Norfolk.

NORFOLK .

THE NEW MASONIC HAIX . The first meeting of a loelge afc the assembly rooms since they were purchased as a Masonic Hall , by Bro . B . Bond Cabbell , Prov . G . M ., ivas held on Thursday evening , the 31 st ult ., Avhen the Cabbell Lodge , ( So . 1109 ) , held its usual monthlyhieeting'there under tbe presidency of Bro . G . W . Minns , W . M . The interest of the

occasion attracted a numerous attendance of the members and of visitors from other lodges . Bro . J . AVorman , ivas raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason , the first raising in the neiv Hall . Another brother Avas passed to the second degree , and the odge having been closeel , the brethren adjourned for refreshment to the card-room . The provision made by Bro . Woods , the keeper ofthe rooms , shoAved that there is no need for the brethren to apprehend , under the neiv regime curtailment of the convivial

, any agremens which they enjoyed Avhen they met at a tavern . —After the principal loyal and Masonic toasts hael been duly honoured , the AV . M ., Bro , MINI ' S , proposed "The health of the R . AV . Prov . G . M ., of Norfolk . JBro . B . Bond Cabbell , " to whom the lodges of the city of Norwich were so much indebted for having enabled them to remove from inns , by munificently purchasing these premises for their accommodation . —Bro . MINKS , said he had always believed that

there Avas a sacred character attaching to a lodge Avhich rendered it unbecoming for ifc to meet at an inn ( hear , hear ) , and he believed this day would inaugurate a neiv era in Masonry in Nonvich , not only as regarded Masonry itself , but ivith respect to the opinion -entertained ofthe craft bythe outer world . ( Applause ) . The toast was drunk AA'ith great enthusiasm , with the usual Masonic honours . —• The W . M ., then proposed " The Health of the Prov . Grand Officers , of Norfolk , cloupled AA'ith the name of Bro . A . P . Morgan , Prov .

J . G . W ., " who , | in responding , referred to the movement set on foot a year ago by the Masonic Hall Committee , for procuring accommodation for the lodges of the city , and the difficulty AA'hich the Committee encountered in carrying out its project of purchasing these rooms as a Masonic Hall . Bro . Bond Cabbell had stepped in with his characteristic munificence , and solved those difficulties afc once by purchasing the building . ( Cheers . ) The brethren ivere under a deep debt of gratitude to that generous brother for conferring such a service on the Order ; and they ivere also under a debt of gratitude to the Great Architect of the Universe for having given ample means to a brother AA-ho had so larere a heart , and for

having prompted that heart to so kind anct graceful an act . ( Cheers . ) Bro . Morgan congratulated Bro . Minns on heing the first Master to hold a lodge in the building , and expressed a hope ¦ that from the foundation laid that evening might be raised a superstructure perfect in all fits parts , and honorable to its builder . ( Applause . ) He trusted , ivifch Bro . Minns , that this might be a neiv epoch in Masonry , and that the brethren Avould be stimulated to increased effortsand that the bonds of brotherhood would be

, drawn still closer under the new- system , and that if there had been any such thing as jealousy between lodge anel lodge—of which he was not aware—all such feelings u-ould be wiped out and obliterated . He hoped also thafc the brethren ivould SIIOAV to the world that it was only their ceremonies that they kept secret , but that they would exhibit everyAvhere those elevated principles of morality of which those ceremonies were merelsymbols and illustrationsand

y , that the ivorld Avould see In the conduct of Masons to one another and to those AVIIO did not belong to the Order , thafc they had in vieiv something nobler than the pothouse revelry which some bad imagined , mainly from the circumstance of their meeting at inns , to be one of the great ends of their meetings . Bro . Morgan ¦ concluded by proposing the health of Bro . Minns , the AV . M ., lvho , he observed , ivas not only respected among the brethren

as _ a very old Mason , but ivas respected by all his felloiA' - citizens for his earnestness , integrity , straightforwardness , and assiduity in public business . Bro . Minna's health ivas drunk ivitli great cordiality . In acknoivleclging the compliment , Bro . MINNS said that though he had been suffering from indisposition , he felt that he would not only be wanting in his duty as Master of the lodge if he ivere absent , on such an interesting and eventful

occasion , but thafc he should lose an honour which ivould hereafter be ahvays a source of gratification and pride to him—that of having presided over the first lodge which had met in this building . Bro . Minns then proposed the health of Bro . the Rev . S . TitloAv , P . Prov . G . Chap ., to Avhom he ivas indebted for his initation into Masonry a great many years ago , when that respected brother filled the chair in Lodge 60 . —Bro . TITLOW said he felt a degree of gratification on this

