Mark Grand Lodge.

Board , not only to maintain the efficiency of this useful and most deserving Charity , but to still further increase its benefits by the admission of those accepted Candidates whom , at present , the Board do not feel justified in placing on the Fund . Over 100 Brethren have already volunteered their services as Stewards , and it is sincerely hoped that this number may be largely increased before the day of the Festival .

ANNUITY BRANCH . A brother , aged seventy-two , who had been a subscribing - member of Fortitude Lodge , No . 78 , for over twenty-one years , has been added to the number of Annuitants , making a total of Five Brethren now enjoying the advantages of this Branch , the annual income of which is only . £ 99 . 12 s . id ., while the expenditure is & 155 . EDUCATIONAL BRANCH - .

There are now fourteen boys and thirteen girls being educated and clothed , which entails an annual outlay of £ 400 . 4 s . Sd ., the income being , £ 89 . 12 s . 2 d . Arthur P . Morris , aged eight years ; Edith Taylor , aged nine years ; Annie L . M . White , aged eleven years seven months ; Harold Miller , aged ten years three months ; Edward G . Jarmain , aged eight years ; and Stephen Wellington , aged ten years , have been accepted as candidates , subject to the declaration of vacanciesthe number of which must in a large measure depend on the

, success of the coming Festival . The sum of £ 1 , 750 . 9 s . gd . was received on account of the Benevolent Festival of 18 S 8 , and after payment of the necessary expenditure , £ 546 has been paid to Benevolent Branch , £ 546 to Educational Branch and ^ 545 . 4 s . 6 d . to Annuity Branch . The total invested funds

are—Benevolent Branch £ 2 , 500 Educational 2 , 400 Annuity 3 , 200 The Board have relieved eight cases at an expenditure of £ 115 , and have recommended to Grand Lodge M . A . G ., widow oi Bio . L . G ., for its benevolent consideration . The report bore the signature of the Grand Registrar .

The ACTING GRAND MASTER ( the Marquess of Hertford ) : Before we pass to the next business , I think that as this is the first regular Grand Lodge that has been held since the very great loss that Mark Masonry has sustained , it would be hardly decent if I did not say a word with respect to that loss . Of course , I refer to the death of Canon Portal . I am sure you will all agree with me—that by the death of Canon Portal , Mark Masonry has lost a brother whom we could ill afford to lose . I believe that there was no brother in

Marl-Masonry who took more trouble for the good of Mark Masonry—and all Masonry I may say—than Canon Portal did . ( Hear , hear . ) Many of you brethren , Mark Masons of much older standing than myself , know better than I do all that Canon Portal has done , and the way he worked as President of the General Board , and in every way he possibly could for the good of Mark Masonry . I think when you heard the minutes of the 25 th February read , you must have noticed that he was then working hard to try to get our Mark

Grand Lodge settled in the new building—Bacon ' s Hotel—and put in proper form , and was doing all he could to arrange that Mark Masonry should have a proper home there ; and when we go , as I hope we shall before no very long period , into the new Grand Lodge-room at what was Bacon ' s Hotel , I am sure we shall all feel that it is owing in a great measure to Canon Portal that we go in to what , I hope , will be a proper abode for Grand Mark Lodge . I have no

resolution to move , but you will agree with me that we could not pass over the death of Canon Portal in absolute silence on this occasion . ( Hear , hear . ) Bro . W . KEI . LV , Prov . G . M . of Leicestershire : Perhaps a few words from me will not be inappropriate , as I represent the second province on the roll of Mark Grand Lodge which was constituted after the formation of Grand Lodge , the first province being Devonshire . I had the honour and pleasure of

knowing Canon Portal for many jears . He was in our Grand Lodge of Leicestershire , and during the whole time I have been Grand Master of that province , which is thirty-one years , I have been in correspondence with him . With the Most Worshipful Grand Master in the chair , I think that no one could have Mark Masonry more at heart than had Canon Portal . Bro . FRANK RICHARDSON , G . Reg ., next moved the adoption of the

following recommendation arising out of the Report of the General Board : — That in the Colonics and Dependencies of the Ilritish Crown the title of " Provincial Grand Lodge " should be changed to * ' District Grand Lodge , " and that powers be given to such District Grand Lodges to regulate the fees payable to their own Funds , subject to the approval of the Hoard . The motion was carried .

Bro . FRANK RICHARDSON next moved : - That the rank of Past Master be conferred on the . Most Worshipful Uro . Chief Justice Way , Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons of South Australia , and that the Adelaide Lodge , No . 41 , be authorised to carry this resolution into effect . He had the honour of knowing Bro . Way personally . At the installation , a few weeks ago , of Sir Win . Clarke as Grand Master of the Province of Victoria , Chief Justice Way made the most beautiful speech he ( Bro .

