Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS <><> I Consecration of the Osborne Lodge , No . 3 i 6 g , East Cowes , Isle of Wight 662 Provincial Grand Lodge of North Wales 663 Provincial Grand Chapter of Monmouth , shire 66 3 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of North
Wales 06 3 CORRESPONDENCEAdmission into Lodges of Instruction ... 66 J Notes and Queries : 66 j REPORTS or M ASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 66 J Instruction 660
REPORTS UF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Royal Arch 669 Mark Masonry 6 ; o Grand Lodge of Scotland 670 Celebration of the Centenary of the Lodge of Antiquity , No , 178 , Wjgan , 6 } o uenevoience 070
uoaru or Presentation to Bro . W . J . Hughan , P . G . D 671 The New Deputy Prov . Grand Master for Surrey <> 7 r Masonic and General Tidings .................. 671 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 673
Ar00101
WE congratulate both Bro . Sir M . W . RIDLEY , Bart ., M . P ., and the Province of Northumberland on the successful proceedings at Newcastle en Tuesday . Thanks to the able and genial rule of Bro . Earl PERCY , the late P . G . M ., during the last 17 years , the latter is in a high state of efficiency , and the utmost harmony prevails among the lodges and their members .
As regards Bro . Sir M , W . RIDLEY , he is well qualified , not only on account of his high social position in the county , but likewise from his known ability as a lodge worker and kindly disciplinarian , to succeed his lordship , and we anticipate for Northumberland , under its new ruler , a long continuance of that prosperity which it has enjoyed so uninterruptedly and so fully during the period of Bro , Earl PERCY ' S Prov . G . Mastership .
* * * OUR readers will have seen from the report we published last week of the proceedings of the latest Committee meeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution that the prospects of the candidates for the benefits of the two funds are about as bad as bad can be . There are upwards of 40 old
brethren who have been approved as worthy to be elected on the Male Fund j but there is only one vacancy as yet , so that , as matters stand , and taking into account the three deferred annuitants eligible under Law 13 , all but four out of these 40 and odd candidates will have to wait a further twelve months , reckoning from the third Friday in May , 1887 , for another
chance of being successfully balloted for . It is highly probable there will be other vacancies occurring between now and the aforesaid third Friday , which will be duly filled up on that day , but it is also pretty certain that before the list for the election is closed the present 40 and odd candidates will have been increased to 50 and odd . As regards the Widows' Fund , the
case is infinitely worse . There are already ciose on 90 , and there will no doubt ultimately be some 100 candidates ; but at present there is not a single vacancy to be filled . Only three deaths have occurred since May last , and the vacancies thus created have been filled by the three deferred annuitants then elected . Thus , if even twice as many deaths occur in the
latter as in the earlier half of the current year , and we add to these the three deferred annuitants under Law 13 , there will still only be about nine that can be elected in May next out of a total list of about 100 candidates , and the other go will have to stand out in the cold for at least another twelve months . We have been purposely as explicit as possible , so that our
readers , and , indeed , the Craft generally in all parts of the country , may have ample time and opportunity for reflecting on the present terrible position of affairs , and devising some safe , yet practical , mode of remedying it , and so lessening the almost unutterable distress which will certainly overtake the majority of these poor candidates . But the case is even worse if
we remember that of the 40 and odd male candidates upwards of 30 remained over from the last , and some even from previous elections , while of the nearly 90 female candidates , some 60 were candidates in May last , and several of them in previous years likewise . Let the reader try and realise what this waiting on from one election to another means in the case of our
unsuccessful candidates—all over sixty years of age—who at the time of their acceptance as such were all of them already in a state of almost abject poverty . It is said that " Hope deferred maketh the heart sick , " and this is true enough in the case of hale and hearty men and women ; but what a fearful degree of heart sickness must that be which results from Hope again
and again deferred in the case of poor old men and women without , or with hardly any , means of their own to support them , with but few friends or relatives to help them , and with their mental and physical powers almost , or it may be entirely , broken down ? And , as ill luck will have it , the prospects of lessening this amount of suffering are less promising , because the outlook
as regards the Anniversary Festival in February next is less favourable than it was at the corresponding period of last year . There are fewer brethren who have consented to act as Festival Stewards , and that means of course that the chances of accumulating a good return are less
bright . This is the present position of affairs as stated at the Committee meeting of the Institution held as recently as the 10 th inst . We have not drawn the long bow in describing it , nor have . we understated it . We have merely repeated what was stated officially at the meeting in question , and
Ar00102
it is for the brethren to settle in their minds what must be done to make the picture less harrowing . There are , on the one hand , the 40 and odd male candidates and the nearly 90 women candidates , all worthy of being placed in possession of the benefits afforded by the Institution , and on the other
hand there is the one male vacancy to be filled and the three deferred annuities on each fund . There is no need to make this the text for an elaborate sermon ; let the text speak for itself and appeal in all its naked deformity to the innate goodness of heart of our brother Masons .
