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SATURDAY AUGUST 24 , 1901 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

It will be seen , from the announcement we published ast week , that , as a mark of respect to the late Right Hon . William Wither Uramston Beach , M . P ., who for several years occupied the chair of Third Grand I rinci pal of Supreme Grand Chapter , his Royal

Highness the M . E . Grand Z . has commanded that lor the space of three months , dating from the oth -n-itanl , Supreme Grand Chapter , Provincial Grand Chapters , and private chapters shall be placed in mourning , the customary ensigns of which shall also •vorn hy al 1 companions during the same period .

Masonic Notes.

The very brief account we were able to give of the recent annual meeting of the Prov . G . Lodge of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight , at Aldershot , on Tuesday , the 6 th instant , is nothing more than we and all our readers must have expected in the circumstances in which the Province is placed . The brethren

were eagerly looking forward to a meeting which would have been characterised above all others that had been held during the presidency of their late chief by enthusiastic rejoicing , and the enthusiasm and joy were unfortunately as conspicuous by their absence from the proceedings as the grief and lamentation were conspicuous by their presence . No matter

what ill-fortune may befal a Province , its business must be carried on , or the whole machinery of Provincial administration would be out of gear . Hence the meeting was held as appointed , the reports and returns were made as usual , and the Provincial G , Ollicers for the ensuing year wcre appointed and invested , and then the brethren dispersed .

* * # There is , however , just this one great consolation for our brethren of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight . Their last act towards the chief who had ruled them lor so many years , and with such conspicuous success and ability , was to show how fully ,

how deeply , they appreciated what he had done for them during his long administration , and how great was the love and respect they entertained for the ruler , under whose directing care they had prospered so greatly . This is , indeed , a consolation which the members of

the Province will cherish , nor doubt we that as long as there is a Province of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight the memory of its kind and able ruler—Bro . the Right Hon ! William Wither Bramston Beach , M . P . —will be preserved most sacredly .

•» » The Province of North and East Yorkshire appears from the report we published last week of the recent annual meeting at Scarborough of its Prov . Grand Lodge , to be in a very healthy state , both as regards its funds and membership . Only one of its 34 lodges was unrepresented on the occasion , while the returns

showed an aggregate subscribing membership of 2418 , as compared with 2328 , in the previous year , the average per lodge being 71 . The Prov . Grand Master also mentioned in the course of his address that the Educational Fund is so well supported that during the past year it has been able to spend . 6365 on the 29 children it is helping .

* * Unfortunately , there were sundry untoward circumstances to be recorded , as well as the favourable circumstances to which wc have just referred , and the unpleasant duty devolved on the Prov . Grand Master of expressing the sorrow which the brethren throughout

the whole Province experienced at the loss it had sustained by the deaths of not a few good men and true who for several years past had done good service to the Craft . Prominent among these brethren was the late Bro . W . H .- Cowper , who for his services generally had conferred upon him in 1 S 97 the office of

Grand Standard Bearer of England . Bro . Cowper for many years had been the Charity Representative of the Province and died only three days before he should have attended an election in London , and Lord Zetland paid a graceful tribute to the work he had done in this capacity as well as to the loyalty and devotion he had always shown to the interests of Masonry . His

lordship further announced that he had accepted the invitation of the North York Lodge , No . 602 , Middlesborough , to hold the annual meeting under its auspices , pointing out at the same time that there was every prospect of the gathering being exceptionally interesting , as the North York Lodge would next year celebrate the Jubilee of its constitution , which took place in 1852 .

# * * We must also heartily congratulate thc Province on its election ot a worthy successor to thc lamented Bro . W . H . Cowper in the very responsible position of Provincial Charity Representative . The Piovincial Grand Master , in proposing Bro . E .

