Royal Arch Masonry: Its Distribution And Progress.

ROYAL ARCH MASONRY : ITS DISTRIBUTION AND PROGRESS .

( Concluded from p 306 . ) IN our perambulation of the Provinces we succeeded last week in reaching Oxfordshire . We now pass thence into Somersetshire , of which Colonel Adair is Prov . G . Superintendent . It has nine Chapters , of which

the Avalon , No . 446 , Wells , is of recent constitution . As there are twenty-two Lodges , and the City of Bath alone has more than one meeting within its limits , this is a very fair proportion . The Eastern and Western Divisions of

South Wales have each of them four Chapters , but while the former has fifteen Lodges , the latter has only nine , so that there is obviously room for further progress in the Eastern section of the district . Neither Province has a Provincial

organization , the vacancy caused by the death of Companion T . M . Talbot , Provincial Grand Superintendent of South Wales East , not being filled up . As regards progress , we note there are two new Chapters in South Wales West since 1874 , but no increase has taken place in the

sister Province , Staffordshire , to its twenty-three Lodges has but eight Chapters , the only changes that have latterly taken place being the disappearence from the roll of St . Martin ' s Chapter , No . 98 , Burslem , and the constitution of the Marmion , No . 1060 , Tamworth . Suffolk , which

can boast of the Rev . C . J . Martyn for its Provincial Grand Superintendent , has six Chapters to twenty Lodges , three being located in Ipswich , and one of the six , namely , the Gorleston , No . 1631 , being of recent creation . Surrey has an active popular chief in the person of General

Brownrigg , C . B ., who is both Provincial Grand Master and Provincial Grand Superintendent , but there are only six of its twenty-two Lodges which have Chapters attached to them , and of those the Dobie , No . 889 , Kingston , and the Wey Side , No . 1395 , Woking , are of new creation .

Here agam we would suggest that something might be done to strengthen the ranks of Royal Arch Masonry , though as Surrey is a Metropolitan County , the shortcoming may be more apparent than real . Sussex has nine Chapters to its twenty-four Lodges , five of the number , of

which Hova Villa , No . 1466 , is the newest , meeting in Bri ghton . Last year Sir W . W . Burrell , Bart , M . P ., Provincial Grand Master was appointed Provincial Grand Superintendent , and under his auspices it is quite on the cards that further additions may be made to the roll of

Provincial Grand Chapter . Warwickshire , as in 1874 , has eight Chapters , of which all but two are located in Birmingham . As there are some thirty Lodges , and the Province is one of onr most important industrial centres , we might have expected there would have been a somewhat

stronger array of Chapters , especially as the popular Lord Leigh is the presiding genius in Arch as in Craft Masonry . Wiltshire is a small Province , with only ten Lodges , but four of these have Chapters attached

to them . In 1874 there were but three so circumstanced , the new comer being the Thynne Chapter , No . 1478 , of Warminster , so named after Lord H . Thynne , M . P ., Provincial Grand Superintendent . . Of the eleven Lodges in Worces-

Royal Arch Masonry: Its Distribution And Progress.

shire , four have Chapters , and two of these are located in Dudley . No addition to the strength of this degree has been made during theso last seven years . North and East Yorkshire , which had thirteen Chapters in 1874 , has fourteen at the present time , the St . George ' s Chapter ,

No . 566 , having disappeared from the roll , while the De la Pole , No . 1605 , Hull , aud the Eboracum , No . 1611 , have been added ; as there are some twenty-seven Lodges in the Province , the proportion of those having Chapters attached to them is a very fair one . Of the said fourteen Chapters ,

four meet in Hull , two in Scarborough , and two in Tork . West Yorkshire has twenty-nine as against twenty-five Chapters in 1874 , the four now meeting at Barnsley ( No . 1513 ) , Batley ( No . 1214 ) , Sowerby Bridge ( No . 1283 ) , and Wakefield ( No . 1019 ) . Huddersfield , Leeds , and

Wakefield have three Chapters each ; and Bradford , Dewsbury , Halifax , and Sheffield two each , there being twelve other localities in which Royal Arch Masonry has found a home . Considering how energetic a chief presides over Craft and Arch Masonry , it is not surprising there should be so

fair an array both of Lodges ancl Chapters . In the Channel Islands ( Guernsey ) , Jersey , and the Isle of Man , there are no changes either in the way of loss or addition to note , there being two Chapters in Guernsey , three with a Provincial organisation in Jersey , and one in Man .

We now pass to the Chapters Abroad . Of the stations situated on the Mediterranean seaboard , Constantinople with one Chapter , Corfu with one , and Gibraltar with three , remain as in 1874 . Malta now has a Chapter attached to each of its three Lodges , and there are two

other new Chapters , one at Tunis and one at Alexandria . China can boast of four Chapters , of which threo meet in Hong Kong , Nos . 1165 and 1341 being recently constituted . Chapter No . 501 having dropped from the roll . Japan still has a solitary Chapter , the Yokohama , No . 1092 , of

Yokohama . Of the nine District Grand Superintendences , five are to be found in the East Indies , namely , those of Bengal , Bombay , British Burmah , Madras , and the Punjab , and in each case the District Grand Master is likewise District Grand Superintendent . Bengal has fourteen Chapters ,

being an increase of four during the seven years , the new Chapters being No . 234 , Calcutta ; No . 1525 , Darjeeling ; No . 1526 , Jumalpore ; and No . 1066 , Morar Gwalior . This is a fair proportion , seeing there are some thirty odd Lodges in the District , though as Calcutta has eleven Lodges , we

should have thought that more than three of them would have had Chapters attached . Bombay has only five Chapters to four times as many Lodges , the Capital , Bombay , like . Calcutta , having a limited number ns compared with its Lodo-es . In British Burmah there has been no addition ,

and , as in 1874 , there are three Chapters , two of which meet in Rangoon . The number of Lodges is nine . Madras has six Chapters to about three times as many Lodges , two of the six being attached to Lodges which meet in the City of Madras . In the Punjab a very marked increase has taken

place . In 1874 only five ont of seventeen Lodges were fortunate enough to possess Chapters . Now no less than twelve out of nineteen have them , a proportion which is greatly in excess of anything to bo found in other Districts of equal importance . The new Chapters are Nos . 1308 , Dalhousie , 1394 Delhi , 1722 Dugshai , 1485 Lahore , 1448

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