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NJTO ^^ gff ^ B - SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 27 , 18 97 . »

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The 200 th Anniversary of the Opening of St . Paul ' s Cathedral for Divine worship will be commemorated on the afternoon of Thursday , the 2 nd prox ., by a special service , which will be attended only by the Masons of this country , of whom upwards of 13 , 000

have already applied for tickets of admission , and the number which it will be possible to accommodate is estimated at not greatly in excess of 5000 . The privilege of introducing ladies , who will be seated near the choir , has been granted to the Grand Officers , but otherwise none but Masons will be admitted , for the

very best cf all reasons , that there will be no room for them . We have already staled that the meeting will be held out of respect for the tradition that Sir Christopher Wren , the architect of the Cathedral , and the Masons employed to carry out his plans , were

members of our Society , End that Sir Christopher himself was Master of the Lodge of Antiquity , and , accordingly , his Royal Highness , the M . W . G . Master , will be properly represented on the occ . ! S on . * * *

The regular Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge will be held at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , the 1 st prox ., when , as usual , nominations for the offices of Grand Master and Grand Treasurer will take place , and other business of a somewhat similar character transacted . The Report of the

Masonic Notes.

Board of General Purposes contains only one item of interest—the recomme ndation to Grand Lodge that the silary of Grand Secretary be raised to £ 1250 a year , rising by annual increments of £ 50 to £ 1500 . The recommendation is a very proper one to make , as the

duties and responsibilities of the office have been very greatly increased since Bro . Letchworth ' s appointment now nearly six years ago , and we feel sure that Grand Lodge will recognise the justice of making the stipend commensurate with those duties and responsibilities .

* * * There is also a renewed notice by Bro . W . F . Lamonby of the motion which that brother would have submitted to Grand Lodge at an earlier communication during the present year but for his inability

to attend the meeting . His proposal is that an addition should be made to the Book of Constitutions prohibiting canvassing , whether personal or by any other way , for all elective offices and imposing a just penalty

on all who may hereafter be proved to have violated the law . When the notice of this motion first appeared we expressed our cordial approval of it and nothing has happened since in any way calculated to alter or even modify that approval .

» * It seems that his Royal Highness the M . W . Grand Master has been pleased to issue warrants for the constitution of eight new lodges since the September communication . Of these one—the Sancta Maria—is

for London ; five for the Provinces of Buckinghamshire ( 1 ) , West Lancashire ( 2 ) , Northants and Hunts ( 1 ) , and Northumberland ( 1 ) ; and two for Abroad , both of them being for South Africa , No . 2678 , being located at Umtali in Rhodesia , and No . 2685 , at Ermels , in the Transvaal .

* * Mark Grand Lodge will hold its regular Quarterly Communication at Mark Masons' Hall on Tuesday , the 30 th instant , when the usual nominations will be made for the offices of Grand Master and Grand Treasurer for the ensuing year . The report of the General Board will likewise be submitted .

From this report we gather that warrants for three Mark lodges ( one for the Argentine Republic , and two for South Africa ) have been granted since the last Quarterly Communication , the number of Mark certificates issued being 260 , raising the total of registered

Mark Masons to 37 , 363 . Warrants for two Royal Ark Mariner lodges have also been granted , one to be attached to Mark Lodge No . 422 , Sierra Leone , and the other to Lodge No . 307 , Bengal , while the number of Royal Ark Mariner certificates issued is 70 , raising the total number registered to 5325 .

Sundry changes are also mentioned in the report as having been made by his Royal Highness the M . W . Grand Master among the rulers of Districts , and a new District has been created . Thus Bro . Colonel C F ' . Massy has been appointed District Grand Master of

the Punjab , vice Bro . E . Woodall Parker , resigned , and Bro . Major-Gencral A . G . Yeatman-Biggs , C . B ., has succeeded Bro . Sir John Edge , Q . C ., as Dist . G . Master of Bengal , while Bro . H . C . Luck , J . P ., has been appointed Grand Master of the newly-established

District Grand Lodge of Queensland . Bros . Colonel G . Singleton Tudor and C . Roper Martin have been re-appointed for a further term of three years , the former as Provincial Grand Master of Staffordshire , and the latter as District Grand Master of Victoria .

