East Lancashire.

EAST LANCASHIRE .

BROTHER LORD STANLEY was regularly installed in the office of Provincial Grand Master of Free * masons of the Province of East Lancashire , at the Free Trade Hall , Manchester , on Friday , 3 rd inst . The ceremony was

performed in the presence of a large gathering of Grand Officers , Provincial Grand Officers , and Brethren representing every Lodge in the Province , together with many visitors of all ranks in the Fraternity . His Lordship was appointed by the Prince of Wales M . W . G . M . to succeed the late Colonel

Starkie , who died in April last , after ruling over the Province for twenty-nine years . Provincial Grand Lodge was opened by the Deputy P . G . M . Bro . C . R . N . Beswicke-Royds , acting as Provincial Master , with Bro . C . D . Cheetham P . P . G . W . acting as

Deputy P . G . M . The Wardens' chairs were occupied b y Bros . J . E . Piatt and S . F . Simons , and there was a full attendance of Provincial Officers then serving , including Bros , the Rev . W . H . Healey and Rev . J . Alker Chaplains , John Chadwick Treasurer , W . F . Farrington Registrar , W .

A . Boyer Deputy Registrar , Josh . Braddock , A . H . Smith , and F . R . Cooper Senior Deacons , Jeremiah Green , J . M . H . Blarney , and B . Derham Junior Deacons , Robert Peacock Supt . of Works , A . C . Wilson Dir . of Cers ., R . Halstead Dep . Dir . of Cers ., Henry Hindle Assistant Dir . of Cers ., J .

W . Hulley Sword Bearer , J . M . Moss Deputy Sword Bearer , N . Dumville and James Shuttleworth Standard Bearers , John H . Greenwood Organist , E . H . Flower Assistant Secretary , Thomas Threlfall Pursuivant , and George W . Davies Assist . Pursuivant . Past Provincial Officers in attendance included ,

among many others , Bros . Capt . John Barlow , Abm . Clegg , E . G . Harwood , Arthur H . Jefferies , N . A . Earle , W . Forrest Wardens , K . G . Small ( Prov . G . W . Cheshire ); Revs . W . R . Clayton , W . W . D . Firth , and John Kelty Chaplains ; T . J . Hooper , H . L . Hollingworth , John E . Lees , Samuel Statham Treasurers ; W . Goldthorpe , W . H . Norton , Henry

J . Robinson Registrars ; Major John Booth , Thos . Black , Dr . Thos . D . Foreman , C . E . Hindley , Walter Newton ( East Lancashire and Cheshire ) Mayor of Ashton-under-Lyne , Harry Perry , Wm . Jaffrey , and Joseph T . Richardson Deacons .

Letters expressing the regret of the writers for their inability to be present were announced from Earl Amherst Pro Grand Master of England , the Earl of Warwick D . G . M ., Earl Egerton of Tatton P . G . W . Prov . G . M . Cheshire , W . L . Jackson Prov . G . M : West Yorkshire , & c .

The Right Hon . the Earl of Lathom Prov . G . M . of West Lancashire , as Installing Master , entered the hall accompanied by Present and Past Officers and visitors of distinction , including the Earl of Radnor P . G . W . Prov . G . M . Wilts , R . WyllieDep . P . G . M . West Lancashire , E .

Letchworth G . Secretary , Sir Horatio Lloyd Dep . P . G . M . Cheshire , Hon . Alan de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., P . G . W ., Henry Smith ( Bradford ) P . G . D . C , Sir J . W . Maclure , Bart ., M . P .,

P . G . D ., John Chadwick P . G . Swd . B ., J . Kenyon G . Std . B . J . Newton P . G . S . B . Prov . G . Sec , W . Goodacre P . G . S . B Prov . G . Sec . West Lanes ., Thomas Forrester P . G . Std . B . and Richard Newhouse P . G . Std . B . Prov . G . Sec . Cheshire .

The Installing Master announced the object of the gathering , and said it would ill-befit him on an occasion like that not to think for a short time of their late lamented Brother Colonel Starkie . For many years the Province had increased in prosperity , and had gone on increasing in

strength , always doing well under Colonel Starkie ' s beneficent rule , and now it had pleased the Great Architect of the Universe to call him to the Grand Lodge above he trusted that the choice by the Most Worshipful Grand Master the Prince of Wales , of their Brother Lord Stanley , might he fully

justified in the years to come . He congratulated the Brethren on the choice that had been made , and he should , when the time came , congratulate Lord Stanley most heartily on becoming the ruler of that great and magnificent Province .