Decision , Avhich he believed no brother present ivas able to share with him , for he Avas initiated into Masonry in this very building more than forty years ago . It ivas not altogether , therefore , to him a new era upon which the lodges of the city ivere about to enter , but ifc ivas a return to the good old times . ( Cheers . ) He would not express an unqualified censure on the brethren for having

met at inns , because ifc had not been easy for theva to get suitable accommodation elseivhere , and it must be admitted that the inns or hotels they met at ivere the most respectable ones in the city , and that they ivere ivell treated there . ( Cheers . ) It was , hoAvever , infinitely better that the connexion between Masonry and inns should be dissolved , and it gave him great pleasure to knoAv that the rising generation of Masons ivould walk in the path which he Avas able to folloAV himself ivhen he Avas first initiated . ( Applause . )—The

AV . M . next proposed the health of Bro . J . Laffan Hanley , in connexion with the FiinEiiASON ' s MAGAZINE . —Bro . HANLEY , in responding , remarked that it ivas practically appropriate thafc the Cabbell Lodge , though the youngest in the city , should be the first to meet in a building which had been purchased for the order hy its own magnificent patron . ( Cheers . ) It was appropriate for another reasonthat the AV . M . of tho lodge , Bro . Minns , ivas one of the most active

members of the Masonic Hall Committee , AA'hich had first agitated the subject of fche removal of the lodges from hotels , and of Avhich he ( Bro . Hanley ) , had the honour of being Secretary . It ivas not detracting in the least degree from the merit belonging to Bro . Cabbell , for his great generosity to ascribe to that committee the credit to Avhich it ivas entitled , not only for arousing attention to the subject , and awakening among the brethren a strong desire for amendment , bufc in obtaining all the information respecting the

purchase of this building ivhich afterivards induced Bro . Cabbell to endorse their opinion that it ivas the most suitable one that could be obtained , in point of accommodation , situation , and cost , and not only to adopt Avhat the Committee had done , but do ivhat they had scarcely hoped of being able to do—to pay the money for purchasing the premises . The enquiries as to the nature of the property and the negociations for its purchase , necessarily involved considerable labour ; and but for the services of Bro . Minns , Avho , Avith Bro . Simpson , took the chief share in the negociations , happening

to be peculiarly well informed in all the details ivhich the Committee wished to learn , it ivas highly probable that the scheme would never have been put in such a tangible and business-like shape as to enable Bro . Cabbell to step in afc once , as he did , and take up the Committee's duties just at the point that they ivere unable to go on through the Avant of those means ivhich Bro . Cabbell Avas so largely endoAveel Avith , and ivhich he ivas always really to devote to the service of Masonry and every good ivork .

( Applause . ) Bro . Hanley took occasion also to express a hope that ivhen all the lodges ivere brought under one roof , they ivould combine for the purpose of providing for the lodge room the very best furniture anel appliances which they could procure , instead of each lodge continuing to use its oivn furniture . ( Hear , hear . ) The best parts of the present furniture might be retained , and the restdisposed of towards raising a fund for purchasing permanent furniture of the best and most complete character . There would then

be no invidiousness betiveen different lodges , and furniture could be obtained which would be suitable to the handsome room in which the lodges would in future meet . It would , moreover , be a great facility for the establishment of neiv lodges ( hear , hear ) , and he had , no doubt , thafc the time would come—indeed it almost had come—Allien tho Cabbell Loelge , like fche Social Lodge , ivould have increased its numbers so far that it AA'ould be desirable , in fairness to those members ivho AA'ished to advance themselves in Masonry ,

to construct a new lodge out of ifc in the same Avay as the Cabbell Lodge had been constructed out of 25 S . ( Cheers . ) It Avas not reasonable to expect that the brethren ivould improve themselves Avithout a chance of preferment in the Craft , from which they were at present shut out by the numbers qualified for office ivho had a prior claim , Avhilst the only remedy—the establishment of a new lodge—AA-as put out of their reach mainly by the expense of providing furniture . ( Cheers . ) Some other toasts were duly honored , and the brethren separated at an early hour .

WORCESTERSHIRE . DUDI / EY . —Harmonic Lodge ( So . 313 . )—On Thursday , the 31 st ulfc ., a very agreeable reunion took place at the Freemasons ' Tavern , Dudley . Bro . William Sheppard , P . M . of the Harmonic Lodge ( No . 3131 , an old and highly respected inhabitant of the town , entertained a party of his Masonic friends to a sumptuous banepet , to celebrate the event of his having attained his fiftieth and

year as a Freemason . The cloth being draini , Bro . Sheppard , as founder of the feast , having given the usual loyal toasts , the vice-president Bro . Dennison , P . M ., P . Prov . S . G . W ., Worcestershire , and AV . M . No . 313 , proposed in eulogistic terms the health of Bro . Sheppard , P . M ., and expressed the great satisfaction he and the brethren of the Harmonic Lodge ( No . 313 ) , generally felt in seeing a Mason of upwards of fifty years standing able to attend the meetings of his lodge in the regular way he 7 Bro . Sheppard , continued to do , and hoped that he Avould still live many years to