Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 209 Provincial Grand Chapter of East Lancashire 2 ro Provincial Grand Mark Lodge ot Kent—Consecration of Gordon Lodge , No . 364 210 The Early Organisation of the "Ancient "

Masons—II 2 ir Review—Fourth Notice 212 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Monmouthshire 213 Presentation to Bro . E . Turner Payne , of Bath 2 t 3 CORRESPONDENCEPast Masters 216 Suppers for Audit Committee 316

Royal r * Mark Masonry 21 ^ Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 2 to The Craft Abroad . ' . 220 Obituary 22 Theatres 220 Masonic and General Tidings 221 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 222

Arch 2 Reviews 216 Notes and Queries 216 REPORTS op MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 2 tg Instruction 2 t

Ar00101

WE have much pleasure in being able to announce that Bro . BINCKES ' S efforts to secure the services of a distinguished brother to preside at the coming Festival of the Boys' School have been crowned with success . R . VV . Bro . Lord SUI ' FIRLD , Prov . Grand Master of Norfolk , has very kindly promised to occupy the chair on that occasion , and the day fixed for

its celebration is Wednesday , the 30 th June next . This is very good news . His lordship signalised his appointment to the Prov . Grand Mastership of Norfolk by taking the chair at the Festival of the Girls' School immediately following , and his advocacy of the claims of that Institution to the support of the Craft proved very successful . He had too , as it was only reasonable

to expect he would have , the loyal support of his province which , though by no means strong in numbers or in wealth , is always ready to do its best on behalf of our Charities . Thus two of the several conditions necessary to a successful result are already assured . We have to start with an experienced as well as a distinguished Chairman and a willing province , and these are

certain to exercise a beneficial influence on the rest of the Craft , both Metropolitan and Provincial . There is this further to be said . The announcement of a Chairman comes opportunely , when there arc still nearly three clear months left in which to make all the necessary arrangements , so as to ensure a great success . This is ample time , if usefully employed , to work

the oracle and accite the brethren to raise contributions for the funds which , now that the School has been so very considerably enlarged , are more than ever required for its support . However , a fuller consideration of this and

kindred matters must be deferred for the present . The Stewards will no doubt go on working steadily in order to secure the object they have in view , and with a greater prospect of success now that they know who \\\\\\ lead them in their labour of love . *»*

WAVERLEY House , Waverley-street , Hull , was the scene of a rare but very interesting ceremony on Monday evening , the object being to do honour to one of the most distinguished Masons of our time , Bro . J PEARSON BELL , M . D ., P . G . D . of England , and Deputy Provincial Grand Master of North and East Yorkshire . Bro , BELL has for very many years been a

prominent figure in the Craft , especially in the North of England , where his services both as a ruler and as an exponent of our mysteries ^ have secured , for him a reputation such as it is given to very few members to enjoy . We need not , however , dilate on these services , with which the Masonic world is so familiar . But the fact of their having been recognised

on previous occasions , thongh not so conspicuously , must make it clear that notwithstanding what may have been done in the past , the brethren of his province consider themselves still indebted for the unwearied interest he has always taken in their proceedings , and the earnest desire he has always shown to promote their welfare . Hence the

gathering on Monday , which was very numerously attended , and to which a double interest may be said to have attached in consequence of the day happening to be the anniversary of the golden wedding of Bro . Dr . and Mrs . BELL . Nor must we omit to mention that this latest recognition of his services took the form of a marble bust of our worthy brother

and that , as the inscription on the pedestal supporting it indicated , it was presented to Mrs . BELL on her golden wedding day , the brethren very naturally considering that a gift bestowed in such a form and to commemorate such an occasion would be doubly gratifying to the recipient . It is needless to say the ceremony of presentation passed off admirably , the

duty of unveiling the bust being entrusted to Bro . the Rev . H . W . KEMP , P . P . G . C . North and East Yorkshire , than whom it would have been difficult to find a more able exponent of the virtues of Dr . BELL , or the admiration and respect entertained for him so universally throughout the province .

We consider it a great privilege to have had the opportunity of recording this episode in the case of so distinguished a brother and to be able to add our congratulations to those which were so genuinely uttered in his house on Monday .

