Freemasonry In 1887.

lutely none on the Widows' Fund . With so terrible an inequality as this between the number of applicants and the vacancies available , it was a matter of course that the Chairman , his Province of Hants and the Isle of Wight , and the Stewards generally , with their indefatigable honorary Secretary in thepetsonof Bro . James Terry to guide and assist them , should have put an extra amount of power inlo their appeals , and that the Craft

should have responded so nobly , the result being that when election day came round as usual in the month of May , the Committee of Management were enabled to place 16 men and 41 widows on the Funds , the additional annuities created being five male and 25 widows . It is no wonder under these circumstances , that the Committee should have presented an honorarium to Bro . Terry for the unprecedented success which had attended

his " plan of campaign" in this instance , and we trust that whenever his services are crowned with like success the Committee will be as generous in their recognition of them . There is but little to add to the foregoing record . The usual winter and summer entertainments were provided for the inmates of the Asylum at Croydon , and the average number of applications for the election in May next have been sent in and dealt with , or will have been received and dealt with at the first Committee Meeting in 1888 ; and

as , from all we can learn at the present , there is every likelihood of the roll of candidates being as numerous as it was at the last election , we must hope that the Festival , which will be held on the 29 th February , under the auspices of Bro . Sir George Elliot , Bart ,, M . P ., Prov . G . M . of South Wales ( Eastern Division ) , will be sufficiently productive to maintain the Institution at its present strength . For this much , at all events , we are justified in hoping .

The Girls' School celebrated its 99 th Anniversary in May , with Bro . Sir Offley Wakeman , Prov . G . Master of Shropshire , in the chair , and a Board of Stewards 277 strong , the total of the donations and subscriptions reaching £ 11 , 764 , as against about £ 13 , , both the year previous and in 1886 . Here , unfortunately , we have to note a very considerable diminution , amounting in round figures to about £ 1250 , which was the more serious

from the fact of the authorities having laid out some . 52500 on the purchase of certain houses and grounds conveniently adjoining the School buildings . But we cannot say the result was altogether unforeseen . As the Chairman remarked in the course of his principal speech , " the 99 th year was nothing more than other years , but rather less . " It was natural that brethren should prefer reserving their services as Stewards till the Centenary year , and

that those who cannot contribute to all the Masonic Institutions should wish to have their contributions entered in the list of the Centenary subscriptions . With everyone looking forward to the great event of next year , it was inevitable that the 99 th Festival should fare indifferently , and we must be grateful that , under these circumstances so considerable a sum was raised . To this must be added the jubilee contributions from Grand Lodge amounting to £ 4100 ,

so that , after all , the Girls' Institution will have had no difficulty in payingits way , even wilh the additional outlay of £ 2500 for Mr . EvilPs houses and the ground attached . That it deserves the support which it receives is demonstrated by the repeated successes which the pupils achieve at the Cambridge Local and the Science and Art Examinations , all those who went up for the former in December , 1886 , having passed , the majority of

them with honours , while of those who submitted to the latter ordeal about two-thirds were successful . This shows that the plan of education is wellregulated and as well carried out , and all well-wishers of the School must rejoice that advantage was taken of the completion by Miss Davis of a term of 25 years as Head Governess to present that lady with a testimonial in recognition of her important services to the children . The presentation took

place on the 23 rd April , with but very little outward formality , but in a manner which must have been particularly gratifying to Miss Davis . It remains to add that during the last months of the year the general attention has been occupied wilh the preparations for next year ' s important celebration , and the scheme proposed by the Committee and approved by the Governors for the re-arrangement and extension of the School as a

permanent memorial of the event . A signal amount of success has attended the efforts of the Commiltee up to the present , and the Board of Stewards already numbers close on 600 brethren . A History of the Institution is also appearing in these columns , and when completed will be issued in book form . In line , everything is being done to keep the School prominently before the Masonic world , and we trust these efforts will be crowned with a success worthy of so important an anniversary .

