The Grand Lodge Of Indiana.

that there should again bo an adjournment for two years , by which the remaining debt would be still further reduced to tho half of its then amount . These Reports and recommendations were unanimously adopted ai

Wednesday ' s sitting . The Committee on Credentials reported that 532 Lodges were represented , and 25 unrepresented . The following are the Grand Officers for tho ensuing year , all of whom wore formally installed ancl invested on Wednesday , namely :

Bros . Bruce Carr M . W . G . master A . P . Charles D . G . Master Mortimer Nye Grand Senior Warden P . Leyden Grand Junior Warden Charles Fisher Grand Treasurer

Wm . H . Smythe Grand Secretary Calvin W . Prather and j ^^ Robert Van Vakah j Rev . John K . Pye ... Grand Chaplain

WilHa D . Engte Grand Lecturer Thomas B . Long Grand Marshal Jacob J . Todd Grand Senior Deacon Francis W . Hauss ... Grand Junior Deacon William M . Black ... Grand Tyler The Standing Committees having been announced , Grand Lodge was closed with the accustomed formalities .

Cheshire And The Wirral Children's Infirmary.

CHESHIRE AND THE WIRRAL CHILDREN'S INFIRMARY .

SATURDAY last was a gala day with the good people of Birkenhead . Thirteen years since a Children ' s Infirmary for the Hundred of Wirral was established , and such has been the extent of its usefulness that it has latterly been found necessary to erect new premises

sufficiently large to meet the additional demands which are constantly made on its resources . Hence the ceremonial of Saturday last , when , in the presence of a numerous gathering of the inhabitants of Birkenhead and neighbourhood , as well as visitors from remoter districts , the first stone of

the new building was laid with Masonic ceremonies by R . W . Bro . Lord de Tabley P . G . M . Cheshire , assisted by his Officers , and supported by the brethren of the Province of West Lancashire . Indeed , even tbe Masonic annals of Chesbire can hardly afford a parallel to the occasion we

are about to record . As our readers are aware , there is no county in England—not even excepting Yorkshire itself—that is so calculated to arouse the enthusiasm of the Craft as Cheshire . It was at Warrington , in the memorable

October 1646 , that the enlightened antiquarian , Elias Ashmole and his connection by marriage , Colonel Henry Mainwaring , of Kermincham , was received into Freemasonry . The later researches of Bro . Rylands and others have shown that the good city of Chester tvas a

home of Freemasonry at or about the same period , and we need only refer to the earlier official lists of Lodges issued under the authority of the Grand Lodge of England in order to ascertain , that within a very few years of its establishment there were existing in the county several

Lodges . Ever since it has held a foremost place in the ranks of the Craft , though , in evidence of this proposition , we need do nothing further than cite its position under its

past chief , the late Viscount Combermere , and its present tbe R . W . Lord de Tabley . Tbe position it occupies among our Provincial Grand Lodges is in all respects assured , and its work is admirable .

But to revert to Saturday ' s interesting ceremonial . As is not unusual at Masonic gatherings , the Clerk of the Weather showed he was in complete sympathy with the object of the gathering—how indeed could it be otherwise , when provision for the ills that feeble little children are

heir to was m question . At all events , the bright sunshine brought together a vast concourse of spectators , while , on no former occasion has there been so large a muster of the Craft in this particular county , and certainly not in Birkenhead , which is a town of but yesterday ' s growth , as it were .

About 3 p . m . Prov . Grand Lodge was opened iu the Music Hall , there being present some 400 brethren , among whom may be mentioned the following , namely : —Bros , the Hon .

Wilbraham Egerton , M . P ., H . S . Alpass , J . P ., R . Wood , H . Finch , J . Hibbert , T . Clark , R . Washington , J . Banning , J . Siddeley , H . A . Tobias , Rev . J . C . Macdonna , Rev . R . Hodgson , C . Datton , T , Chesworth , J . Bratton , H .

Cheshire And The Wirral Children's Infirmary.

Collier , J . Beech , Henry Holbrook , J . K . Digges , J . Wood , H . Bulley , T . Simcock , J . Hordern , J . Sillitoe , T . E . Tomlinson , E . H . Griffiths , W . Horner , W . S . Sutton , F . Jackson , T . Lockett , A . Cockayne , J . P . Piatt , W . Nicholls , T . M . Lockwood , E . Friend , E . Pierrepoint , fl .

