are supported by the voluntary contributions of the craft during 1883
realised a total income of L55,994 14s. 3d. Of this sum the boys' school
received L24,895 7s. 1d.; the Benevolent Institution, L18,449 6s.; and
the girls' school, L12,650 1s. 2d. The largest total attained previous
to 1883 was in 1880, when the sum amounted to L49,763. The boys' school,
which is now at the head of the list, is boarding, housing clothing, and
educating 221 boys; the Benevolent Institution, the second on the list,
is granting annuities of L40 each to 172 men and L32 each to 167 widows;
and the girls' school houses, boards, clothes, and educates 239 girls,
between the ages of seven and sixteen. The boys leave school at fifteen.
During the year L8,675 has been granted to 334 cases of distress from
the Fund of Benevolence, which is composed of 4s. a year taken from
every London Mason's subscription to his lodge and 2s. a year from every
country Mason's subscription. The local lodges meet as follows:--_At the
Masonic Hall, New Street_: St. Paul's Lodge, No. 43; the Faithful Lodge,
No. 473; the Howe Lodge, No. 587; the Howe R.A. Chapter; the Howe Mark
Master's Lodge; the Howe Preceptory of Knight Templars; the Temperance
Lodge, No. 739; the Leigh Lodge, No. 887; the Bedford Lodge, No. 925;
the Bedford R.A. Chapter; the Grosvenor Lodge, No. 938; the Grosvenor
R.A. Chapter; the Elkington Lodge, No 1,016; the Elkington R.A. Chapter;
the Fletcher Lodge, No. 1,031; the Fletcher R.A. Chapter; the Lodge of
Emulation, No. 1,163; the Forward Lodge, No. 1,180; the Lodge of
Charity, No. 1,551; and the Alma Mater Lodge, No. 1,644. _At the Masonic
Hall, Severn Street_: The Athol Lodge, No. 74; the Athol R.A. Chapter;
the Athol Mark Master's Lodge; and the Lodge of Israel, No. 1,474. _At
the Great Western Hotel_: The Lodge of Light, No. 468; the R.A. Chapter
of Fortitude; and the Vernon Chapter of S.P.R.C. of H.R.D.M., No. 5. _At
the Holte Hotel, Aston_: The Holte Lodge, No. 1,246.

~Matches.~--Baker's are best, the maker says. Lucifer matches were the
invention of a young German patriot, named Kammerer, who beguiled his
time in prison (in 1832) with chemical experiments, though a North of
England apothecary, Walker, lays claim to the invention. They were first
made in Birmingham in 1852, but they have not, as yet, completely driven
the old-fashioned, and now-despised tinder-box out of the world, as many
of the latter are still manufactured in this town fo