Contents.

CONTENTS .

[ CIDERS • 469 Old Warrants .-XV — XVI .-XVII 450 Past Festivals of the Girls' School 470 Consecration of St . Pancras Lodge , No . nli ¦•¦ 45 ' Grand Lodge of Scotland 473 American Notes 473

Reviews 475 Notes and Queries 476 Masonic Picnic at Newport 476 Annual Picnic of the Toxteth Lodge , No . I 3 j 6 , Liverpool " ., 476 R IPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 476 Instruction 477

Contents.

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS ( Continued)—Royal Arch . ? .. 47 ) Mark Masonry 477 Ancient arid Accepted Rite 477 Australia 477 New Zealand 478 China 4 ? 8

Speech Day at Crawfurd College , Maidenhead I . 4 JS Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution 478 Ro ' yal Masonic Institution for Boys 478 Obituary 478 Masonic and General Tidings 479 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 480

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THE Quarterly General Court of the Girls' School was well vJars ^ Umit . advised when it determined to accept Bro . C . J . PERCEVAL ' motion for restricting the admission of girls whose fathers have died or been incapacited by various causes from earning a livelihood before completing a membership of seven years . Hitherto , under Law 55 , there

has been no limit whatever as regards membership in the case of such children , and Bro . PERCEVAL was able to cite a case in which a girl , whose father had not been a Mason long enough to take his Third Degree , was p laced at the head of the poll . He argued very justly that the law was very unequal which permitted the election of the child of a brother who

could have rendered no service to Freemasonry over the heads of those whose fathers had been members of the Craft for 10 , 15 , or 20 years . This injustice , however , has been removed , as in future no child will be eligible for admission into the school whose father , whether dead or permanently

incapacitated from work , had not been " a subscribing member of a lodge for three years . " There can be nothing harsh in imposing so moderate a restriction as this , especially when it is borne in mind how numerous are the applicants for admission ,

* * * BRO . T . F . HALSEY , M . P ., Prov . G . M . of Hertfordshire , and reemasonry m ^ ethren generally over whom he so ably presides , have every reason to congratulate themselves on the events of the past year , and that the meeting of Prov . Grand Lodge , which was held at

Hitchin under the auspices of the Cecil Lodge , No . 449 , if not quite so numerous as some that have been held , passed off most satisfactorily . This province , which has latterly been growing in respect of numbers , and therefore in importance , is a firm exponent , as it has been invariably since its reconstitution in 1833 under the late Bro . the Marquis of SALISBURY , of

the principles of Masonry ; but during the past 12 months it has surpassed itself in the regularity with which it has fulfilled its duties and the generosity with which it has supported our Charitable Institutions . It now has on its roll as many as 16 lodges , which muster amongst them over 500 subscribing members , and is no longer therefore the '' little Herts " it was wont to be

desi gnated some 12 or 15 years ago . At the Centenary Festival of the Girls ' School 12 of its 16 lodges were represented , the total number of its Stewards , including the Provincial representatives and Unattached , being 20 , and the sum of their lists within . a very small fraction of ^ 650 ; and as it raised £ r 45 J 5 s- 6 d . for the Festival of the Benevolent Institution in February , it

has contributed not far short of £ 800—or some ^ 50 per lodge—to our Institutions during the year . These special circumstances , as well as the general prospects of the Province , must have been the subject of congratulation among all who were in attendance at the meeting , but there was an additional feature of interest that must have been present to their minds in

connection with the Cecil Lodge , under whose banner they were assembled , namel y , that it was the Jubilee year of its constitution , the Cecil Lodge having been warranted on the 19 th March , 1838 , and formally constituted ^ the Sun Inn , where it still meets , by Bro . J . DAVIES , Past Deputy P . G . M ., ln the presence of the late Bro . the Marquis of SALISBURY , Prov . G . M .,

and some 30 other brethren , on the 19 th May following ; its founder and first W . M . being the late Bro . W , LLOYD THOMAS , Prov . G . Sec , who Was S . G . D . of England in 1841 and died in 1855 . To this same Bro . * HOiiAs and other similarly brave spirits of his time the Craft in Hertfordshire may be said to have been indebted almost for its existence . For

hough there had been lodges in the county during last century , it is stated m the brief report given in the " Freemasons' Quarterly Review " of the consecration of the lodge : " It is worthy of remark that , in the county of . tlord , there are now five lodges in active work , with the prospect of a x 'h ( at St . Albans ) . Ten years ago there was not a single lodge nor a 1

S dent Mason , where now there can at any time be summoned to the ars upwards of 300 brethren ! " These five lodges are still in active 0 r k , though one of them—the Salisbury Lodge , No . 435—now meets in ° ndon , and Bro . HALSEY , P . G . M ., must be very proud of the present Position in Masonry a nd the prospects of the four that still constitute a part