Crosby , H . Jackson , H . Firth , W . Booth , F . Preston , G . Balfe , W . Marquis , E . A . Coveney , H . Matthews , W . Bayliss , S . Wylde , Thomas Shaw , W . C . Fleming , C . S . Dean , W . E . Clayton , J . Jones , S . Hikins , W . Price , T . H . Kirk , S . Marwood , T . G . Parker , John Atkinson , Joseph Wood , & c , & c .

In due course a procession was formed under the direction of Bro . H . Finch P . G . D . C , its progress from the Hall along Oxton-road being watobed witb interest by crowds of spectators . At the site of the proposed building was gathered together a brilliant assemblage of ladies and

gentlemen , a guard of honour of the 1 st Chesbire Engineers , under the command of Lieut .-Colonel Walker , being drawn up close by . The Prov . Grand Master and his Officers having taken up a position on a raised dais at the east end

of the enclosure , and the 100 th Psalm having been sung , the Mayor of Birkenhead , in a lengthened speech , invited Lord De Tabley to carry out his part of tbe day ' s proceedings . Alderman Roper then handed to his lordship a silver trowel , bearing the following inscription : —

" Presented to the Right Hon . Lord De Tabley R . W . P . G . M . of the Freemasons of Cheshire , on the occasion of his laying the cornerstone of the new Wirral Children ' s Hospital . 1 st July 1822 . " and the Prov . Grand Master , after suitably acknowled ging the gift , proceeded , with the assistance of his Officers , to

lay the stone with Masonic honours . A vote of thanks was proposed , and carried unanimously , and most courteously acknowledged , the procession moved off in reverse

order to the Music Hall , and Provincial Grand Lod ge was closed . The following is a copy of the illuminated scroll which , in addition to the silver trowel , was presented to his Lordship : —

The Wirral Hospital and Dispensary for Sick Children was founded in the year 1869 , for the relief of little children in the hundred of Wirral who might unhappily be suffering from disease or injury . Tbe manner of working in this canse has been b y giving surgical and medical aid afc their homes , and by receiving those who

had the greatest needs into the house , and there nursing them and healing them so far as might be clone . This surgical and medical work has been freely and graciously done by skilful surgeons and doctors of medicine , without any reward save those of the good deeds themselves ; and the expenses have been provided for by many

persons concerned for the welfare of sick children . The work has from the firsfc prospered , and the benefits of ifc have year by year greatly extended , so that from time to time an increase in the means of doing it has become needful . At the end of the year 1872 a house in the Oxton-road was bought , and tbe hospital was removed thither from

the small house in Wilkinson-street , holding six beds , where it first began ; and again since the beginning of the year 1881 a small house in Barton-street has been hired and used as an addition to that in Oxton-road , and has been worked with it . Bat even so , the need of a larger and better house has become so great that at last it was

resolved that snch a house should be bnilt . And now , on this 1 st day of July A . D . 1882 , through the charity and generosity of many persons dwelling in Wirral and in neighbouring places , a commencement of this building has been made , in the sure hope that when safely completed it will nobly serve a great and good work . ( Signed ) WILLIAM LAIRD , J . P ., President . JAMES ROPER , J . P ., Vice President . JOHN CLARKE , C . J 5 . F . R . I . B . A ., Architect .

The marriage of Mr . Douglas James Hamilton , of the Coldstream Guards , and son of Bro . Lord Claud Hamilton Past Grand Warden , witb tbe Lady Margaret Hely-Hutchinson , sister of Bro . the Earl of Dononghmore , Past G . Warden , was celebrated at tbe Church of St . Peter ,

Eatonsquare , on Thursday morning . A feature in connection with the happy ceremony was the absence of bridesmaids , their place being supplied by a page , Lord Snirdale , who was dressed in yellow satin brocade , with stockings and shoes of the same colour , and an old gold coloured satm

hat with yellow feather . Among those present were the Duke of Aberdeen G . M . Ireland and the Duchess of Abereorn , the Duke of St . Albans P . G . M . Notts and the Duchess of St Albans , the Marquis of Hamilton Past G . ot

Warden and the Marchioness of Hamilton , the Earl Dononghmore P . G . W . and tbe Countess of Donong hmore , Lord Claud Hamilton P . G . W . and Lady C . Hamilton , Lord Balfour of Burghley P . G . W . and Lady Burg hley , & c , & c .