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SATURDAY , O CTOBER 7 , 1899 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

There will be the usual bustle and excitement at Freemasons' Tavern on Thursday and Friday of next week , when our autumn School elections arc held . On Thursday , the 12 th instant , at the Quarterly Court of the Governors and Subscribers of the Royal

Masonic Institution for Girls , there will be elected 16 " children from an approved list of 33 , there being 18 of the latter who have taken part in one or more previous elections , while the remaining 15 are new candidates . London is responsible for 11 of the candidates , and the Provinces and Districts Abroad for 22 . Nos . 1 and 2

on the list have on ' y this chance left to them of securing admission ; but the former brings forward 181 G votes from four previous ballots , and the latter 4051 votes from three , so that both , but more especially Wo . 2 , stand a fair chance of being elected .

Masonic Notes.

The Quarterly Court of Governors and Subscribers of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys will take place on Friday , the 13 th instant , when 15 vacancies will be filled from an approved list of 34 candidates , of whom 12 stand over from the April election , and 22

have since had their claims approved and their names placed on the list . London furnishes 10 candidates and has a part interest in another , while the ' Provinces and abroad are responsible for the remainder . In this case there are four boys whose names will be removed from the list in the event of their failing to win places

this time , namely , No . S , who , however , had the good fortune to poll 2072 votes in April , and Nos . 26 , 32 , and 34 . At both Courts the chair will be taken punctnallyati 2 noon , and when the regular business is over , or , at latest , at 1 p . m ., the poll will be opened , and will close at 3 p . m . sharp .

* * » As usual , we earnestly appeal to all Governors and Subscribers who are not already committed to the support of any particular case , to give their votes and use their influence in behalf of the children who must

win places at this election or have their names struck off the" lists altogether on the score of age . These children , who , fortunately , are only six in number , are Nos . 1 and 2 Girls , and Nos . S , 26 , 32 , and 34 Boys . We point out . as in all cur previous appeals , that

while all the other children , whether boys or girls , will have at least one more chance allowed them to win election , these unfortunate s ' x must win next week or for ever be disappointed . Moreover , the lists of candidates for both our Schools have for some

time past been the reverse of formidable , nor , as far as we are able to judge , is there any reason why all the children who are accepted as candidates should not secure admission into the Institutions . Their claims have been approved by the Petitions

Committees , and the only hardship which the other children will experience from failure is a delay of six months . We sincerely trust that the six last cases in the present lists of candidates wi 11 bs found amongst the successful children next time .

The Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution will hold their regular monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , the 1 ith instant , at 4 p . m ., when the chief business

will be the consideration of such petitions as have been received since their last meeting . The Report of the Finance Committee for the pas . quarter will be also submitted .

» * » Bro . Thomas D . Foreman ' s letter of last week throws additional light upon the differences which , have lately arisen in the Mark Degree in the Ashtonunder-Lyne district , while its concluding paragraph

leads us to hope that a settlement of those differences which shall be honourable to all concerned , will be made at no very distant date . He states that when he was " advanced about 13 years ago , " he was presented with a copy of their Constitutions or By-laws , on the

front page of which was printei " Rules for the Government of the Honourable United Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons' Meetings , Ashton District , and Burial Society , established nth July , 1830 . Revised 22 nd October , 1885 ; " and he adds that he

has prool in his possession " to show that the word ' Grand' was used by this lodge as far back as 1 S 57 , " while " tradition dates it before that epoch in its history . " » » *

Under these circumstances , and seeing that we were guided in our Article and Notes by tho statements contained in the Report of the General Board , which was laid before the Mark Grand Lodge at its June Quarterly Communication , it is not to be wondered

at that we spoke of the Ashton Mark Lodge as having recently adopted the title of Grand Lodge . Said the Board : " Lately the Funeral Fund "—to which the failure of the 1870 negotiations for a union was attributed— " has been abolished , and , as the Board has

been informed , the money was divided among the Members , since which time , they have assumed the style and title of 'The Honourable United Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of the Ashton-under-Lyne District . ' " It now appears that it bore the same title of " The Honourable United Grand Lodge " on

the very day—the 28 th December , 1887—on which Bro . Foreman was granted his certificate , signed by Bro . F . Binckes , then Mark Grand Secretary , of his having been admitted a joining member of Skelmersdab . Mark Lodge , No . 141 , Ashton-under-Lyne , from the " Ashton-under-Lyne Constitution . "

Masonic Notes.

