Fubilee Of St. Augustine's Lodge, No. 885.

Fubilee of St . Augustine ' s Lodge , No . 885 .

IT is always an indication of vigorous life in a lodge when the members unite to commemorate some event in its history , and St . Augustine ' s Lodge , No . 885 , E . G ., now No . 4 , N . Z . C ., notwithstanding its secession from the parent jurisdiction , still possesses a pride of ancestry which

manifested itself recently in the publication of a history covering a period of fifty years , not only of the lodge ' s existence , but practically of Freemasonry in New Zealand . The compiler of the record tells a plain unvarnished tale drawn frqm the minutes of the lodge , and modestly conceives that the English reader " may find some interesting matter , in the same way that the colonial reader does in reading the

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accounts of various lodges in England which appear in the pages of the " MASONIC IU . I ' STKATKO . " We have space only for a few extracts which narrate the principle events up to and including the transferring of its allegiance to the Sovereign Grand Body formed in 188 9 .

" Less than a year after the arrival of the historic first four ships , the members of the Craft then in Canterbury , feeling the need of forming a lodge , held a meeting at the house of Bro . John Seager Gundry , on Thursday , November 27 th , 1851 , there being present Bros . John Seager Gundry , William John

Disher , Isaac Luck , Richard Pollard , and John E . Thacker . " It was unanimously agreed that a petition be sent to the M . W . Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England —first , however , to the New Zealand Pacific Lodge , Wellington , requesting that it might be forwarded , with a recommendation to the Grand Master that the prayer of the petition be granted .

" In those early days of the colony communication with London was very slow , and it was not until October 5 th of the following year ( 1853 ) that the warrant of constitution for the St . Augustine Lodge was received . " At the consecration no less than thirtv-five members _ f

the Craft assembled , the chair being taken bv Bro . Charles B . Fooks , P . M . All Souls' Lodge , No . 199 , who consecrated the lodge and installed Bro . John Seager Gundry as W . M . " It may be mentioned here that at this first meeting the volume of the Sacred Law at present in use in the lodge was presented by Bro . Richard Pollard , and eight candidates were proposed for initiation , amongst whom was one to

whom St . Augustine Lodge is greatly indebted—namely , Bro . William Guise Brittan , initiated December 14 th , 1853—who donated to the lodge that section of land in Hereford Street , upon which now stands the old Colonial Bank ( recently acquired by the Government for the use of the Public Health Department ) .

" Even at this early stage in the history of the lodge the founders realised the necessity of meeting in more convenient premises , and we find that on December 14 th , less than two months after its inauguration , a building committee was formed , and on January nth , 1 854 , a resolution was carried

thanking Bro . W . G . Brittan for his liberal gift of a site for the proposed Masonic hall , and on March J 5 II 1 it was resolved— ' That the land presented by Bro . W . G . Brittan for the site of the Masonic hall be conveyed to the W . M ., S . W ., J . W ., and Treasurer for the time being in trust for the lodge . '