Metropolitan Chapter Of Improvement.

tion ceremony was well performed , but tho particular excellence of the working of Comp . Payne as H . is deserving of special notice . As one of the constant attendants at this Chapter , he has well profited by the instruction which is here to be obtained .

The Earl of Carnarvon Chapter of Improvement , under the able Preceptor-ship of Companion Davies , J . 185 , met at the Ladbroke Hall , Notting-hill , on Tuesday evening last . This new Chapter of Improvement should be a great boon

to Companions generally , its place of meeting being directly opposite the Ladbroke Grove Station , Metropolitan Railway , where tbe Companions meet every alternate Tuesday evening at 8 o ' clock .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Devonshire.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF DEVONSHIRE

THE meeting of the Committee of'Petitions of this Province was held on Tuesday , 24 th ult ., at the Masonio Hall , Gandy-street , Exeter . There was a large attendance . Bro . W . G . Bogers , the chairman , presided . The minutes of the former meeting having been confirmed , the Secretary reported that there had only been two elections since the last meeting of the Committee , and the number of votes sent throngh them by the Province was in excess of last year by about fifty . This , though a great improvement , was still

not quite satisfactory , there being no reason why all the votes shonld not be sent to the Committee , thus vastly improving their position . The report of Bro . C . Godtschalk showed exhaustively how much had been done with these resources . He regretted to have to announce that there was the largest number of petitions for relief ever presented at any previous meeting . This report having been adopted , Bro . Godtschalk , the representative of the committee in London , presented his report as follows : —

Devon owes to the Province of Worcestershire , 457 boys' and 309 girls ' , repayable April 1882 . To Monmouth , 326 girls ' , repayable October 1881 . To Cheshire , 29 boys ' . To Bro . Linzell 33 , and Bro . Constable , on behalf of Bro . Hughan , for Cornwall , 200 boys ' , repayable October 1881 j to these 1 , 354 votes add 850 girls' votes borrowed of Monmouthshire , October 8 th last , repayable as circumstances will

permit , over a space of three years , and so stated on IOTJ given for the votes , the use of which will be shown in this report ; thus giving a total of 2 , 204 votes owing by Devon to other Provinces . As a setoff against the foregoing figures I have lent as follows : —The Province of Warwickshire owes Devon 866 boys ' . Monmouthshire owes Devon 535 widows ' . Bro . John Constable on behalf of Bro . Hughan ,

Cornwall , owes 444 aged Masons ' . Westmoreland and Cumberland owes Devon 104 aged Masons '; giving 1 , 949 votes due to Devon . Add to this number 300 boys' votes I have to receive nnder written agreement for the boy Sidney Sowden , and will not be used for him , but made available for other purposes . Thus making a total of votes due to Devon of 2 , 249 , all repayable for the April and May Elections

1882 , or in other words there is a balance of votes due to Devon of 45 , with the advantage of our having to receive payment for the April and May elections of this year , while a large portion of our debts are spread over three years for repayment . The Committee will observe , that during the time the borrowed votes shown in this report have been used , that Devon has succeeded in electing on the

funds and into the Great Masonic Charities no less than seven candidates , viz .: —Two Boys , three Girls , one Aged Mason , and one Widow ; a nnmber out of all proportion to the votes possessed by the Province from all sources . I having used for the elections of the seven successful Devon candidates named , 7 , 523 votes , whilst out of that nnmber Devon has found 4 , 055 , and from sources entirely outside the Province ,

by advantageous exchanges and gifts of votes , 3 , 468 votes havo been obtained for the benefit of Devon candidates , for which our Province incurs no liability whatever , neither have the 3 , 468 votes to be returned . I have therefore the gratifying fact to report that our Province is _ not only out of debt , but with the several IOU ' s we hold from sister Provinces when the settlement of these votes takes

place in April and May next , pro and con , Devon has a balance of 45 votes to receive ; to this fact I ask special attention of those Lodges and Brethren of the Province who at , times are apt to cavil at the organization and the good work of the Committee of Petitions . Without this organization nothing could be done or accomplished , and those who stand aloof from taking part in thus co-operatinc with the

Committee shonld be reminded , that if their isolated system of nsing votes individually and without combination wero adopted , they would require from the present time to that of eternity ( whenever that may be ) , to _ Elect Seven Candidates into or upon the funds of the Great Charities . This has been done during the time only the votes shown in this paper have been nsed . Pointing the moral that sensible men

organize for the greatest good to the largest number , and when the outcome of this organization results in the relief and bettering the condition of our aged and distressed brother , tho widow and orphan , it becomes almost divine . The only Elections that have taken place since my last Annual Koport , of 0 th August 1881 , were those of tho Girls and Boys respectively , 8 th and 10 th October 1881 . For nse nt these Elections , I received from Bro . Gover 159 Province "iris '

votes ; from the Prov . G . Master , Lord Ebrington , 5 Province "iriy votes ; and from others in Devon , 10 girls' votes ; miking a total of 174 girls' votes from Devon . Cornwall sent mo for tho use of Devon on loan , 99 girls' votes , and on the day of Election of Girls ( October 8 th ) , a Province presented me , as a personal L'ift , with 300 eirls ' votes , in return for what they considered a service rendered . Thi 3 will be explained later on in this Eeport . I thus held from all sonrces 573 girls' votes for the October Election 1881 . For the Boys '

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Devonshire.

