United Installation.

UNITED INSTALLATION .

ON 20 th June 1893 , the Victoria Hall , Adelaide , was the scene of an impressive ceremonial unique in the annals of Freemasonry . The Masters of eight

Lodges of the city aud suburbs were installed and their Officers invested the same evening , the one ceremony accomplishing a duty which in previous years had taken eight different nights to perform . Amongst Masons in all ages the custom has been for a Lodge to intali its Master and appoint its Officers on a day specially set

apart for the event , but it was held amongst some of the more prominent members of the Craft in Adelaide last year that the installation of a number of Masters could be as effectively carried out as could the installation of a single Master , and the experiment of the united ceremony

was deemed to have been so successful that five of the same Lodges determined to copy the example this year on the public holiday held in celebration of the Queen ' s Accession . Another Lodge—the Adelaide , meeting at the Port—would have joined , but for the fact that it is about to celebrate its jubilee , and very properly desires to have a festival of its own . There are about a dozen

other Masonic Lodges in the city and suburbs , and they objected to enter the combination—some because they feared that the individuality of their Lodges would to a great extent be lost , others because their Constitutions would prohibit them , and others again because of the great disparity in the dates of the close of their term and that fixed for Monday ' s festival . But now that the

innovation lias been lound to nave given so mucn satisfaction it is probable the union will become a recognised annual festival by a large number of Lodges . Economy of expenditure , time and labour to all concerned is urged in its favour , and it is also claimed that while the impressiveness and solemnity of the working of the beautiful ritual does not suffer , the united festival also

affords opportunity for greater re-union amongst the members of the Craft . Increased strength gives increased importance to the meeting , and Crafstmen from the country are attracted on the holiday to unite with their Adelaide Brethren " in love with peace and harmony . " Victoria Hall was again selected for the celebration .

At any time this hall has a fine appearance , but its attractiveness was greatly enhanced by the alterations ¦ which were considered necessary for the ceremonies . There were Officers with blue collars and handsome jewels indicative of their position in their respective Lodges and degrees , and there were Officers of the Grand Lodge of South Australia , from that illustrious Mason , His Honour Chief Justice Way who is Pro Grand Master , and that energetic and eminent Brother

Philip Sansom the Mayor of the Semaphore , and now Deputy Grand Master of the Order in this colony , to the Grand Stewards carrying the wands escorting the officials in procession—officers of high degree decorated with their rich purple-and-gold regalia peculiar to their rank , ¦ which was in striking contrast to their black evening dress in the background . And representatives of a number of the principal Grand Lodges of the world were

there in person , for the Grand Lodges are in fraternal correspondence with the Grand Lodge in South Australia , and have their chosen representatives resident in fche colony . And then , of course , there was the

beautiful music presented by the choir of fourteen voices , under the direction of Bro . E . Harold Davies , A . E . C . O ., the Grand Organist , the organ belonging to the Freemasons' Hall in Flinders Street being used . Those who are not within the pale of Masonry ask , why . all this display ? But the Craftsman replies that the " Antient Order of Free and Accepted Masons " of to-day must be

preserved sacred and inviolable . The Brethren assembled at half-past 5 in the afternoon , and united Lodge was opened at 6 o ' clock . When all had taken their places , the Pro Grand Master in the principal chair , with the Deputy Grand Master on his right , the ceremony of installation and induction was begun .

consistent with the history of its past . Its internal attractiveness is not of modern birth—display , which is such an important feature of its ceremonials merely perpetuates a custom that has been peculiar to the Craft for many years , and the Craft is too conservative to depart from its ancient usages and customs which are

United Installation.

Bro . Sansom was Installing Master . The Brethren presented by the Grand Director of Ceremonies ( Bro . J . Le M . F . Eoberts ) for the benefit of installation and induction to the rulership of Lodges were Bros . T . H .

Atkinson , Lodge of Harmony , No . 3 ; E . Hosking , Lodge of Faith , No . 9 ; E . W . Patfull , Mostyn Lodge , No . 18 ; A . W . Frame , Concordia Lodge , No . 28 ; and G . Smith , Emulation Lodge , No . 32 .

Bro . Smith having been elected to occupy the chair in his Lodge for a second year it was only necessary that he should be inducted . The ceremony of installation lasted till 7 * 45 , and it was carried through according to all the ancient form and

custom of the Fraternity . The Installing Master was assisted in the working by the Grand Director of Ceremonies and his Deputies , the Grand Wardens , the Grand Secretary , the Grand Eegistrar , the Grand Inspector of Lodges , and Bro . H . M . Addison P . D . G . M . After the Installations and induction the Wardens of the five Lodges were obligated and invested .

Before the ceremony closed Bro . the Eev . F . W . Samwell the Grand Lecturer delivered an oration ,, an entirely new feature at Installation ceremonies . The Grand Lecturer in the course of his address said the imposing ceremonial which they had witnessed must have appealed to every mind and touched every heart . They had been impressed with its beauty , charmed with

its harmony , and elevated by its dignity . The Brethren who had in this path of happy unity been advanced to the position of rulers had already received that counsel which in the discharge of their important functions they

would need , while the Brethren generally had been reminded of the loyal obedience which in every wellordered society was due to the ruler from the ruled . What now remained , therefore , but that he should stir them

up by way of remembrance of that glorious inheritance which was theirs ; of the intrinsic beauty and loveliness of their teachings ; of the world-wide embrace of Masonic Brotherhood ; of the precious privilege of wiping the tears from the eyes of the distressed ; and of protecting the widow and fatherless from want ? So benigh indeed were the precepts of the Craft , so Godlike in their intent , so brotherly in their aim , that it might have been thought that no breath of slander would be heard or no shadow of suspicion would be cast upon a Society whose

foundation principles were brotherly love , relief and truth Alas t for the rarity Of Christian Charity Under the Sun the fiercest denunciations had been hurled against it

The world was informed by the representative of a large branch of the Church that " the dark Society of Masons is striving to overthrow the kingdom of Christ on earth by various and manifold schemes , plots and acts ; " that they were " inaugurating a new religion in which , setting aside the dominion of immortal God , divine worship is

paid to tbe reason of man ; " that all this " was inspired by the powers of hell , who long secretly intended utterly to destroy Christianity . " There was secrecy in Freemasonry , and it must therefore be bad , because " evil hateth the light and seeketh darkness . " Again , it was asserted that " the tendency of modern Freemasonry is

towards communism , to shake the very foundations of Governments and States , and that its teachings lead towards changes and revolutions . " So that their honoured Grand Master , the fountainhead of order in this fair land , their equally honoured Pro Grand Master , the highest representative of justice , with his respected

colleagues on the Judical Bench , were to be classed with Nihilists , Anarchists , and dynamitards , while they , as Brethren of humbler sphere , were supposed to be in active and constant communication with the devil himself , whose emissaries they were . When language of this sort oi tneir ancient institution

was usea tney mignt wen reply " in quietness and confidence shall be our strength . '" Let them only keep inviolate the principles of the Craft , and guard well her bulwarks . As long as they were true

to these and to each other , as long as the open Bible was in their Lodges , as long as in their meetings they consecrated their duty and their work with an opening prayer

to God , and dismissed themselves with His benediction , they need fear no anathema , and the world and society need dread no harm from Masonic machinations . Let the mantle of charity cover all statements begotten of