Freemasonry In 1900.

Master , Bro . George Beech , Past G . Std . Hearer Eng . The additions to the roll of tlu * Prov . G . Lodge of Buckinghamshire are * the St . Martin ' s Lodge , No . 2812 , and the Bowen Lodge , No . 2816 , bearing ( he respected name of Bro . John E .

Bowen , P . A . G . D . C , Dep . G . M . of the Province , and appointee ! to meet at Chesham . Bv tlu * addition to its roll of the Erkenwold Lodge * , No . 2808 , at Barking , the number of lodges in Essex , tinder thc able and popular rule of the Earl of Warwick , has been augmented to 45 , while

Sir M . White Ridley , Bart ., M . P . —who has recently been raised to thc- peerage—has , by the formation of the Whitley Lodge , No . 2821 , Whitley , 34 lodges instead of 33 under his charge . The Abiff Lodge , No . 2810 , meeting at Saxmundham , raises thc number of lodges in Suffolk to 23 , while in Devonshire , which in the absence on service in India of Lord

Northcote , Prov . G . Master , is so ably administered b y Bro . G . C . Davie , P . G . D ., Dep . P . G . M ., has now on its register 60 lodges , the Throe Pillars Lodge , No . 2806 , having been consecrated by Bro . Davie , at Cockinglon , on th-j Sth May , and started on its career , whicli , we trust , will be a fortunate one , under the

guidance of Bro . the Rev . James Hammond , W . M . There remains one other lodge to specify , and that was consecrated at the Masonic Hall , Guernsey , on the 9 th May , the ceremony being performed by the Prov . G . Master , Bro . J . Balfour-Cockburn , who was afterwards placed in the chair as W . AL ,

and will , we doubt not , steer it safely through the dilficultics which nearly all new lodges encounter at the outset . The name and number of this lodge are thc Balfour Cockburn , No . 2 S 05 , and the result is a gain of one to the Province of Guernsey and

Alderney , of which six , including No . 2 S 05 , meet in Guernsey , and the remaining one in Alderney . As regards the new lodges Abroad , such remarks as appear necessary will be found in the concluding section of this Summary .

There has been no vexed question before the Craft for some time past , and , consequently , the proceedings in Grand Lodge have been almost entirely free from anything in the nature of contention . At the March Communication a message was read from the Prince of Wales , M . W G . Master , in which his Roval

Highness drew attention to the very serious distress which had been caused among the brethren in South Africa by the war then being waged against the forces of the Transvaal and Orange Free Stale , and suggested that a series of resolutions should be adopted for the formation of a general Fund , to which all lodges

should be invited to contribute , with a view to alleviating that distress . It should be mentioned that before this course was taken , or rather while it was being considered what steps to this end had better be taken , Bro . George Richards , District G .

Master of the lransvaal , had appealed to the Craft through our columns to assist him in raising a Fund for relieving the distress of brethren in bis District , with the result lhat subscriptions , headed In * a most generous contribution from Bro . Richards himself , and

I' . ltD . . 1 . r . Al . nil * lt reicKlll-HX , !•. ( ,- . M . IIUI'llXSKY amounting to between / . 350 and £ 400 was announced . When , however , our respected brother heard of the ( irand Master ' s scheme for a Fund , which should be applied to the relief of all

loyal brethren in South Africa , Bro . Richards at once intimated liis intention of merging his particular Fund for the Transvaal 'a the General Fund proposed by his Royal Highness for Masonic Relief throughout the whole of South Africa . Hence , when the ( j . Registrar explained what had taken place , and Bro .

Richards , so far as he was concerned , had endorsed the statements of Grand Registrar , the series of resolutions recommended by tin ; M . W . G . Master were adopted by Grand Lodge with

readiness , and n grant of £ 1050 was voted amid loud cheers , the only difference of opinion to which open expression was given being as to whether the sum was adequte for the purposes intended . However , it was pointed out that if the sum raised

the M . W . G . Master having been re-elected and proclaimed , and Bro . Harry Manfield unanimously elected Grand Treasurer for the year 1900 , a motion was adopted allowing lodges which might find it impossible to hold a regular meeting on the day

proved insufficient a further application could be made to Grand Lodge , and it was left to the Board of General Purposes , in consultation with the Grand Masters of the several Districts in South Africa , to see that the Fund was administered in accordance with the needs of distressed brethren . His Royal Highness

fixed by their bye-laws to hold it , by dispensation previously obtained , on a day not more than seven days before or after such date , and that such day should be deemed "for all purposes " the " regular day of meeting . " A letter from Bro . Sir

into . e ; i * oit ( ii * IIICHARDS , HIST . ( i . M . THAXSVAAI .. Albert Woods , G . D . of C , against members of Grand Lodge appearing iu clothing other than that to which they were entitled as English Masons , was also discussed favourably , after which Grand Lodge agreed to recognise the Grand Lodge of

Western Australia , which had recently been formed by an overwhelming majority of the English lodges in the Colony , on the usual conditions , while it rejected an application for recognition hy an irregular body *—of which no one seems to have any knowledge either as to whence it sprang or of what lodges it was

composed—styling itself the Grand Lodge of W . Australia . At the Grand Festival , which was held on the 25 U 1 April , Earl Amherst , AI . W . Pro G . Master , before the regular business was entered upon , proposed , and Bro . George Richards , Dist . G . M . Transvaal , Acting Dep . G . Master , seconded , a resolution ,

congratulating his Royal Highness on bis providential escape from assassination , and the motion having been carried b y acclamation , the Grand Master appointed and invested the Grand Officers for the year , among them being Bros . Viscount Templetown ( S . G . W . of Ireland ) and Lord Gienesk as Senior

and Junior G . Wardens respectively ; Bros , the Rev . F . M . Burton and Herbert W . Turner , Grand Chaplains ; and Bro . E . Beaumont as Dep . G . Registrar . It was also announced that , with a view to commemorating his 25 years' occupancy of the G . Mastership , his Royal Highness had been pleased to

confer " Past Rank on 25 brethren of distinction , prominent among them being Bro . Alajor-General Sir K . M . L . Rundle , commanding a division of the Army in South Africa , and Bro . Major-General Sir F . R . Wingate , Sirdar of Fgypt , upon each of whom was conferred the rank of Past Grand Wardens . The

Grand Festival was then held under lhe presidency of Earl Amherst , AI . W . Pro G . Alaster . At the June meeting the usual grant of , £ 70 having been voted to provide fue . 'l during the winter months for the inmates of the Benevolent Institution at Croydon , a motion for altering the- hour of meeting from six to seven p . m .

was brielly discussed and adopted , and an appeal from a lodge in Burma against the ruling of the Dist . G . Master having been dismissed , the : proceedings terminated . In September , on the proposition of Bro . the ' Right Hon . W . W . B . Beach , M . P .,

Prov . G . Master of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight , who presided , a vote of condolence with the Prince of Wales , M . VV . G . Master , on the death of his brother , H . R . H . the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha , K . G ., was passed unanimously by the brethren upstanding . It was agreed on the 'notion of Bro . G , W . Speth ,