• The winter half-yearly meeting of the Priory of the Order of the Temple for England and Wales , & c ., will be held at Mark Masons' Hall on Friday , the 10 th prox ., at 4 . 45 p . m ., for 5 p . m . prompt . The report of

the Council will be presented , and from this we gather , among other information , that the Grand Master has been pleased to appoint V . E . Knight Lieut .-Col . Thomas Daly to be Provincial Prior for British Guiana and the Windward Islands and to

grant warrants for the formation of two ne , v Preceptories , one at Fremantle , Western Australia , to be called the Preceptory of Westralia , and the other to hi held at Cape Town to be named the Preceptory of Mount Zion . On the conclusion of the business

Great Priory will be closed and a Priory of the Order of Malta will be held , when those Knights Templar who have signified their desire will be admitted to the Order . A banquet will subsequently be held at Freemasons' Tavern ; tickets , one guinea each . * » * We have much pleasure in announcing that Bro . Alderman Sir Reginald Hanson , Bart ., M . P . ! has very

Masonic Notes.

kindly consented to preside as Chairman atthenoth Anniversary Festival which will be held in May , 1 S 9 S , in behalf of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls . Bro . Sir Reginald Hanson is a Past G . Warden of England and Treasurer of the Institution , and has

always exhibited the greatest interest in our Charities . Wc trust the Secretary will have the good fortune to enlist the support of a strong Board of Stewards for the occasion , and that those who give their services in this capacity will be successful in obtaining good lists of donations and subscriptions .

* # * Very general and very sincere will be the sympathy of the English Craft in the terrible bereavement which Bro . the Earl of Lathom , Pro G . Master , Prov . G . M . W . Lancashire , his son , Bro . Lord Skelmersdalc , Past G . Warden of England , and the other members of

his family have sustained , through the fatal accident which occurred to the Countess of Lathom on Tuesday when driving home from a shooting party . Lord and Lady Lathom always exhibited a great interest in our Masonic Charitable Institutions , and on the occasions on which her husband presided as Chairman at one or other of our School Festivals , her ladyship charged

herself with the gracious task of distributing the prizes to the successful pupils . She was thus in full sympathy with her husband in his love of Masonry and its Institutions , and English Masons will feel that in losing her they lose one of their best friends and well-wishers . We tender our respectful sympathy to the M . W . Pro Grand Master and his family .

* * * The sixth annual festival of the Kirby—late Clarence Lodge of Instruction , No . 263 , will be held at the Midland Grand Hotel , St . Pancras , at 6 p . m ., on Tuesday , the 30 th instant , under the presidency of Bro , Charles E . Keyser . J . P ., P . G . D . The work in lodge , which will meet under Bro . Charles Lewis , P . M ., P ,

Prov . G . D . Essex , Preceptor , as W . M ., will consist of the Second Lecture , and subsequently dinner will be served , tickets , 5 s . each , inclusive of lodge dues . A strong Committee and Board of Stewards has been formed , and we have every reason to hope that the anniversary , as informer years , will prove a great success . Morning dress and Craft clothing to be worn .

« * * An emergent meeting of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal was held at Freemasons' Hall , Calcutta , on the 15 th July , under the presidency of Bro . Major-General A . G . Yeatman-Biggs , C . B ., D . G . M ., to transact the business which had been set down for the

regular quarterly meeting in June , the District Grand Master having been compelled to cancel the order for that communication because he and his Deputy had been detained at Darjeeling by a break in the railway communication . The chief business had reference to

the purchase of a site for the erection of a new hall , and this was referred to a Committee for immediate report . A sum of 50 ° rupees was unanimously voted to the " Prinsep Testimonial Fund , " which was announced to have reached 5000 rupees .

? * » It is with very sincere regret that we announce the death of Bro . C . ] . Shoppee , F . R . I . B . A ., a Mason of close on 50 years' standing , and one who in his day had done good service to the Craft . The funeral took place at Uxbridge Cemetery on Monday , the 22 nd

instant , the early portion of the service being held in Gray ' s Inn Chapel . We purpose giving particulars of our deceased brother ' s career next week , but in the meantime we tender our respectful condolence to our respected Bro . C . H . Shoppee , the son , and ether members of our deceased brother ' s family ,

* * The Prov . G . Mark Lodge of Hertfordshire , and later in the afternoon the Prov . G . Chapter were held at Bishop ' s Stortford , on Tuesday , the 23 rd instant , the presiding officer being in the former case Bro . T , F . Halsey , M . P ., Prov . G . Mark Master , and in the latter M . E . Comp . T . F . Halsey , M . P ., G . Superintendent . Brief padiculars will appear next week .

THE QUEEN , who was accompanied by H . R . H . the Princess of Wales , Princess Henry of Battenberg , and Princess of Victoria of Wales , on Saturday last conferred , at Windsor Castle , the Distinguished Service Order upon the following officers : Capt . Edward Charles D'Heillemer Fairtlough , 4 th Battalion the Royal Dublin Fusiliers

employed with the Sierra Leone Frontier Police , for operations between Sierra Leone and Liberia , 1 S 9 G , and Lieutenant Clement Lawrence Seton Seton-Browne , Indian Staff Corps , for conspicuous service during the attack on the Political Officers' Escort at Maizar in the Tochi Valley , June 10 th , 1 S 97 , in which affair he was severely wounded . The officers were introduced by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Bigge and Lord Lawrence .