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PERRIER-JOUET & Cos . CHAMPAGNES . FINEST VINTAGE RESERVE-CUVEES . THE FAVOURITE MASONIC BRAND . Agent—A . BOURSOT , o , Hart Street , flark Lane , London .

The Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

The Royal Masonic Institution for Boys .

THE MASONIC

j llUSTjx'ATEL .

TT 7 ITHIX a few weeks , on the 28 th June to be exact , the y y 107 th Anniversary Festival of the Boys' School will be held , under the presidency of the Provincial Grand Master for Somersetshire , Right Worshipful Bro . the Earl of Cork and Orrery . The last previous occasion when the

Chairman hailed from the western province was in 1875 , when the Earl of Carnarvon was able to announce what was then a record result , no less a sum than £ 12 , 700 being contributed . The standard for a record has increased since then

however . Then there were but 153 boys to be provided for , and now there are 340 . These annual festivals have been held regularly since 1834 , and , previous to that , from the date of the Union in fact , records are not complete , and the results of only some

ten festivals are ascertainable . Before that date " benefits" were occasionally held at which sums varying in amount from £ 50 to , £ 100 were raised . Like English Freemasonry itself , the Institution is the

result of a Union . Under the auspices of the Atholl Grand Lodge , a charity was formed by the United Mariners' Lodge , No . 23 , in 1798 , and , ten years later , a second charity under

the rival Grand Lodge , by the Royal Naval Lodge , No . 57 .. From the nautical parentage inferred , a training ship might have been suggested as an appropriate form for the proposed charities to have assumed . For a considerable period there was no actual institution . Orphan boys were supported at homeby means of grantsand were educated at approved

, , schools . Shortly after the union of the two Grand Lodges ,, in 1817 , there was a union of the two charities , but the system above described went on till 1856 . The charity is mentioned in the Ahimon Rezon , and originally six boys were admitted to its benefits . In commemoration of the Jubilee of George

III . this number was increased to 50 . The Atholl Grand Lodge formally assumed the i-esponsibility in 18 9 6 , but had previously given liberal support . In 1812 an assured income was provided by means of a registration fee , but this was not found very satisfactory , in fact more than one province

begged to be relieved from the impost on the ground of having provincial charities to maintain . Accordingly the registration fee was commuted in 18 3 8 . The Institution became entitled to the designation " Royal" in 1832 . The present system , under which the boys were housed , dates

from 1856 , when Lordship Lodge , Tottenham , then a verdant suburb , was taken for the purpose , and out of 70 beneliciares 23 were taken into the home . Nine years later the buildings at Wood Green , recently abandoned , were erected . The total cost of the new buildings , including freehold land , was i ' 9-l > 650 .

After some thirty years experience ot the new system , some dissatisfaction began to be manifested with the management , and , in particular , it was felt that there was no effective control over the expenditure , which was tending towards extravagance , and the usefulness of the Institution was being impaired by want of accord between the educational and the

domestic staff . A committee of investigation was formed , under the presidency of Bro . Philbrick , which was about as strong as such a committee could be , and some very drastic recommendations were made which were adopted en bloc by Grand Lodge . Without going into particulars the net result

was that in a very few years the whole of the staff had been replaced and the whole system of management was remodelled . The next event of importance was the removal of the Institution into the country . At the annual festival at Brighton in 1891 , the Chairman , Lord Lathom , made the first suggestion of

removal , but the Craft was not yet ready , and , in fact , when the suggestion first came into the arena of practical politics there was considerable opposition . In 18 9 6 the Bushey Grove estate , near Watford , was purchased for £ 13 , 000 . The entire expenditure on the new School up to date has been £ 177 6 39 the whole of which it is satisfactory to state has

, , been met out of income . In 18 9 8 , the centenary was celebrated , perhaps the most amazing event of the kind that was ever recorded . No less a sum than £ 141 , 203 was j-aised by the exertions of 3400 Stewards , organized by the indefatigable Secretary , Bro .

McLeod . Some of these Stewards had lists exceeding £ 1200 in amount . In spite of all adverse comments , the confidence felt in the management by the Craft is evidenced by the statement that the average income for the past live years has exceeded £ 30 , 000 , and , in fact , last year was more tlm ' ^ 35 i

-The confidence felt in the management is , of course , an expression of confidence in the Secretary . And that this is eminently deserved is obvious from the following fact . Out of the income of £ 35 , , more than £ 30 , 000 has to be collected , being of the nature of voluntary contributions , and the entire cost of collection and administration is less than

ten per cent , of the total . This would be creditable even if the income were a certain one , but under the circumstances it is remarkable . As was pointed out in our notice of the Girls' School , the Boys' Institution is a charity school in nothing but constitution . The educational training under

the able direction of the head master , the Rev . Harry Hebb , M . A ., being of a high order . An annual cost per head of £ 60 brings the school from one point of view up to the standard of a first-rate middle-class school , and this is what it actually is . Many boys are kept up to the . age of sixteen , and they