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of his province . We trust that 50 years hence , when the Cecil Lodge will be celebrating its Centenary , the record of Hertfordshire Freemasonry may be as bright and promising as it is now , and exhibit as satisfactory a rate of progress as it has shown since the Cecil Lodge , No . 449 , Hitchin , was constituted . * * *

OUR Grand Lodge Museum has just been enriched by the An Reiic Edition of a venerable relic of by-gone days , to wit , part of the tibia of one of the legs of HIRAM , King of Tyre , which was taken years ago by Captain KIDDLE , R . N ., from the opened tomb which lies near to the spot where formerly stood the eastern gate of the

ancient city oE Tyre , and which , according to eastern tradition , is the tomb of HIRAM the King , who rendered such valuable assistance to SOLOMON in building the Temple at Jerusalem . In 1859 , Bro . KIDDLE , then navigating lieutenant of H . M . S . Agamemnon , was sent on shore at Tyre with Admiral ALEXANDER and Captain J OHNSON to investigate a charge brought

by the Maronites against the Druses , and when the inquiry was over , the Consul took them to see HIRAM ' S tomb , which they found , to their great regret , had been broken opened and rifled by some of the French soldiers at the time occupying the country . On carefully examining the sarcophagus , Bro . KIDDLE picked up a fragment of a tibia , and as the tomb in

question is , according to ROBERTSON , " the best authenticated monument in the land , " and knowing the value which ordinarily attaches to tradition in Eastern countries , Bro . KIDDLE is anxious that such a relic should be religiously preserved , and has , accordingly , presented it to our Grand Lodge , on condition that it is accepted for what he believes it to be , namely ,

a relic of HIRAM the King . The tomb from which it was taken will be found described in Dr . THOMPSON ' S work , entitled "The Land and the Book , " as consisting of five stone slabs , the two lowest being each 13 feet long by 8 feet 8 inches broad by 3 feet thick , the middle one 15 feet by 10 feet by 3 feet 4 inches thick , that above it 12 feet 3 inches by 8 feet by 6

feet , and the topmost of all 10 feet by 5 feet by 5 feet . There is also an engraving of it as the frontispiece to ALLEN ' S work , " The Red Sea , " and likewise at p . 48 9 of " The Freemasons' Magazine and Mirror , " Vol . X .

( New Series ) , January to June , 1864 . We are sure that Grand Lodge and the English Craft generally will fully appreciate the kindness which has prompted Bro . KIDDLE—who was raised M . M . at Malta in 1848-9—to present this relic to our Museum .

* WE have more than once had occasion to point out for the Home from the benefit of those who consider that all our Colonial lodges Colonies . should at once cut their connection with our Grand Lodge ,

and set up house for themselves , on the ground that , by so doing , they would save the fees which they are now obliged to " send home , " that the only fees which are thus remitted are for the registration of initiates and joining members , the 7 s . 6 d ., charged in the former case including the cost of the Grand Lodge certificate . The last occasion on which we set

ourselves to correct this error was in answer to a statement made by the New Zealand Freemason to the effect that these remittances constituted a heavy tax on the funds of our Colonial lodges . Of course , if those who ' made the allegation had taken the trouble to ascertain the facts , they would at once have discovered how erroneous was their assertion . Possibly this would not

have been convenient , but the D . G . Treasurer of Queensland , has recently been at the pains of correcting the impression , and stating precisely what are the fees remitted , what they are for , and the advantages which follow from their remittance . His statement is merely a repetition of ours—that 7 s . 6 d . is remitted for the registration of each initiate , who thereby becomes

entitled to a Grand Lodge certificate , and 2 s . 6 d . for each joining member ; that nothing in the shape of " annual fees " is sent home ; and that members of Colonial lodges " are entitled to participate in all the benevolent

Institutions of the Grand Lodge of England . Let us hope that after this authoritative explanation by a District Grand Officer , who knows well what he is talking about , our Colonial and other contemporaries will be more careful in the assertions they make so freely , but with so little justification .

* # * WE have before us a very handsomely printed report of " The York Masonic Ladies' Masonic Fair Association , " of New York . It is a Falr great credit to all concerned , and the excellent management of

our esteemed lady friends , with Mrs . F RANK R . LAWRENCE as "Chairman " ( the title is not ours ) , Mrs . E . M . L . EHLERS , " Vice-Chairman , " and Mrs . EDWARD B . HARPER , Secretary , with a large Executive Committee , has resulted in the enormous sum of 75 . 000 dollars being placed in

the hands of the Grand Master , M . W . Bro . FRANK R . LAWRENCE , besides over 1300 dollars on deposit in the Garfield National Bank , so that , at least , £ 15 , 000 have been received by the Ladies' Fair . This sum will be paid to the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund " as soon as the debt is paid , to be by them applied towards the creation of an Asylum for indigent