Fox-Thomas , P . M . Lion Lodge , No . 312 , Whitby , and P . Z . Britannia Chapter , No . 312 , for the vacant office , pointed out that the brother who undertakes the duties should possess great Masonic zeal and industry as well as leisure and ability , and expressed

his opinion that in BrO . l "' ox-Thomas would be found a brother possessing all these qualifications . We know Bro . Fox-Thomas chiefly by the highly interesting History of Lodge and Chapter , No . 312 , which he compiled for the celebration of their Centenary , and , judging from the character of the work , we

Masonic Notes.

cordially endorse the Prov . G . Master ' s opinion as to Bro . Fox-Thomas ' s zeal , industry , and ability , and we doubt not it will be found that he has the leisure

likewise . » * * Last week—through the courtesy of Bro . R . F . Gould—we were in a position to publish two excerpts from the Shanghai Mercury of the - * trd

July , relating to Bro . Cornelius Thorne , Past Dist . Grand Master of Northern China , who , during an unusually prolonged sojourn in the Far East , has been one of the main props of Masonry in Shanghai , as well as one of the ablest and truest exponents of

its principles . B ro . Thome ' s connection with Shanghai Masonry dates—as will be seen from the records we reproduced last week—from 1856 , and since then , with the exception of a brief period , when he . visited England , he has been the heart and soul ot the

Masonic community in that flourishing seaport . In 185 S , and again in 1 S 60 , he occupied the chair of W . M . in the Northern Lodge of China , No . 570 . He had also helped to found the Cosmopolitan Lodge , No .

42 S , under the Scottish Constitution , and had been an honorary member of it almost from its formation in 1 S 64 , while he had rendered every assistance in his power to the Ancient Landmark Lodge , holding under the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , U . S . A .

It is not given to many brethren to take a foremost part in Masonry under three Constitutions , and it is not . therefore , surprising that , when it became known that Bro . Thorne was about to leave the city which during so many long years had been his home ; where ,

by reason of his great activity in municipal life , he had been known to well nigh the whole community ; and where , owing to his many great qualities and the influence for good he exercised , he was universally esteemed and respected—we say when it became

known that such a man was on the eve of quitting the ocality in which he had moved and had his being for close upon half a century , it is not surprising that the community of which he was a member should find some way of exhibiting their respect and esteem for

him . In this our Shanghai brethren experienced no difficulty whatever , and on the 2 nd July , at a meeting held ii their Masonic Hall , under the presidency of Bro . Lewis Moore , Dist . G . Master , they presented him with a handsome service of plate , and afterwards entertained him at a farewell dinner .

* # # In these proceedings it is hard to siy which conferred or received the greater honour—the donors who , by the medium of their chief , presented this testimonial or Bro . Cornelius Thorne who received the gift . The

latter , as we have said , had been one of the main supports of the Craft for the greater part of half a _ century and it was a duty , as it must have been a pleasure , on the part of the brethren to recognise'in enduring form the great , the invaluable services he

had rendered to Freemasonry in the Far East . None knew so well as they did that without Bro . Thome ' s help , Masonry in Shanghai might not have prospered to the extent it has done , while , in accepting the gift , not for its intrinsic value , but as the outward and

visible sign of their goodwill and respect , Bro . Thorne gave the donors the one remaining assurance in his power that they and he were Masons in fact as well as in name , and were , as they always had been , mutually worthy of each other ' s esteem and affection .

It will , perhaps , be interesting to our readers to know that Bro . Thorne was initiated in that fine old lodge , the Moira , No . 92 , in 1852 , and exalted in the Moira Chapter in 1854 , and that in the early years of his Masonic career in China he was associated with

Bro . R . F . Gould . He was District Grand Master of Northern China from 1877 to 1886 , when he resigned , and was succeeded by Bro . John Irwin Miller , on whose

death , 10 years later , Bro . Lewis Moore was appointed to the office , which he has held ever since to his own credit and the great advantage of the Craft in the District .

According to the Australasian keystone Bro . A . J . Peacock , M . W . G . Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria , has '' resuscitated a function that was fraught with much pleasure and profit during the presidency of our first Grand Master , Sir William J .

Clarke . " On the 18 th April last the Grand Lodge Officers and members of the Boards of General Purposes and Benevolence dined by invitation with the

Grand Master , the number present being about 80 . The gathering was a most pleasant one , and the toast of the Grand Master was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm .