Approaching Festival Of The R.M.I. For Boys.

APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE R . M . I . FOR BOYS .

Now that this year s Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls has gone the way of that of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , it becomes our duty to take stock of the

position of the third great Institution established and maintained by the brethren of this country , and the efforts that are being made to ensure the success of its approaching Anniversary . Our readers are doubtless aware that the date has been fixed for the

2 nd July , and that the Right Hon . Lord GEORGE HAMILTON , M . P ., First Lord of the Admiralty , and Past Senior Grand Warden of England , has considerately undertaken the responsibility of presiding as Chairman , and we are well satisfied his lordship will do all in his power to secure a good return to the

efforts that are being made , and will be made , in behalf of this important Charity . We hear that at present there are about 220 brethren who have given their services as Stewards , but this is a long way from the number who acted last year in this capacity , and we trust , therefore , that no pains will be spared in order

to make it as numerous and as efficient as , if not more numerous and efficient than , that of 1889 , the result of whose labours was shown by the excellent total of £ 13 , 600 and upwards . In 188 9 , however , the Girls' School , after the splendid success of its Centenary , was almost left out of the reckoning

in estimating the results of the several Anniversaries , the efforts of the Craft being mainly directed in the first instance towards supplying the needful sum to satisfy the requirements of the Benevolent Institution , and in the next towards making good the deficiency of the previous year at the Boys' Festival , owing to

its following so closely after the Girls' Centenary . But this year the authorities of the senior Charity have found themselves under the necessity of couching their appeal to the Masonic public in language almost as pressing as in the years preceding the Centenary . Thus the Benevolent Festival of February

yielded over £ 13 , 840 in February , or more by upwards of £ 300 than that of 188 9 , while that of the Girls' School last week produced upwards of £ 11 , 000 , or considerably more than double the total announced in Freemasons' Tavern on the 22 nd May , 1889 . Hence , except in so far as the present members of its Board of

Stewards may already have enlisted the sympathy of the lodges and brethren , the Boys' School as Bro . BINCKES has again and again said , have to content itself with the crumbs that are left , and it is to be hoped that these crumbs will turn out to be more numerous and larger than crumbs usually are , At all

events , our object at this present moment is to impress upon the brethren generally the very great importance of strengthening the Board of Stewards as now constituted , and as there are still nearly five weeks left in which this work of strengthening the

Board may be carried on , we sincerely hope our appeal will not prove to have been made in vain . A Board of 300 Stewards and upwards , with a higher list average than usual , will place the Boys' School on a firm footing during the coming year . ¦

But there are special reasons why every one must desire to see a higher total at the approaching celebration than in 1889 . Not only do we desire to see the efforts of Bro . Lord GEORGE HAMILTON and his Board of Stewards rewarded more

munificently than usual for his and their sake—for his sake because he has no Province to support him , and for their sake because they have a harder task before them than in 188 9 . We have a greater reason still in the fact that this Institution is more sorel y in need of funds than it has been for some time past . The proposal to

erect a swimming bath has been postponed for the present on account of the great annual outlay that will be required for the necessary water supply . But the sanitary and other works which must be carried out , and which , indeed , the Governors and

Subscribers have already resolved on carrying out , will require an extraordinary expenditure of some £ 3000 . So large a sum is difficult to raise at the best of times , but still more difficult will the task of raising it be likely to prove now when the School is in a state of transition ; and there has hardl y been time for a

Approaching Festival Of The R.M.I. For Boys.

renewal of that confidence in the governing authorities of the Institution , which was so rudely shaken last year by the Report of the Investigation Committee . The Provisional Committee , which was appointed as the result of that Report , to

carry on the management of the School for the present , has been doing its work bravely . Its first statement of account , showing , as it does , an appreciable reduction of the cost per boy during the six months ended the 31 st December last , makes it clear that this Committee have set their minds on a more

economical expenditure , nor have we the slightest ground for believing that the economy has been obtained at the cost of an impaired efficiency . We may rest satisfied , therefore , that whatever sum may be raised on the 2 nd July next will be used to the best advantage ; but as the regular expenditure , even at the

reduced cost per boy , will still amount to about £ 10 , 000 , and the extraordinary expenditure will amount , as we have said , to quite £ 3000 , it will be manifest to our readers that , as the permanent income of the School is only about £ 700 per annum , a lower total of receipts than in 188 9 will hardly suffice to meet the pressing exigencies of the new year .

There is also a further , though a lesser , reason why we desire that the approaching Festival should compare well with some of the best among its predecessors . Bro . BINCKES , after completing a service of 29 years as Secretary to the Institution , will have vacated his office , but the management of the Festival has been

left in his hands . We do most sincerely hope , therefore , that for his sake , who has done so much for this and our other Institutions likewise , and by way of showing that no section of the Craft bears him ill will , the last Anniversary with which he will be associated will be as satisfactory as some of his most successful .

The Mark Grand Lodge.

THE MARK GRAND LODGE .

The summer Half-Yearly communication of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons will be held in its new Hall , adjoining Freemasons' Hall , on Tuesday , the 3 rd prox ., when we may expect there will be a more numerous gathering of Present and Past Grand Officers and brethren of the Mark Degree than

usual , especially as there is a full programme of business , including the appointment and investiture of the Grand Officers for the ensuing year . The report , too , of the General Board for the last half-year will be presented , and from its tenour we gather that as regards lodges and brethren very great progress

has been made during the period it refers to , and that financially the position of Grand Lodge is most satisfactory , notwithstanding the heavy expense it has incurred in making the

necessary alterations and improvements in its new premises . During the half-year to the 31 st March last , warrants for six new Mark lodges and three new Ark Mariner lodges were granted , while the number of Mark and Ark certificates issued were as

regards the former 6 99 , and as regards the latter 192 , the number of registered Mark Masons being thus raised to 26 , 6 * 7 , and of Ark Mariners to 3049 . Two new Provincial Grand Masters , Bro . the Hon . Sir H . STAFFORD NORTHCOTE , M . P ., and the Duke of CONN \ UGHT , have been appointed , the former

to preside over Devonshire , vice the late Bro . Lieutenant-Colonel J . TANNER DAVY , J . P ., and the latter to preside over Sussex , vice Bro . GERARD , FORD deceased . Three Provincial and one District Grand Masters have been re-appointed , each for a further term of three years . The Board also refers to the

exchange of representatives with the new Grand Mark Lodge of New South Wales , and further records its hearty thanks to Bros . R . BERRIDGE and C . H . DRIVER , the Honorary Architects of Grand Lodge , for the success of their labours in respect of the new Grand Lodge premises , and also to the Building and Premises

Committee , comprising Bros , the Earl of EuSTON , FRANK RICHARDSON , J AMES MOON , and C . F . MATIER . It recommends that in future there shall be four Quarterly Communications instead of two Half-yearly , and expresses a hope that the sum of £ 500 for the purchase of an organ as a memorial to the late Bro .