* * * THE members of the Prudence Lodge , No . 206 9 , had a happy time of it on the 13 th inst . Bro . J . L . MASON , P . P . G . Treasurer of West Yorkshire , and an old and respected P . M ., was installed as the new Master , in succession to that distinguished Masonic veteran , Bro . the Rev . Dr . SMYTH , the Board
of Installed Masters consisting of some four score brethren . Although one of the new Temperance lodges , pleasure , as well as profit , were duly provided for , and in the evening an entertainment , at which the ladies were able to be present , completed the successful proceedings , which , from
beginning to end , went smoothly and most effectually , thanks to the able management of the W . M . and the zealous Secretary of the lodge , Bro . WILLIAM WATSON , P . M . We congratulate Bro . MASON on another honour , and we feel assured that the prosperity of the lodge isjn the right hands .
* * * ¦ WE fully sympathise with the desire expressed at the recent meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk for an increase in the number of lodges in that province . There are no doubt many who think the Grand Lodge of England has on its roll lodges enough and to spare . This may or
may not be the case , but it is very certain that these lodges are by no means equally distributed among our provinces and districts , and that while some have more than they can support in a reasonably healthy condition , there is ample room in others for an addition of one or more lodges to the roll , and that , too , without the slightest risk of injuring the present effective
condition of the Craft , as already established within its borders . We believe this is the case with Norfolk , which , since the constitution of the Walpole Lodge , No . 1500 , Norwich , in 18 74 , has had but two lodges created , namely , the Montgomerie , No . 1741 , Diss , in 18 78 , and the Suffield , No . 1808 , North Walsham , in 18 79 . But what chiefly confirms us in this opinion is the fact
that more than a hundred years since , when the country was less thickly populated and far less wealthy , there were more lodges in it than now—we do not speak of mere occasional lodges , but such as held their ground and remained apparently in good working order for a longish term of years—while , as compared with other provinces , which are now
considerably ahead of it in this respect , Norfolk was , for a great part of last century , one of the strongholds of Freemasonry in this country . We have glanced casually through the Lodge Lists in the Appendix to Bro . GOULD ' "Four Old Lodges , " and from those we gather that a lodge was established in Norwich in 1724 , which , after successive
changes of number , became No . 16 in 1792 , and died out between that year and the Union . Other lodges followed this , there being as many as 12 in the county up to the close of 1756 . Nine more were added , and , with the previous 12 , were brought forward and re-numbered in 1770 . In 1781 there remained on the roll , but with new numbers assigned to them , 20 out
of these 21 lodges . In 1786 two lodges were erased , while at the re-numbering in 1792 three more had disappeared from the roll , and one had migrated into the adjoining Province of Suffolk , so that at the date of the last closing up of the list there were 14 lodges in the province , and six more were constituted between 1792 and 1813 . Naturally the bulk of these lodges met in
Norwich , which appears . at one time to have boasted of a round dozen of them , and both Lynn and Great Yarmouth appear to have been never during this period without a lodge or lodges , the small remainder being held variously at various times—Swaffham , Diss , Fakenham , Acle , Cottishall , Blakeney , and Thetford , being the favoured resorts . Thus about a
century since Norfolk , with a smaller . population and less wealth , had some 20 lodges as against its present roll of 16 . The latter are better distributed perhaps , Norwich having six , North Walsham and Great Yarmouth two each , and Diss , East Dereham , Fakenham , Harleston , Lynn , and Wymondham one each . But what of Thetford , which till a few years back was a
Parliamentary borough , and could boast a lodge during the latter half of last century ? what of Swaffham , which also had its lodge from 1764 till close on 1792 ? what of Blakeney , where
both a "Modern" and aii "Ancient" lodge were established ? what of Acle , Cottishall , and Walsingham , where there were once lodges ; and of Aylsham , Cromer , Holt , Wells—the new rector of which is a most energetic Freemason—and other towns of position enough to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS <><> I Consecration of the Osborne Lodge , No . 3 i 6 g , East Cowes , Isle of Wight 662 Provincial Grand Lodge of North Wales 663 Provincial Grand Chapter of Monmouth , shire 66 3 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of North
Wales 06 3 CORRESPONDENCEAdmission into Lodges of Instruction ... 66 J Notes and Queries : 66 j REPORTS or M ASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 66 J Instruction 660
REPORTS UF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Royal Arch 669 Mark Masonry 6 ; o Grand Lodge of Scotland 670 Celebration of the Centenary of the Lodge of Antiquity , No , 178 , Wjgan , 6 } o uenevoience 070
uoaru or Presentation to Bro . W . J . Hughan , P . G . D 671 The New Deputy Prov . Grand Master for Surrey <> 7 r Masonic and General Tidings .................. 671 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 673
Ar00101
WE congratulate both Bro . Sir M . W . RIDLEY , Bart ., M . P ., and the Province of Northumberland on the successful proceedings at Newcastle en Tuesday . Thanks to the able and genial rule of Bro . Earl PERCY , the late P . G . M ., during the last 17 years , the latter is in a high state of efficiency , and the utmost harmony prevails among the lodges and their members .