The Boys' School fared the worst of the three Charities , though the difference between ils Festival receipts and those of the sister School at BaUersea-rise amounted to only a few hundred pounds . Unfortunately , the celebration of the 89 th Anniversary , which took place at the Crystal Palace on tlie 14 II 1 June , was held under the most discouraging circumstances . Bro . Binckes , who has done so much for the Institution during his

Secretaryship of 26 years , made every possible endeavour to secure the services of a Chairman , but all his efforts proved unavailing until within about a fortnight of the day appointed , when Bro . T . W . Tew , Prov . G . M . of West Yorkshire , generously undertook the responsibilities of the office But though the day had been well chosen , as following immediately upon that set apart for the jubilee gathering in the Royal Albert Hall ; though

the Board of Stewards mustered 290 brethren ; and though there is no Province in England which more loyally supports its chief whenever he finds it possible to undertake the duties of Chairmanship , the time available was insufficient for any great advantage to be reaped from the support ofsodis ' . inguishedaMasonasBro . Tew and so strong a Province as West Yorkshire , and Bro . Binckes was able to announce a total barely exceeding £ 11 , 100 .

What made the smallness of the returns the more regrettable was that the cost of erecting the New Hall and Preparatory School had not been defrayed entirely , there being still a considerable balance outstanding . Hosvever , the £ 4100 from Grand Lodge has enabled the Committee to cope successfully with this difficulty , and no doubt the Festival receipts will have sufficed to meet the ordinary expenditure . In all other respects the School

has acquitted itself during the year , its candidates at the Cambridge Local Examinations in December , 1886 , though few in number , having all succeeded in passing , the majority being placed in the "honours" classes . Nor must we omit to mention that the Festival , though , speaking comparatively , it was so barren in results , was marked by an unusual circumstance of a most gratifying nature . The testimonial raised by the many friends of

Bro . Binckes , in order to testify their admiration of the long and valuable services rendered by him to the School in the capacity of Secretary , was publicly presented to him on the occasion by Bro . Tew , who paid the recip ient many well-deserved encomiums for the zeal , energy , and ability with which he had fulfilled the arduous duties of his office , and the success which had attended his efforts . We trust that as Bro . Binckes has already secured the assistance of Bro . Viscount Ebrington , M . P ., Prov . Grand Master of

Freemasonry In 1887.

Devonshire , as Chairman for next year ' s Festival , the result will make some amends to him for the disappointments of 1887 .

PROVINCIAL AND OTHER CHARITABLE ASSOCIATIONS . The various provincial and lodge associations which assist our Central Charities in their great work of benevolence have had a fair measure of success during the year , both those which provide for the education of children and administer relief to distressed brethren , and those which provide the means by which their supporters become Life-Governors or

Life-Subscribers to our Charities . Among the former , the associations maintained by the two Lancashires and Cheshire occupy the leading position , West Lancashire , with its Educational , Hamar , and Alpass Funds , being the most conspicuous . In the case of all these provinces a regular provision is made for the education of children of poor or deceased Masons in the neighbourhood of their own homes , and the service thus rendered must be

an appreciable relief to the heavy demands upon our two Schools . All of them have a capital safely and profitably invested , and their administration is conducted with a strict regard for economy , the outlay in no case exceeding the actual expenses out of pocket . The chief source of income is the sub scriptions tendered annually by lodges and brethren , and balls and concerts are regularly organised with a view to supplementing the funds thus derived .

This year there were entertainments in aid of this class in Liverpool , Lancaster , and other towns , while the East Lancashire Association , byway of celebrating the Jubilee , treated all the children in their charge to a visit to the Manchester Exhibition . Among other associations of a similar character which give promise of being able to render good service in the same direction must be mentioned that of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

, which was established in 1886 , and celebrated its first annual festival at Southampton on the 24 th October , when the total of the Stewards' lists was announced as £ 786 . Of the other class of association which is organised for the purpose of enabling its members to become Life-Governors and Life-Subscribers of our principal Charities on easy terms of payment , the number is so formidable , and the work they accomplish so obviously

beneficial , that weleel some hesitation about singling out any particular organisation for that commendation to which all are entitled . " We do not , however , imagine that any feeling of jealousy will be experienced il we mention the Charitable Associations of Staffordshire and Cambridgeshire as affording excelleiU examples of the service which is rendered by these bodies , Cambridgeshire , which is the smaller province , having done " wonders by means of its Association during the last hali-dozen years .

