United Installation.

UNITED INSTALLATION .

WE append a summary of the speeches given at the banquet following fche " United Installation " of the Adelaide Lodges as reported in our last issue : Bro . T . H . Atkinson cave the M . W . the Grand

Master and the Graud Lodge . He first saw Grand Lodge at the public ceremony of laying the foundation stone of St . Peter ' s Cathedral , and at that time he was very much struck wifch fcheir regalia , bufc he esteemed the Grand Lodge for other reasons . The Officers in the Grand Lodge had won their position not without hard

work . They deeply regretted that Lord Kintore the Grand Master was not present , especially as it would not be long before he would give up his viceregal office ; but the absence of the Grand Master was fully

compensated for by the presence of the Pro Grand Master , whose zeal and enthusiasm in Masonry were well known . When the history of Masonry in this Province came to be written , the name of the Pro Grand Master would be found foremost on its pages . They heartily congratulated Bro . Sansom upon his election to the position of Deputy Grand Master .

The toast was heartily received . The Pro Grand Master responded . He congratulated Bro . Atkinson , the Worshipful Master of his mother Lodge , upon his eloquent proposal of the toasfc , but he differed from him in one thing . The presence of no member of the Craft could amnlv comnensate for the

absence of the Most Worshipful the Grand Master , and although it might be His Excellency ' s pride to be the sovereign of a united Masonry in South Australia , there were other duties that were paramount whilst he held the Queen ' s commission to those of a ruler of the Craft . He was Govenor of South Australia , he was

Commanderin-Chief ot Her Majesty s forces , and there was no place , not even the presidency of this banquet , which had so great a claim upon His Excellency as the place which His Excellency was filling that evening as a loyal servant of the Queen and as a comrade of the soldiers of South Australia in hospitably entertaining the Officers of the Military Forces at Government House . The Pro Grand Master shared the regret of the Brethren assembled , at the absence of the Grand Master , who had

charged him with the message to give to the Brethren of his intense regret that duty compelled him to be elsewhere . Every member of the Craft was glad that His Excellency had prolonged his stay in tbe Colony . They hoped he would be able to stay still longer . When the history of Masonry in South Australia came to be written the prestige which the Grand Master gavenoble rank , high office , historical Masonic associations connected with his collateral ancestors , his own

illustrious service to Freemasonry , as well as his high personal character—would form the brightest chapter in that history . Personally he had not been able to do a tithe of what he should like to have done for the Crafthe had other duties to perfoin ,- < 1 . 1 n his service had been tenfold more he wouia have ueen more than a hundredfold repaid by the kind manner in which those services had been acknowledged by the Craft , and by the

fraternal way in which he had always been received by the Brotherhood on every public occasion . The lustre of the regalia worn by the members of Grand Lodge merely typified the service which they rendered to the Craft . He acknowledged the hospitality with which the members of Grand Lodge had been entertained , and the cordiality with which the toast had been honoured . He admired the objects of the United Festival . In times

like the present especially they must economise expenditure . He had made it a rule for many years to attend the installation of the Worshipful Master of the Lodge of Harmony , but it would have been impossible to have attended the installations separately of the other four Lodges whose Masters were installed that evening , and the Lodges were to be congratulated upon having quintupled their pleasure . They heard a lot of talk

about Lodges losing their individuality by joining the United Installation . How much gain was there in amalgamating and economising expenditure when every penny was wanted , not for social pleasures , but for the great duty of relief ? It would have been impossible for these five Lodges to have met as they did that evening

United Installation.

without the union of the Craft in South Australia . It was a pleasing feature to every veteran Freemason to see young Masons undertaking the duties and sharing the honours of the Craft . Every successful movement must have young men . He eulogised the character and ability of the new Masters who had been elected to their

high and honourable offices , speaking in appreciative terms of them individually . He was not sure that there was another Lodge in South Australia which was worked in the German language . This honour rested , so far as he knew , wifch Concordia Lodge , and he hoped such a

Lodge , which witnessed to the cosmopolitan spirit of Masonry , would continue . At times like these Worshipful Masters undertook duties of high responsibilities . The Lodges could not advance in numbers ; it was not desirable that they should so advance in these times .

They first of all had to be satisfied that they paid their way ; and they must be anxious to see that perennial stream of relief flowing in its hidden channels so that it should reach every distressed Brother and the widows

and children . Eelief would no doubt be the keynote of fche duties of the five Masters who had been installed , and they would find that they were supported by the affection and fraternal sentiment of all their Brethren .

Bro . B . Hosking , in responding , said the Masters would use their best endeavours in the prosecution of the work to which they had been called , and promised to do their utmost to maintain in their pristine purity the tenets

of the Order . Brother B . W . Patfull also acknowledged the compliment . Brother P . Dakers proposed the newly Installed Wardens , and urged them to take due advantage of the free education that Grand Lodge had provided at the Lodge of Instruction . Bro . the Bev . W . A . Swan replied . Bro . H . M . Addison proposed the Installing Officer . The energy of their genial friend Bro . Sansom reminded him of old-timed Masonry in the Colony . Their present Deputy Grand Master had undertaken to visit every Lodge under his jurisdiction during his period of office . If he did that the whole Craft would be placed under grateful acknowledgements to him . By perseverance and ability Bro . Sansom had now reached the topmost rungs of the Masonic ladder , and in addition to his high rank in South Australia he was the honoured and worthy representative of the Grand Lodge of Utah—that country of many wives . The toast was warmly received . Bro . Philip Sansom , in thanking the Brethren , observed that more harmony and vitality had been infused into the Craft in South Australia as the result of the union of the Lodges in 1884 than was accomplished during all the previous history of Freemasonry in the Colony . Yet with the change of Government they were still members of the same Brotherhood , upon which the

sun never set , and in which the gavel was never silent . The United gathering of the kind they were now celebrating marked a reciprocity of fraternal feeling and great advance in the Craffc . In South Australia

Freemasonry was strong and wealthy , and what was very much better , they were free from internal strife . The reason for this advance was that there was a strong wave of liberalism , and Masonry met that wave because it ignored creeds , races , and politics . Keplying to Bro . Addison he would say that it would be of no use Bro . Addison going to Utah , because they did not admit the plurality of wives . The success of the festival was due to the splendid organisation effected by Bro . Hantke as Chairman and by Bro . Badger as Hon . Secretary of the Committee , aud they were also greatly indebted to the Grand Organist , who had added another ornament to his profession , and to the choir . Bro . Max Andresen proposed the Visitors , and the toasfc was acknowledged by Bro . Frank Johnson W . M . of Leopold Lodge . Though there was a diminution of the number of Lodges actively taking part in the festival , there was no lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Craft generally . — " South Australian Register . "

PisEFEBMEOT in Masonry should by based upon character , standing , ability , and as an honourable reward for services rendered in behalf of thc Craft .