Lodge of Sorrow 38 } Information Wanted 387 Reviews 387 REPORTS OF MASONIC MKBTINOSCraft Masonry 387 Instrnrtimi _ sno

Royal Arch 390 Instruction 391 Mark Masonry 391 Knights Templar 391 Ancient and Accepted Rite 391 Masonic and General Tidings 39 a Lodge Meetings for Next Week iv .

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No very high expectations had been formed as to the result of Boys ' School the 90 th Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution Festival . £ or g 0 yS on Wednesday . It was long since recognised that the Girls' School Centenary would prove so attractive that any spare

contributions that mig ht be waiting to be absorbed in a Festival Return would be snapped up by the Centenary Stewards , leaving little or nothing to be gathered by the Stewards of Wednesday . It was also felt that the recent violent onslaughts on the executive of the Institution would exercise an unfavourable influence on the minds of those weaker brethren to whom we

referred last week as being always ready to believe there must be something in an accusation which is made with sufficient noise . Lastly , it was seen that the postponement—the unavoidable postponement—of the Centenary Festival from its usual date in the earlier half of May to the close of the first week in June must prove fatal to any chance that might have still

remained to the friends of the Boys School of successfully meeting the difficulties with which they were confronted . People may say what they like about the arrangements for our regular anniversariesso far as lodges and provinces are concerned—being made , and settled months before the dates appointed for their celebration , but

there is not a particle of doubt as to the incalculable value of the time that is left to an Institution which is going to hold its Festival , when the Festivals of its sister Institutions have been celebrated . The Boys' School , for instance , usually has a clear six or seven weeks all to itself for its Stewards to go about their duties without any rivalry from the Stewards of

the Girls' and Benevolent Institutions . This year the interval was reduced to three weeks , and the influence of the Girls' School Festival was almost as fresh in the minds of the Craft as on the day following its celebration . Thus , under the most favourable circumstance , the Board of Stewards lor

Wednesday could not have expected to do more than raise the necessary funds for ' the year's expenses of the School . But the additional difficulties they had to contend with reduced their chances of achieving this bare possibility to zero , with the result that though the Board itself mustered 218 brethren , and was therefore in excess of the smallest of the Boards

organised b y Bro . BINCKES ' exertions during the last 14 years , we must go back to the year 1874 for a total of contributions as small as that which he announced in the course of the evening ' s proceedings , namely , P 673 12 s . Some will , no doubt , suggest that this is a large total af'er the £ 50 , 600 of the Girls' Centenary , and this suggestion is

true ; but the total ought not to have fallen below the sum required for the year ' s expenditure , and this , we regret to see , it has done to the extent of about ^ 2500 . For the present , however , we shall say no more . We regret the result on account of the Chairman , who must have ooked forward to a more generous recognition on the part of the lodges of in We it of

^ nd brethren his kindness presiding . regret on account the ecretary of the Institution , who has done so much for its welfare during e last 27 years ; and we regret it , above all things , on account of the wool itself , which will find its capacity for doing good more circumscribed an ever it has been since the memorable Festivals of 186 9 and 1870 .

Hower > the Craft will doubtless keep in mind the untoward circumstances jch have befallen our Boys' School on this occasion , and we trust this prove an incentive to them to work doubletides for the Festival of the •r l 8 ° 9 . and so restore the financial equilibrium , without which it will be Possible for it to continue its work satisfactorily .

* Di 8 Wbution of WE trust that some of the brethren who have allowed them-Bo > ' 3 ' "Ic ho se ' ves to be influenced unfavourably in their opinions as to the jy , . ., . ' management of the Boys' School were present at the annual It is t ' ° ° Prizes at the Institution < Wood Green , on Saturday last . u <; i .-, ii l t ^ conditions under which the fete was held were more than

sex encour agitig . The visitors included a large proportion of the fair rag ' lhe weather was so bright and cheerful , that even the most outaga ; . 8 umbler must have found it impossible to make any headway enCe j p k | nc % disposition by which the assembled company was influ-But even if these conditions had not been in force , we doubt if

