West Lancashire

WEST LANCASHIRE

It was not without good reason that Bro . the Earl of LATHOM , in his capacity of Prov . Grand Master of West Lancashire , spoke in terms of high commendation of what the lodges and brethren under his charge had accomplished during the past year . To

use his lordship ' s own familiar expression , he could not do otherwise than " pat them on the back" for what they had done . True , his remark was intended to apply only to the generous support they had given to their local Charities . But the reports

which had just before been presented by the Prov . Grand Treasurer and Prov . Grand Secretary and adopted by Provincial Grand Lodge , had been declared by his lordship to be very favourable , and we take upon ourselves to assume that the

praise for past services and the encouragement to repeat those services from year to year which the pleasant process of patting on the back is intended to express , apply with equal force to the manner in which the general duties of Masonry had been fulfilled

as to the specific duties they had rendered towards their local Institutions . Be this as it may , there can be no doubt the Province of West Lancashire has acquitted itself satisfactorily in respect of all its manifold duties . The Prov . Grand Treasurer

was able to report an aggregate balance in respect of the Charities and Provincial Grand Lodge Funds and the Fund of Benevolence amounting in round figures to £ T ] 0 . The West Lancashire Educational Fund have spent over £ 1500 out of

an income of £ 1850 on the education and advancement in life of 206 children . The Alpass Institution spent ^ 520 in aiding 42 widows of brethren , its income being returned at £ 924 , while the Hamer Fund , out of an income of £ 564 , devoted ^ 357

towards helping 20 aged and necessitous brethren . If to these several expenditures we add the grants amounting to £ 290 made by Provincial Grand Lodge out of its Fund of Benevolence , we find the Province has disbursed in respect of its poor brethren ,

their widows , and their children , not very far short of £ 2700 , irrespective of its contributions to the Central Masonic Charities . As regards the lodges and members , the Provincial Grand Secrotary reported the consecration of one new lodge , and that the

total number of subscribing members was 7256 . In respect of these latter , however , his lordship appears to be of the opinion that the Province is strong enough both as regardsthe numberof lodges on its roll and its array of subscribing members , and though he

expressed his readiness to accede to any application for a new lodge where the number of those already existing has proved to be below the absolute requirements of the locality , his lordship made it very clear that he did not wish the number of lodges to

be increased without real necessity . So , too , as regards subscribing members , he thought they already had a sufficient number on the books , and hence he laid great stress on the absolute " necessity there was for most careful supervision as to

the candidates who were proposed for Freemasonry . " This necessity he had been careful to impress upon the brethren generall y both in London and throughout the country during the past year whenever a favourable opportunity for so doing had

Presented itself . He had been careful to point out that it was n ° t a benevolent—in the sense of a benefit—Society . The men they Were anxious to enrol as members of the Craft were not those , ^ 'ho sought to join it " with the simple object of getting out of 11

what they could , " but " men of means who were able to keep U P the best traditions of the Craft . " This is sound advice to e 'uler , and coming from one who occupies so distinguished a Position in Freemasonry and has been connected with it for so

West Lancashire

many years , cannot fail to exercise a beneficial influence not only on the brethren of West Lancashire to whom it was more particularly addressed , but likewise on the general body of

Masons who must ere this have become acquainted with his lordship ' s views either through the medium of this journal or in the course of conversation with those who at different times have

been privileged to hear him when he has tendered this or similar counsel . It remains for us to congratulate his lordship and the lodges and brethren he presides over on the successful manner in which the duties of Freemasonry have been discharged in West Lancashire during the past 12 months .

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum,

ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM ,

VOL . VIII . —PART II .

There are four principal contributions contained in the second Part of Volume VIII . of Transactions for the current year , namely , Nos . II . and III . of Bro . Dr . CHETWODE CRAWLEY ' "Notes ori Irish Freemasonry ; " the " Notes on some Masonic Symbols , "

by Bro . W . H . RYLANDS , A . G . D . C ; and " Masonic Celebrities , No . VI . —the Duke of WHARTON , G . M ., " b y Bro . R . F . GOULD , P . G . D . The earlier of Bro . CRAWLEv ' s Papers treats of "Three Lost Lodges . " The lodges in question were warranted by the

Grand Lodge of Ireland , and were located one at Norwich , one in London , and the third at the unimportant town of Beziers in Languedoc . The Norwich lodge was numbered 148 , and was constituted on the 24 th July , 1745 ; the London lodge was No . 247 , and

was constituted at the King ' s Head , corner of Chancery-lane , on the 8 th May , 1754 ; and the French lodge , was No . 503 , and was constituted on the 5 th August , 1773 . None of these lodges ever made any communication to its mother Grand Lodge ; the

two English lodges , after inquiry had been made b y Bro . W . F . GRAHAM , Deputy Secretary of Ireland , ; of Bro . EDWARDS HARPER , Assistant Grand Secretary of England ( "Ancients" ) in 1809 , being omitted from the Irish list at the next opportunity ,

while the warrant of the lodge at Beziers was " cancelled b y Order of the Grand Lodge 7 th Oct ., 1813 . " As regards the first of these lodges , Bro . CRAWLEY suggests as a reason why the application for a warrant was addressed by the Norwich brethren

to the Grand Lodge of Ireland rather than to either of the English Grand Lodges , the inter-communication of the silk weavers of Norwich and Dublin , the staple manufacture of the former city being bombazine , a fabric closely resembling the well-known

poplins of Dublin . A photographic facsimile of the ori ginal entry in the Register of the Grand Lodge of Ireland accompanies the brief account of the lodge , and is valuable as showing the " earliest method of Registry " in use in that Grand Lodge . As to

the Lodge in London , the founders of which , as shown by the transcript of the original entry , were men of good social standing , Bro . CRAWLEY finds what appears to be an excellent reason why these gentlemen , the majority of whom , it seems , were

" eating their terms at the Middle Temple in 1 754 , " should have applied to the Grand Lodge of Ireland rather than to our "Ancient" Grand Lodge in the fact that the majority of the adherents of the latter , though worthy enough brethren , belonged

to the lower middle classes , with whom the Templars would hardl y desire to associate , and this is strengthened by the fact that eight of the 14 petitioners for the warrant have been traced as " members of the Irish Bar , regularly entered at King ' s Inns , Dublin . " As for the Lodge at Beziers , which is the onl y one