Ar00102

WE take the liberty of putting our readers on their guard against a certain ex-member of the Fraternity by name GEORGE HUTCHINSON , who , from an account contained in The Evening Journal , of Jersey City , U . S . A ., of the nth March ult ., which has been forwarded to us , appears to have derived considerable profit from a neatly-arranged system of begging-letter

imposture . We gather from the particulars , thus kindly vouchsafed , that an enterprising reporter of the journal in question , accompanied by Mr . W . H . TRACY , Marshal of the Ridgefield Protective Society , recently visited and interviewed Mr . GEORGE HUTCHINSON at his residence at Fairview . That residence is described as being [ a very comfortable one and

wellappointed , and Mrs . HUTCHINSON , whom both her husband and herself appear to regard as a " confirmed invalid " as being " the healthiest ' confirmed invalid ' he ( the reporter ) had ever seen . " Mr . HUTCHINSON was a little disconcerted at first at the direct nature of the inquiries as to his career which were instituted by the reporter . But after a little hesitation he

confessed to having netted several hundreds of pounds sterling by the appeals he had addressed to people in England whom he had once known . He further acknowledged that he was initiated in 1879 in a well-known London Lodge of Freemasons , bearing the honoured name of a distinguished , Masonic writer , who died a short time before GEORGE IV . ascended the throne

and that when in New York he had made a little profit out of his former connection with the Craft . What he has attempted once , and successfully , he may attempt again , and it is just as well that our readers should be in possession of the above particulars , so that in the event of any of them

being appealed to by letter , to assist this poor and distressed Mason , who lives comfortably at Fairview on the proceeds of his imposture , and has a healthy-looking " confirmed invalid" for a wife , they may know what kind of answer to remit .

* * * WE doubt if we shall be able to find space in our columns for the rival statements of the Great Priory of Canada and the Scottish Templar Encampments in New Brunswick , which have aroused so strong a feeling of interest on the part of Bro . HOLMES . It must not , however , be imagined

that the altered relations between the Great Priories of England and Canada have lessened our respect for the latter body , or that we are less friendly disposed towards the Scottish Templars in the Province of New Brunswick . We took the liberty of pointing out in our former article that Bro . HOLMES ' S expression of opinion as to the " anomalous position" of the New

Brunswickers was unsupported by any argument , and yet that , notwithstanding this very serious omission , he presumed to think our readers would agree with him . He appears to have expected we should let the disputants do all the arguing , while he , in his capacity of representative of the Great Priory of Canada , did all the judging . He was a little hasty in arriving at this

conclusion , but he has made amends in his letter of last week . We hear no more of the " anomalous position " of the Scottish Encampments in New Brunswick , but he thinks they will improve their status " by joining Great Priory . " This , with all deference to Bro . HOLMES , is just one of those points about which the said Encampments must be taken to be the best

judges . If they think it will benefit them to effect a union with the Canadians , we presume they will effect it ; if they think it will be better to remain as they are , we presume they will so remain . But the right of exercising their own judgment as to joining or not joining the Canadians having been once conceded , what becomes of Great Priory ' s claims to force them into a junction ?

The fact is , though this may be the first dispute of its kind in British North American Templary , we have at this moment several similar cases in the same part of the world in Craft and Arch Masonry . For * ' Great Priory" read " Grand Lodge of Quebec " ( or " Grand Chapter , " as the case may be ); and for "Scottish Templar Encampments in New Brunswick holden under

the Chapter General of Scotland , " read " English Lodges " ( or " Chapters " ) in Montreal " holden under the Grand Lodge" ( or " Grand Chapter" ) of " England , " and our readers will have no difficulty in understanding the Templar difference . . . As the Freemasons' Repository for March puts it very clearly— " The lawful existence of the Great Priory of Canada may be

unquestioned , and yet it does not follow as a matter of course that its rule extends over every province , without any regard to the conditions that existed before the formation of the Great Priory—or rather before its absolute independency was attained . " This is the case as we have already submitted it , but in another form , and hence we are of our contemporary ' s opinion

when he says , " We think too much is claimed by Grand Master MOORE in his assertion that when the Great Priory was declared an independent and sovereign power , it became the sole governing body in Templar matters throughout Canada . " This opinion is the more valuable because it emanates from an American Masonic journal , and the doctrine ot exclusive jurisdiction in matters Masonic—at least in its present form—is almost wholl y American