Provincial Lodges.

was afterwards carried to the Grand Lodge of England , and thence throughout the whole of England . Now , he told the ladies they must not consider Masonry as " an idiot ' s tale , full of sound and fury , signifying nothing "—but it was a Jacob ' s ladder , leading to Heaven , and full of faith and hope —( Cheers ) . That call was nobly responded to by the Grand Lodge ; it was responded to nobly by the whole of the provinces in England ; and the result was that upwards of £ 4 , 000 was raised , and the children of their Br . were provided for by the Masonic body . This was so

delightful a topic , that , graced as they were by the presence of ladies , he was glad to have the opportunity to explain to them the duties , and objects , and practical working of Masonry ; and moreover , he was happy to say that though the event took place many years since , so prudently had the fund been managed , that not more than . £ 300 of the principal had yet been touched —( Cheers ) . The P . G . M . gave the health of Br . Kent , the P . G . M . from Australia—( Cheers ) . P . G . M . Kent returned thanksand saidwhen he first went to South Australia

, , , many yews ago , there were but few inhabitants , and many parts were only trodden by the savage or the Kangaroo ; but some were so satisfied that the establishment of a Lodge would be beneficial to it , that one was formed . The Craft had always maintained the position in the province it was anticipated it would , and without claiming to themselves anything more than they were justly entitled to , he could tell them that the most energetic men , the best citizens , the most distinguished brothers , husbands ,, and fathers had been enrolled amongst the Masons there , and the Order held a

prominent place in the esteem of their sisters of South Australia . The Craft , which had only one single Lodge sixteen years since , now numbered eight or nine in Adelaide alone ; in other parts there were several others ; and his last act was to constitute a new Lodge . In many parts of Australia , particularly in the gold-fields , the state of society was singular , but when he arrived at one of the most distant , where the state of disorganization was the greatest , a number of Masons offered to do anything they could for him , and invited him to an entertainment , though such things were not done there without a great deal of trouble and cost —( Cheers ) .

"The health of Br . Bifgood , P . G . M . of Kent , " was next drunk . P . G . M . Bisgood returned thanks , observing that many had wondered what the secrets of Masonry were , but they had now been told that the grand secret was to benefit their brethren and all mankind—( Cheers ) . If the ladies required any other secrets he could heartily wish they could have been in the Grand Lodge to-day , when the ceremony was performed , for if they had the secrets they should have communicated to them would have been nothing but what they had heard on this occasion—•

( Cheers ) . " The healths of Senior G . AV . Surridge and other Officers of the Provincial Lodge of Essex" was drunk , and Brs . Surridge and Matthews returned thanks . The Earl of Yarborough , in proposing the health of the ladies , said , they would allow him to explain to them , they having sons or brothers of their own , that they had a boys' school as well as a girls ' . ' They did all in their power to well educate the sons of Freemasons , but in consequence of not having funds they had not a building , and

they educated them in the schools of which they heard the best character in the immediate neighbourhood in which they resided —( Hear ) . He believed there was an erroneous idea that in the girls' school a marked preference was given to Masons in the metropolis who had their children educated there . That was a mistake . The contributions to that school were derived , nine-tenths of them , from lodges in the metropolis , but they would find in the school that the daughters of Masons in the different lodges in the provinces were more in proportion than the daughters of those

who were in the metropolis . He stated it without fear of contradiction , that there was no favouritism shown , and it was an error to suppose that anything like injustice was done to the children of those who resided in the country . During the evening the band of the West Essex Militia played seveaal favourite marches , airs , & c , and Miss Ransford , Br . Ransford , and Br . Grattan sang several excellent songs , the lady being more than once honoured by an encore . The company separated shortly after ten o'clock , many of the Brethren returning to town by a special train .