The Province Of Gloucestershire.

from being demolished or irretrievably spoilt by alteration for trade purposes , purchased it and restored it for subsequent use as a Masonic Hall .

THE MASONIC HALL , STOW-ON-THK-WOLD ( THE LODGE ROOM ) . In 1818 the Duke of Beaufort finding himself without a Deputy in his Province , appointed Bro . Thomas Quarington , of the City of Gloucester , to be Deputy Provincial Grand

Master of Gloucestershire , and Bro . Quarington Avas duly invested and proclaimed at a Provincial Grand Lodge held at the National School Room in Gloucester on the 24 th August in the same year . Bro . Quarington seems to have been an active and energetic Deputy , for , rather more than a mont ' . i

later , Ave find him holding another Provincial Grand Lodge for the purpose of passing neAV by-laAvs , Avhich Avere to be communicated by the Provincial Grand Secretary to the various lodges in the province , and their full compliance with the by-kuvs regulating the fees and quarterages required .

They may , of course , have expressed acquiescence , but thev certainly did not SITOAV it in their practice , for the bitter cry of the Provincial Grand Treasurer arises year after year that he cannot get the quarterages paid . Many of the lodges got

several years in arrear , but although Provincial Grand Lodge threatened much , it accomplished little , and the post of Provincial Grand Treasurer remained a very thankless one and a great contrast to the light and pleasant duties of the Treasurer of the present day , whose position is a bed of

roses to that of Bro . Morgan , Provincial Grand Treasurer in 1829 , who was unable to produce his accounts to the Audit Committee OAving to the fact that , having no money and receiving no money , he had been unable to pav anything , and consequently had no accounts to produce . No Avonder that

it is recorded that Bro . Morgan wcs seriously indisposed . The next step of Bro . Quarington after his appointment was to hold a sort of visitation of all the lodges in the province , going round to each one in turn , requiring them to produce their seals , Avairants , and by-kuvs for his inspection

and approval , or to account for their absence . They till seem to have passed their examination fairly satisfactorily , although some of them had difficulty in finding a copy of . their bykuvs or producing their seals , while one—the Royal Faith and Friendship Lodge—had lost its warrant altogether , the

same having been appropriated and mislaid by Grand Lodge . The Deputy recommended them to communicate at once with Grand Lodge and insist on the return of the old warrant or to be furnished with a new one . This had the desired effect , and the old warrant Avas found and returned . The

Deputy likewise took exception to the working of this lodge , and recommended them to conform to the practice directed by the Grand Lodge in order that the working might be uniform throughout the province . In 1820 occurred the death of King George III ., and the

accession of King George IV ., AVIIO thereupon resigned his position as Grand Master of the Craft . The Provincial Grand Lodge presented , through the Provincial Grand Master , an address of condolence to the King on the death of his father , and of congratulation on his own accession ,

which Avas expressed in language highly befitting the occasion . The address was subsequently published in the Glouceslei yoiimal . In the same year Ave find the Prov . G . Treasurer in considerable perplexity , as his expenses by no means tallied with his receipts , and the Deputy Provincial Grand Master appears

THE MASONIC HAL ! ,, 111-HSLKY ( THE LODGE ROOM ) .