THE BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE . There is little need to say more as to the proceedings of this Board than that it has shown the same wise discrimination in administering our Fund of Benevolence as in former years , and that the service it renders in relievinothe necessities of our distressed brethren and their widows is of incalculable

value , tn saying tins , However , we are stating only what is known everywhere throughout the Craft , and it will be enough , therefore , if we record the monthly totals as distributed by the Board . In December , 1886 , 54 cases were relieved wilh £ 1447 ; in January , 188 7 , 15 cases with £ 380 ; in February , 32 cases with £ ' 810 ; in March , 37 cases with £ 1125 ; in April , 36 cases wilh £ 1130 ; in May , 47 cases with £ 875 ; in June , 36 cases with £ 1148 ; 111 July , 25 cases wilh £ 540 ; in August , 26 cases wilh £ 825 ; in in

oepuemuer , 13 cases wun ^ 255 ; uciouer , 3 d cases with £ 985 ; and in November , 50 cases wilh £ 1255 . These figures give a total of 409 cases relieved between the 1 st December , 1886 , and the 301 b November , 1 SS 7 , the sum distributed in aid among them amounting to £ 10 , 775 , which , as compared with the returns for the previous 12 months show an increase of 23 in the number of cases relieved , and £ 157 in the amount distributed .

MASONIC LITERATURE . The year has not been quite so unproductive as its predecessor in respect of Masonic literary work , two volumes of first class importance havino made their appearance during ils progress . One of these is the sixth and concluding volume of Bro . R . F . Gould ' s elaborate " History of Freemasonry , " the publication of which had been looked forward to with great interest

, vve oeneve it is the intention ot bro . Gould to issue a supplementary volume / m order that he may lay before the Craft a mass of valuable and interesting matter , for which he found it impossible to provide space in the History itself . But the work , though curtailed in some ol its parts , is now complete , and we believe we are expressing the deliberate opinion of all thoughtful Craftsmen when we say that Freemasonry has every reason to be

proud of its greatest historian , who by his ability and erudition , as well as by his untiring energy and strict impartiality , has at length relieved our Society from the stigma of having produced no writer or even compiler of its history , to whose opinion it was possible to attach the sli ghtest value . The other work is entitled " Masonic Facts and Fictions , " and is from the pen of Bio SadlerIt

. H . . has been well received by the Craft generally , and has secured a favourable judgment irom many . Its aim has ' been to establish a new theory as to the origin of the so-called " Ancient" G . Lodge , and it certainly contains , within the modest compass of some 200 pages , ' a rare accumulation of interesting matter from the ori ginal archives of G . Lod <** e

OBITUARY . It is inevitable that in sketching the progress of Freemasonry during any particular period one part of the duty devolving upon us must be of a painlul character . Concurrent with the gains it is our good fortune to enumerate are the losses we deplore , nor is it possible always to realize at once the extent of such losses . The death roll of 188 7 is not perhaps as i » ici in ic 3 jjv \ i iiuuiucia it

,, u .., . _ . u » as nas ueen omer years , yet it contains the names of several brethren whom we shall terribly miss , and that of one in particular whose services to Freemasonry have been ot incalculable value , and whom it will be extremely difficult to replace . The list of dignitaries is headed by the late Bro . Col . A . Stewart , Dist . G . M . of the Punjab , who passed away in December 1 SS 6 , but of whose death we remained in

ignorance till the current year had begun . We have also to lament the loss of Bro . W . Hyde Pullen , P . G . S . B . of England , and P . D . P . G . M . of the Isle of Wight , whose ability was everywhere recognised , and who for many years ably discharged the duties of Assistant Secretary to the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite ; Bro . Alfred Meadows M D ., Past of

G . Deacon England , of whose future career great expectations had beenformed ; Bros . A . Richards . P . D . G . D . C , and N . Bradford , P . G ADC . of England ; Bro . Lieut .-Col . Tanner Davy , for 14 years Prov . G Mark Master of Devonshire ; and Bro . W , Kingston , Dist . G . Master of Malta , who died while on a visit to England . To these distinguished brethren must be added the names of Bro . Lord De Tabley , who did not long survive his resignation of the office of Prov , G . Master of Cheshire , which he