Richardson ) had ever read . Three years ago he was in Australia , and had hardly been in Adelaide three hours before he received a visit from the Grand Secretary with a message from the Chief Justice that he hoped he would pay him a visit . He had the greatest pleasure in moving - the resolution . The Earl of EUSTON seconded the motion . He had served under the Chief Justice in the Colony , and received the greatest kindness and consideration

from him . From his knowledge of the Chief Justice , and the kindness he had experienced from him himself , he could say that Bro . Richardson's visit must have been most enjoyable . The motion was carried . The ACTING GRAND MASTER then announced that II . R . 1 I . the Prince of

Wales had been unanimously re-elected M . W . G . M ., and he congratulated the Order thereon . The Prince of Wales was then proclaimed by Bro . BERRIDGE as again duly installed G . M . of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales , and the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown . The Grand Officers for the year were appointed as follows : — Bro . Lord Egerton of Tatton ... ... ... Pro G . M .

„ Marquess of Hertford ... ... ... D . G . M . „ Lord Cremorne .. ... ... ... S . G . W . „ Sir Lionel Darell , Bart . J . G . W . „ Richard Vassar Vassar-Smith ... ... ... G . M . O . „ W . G . Lemon ... ... ... ... S . G . O . „ Butler Wilkins J . G . O . RevDrHerbert Kynaston ...

„ . . ... ' . ( ' Chaos „ Rev . Trevor Parkins ... ... ... ... 1 '• „ Henry Faija ... ... ... ... ... G . Treas . „ Frank Richardson ... ... ... ... G . Reg . „ Earl of Euston ... ... ... ... Pies . Gen . Bd . „ F . Binckes ... ... ... ... ... G . Sec . „ Felix Sumner Knyvctt ... ... " ( S G D „ W . Goodacre ... ... ... ... ' ' '

,, Henry Stocker ... ... ... ¦ "I GD „ H . E . Cousans ... ... ... 1 „ Rowland Plumbe ... ... ••¦ G . S . of W . „ Robert Berridge ... ... ... ... G . D . of C . " J r" S * * r i \ uhews U . G . D . ofC . „ J . B . Bndgman ... ... ... ... j Dr . T . B . Purchas G . S . B .

„ " W . T . Christian I G . Std . Br . „ A . R . Carter ... ... ... .. ( „ Thomas Troman ... ... ... ... G . Org-. . „ C . F . Matier ... ... ... ... ... A . G . Sec . „ Joseph Manwaring ... ... ... .. G . I . G . „ J . Unwin A . G . I . G . „ A . Wall-ley .. G . Tyler .

The Grand Stewards for the year are : Bros . J . M . Collins , Bon Accord Lodge ; E . M . Money , Old Kent Lodge ; Philip Saillard , 144 ; Edwin Storr , 234 ; T . E . Biddlecombe , 244 ; G . H . Newington Bridges , 333 ; J . W . Howard Thompson , 144 ; Henry Fisher , Warwickshire ; William Denne , 37 S ; G . J . Brady , Dorsetshire ; W . R . Felton , Gloster and Hereford ; S . Knight , Berks and Oxon ; K . McEwen , North Wales ; and G . P . Airey , 247 .

The following are the members of the General Board : —( Nominated by the Grand Master ) Bros . F . Davison , Alfred Williams , James Moon , C . II . Driver , Thomas Cubitt , and George Cooper . ( Nominated by the Brethren)—Bros . Dr . George Mickley , P . M . 97 , P . G . D . ; John E . Dawson , D . P . G . M . Herts ; R . Loveland Loveland , D . P . G . M . Hants and I . of W . ; A . F . Godson , M P ., Prov . G . M . Worcestershire ; and Rev . Hayman Cummings , P . GVC ,

D . P . G . M . Kent . Letters of apology for absence were announced by the Grand Secretary as having been received from a large number of distinguished brethren , and Grand Lodge was then closed . A banquet was subsequently served in the Venetian Room , Bro . W . Kelly in the chair , when the usual toasts were duly honoured .

A new secret order , the Chevaliers of Pythias , have established a Lodge in Liverpool . The headquarters of this new Society —which , in its broad features , appears to resemble the Oddfellows and similar orders—are in Massachusetts ; but the organisation , though only in its infancy , has already expanded beyond the bounds

of America . The Lodge initiated in this city on Monday is the third established in the United Kingdom , the others being at London and Aberdeen , and there is also one in Paris . The new Society being before anything else a secret Order , it is not possible to penetrate its inmost purpose . It avowedly exists ,

however , as an international organisation , the objects of which are the promotion among men of the true principles of benevolence and charity ; the relief of its members in sickness and distress ; the payment of a stipulated sum upon the death of a member ; and care and protection of the widow and

orphan ; and the cultivation of fraternal relations among mankind . The eccentric designation of the Society is explained by the fact that the story of Damon and Pythias furnishes the main subject for the " drama of the ritual in this Pythian and chivalric brotherhood . " There is nothing in the story which should

suggest to ordinary readers of it anything appertaining to amusement , nevertheless it is mentioned as one of the peculiar advantages of the Pythian order , that the fraternal benefits common to other Societies of the same kind are supplemented by " the genuine amusement and instruction furnished by the exemplification of our ritualistic work which has never been equalled by any other Society "