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they could have been present during the afternoon's proceedings without arriving at the conclusion that a School in which everything was done so well , and the relations prevailing between the Masters and lhe boys were of so friendly a character , must be well managed , and , in fact , the very opposite of what those who have been busily disseminating the gravest

calumnies about the School and its ruling powers have described it to be . Boys who are ill-fed , ill-clothed , and ill-trained are not , as a rule , a pleasant picture to look upon . As a rule , too , there is something wanting in the tone which influences them , and in the manner in which they respond to any invitation to enjoy themselves . But on Saturday last the boys at Wood

Green could not have looked happier and in better health if they had been in their own homes , surrounded by their best friends and companions , and entirely free from every description of restraint . What they did , too , was done freely , and as if the boys liked doing it . They sang well , they ran and jumped well ; there was a hearty ring in their cheers , and when they and

those in authority over them met in the playing fields or elsewhere , there was nowhere visible even the semblance of a sign of fear , or insolence , or undue familiarity on the part of the former towards the latter . As for the Musical Drill , in which the Preparatory School , to the number of about 30 or 40 , went through a series of extension motions and dumb bell exercises to the

accompaniment of the pianoforte , it was certainly one of the prettiest sights we have ever witnessed , and we trust that now the experiment has been applied so successfully to the Junior School , it will be gradually extended to the Upper School as well , and that the drill may be made a still more

conspicuous feature in the training of the boys . If only the Festival proper had passed off as satisfactorily as the Distribution of Prizes , which is only a part of the Anniversary Celebration , we should not now be lamenting a fall of about £ 2500 from last year ' s Returns .

* * # As we briefly announced in our last week ' s issue , it has been B ° inqifry arranged , with the full concurrence of the House Committee , that a motion shall be brought forward at the Quarterly Court

on the 27 th prox ., to the effect that . an independent inquiry shall be made into the management of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys by a Committee , to consist of Bro . F . A . PHILBRICK , Grand Registrar , and two or four other brethren of equal rank and estimation among the brethren . We cannot say that when this news first reached us we were altogether pleased .

It occurred to us that it had all the appearance of an abject surrender to the party of violence , the party which has been disgracing the Craft both by their acts at the Boys' School Committees and Courts , and in their anonymous slanders whenever an opportunity presented itself or could be made . But on reconsideration , it seems to be about the best course that

could be pursued under the circumstances . The refusal of the Special Court to have a particular matter made the subject of an inquiry having been endorsed by nearly all men ol influence in Freemasonry , no harm can be done either to the credit of the governing powers or to that of the Institution itself by acquiescing in a motion for a committee which shall

inquire generally into the system of government which prevails . Bro . BINCKES in his speech at the Festival on Wednesday welcomed the news most cordially , and expressed his belief — a belief in which we entirely concur with him—that the more minutely and independently the Committee carried out their investigation , the more would it redound to the credit of

the authorities , and the more clearly it would be shown that in all they had done they had been actuated by the best and most disinterested motives . We may add that we have received sundry communications on the subject , for which , however , after the announcement we have made , we do not think it necessary to provide space .

# * # s m atk with ^ can a " ° * unt * erstand the feelings which prompted the the Empress Empire Lodge , No . 2108 , at the instance of Bro . LENNOX Victoria . BR 0 WNE ) W . M ., to vote a resolution of sympathy with the

widowed Empress VICTORIA of Germany on the terrible bereavement she has lately suffered by the death of her beloved husband the Emperor FREDERICK . It was also a wise proceeding on the part of the lodge to invoke the assistance of Bro . Dr . E . E . WENDT , our Grand Secretary for German Correspondence , who , from the part he had played in bringing

about the present intimate relations between the Grand Lodges of Berlin and that of England , as well as from his nationality , must be well acquainted with the ideas and feelings of our German brethren , and could be well able to interpret in suitable language the sympathy of the lodge towards the widowed lady . The address which expresses the feelings of tbe brethren

of the Empire Lodge is very ably drawn up , and , apart from its kindly condolence , fully exhibits the sense of the loss sustained through the death of the German Emperor FREDERICK , formerly G . Master of one of the three Berlin Grand Lodges , and latterly Protector of the Craft in Prussia . For a further account of the proceedings , we refer our readers to the report in another part of our columns .