Election , 10 th October 1881 , 1 received from Bro . Gover 187 boys votes ; from the Prov . G . M ., Lord Ebrington , 49 Province Craft boys ' votes , and 6 Province Chapter boys' votes , and from others in Province , Lodges and Individuals , 9 boys' votes ; making a total of boys' votes for nse at this Electiou ( 10 th October ) of 253 ; to these , add 100 I received in repayment from the Province of Dorset , 100

from Bro . Terry in repayment , and from Bro . Hacker , a friend of tho selected Boy Candidate ( Sidney Sowden ) , 364 boys' votes , with 155 from Cornwall on loan to Devon ; making a total of boys' votes in my possession for use at this Election of 972 . Referring back to the Girls' Election on the 8 th , and adding these 972 boys' votes to the 573 girls' votes , giving a total of boys' and girls' votes combined , of 1545 :

with these I at once commenced paying our debts to other Provinces , with whom we not alone work in unison , bnt with the mutual knowledge and feeling that we are doing what good is in our power for the various candidates in our respective Provinces . Beginning with Monmouth , shire , I repaid that Province 326 Girls' votes , —to Cheshire 29 Boys 'to Bro . Constable 200 Boys ' , on account of Bro . Hughan for Cornwall .

Total votes repaid , Girls' 326 , Boys' 229 , for which repayments I here hand in the cancelled IOU's , leaving in hand 247 Girls' and 743 Boys ' , together 990 votes ; to these add 123 Boys' votes obtained by me from private friends , giving a total of 1213 . In the foregoing report I have given a statement bringing the work up to the actual elections of October 1881 . Tho Committee will remember , at onr last

meeting in August , the boy Sidney Sowden was selected to receive the votes of the Province until eleoted ; to do this , as will be seen by this report , I held 743 Boys' votes , when the highest candidate at this election polled 2227 , and the lowest elected polled 1948 ; therefore thinking it not 9000 ! policy to incur greater liabilities by borrowing so large a number required ( 1200 ) at least , which , in addition to

the 743 in hand , would have only elected the boy last on the poll . Seeing no reasonable prospect of repaying so large a number of votes I followed the plan adopted by me since I have been entrusted with the management of the Province votes . That plan is to eleot the candidate the first time of asking , or not to poll a vote . I therefore did not poll a vote , but lent them to a sister Province , all to be

returned for the April election this year . I here beg to hand in the IOTJ for 866 Boys' votes , whioh includes the bonus of 123 votes added to the 743 lent . The next event in connection with the October election is a remarkable one—the Committee will recollect no Girl candidate was selected for election , from the fact , we all thought , with our then liabilities , it was impossible for any Girls' votes

to be at our disposal . I have to ask , however , your attention to tho election of Girls' 8 th October last . Having previously mentioned I held , after payment of debts , 247 Girls' votes , and that a Province had presented me with 300 Girls' votes for a service they considered I had rendered . Adding these 300 to the 247 Girls ' votes I held after paying debts , making 547 Girls' votes in hand ; what was I to

do with them with no selected Devon Candidate ? Girls votes at this election were positively unchangeable for Boys ' , and bore no relative value , Boys' votes being in suoh demand . All votes being available for use on the actual day of the election only , these 547 Girls' votes then if not nsed that day would become waste paper . Therefore , I turned to the official list ( issued by the Institution ) of Girl

candidates , of which there were 24 , with 15 to be elected that day . Out of this list of 24 girls was one Edith Brown , of Brixham , the case coming from Lodge 248 , " True Love and Unity . " Here was a Devon Girl who had stood five previous elections , aud this her last chance . At this point I took np the case , holding as I did at that moment the 247 Province Girls' votes , after payment of debts . To these I

added tbe 300 Girls' votes that had been presented to me as a personal gift . I then went amongst my friends , while the election was going on , with the intention of obtaining sufficient Girls' votes to carry the girl ' s election . I fortunately succeeded by obtaining from Monmouthshire 850 Girls' votes , this mado a total of Girls' votes polled'by me for Edith Brown of 1310 . Our present position is , Devon

owes a total of 2 , 204 votes to the several Provinces named in this report , about half of which will have to be repaid in April and May next ; the remaining half the repayment of which is spread over three years ; this extended repayment is for the Girls' votes borrowed from Monmonthshire by me to elect Edith Brown in October last . For had I not been able to get the votes on such advantageous terms , I

should not have taken them for use . Against the foregoing figures , showing our indebtedness , Devon has to receive from various Provinces 2 , 249 votes ; the whole of these votes are to be repaid to Devon in April and May next ; our Province will then be not only out of debt , but will have to receive a balance of forty-five votes , with , as I have shown , seven candidates elected into and upon

the great Charities during the short time these votes have been used . I thereforo have no scruple in asking the members of this Committee to impress upon tho brethren of their Lodges , tho Masters and Secretaries in particular , the great necessity of a proper organization of votes for our central great Charities , so that all and every one is brought to help the largely increasing number of our

candidates , to forward these voting papers for each recurring election at the earliost day after receipt to our worthy and honorrry hard-worked secretary of this committee , Bro . Gover . When I mention the fact that for the coming elections to the groat Charities in April and May next , we shall have 66 widows competing for seven vacancies , 46 old men to fill fourteen places , 72 orphan hoys to compete for fifteen possible admissions into the School , aud 28 girls for twenty-ono

vacancies . These figures mean exceptionally high polling at each recurring future election , and without the system of combining all our Provincial votes ia thoroughly worked and fully carried out b y means of tho organisation of this Committee , who select the most urgent deserving ci .-es to havo the combined votes for their election to bo carried at first application . To divide votes amongst individual claimauts is to waste them , for under that arrangement no one gets elected .

1 mally , brethren , never forget tho fact that our Province , through its many candidates elected into and upon onr great Charities , draw largoly , annually , from their resources , and that we are in duty