All this makes it the more to be regretted that the Mark Grand Lodge authorities should have accepted the statements made by the historian of the Joppa Mark Lodge , No . ii , Birkenhead—which Bro . Foreman tells us is a daughter of the Ashton Mark , and which is described in the published roll of Mark Lodges , as

regards the " Date of Constitution , as a " Time Imml . " lodge , but having received a Warrant of Confirmation " Oct . 2 , 1872 "—without satisfying themselves as to their correctness . Had they but taken this necessary precaution , we cannot bring ourselves to believe that the present " state of things could have arisen . As it is , in whatever manner the difference is

adjusted—and we trust that Bro . Foreman is not oversanguine in his expectations of a speedy and honourable adjustment—the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons for England and Wales and the Colonies , and Dependencies of the British Crown , will cut a somewhat undignified figure . . » * »

The position now since the publication of Bro Foreman ' s second letter is as follows . At its June Quarterly Communication Mark Grand Lodge declared "spurious and clandestine" a Mark lodge , which claims to have been established about a century ago , but which , whether this claim be just or not ,

dates its earliest records from the nth July , 1830 ; to which in 18 70 it was prepared to give a warrant of confirmation "free of cost , " and register its members " at a nominal fee " ; and the validity of whose claims to be a regular Mark body it acknowledged when it granted the certificate already referred to of the 28 th .

December , 188 7 . The chief , if not the sole , reason for acting thus is that , at some recent period not specified , the said Mark body " assumed the style and title of ' The Honourable United Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of the Ashton-under-Lyne District , '" while Bro . Foreman shows from the

titlepage of the Constitutions or By-Laws that the same style and title was in use on the 22 nd October , 1885 , or two years prior to his admission as a joining member into the Skelmersdale Lodge , No . 141 . He ' further tells us that the " proof" is beforo him that the word " Grand " was used by the said body as far back as 1857 ; and in another part of his letter that

the Ashton Mark is " the mother of the ' Joppa ' '•'• Lodge at Birkenhead , and ranks as No . 11 on the roll of the Mark Grand Lodge . All will , no doubt , come right in the end , but as matters stand it will be conceded that things are a little " mixed , " and this , we regret to say , is due to the want of caution exhibited by the Mark Grand Lodge .

A correspondent has kindly favoured us with a ! newspaper extract containing the summary of a sermon preached by the Right Rev . Dr . Gibney , Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth ( Western Australia ) , in which that prelate makes one of those violent attacks on Freemasonry to which , by this

time , we have become accustomed . We have no desire to waste our time in what is familiarly known as "slaying the slain . " We have , times out of number , denied the aspersions which Roman Catholic priests delight so much in levelling at Freemasonry , and are of opinion that no good can result from a repetition of our denial . However , we thank our correspondent for

his courtesy , and , at the sams time , suggest that he might send copy of Dr . Gibney ' s tirade against Freemasonry to Bro . the Right Rev . Chas . O . ven L . Riley , D . D ., the Anglican Catholic Bishop of Perth ( W . A . ) , who is a Past Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England . e * *

We are indebted to the courtesy of Sir Knight the Rev . F . C . P . C . Clarke , Prov . Vice-Chancellor , for copy of the proceedings at the ^ regular meetings of the Provincial Priory of the Order of the Temple for Burma , which took place at the Masonic Hall , Moulmein , on the 12 th November , 1898 , and the nth

February , 1899 . It is , of course , too late to publish them now , but not too late to express our thanks and also the pleasure we feel at finding that the Priory of this distant Province is making progress , notwithstanding that the office of Prov . Prior , rendered vacant bv the lamented death of Sir Knight D . M . McLeod had

not been filled up at the later of the two meetings . The Province is not a strong one , there being only t * o Preceptories—the Loyal Burmah , No . 81 , Rangoon , which dates originally from 1 S 65 , but , having been in abeyance for several years , was granted , chiefly through the exertions of the late Provincial Prior , a warrant of confirmation in . March . 180 ; : : ind

the St . George in Burmah , No . 166 , Moulmein , which , we understand , is by far the stronger of the two . We trust that theOrder of the Temple in Uurmah may continue in its present course , and that in future we may be afforded the opportunity of publishing the Proceedings . We give elsewhere a list of the present ollicers of the Prov . Priory .