As regards Bro . Sir M , W . RIDLEY , he is well qualified , not only on account of his high social position in the county , but likewise from his known ability as a lodge worker and kindly disciplinarian , to succeed his lordship , and we anticipate for Northumberland , under its new ruler , a long continuance of that prosperity which it has enjoyed so uninterruptedly and so fully during the period of Bro , Earl PERCY ' S Prov . G . Mastership .
* * * OUR readers will have seen from the report we published last week of the proceedings of the latest Committee meeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution that the prospects of the candidates for the benefits of the two funds are about as bad as bad can be . There are upwards of 40 old
brethren who have been approved as worthy to be elected on the Male Fund j but there is only one vacancy as yet , so that , as matters stand , and taking into account the three deferred annuitants eligible under Law 13 , all but four out of these 40 and odd candidates will have to wait a further twelve months , reckoning from the third Friday in May , 1887 , for another
chance of being successfully balloted for . It is highly probable there will be other vacancies occurring between now and the aforesaid third Friday , which will be duly filled up on that day , but it is also pretty certain that before the list for the election is closed the present 40 and odd candidates will have been increased to 50 and odd . As regards the Widows' Fund , the
case is infinitely worse . There are already ciose on 90 , and there will no doubt ultimately be some 100 candidates ; but at present there is not a single vacancy to be filled . Only three deaths have occurred since May last , and the vacancies thus created have been filled by the three deferred annuitants then elected . Thus , if even twice as many deaths occur in the
latter as in the earlier half of the current year , and we add to these the three deferred annuitants under Law 13 , there will still only be about nine that can be elected in May next out of a total list of about 100 candidates , and the other go will have to stand out in the cold for at least another twelve months . We have been purposely as explicit as possible , so that our
readers , and , indeed , the Craft generally in all parts of the country , may have ample time and opportunity for reflecting on the present terrible position of affairs , and devising some safe , yet practical , mode of remedying it , and so lessening the almost unutterable distress which will certainly overtake the majority of these poor candidates . But the case is even worse if
we remember that of the 40 and odd male candidates upwards of 30 remained over from the last , and some even from previous elections , while of the nearly 90 female candidates , some 60 were candidates in May last , and several of them in previous years likewise . Let the reader try and realise what this waiting on from one election to another means in the case of our
unsuccessful candidates—all over sixty years of age—who at the time of their acceptance as such were all of them already in a state of almost abject poverty . It is said that " Hope deferred maketh the heart sick , " and this is true enough in the case of hale and hearty men and women ; but what a fearful degree of heart sickness must that be which results from Hope again
and again deferred in the case of poor old men and women without , or with hardly any , means of their own to support them , with but few friends or relatives to help them , and with their mental and physical powers almost , or it may be entirely , broken down ? And , as ill luck will have it , the prospects of lessening this amount of suffering are less promising , because the outlook
as regards the Anniversary Festival in February next is less favourable than it was at the corresponding period of last year . There are fewer brethren who have consented to act as Festival Stewards , and that means of course that the chances of accumulating a good return are less
bright . This is the present position of affairs as stated at the Committee meeting of the Institution held as recently as the 10 th inst . We have not drawn the long bow in describing it , nor have . we understated it . We have merely repeated what was stated officially at the meeting in question , and
Ar00102
it is for the brethren to settle in their minds what must be done to make the picture less harrowing . There are , on the one hand , the 40 and odd male candidates and the nearly 90 women candidates , all worthy of being placed in possession of the benefits afforded by the Institution , and on the other
hand there is the one male vacancy to be filled and the three deferred annuities on each fund . There is no need to make this the text for an elaborate sermon ; let the text speak for itself and appeal in all its naked deformity to the innate goodness of heart of our brother Masons .
