Provincial Grand Lodge Meetings.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE MEETINGS .

THE present is the season of the year at which the majority of our Provincial Grand Lodges hold thoir annual gatherings . They are pleasant reunions , affording , as they do , opportunities , not otherwise available iu the ordinary way , for brethren of the different Lodges in a particular district to meet together and discuss

harmoniously the affairs of the Masonic world . These occasions , therefore , are of the utmost importance , and should be turned to account by those officially responsible for the conduct of each Province . Encouragement should be given , so that even the humblest member of the least

wealthy Lodge may find it in his power to be present . While everything should , as a matter of course . be decorous , while it is quite allowable there should be preparation of

some kind which may possibly involve a little expense , yet it is desirable , under all circumstances , that inducements should be offered by which each Provincial Grand Lodge should have the maximum of attendance at the

minimum of cost . The wisdom of the advice we are offering will be immediately apparent when we point out , in the first place , that while those on the spot , that is , where the Provincial Grand Lodge is appointed to be held , incur , necessarily , no expense whatever in attending , those

who come from a distance must , under the most favourable circumstances , be at some outlay in respect of travelling . Then aspirants for Provincial Grand honours have certain fees of their own to pay , presuming , at least , that they are fortunate enough to have their aspirations

satisfied . Again , it is a recognised fact that brethren of the"mystic tie" cannot possibly assemble without fraternizing in the homely yet joyous way common among people of all classes . It is all very well for the lookers on to say this fraternization is quite unnecessary , but for all that

the merry greeting is a fact which has to be taken account of , for the simple reason that it involves expense , greater or less , as the case may be , and he who attended a Provincial gathering without making provision for this particular and necessary contingency—if we may be pardoned for so phrasing it—deserves not a moment ' s consideration on the

part of his fellows . He is better elsewhere—not , be it remarked , because we think these light fraternal greetings are essential to the welfare of Freemasonry , but simply because they help brethren to know each other , which , next door to knowing oneself , is the best kind of

knowledge that any one can acquire . There , are then , as we have pointed out in the case of brethren journeying from a distance certain travelling expenses to bo incurred in the first instance , while certain expenses incidental to all gatherings , whether Masonic or otherwise , must not be

lost sight of , for the sufficient reason that they are inevitable in the case of all who do not wish to be thought churlish or eccentric . There are fees of honour in the case of those appointed to P . G . Office , and to crown all this , there is the banquet , which , having due regard to the

propriet y of reasonable refreshment , all will allow is a part and parcel of the day ' s proceedings . It follows that under the circumstances we have detailed , this last expense should be made as liorht as possible , esneciallv when it is

borne in mmcl that at well-known places in the Metropolis , as was recentl y pointed out by one of onr correspondents , a very excellent dinner may be had at a very modest outlay . Now , it is within the course of our experience , and we have dined often and variedly in many localities—that the price

Provincial Grand Lodge Meetings.

charged for a dinner ticket at one of our Provincial gatherings ought not to be , save under exceptional circumstances , a long one . It is one thing to dine well , and another to dine well to the profit of a landlord , who , in all probability , having only a few gatherings at his hostelry in

the course of the year , including rent and other periodical dinners , is only too glad to make a heavy per centage ont of the P . G . Lodge banquet , that is , if the P . G . Lodge officials are simple enough to allow him to do so . A very good dinner with excellent wine included is to be had at

numerous houses in London for half-a-gninea , that is , where plate-glass and ridiculous ornamentation is not considered a part of the dinner programme . In a small provincial town , therefore , where rents and the concomitant responsibilities of a landlord are greatly less , a

similar dinner should be less costly . Yet how stands the case . We have before us at the present time several notices of P . G . Lodge gatherings , and the price of the banquet that properly follows ranges as high , in some cases , as one guinea . We submit , with all dne deference to the

opinion of those who think nothing is worth having which does not cost a long price , that such a charge is extortionate on the part of those who make it . A guinea is a considerable sum , ancl if dealt with in prosaic fashion will provide a considerable amount of flesh food for a numerons

family for some two or three days in the week . To suppose that any one present at so costly a banquet could reasonably account for more flesh ancl wine than would be covered by one-fourth of the charge made is to set him down at once as a glutton and a wine bibber , ancl if we allow

another fourth in payment to the host for his accommodation , there is yet a margin of half a guinea for contingent expenses , which , it seems to us , havo already been sufficiently provided for . It is one thing to sit down and partake of wines which cost twelve guineas the dozen , and

another to dine and pay guineas where shillings are the legitimate and liberal charge ; and as , in accordance with a suggestion of one of our correspondents , we are not all millionaires , it is just as well we should take upon ourselves the responsibility of looking after our shillings , and

leave to the Rothschilds and Barings the duty of looking after the guiueas . Let the expense of onr Provincial Grand Lodge banquets be so regulated that one-half the brethren

in the Province will not be deterred from attending on the score of expense . Why should a brother be called upon to pay in Hertfordshire the sum of one guinea for what in Essex and Suffolk may be had for the half of that sum ?

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex will meet , as will be seen by the advertisement on another page , on Saturday , the 31 st instant , at the New Assembly Rooms , Teddington . We believe that a testimonial from the

Lodges and brethren of the Province will be presented to the highly-esteemed and popular Provincial Grand Master , Sir Francis Burdett , Bart . No doubt there will be a large assemblage of brethren to congratulate him on the occasion .

The annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex will be held at the Town Hall , Colchester , on Thursday , 5 th August , at 2 o ' clock , under the presidency of the Right Hon . the Lord Tenterden , K . C . B ., Provincial Grand Master .