At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar

The Empress Lodge , which came into existence some ten years later , has also laid itself out for a great function at the Cafe Royal , Regent Street , on June the nth , which will take the form of a meeting to honour the Iirst Master and founder of the lodge , the Right Hon . the Lord Mayor of London , Sir Joseph C . Dimsdale , M . P . An influential gathering is expected , and Ave understand that many of our Colonial visitors have also been invited to be present .

^ ' V "U " The quarterly communication of the Grand Lodge of Scotland was held on May ist in Edinburgh . The Hon . James Hozier , M . W . Grand Master , presided , and there was a large attendance . The recommendations from Grand Committee were approved , including the re-appointment of

the following Provincial Grand Masters : —The Right Hon . Lord BlythsAVood , Renfrewshire East ; Sir Charles Dalrymple of Newhailes , Baronet , M . P ., Argyle and the Isles ; the Right Hon . the Earl of Haddington , Haddington and Berwickshires ; Major Robert G . Gordon Gilmour , of Craigmillar , Midlothian ;

and the appointment of Brother William Murray , of Murraythwaite , to the Provincial Grand Mastership of Dumfriesshire . Charters were granted to Lodges "St . Andrew , " Chefoo , China ; " Mahara , " Opunake , NCAV Zealand North ; " Trafalgar , " Trafalgar , Western Australia ; " Polkemmet , "

Whitburn , Linlithgowshire ; and "Heather , " South India . It Avas reported that during the quarter £ 292 had been voted in benevolent grants by the Benevolent Committee of Grand Lodge . < 5 s « S > « S ?>

The Provincial Grand Lodge of West Lancashire has gone in largely of late years in supporting their OAVII local benevolent institutions , and have IIOAV twenty-Jive indigent brethren receiving annual grants , seventy-two widows having annuities , and 208 children being educated , besides benevolent grants to other needy cases , at a total annual cost of considerably over X 2000 ; this large sum being locally raised and distributed at a minimum of cost .

¦ ® « - - <© A notable addition will be made to the lodges in London which have for their object the representation of the provinces in London in the formation of the East Anglian Lodge , No . 2919 , which , as its name implies , is intended for brethren

hailing from or connected with that part of the country . It may not unreasonably be expected that the same success Avill attend the lodge as its predecessors of the same class , all of which , Ave believe , flourish exceedingly .

o * & Among the numerous lodges under the English , Scotch , and Netherlands Constitutions in the late IAVO Republics in South Africa , the Rising Star Lodge , No . 1022 ( E . G . ) , stands alone as having successfully ^ weathered the storm of the past two-and-a-half years . While all other lodges had to suspend working , owing in most cases to their officers becoming scattered , but in some doubtless for want of energy and will ,

No 635 PERMANENT NIGHT PASS . Name M ... ' . .. 0 . ^^^< h ^ Ar- ^^^^<~ :

J nour 12 . - Q + ^ 4 ~ £ ^ Jl } ^ vJUdX ^ M " " 3 Occupation } W vU / iv A AXLV ^ U ^ rUa ^ -ffvvc- < . l / K - ^ fe ^^

3 ~ Z ? - < i <« w * 7 Capt ., ASST . PROVOST MARSHAL , Bloemfontein , Orange River Colony . Date . _ . 1 ~~~~ .. J * ' . " O ^ K . FACSIMILI-: OF l'HlWlT .

the Rising Star went on plodding , and was thus enabled to cheer many a weary heart within its precincts . For this good work and unique record the brethren were largely indebted to the efforts of Bro . Ivan Haarburger , P . A . G . D . C , AVIIO filled the chair of W . M . three years in succession , during the trying period from 18 9 8 to 1901 , and it is only right to place

on record the facts that Freemasonry , even in those critical times , has received at the hands of the late governments and the British authorities the kindliest consideration . As an evidence of this Ave have reproduced in facsimile a permit issued by the military authorities , which goes far to prove

that the Craft under the strictest military law was accorded an unique distinction , and it goes Avithout the saying that the brethren in those parts are extremely grateful to the military authorities for so much courtesy .

The Mayor of Southwark , Bro . F . Redman , P . M ., has hit on the happy idea of testifying the love and loyalty of South London Freemasons for their King and the " Protector of the Order , " by erecting a triumphal arch in some part of the borough on the occasion of the Coronation Procession through South London . With this view a committee has been

formed and subscriptions are being solicited . Bro . Redman has secured the support of an excellent committee , comprising many Avell known members of the Craft , of which Bro . Robt . W . Bowers is acting as honorary secretary . The honorary treasurer is Bro . W . G . Cannon , 10 7 , London Road , Southwark .

< $ ! < S > effil The South African Masonic Relief Fund , which has been kept open during the whole , of the long period of the present Avar , amounts , according to the last published list , to a total of ^ . " , 4 88 8 s . 3 d . This sum has , Ave believe , ere

now been all remitted to the committee at Cape Town , and the greater portion distributed amongst those distressed brethren for whom the fund is intended , no charges having been made hy the authorities for any expense occurred in connection with it . Most of the advances have

been made on loan until the recipients have re-established themselves in their various businesses , and it is the opinion of those who are Avell qualified to judge , that it will all be most certainly repaid . Should this prove to be correct , the money will form the nucleus of a permanent Masonic fund , which will be the means of affording help to distressed brethren in the Colony .

«• -5 ' The announcement of the intention of Dublin University , where V . W . Bro . Horace Brooks Marshall took his M . A . degree , to confer on him the additional honorary degree of L . L . D ., will be a matter of interest to the Craft and of congratulation on the part of our esteemed Past Grand Treasurer ' s

many friends . ' ¦ £ /< ^> &' Not the least interesting personality amongst the Metropolitan clergy who are members of our Order , is Bro . the

Rev . A . R . Buckland , morning preacher at the Foundling , and the recentl y appointed Secretary of the Religious Tract Society . He is , says a contemporary , one of the tallest ol

London clerics , being six feet IAVO in his socks . His career in the Church commenced in 1880 in the East End . In connection with his work there he became so well known to the residents of every slum in the parish , that on

one occasion , having mislaid the key of the soup-kitchen , an oft-convicted but reformed burglar offered his services and promptly picked the lock ! Not inappropriatel y Bro . the Rev .

Buckland became a founder of the Captain Coram Lodge , No . 2737 , which was , about three years since ,