* * * THE members of the Prudence Lodge , No . 206 9 , had a happy time of it on the 13 th inst . Bro . J . L . MASON , P . P . G . Treasurer of West Yorkshire , and an old and respected P . M ., was installed as the new Master , in succession to that distinguished Masonic veteran , Bro . the Rev . Dr . SMYTH , the Board
of Installed Masters consisting of some four score brethren . Although one of the new Temperance lodges , pleasure , as well as profit , were duly provided for , and in the evening an entertainment , at which the ladies were able to be present , completed the successful proceedings , which , from
beginning to end , went smoothly and most effectually , thanks to the able management of the W . M . and the zealous Secretary of the lodge , Bro . WILLIAM WATSON , P . M . We congratulate Bro . MASON on another honour , and we feel assured that the prosperity of the lodge isjn the right hands .
* * * ¦ WE fully sympathise with the desire expressed at the recent meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk for an increase in the number of lodges in that province . There are no doubt many who think the Grand Lodge of England has on its roll lodges enough and to spare . This may or
may not be the case , but it is very certain that these lodges are by no means equally distributed among our provinces and districts , and that while some have more than they can support in a reasonably healthy condition , there is ample room in others for an addition of one or more lodges to the roll , and that , too , without the slightest risk of injuring the present effective
condition of the Craft , as already established within its borders . We believe this is the case with Norfolk , which , since the constitution of the Walpole Lodge , No . 1500 , Norwich , in 18 74 , has had but two lodges created , namely , the Montgomerie , No . 1741 , Diss , in 18 78 , and the Suffield , No . 1808 , North Walsham , in 18 79 . But what chiefly confirms us in this opinion is the fact
that more than a hundred years since , when the country was less thickly populated and far less wealthy , there were more lodges in it than now—we do not speak of mere occasional lodges , but such as held their ground and remained apparently in good working order for a longish term of years—while , as compared with other provinces , which are now
considerably ahead of it in this respect , Norfolk was , for a great part of last century , one of the strongholds of Freemasonry in this country . We have glanced casually through the Lodge Lists in the Appendix to Bro . GOULD ' "Four Old Lodges , " and from those we gather that a lodge was established in Norwich in 1724 , which , after successive
changes of number , became No . 16 in 1792 , and died out between that year and the Union . Other lodges followed this , there being as many as 12 in the county up to the close of 1756 . Nine more were added , and , with the previous 12 , were brought forward and re-numbered in 1770 . In 1781 there remained on the roll , but with new numbers assigned to them , 20 out
of these 21 lodges . In 1786 two lodges were erased , while at the re-numbering in 1792 three more had disappeared from the roll , and one had migrated into the adjoining Province of Suffolk , so that at the date of the last closing up of the list there were 14 lodges in the province , and six more were constituted between 1792 and 1813 . Naturally the bulk of these lodges met in
Norwich , which appears . at one time to have boasted of a round dozen of them , and both Lynn and Great Yarmouth appear to have been never during this period without a lodge or lodges , the small remainder being held variously at various times—Swaffham , Diss , Fakenham , Acle , Cottishall , Blakeney , and Thetford , being the favoured resorts . Thus about a
century since Norfolk , with a smaller . population and less wealth , had some 20 lodges as against its present roll of 16 . The latter are better distributed perhaps , Norwich having six , North Walsham and Great Yarmouth two each , and Diss , East Dereham , Fakenham , Harleston , Lynn , and Wymondham one each . But what of Thetford , which till a few years back was a
Parliamentary borough , and could boast a lodge during the latter half of last century ? what of Swaffham , which also had its lodge from 1764 till close on 1792 ? what of Blakeney , where
both a "Modern" and aii "Ancient" lodge were established ? what of Acle , Cottishall , and Walsingham , where there were once lodges ; and of Aylsham , Cromer , Holt , Wells—the new rector of which is a most energetic Freemason—and other towns of position enough to