The arrival of the Provincial Grand Master-designate was reported , and presently he was ushered into the Hall , escorted by seven Past Masters and supported by two Deputy Provincial Grand Masters , and the prescribed ceremony was duly proceeded with in full detail and in admirable order

until at length , as Frederick George Villiers Stanley , commonly called Lord Stanley , member of Parliament for the West Houghton Division of Lancashire , a Lord of Her

Majesty ' s 1 reasury , Past Grand Warden of England , and Past Grand Warden of Lancashire Eastern Division , he was fully installed Provincial Grand Master of the Province , and took the chair amid prolonged cheering . He was addressed

East Lancashire.

by the Installing Master , who reminded him that he had been called upon to take the position of a very well-beloved and distinguished Mason , under whose prolonged rule the Province had increased in strength , in numbers , and in power , and he gave it to him in terms of strong

recommendation to keep the Province always in the same good way as in past years . It was a Province , he said , composed of many Lodges and many Brethren , and he could assure the most worthy Brother that he would find it an excellent and happy Province to govern .

Lord Stanley ' s first duty after installation was the appointment as his Deputy of Bro . C . R . N . Beswicke-Royds . He said he knew Bro . Royds felt the choice to be an honour ,

but he and the Brethren felt it an equal honour conferred upon them to know that they would have the advantage of a continuance of the knowledge and ripe judgment which Bro . Royds had given in the past in that position .

At the close of the installation ceremony , after he had been proclaimed and he and his Deputy had been saluted in ancient form , the Prov . Grand Master proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the Installing Master for his assistance . He said one must always feel a debt of gratitude to the Brother

who installed him in a high office , but in the present case his gratitude was all the deeper , in that the Installing Officer was a dearly-beloved relation , bearing a name well known in all ranks and societies , but above all in that Masonic Society of which they were all members . In asking Lord Lathom

to officiate on that occasion he sought to have one of the highest of honoured Masonic names associated with the event of the day , believing that his lordship would willingly undertake the ceremony , and that he would so help to connect , as they always wished to connect , the Masons of

East and West Lancashire . His lordship would , therefore , take the vote of thanks , which would be put without any seconder being called upon , as meaning not only a token of gratitude to him for his trouble , but also as an evidence of the goodwill existing between the Masons of the two halves of the county .

The Earl of Lathom , in expressing his thanks for the vote , which was unanimously adopted , said he had gladly embraced the opportunity of being present , and that he had in fact promised to set aside any other engagement with that object . He had already told their Provincial Grand Master

he was glad to think the two Provinces of East and West Lancashire lived in true Brotherly love and Masonic friendship . Lord Stanley and he were cousins , and they were knit together in the closer tie of Masonry . They were all related in Lancashire , and East and West stood together . Might it long continue to be so .

The half-yearly business of Provincial Grand Lodge followed , including the election of Lord Stanley and Bro . C . D . Cheetham as Trustees of the Prov . Grand Lodge funds , in place of the late Colonel Starkie and Bro . J . T . Newbold P . Prov . G . W .

The report of proceedings of the Charity Committee was read and submitted for confirmation . It stated that a candidate was in May last elected to the Masonic Benevolent Fund in London . This report having been adopted , it was resolved , on the motion of Bro . Cheetham , seconded by Bro .

Hooper , that the sum of 100 guineas be granted from the Prov . Grand Lodge funds to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freemasons and Widows . Bro . Hooper further moved that the sum of - £ " 20 be granted from

the Provincial Grand Lodge Funds to the East Lancashire Systematic Masonic Education and Benevolent Institution . He said the Provincial Grand Master had consented to preside at a Festival which would be held on behalf of the Institution

in May next year , and that consequently a much larger sum than he now asked for would be ' proposed as a gift from the Lodge at its next meeting—as large a sum , in fact , as their funds would allow . As a memorial of the late Colonel Starkie , it was intended that 1 , 500 guineas of the money raised at the Festival should be subscribed to the Benevolent

Institution in London , to buy a perpetual presentation on the Old Men ' s Fund , which should be called the Colonel Starkie Presentation . It might be said that their own Institution had plenty of funds . They had / 2 o , ooo invested

capital , but it must be remembered that they were doing a great work with the income from that , in supporting annuitants and educating children , and that it was only right for them to increase their resources . The motion was

seconded and was carried unanimously . Brother C . D . Cheetham Chairman of the Provincial Grand Lodge Charity Committee , in moving the adoption and confirmation of the Provincial Grand Lodge Charity Committee ' s report , said many Brethren present would