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ESTABLISHED iSGg . MUTUALLIFE ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALASIA1 5 ) LOTH BURY BANK , LONDON , E . C . ENDOWMENT ASSURANCE RATES ( With pariicipation in Profits ) Are £ 5 per £ 1000 lower than those charged by the majority of oflices . LIBERAL TEEMS TO AGENTS .

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GOLDSMID, WINE & SPIRIT MERCHANT , 76 , FINSBURY PAVEMENT , LONDON , E . C . PRICE LIST FREE ON APPLICATION . tKST SPECIAL OFFER . — Every trnth order from readers of the Freemason , a Box of Havana Cigars will be sent FREE .

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NOTICE . A SPECIAL EDITION will bo issued on SATURDAY MORNING containing a full Report of tho Quarterly Court of the R . M . I . for Boys , with result of the Election .

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SATURDAY , OCTOBER 13 , iqoo .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The address which , through the courtesy of Bro . H . J . rU ginbotham , we had the opportunity of reprooucing last week , would be interesting at any time , but is Speciall y so now , when , as he says , tho whole country l * " full of martial urduor "—ibove all , when our

Masonic Notes.

volunteers who have proved themselves gallant soldiers in many a stricken Held are on the eve of returning home , and the country is preparing to give themthe heartiest of greetings . Nodoubt theStockport Volun'eers of 1797 would have borne themselves as

gallantly , and must have greatly appreciated the address that was delivered to them on parade by Bro . John Lowe , of Lodge No . 268 , on behalf of the Freemasons and Friendly Societies he had the honour of representing . Then the Craft was as

devotedly loyal to its gracious Sovereign George I If . as it is now to his illustrious granddaughter , under whom the United Kingdom has so greatly prospered , and a hundred years hence it will be as instinct as now and then with ihe same feelings of loyalty and devotion .

Who the Bro . John Lowe may have been we are unable to say , but the lodge he hailed from was warranted by the " Ancient" or " Athol" Society on the 9 th November , 1791 , and met at the Unicorn , H . llgatc-, Slockport , and in the Grand Lodge minutes of

the 7 th Becember following there is entered a sum of £ 1 14 s . as having been received from il . According to Bro . Lane it removed , in 1704 , to the Queen's Head , Underbank , but returned to its former quarters thc

following year , and lapsed about 1806 , though it still figured in the Register of 1807 . Tne warrant was revived in London on the 25 th April , iSto , and thc lodge then formed still exists as the Jordan Lodge , No . 201 , thc name having been taken in 181 G .

Lord Llangattock must have been highly gratified not only by the very cordial reception he met with from his Provincial Grand Lodge of South Wales ( E . D . ) , at ils annual meeting , at Neath , on the 27 th ult ., but also by the very large numberof the brethren

present on the occasion , and still more by the evidence that was then forthcoming of thc prosperous state cf the lodges under his government . The report as to the working of the different . lodges was all that could be desired , while it was pointed out that if no new

lodges had been added to the Provincial roll , there had been a considerable increase in the membership , and , provided the right men are accepted into the Craft , we trust the increase may be continued . * * «

The Prov . Grand Treasurers statement of account was also most favourable , showing , as it did , a balance in band of , £ 268 as compared with the . C 228 at the close of thc preceding year . Prov . Grand Lodge , accordingly , voted two sums of 50 guineas each to the Boys '

School and the new Provincial Educational Fund . But Ihe announcement that must have afforded the greatest amount of pleasure to the Prov . Grand Master was made by the Dep . Prov . G . M ., Bro . Marmaduke Tennant , P . A . G . D . C , who stated that including a grant bv Prov . Grand Lodge of 100 guineas , the

Educational and Widows' Fund already amounted to £ 1066 14 s ., and that he had every hope that he should be able to increase it to £ 1700 . After this statement , and the investiture of the new Prov . Grand Officers , the meeting was quickly brought to a close , and adjourned to the banquet which had been prepared for them at the Castle Hotel .

» * » Equally successful appears to have been the recent annual meeting at Solihull of the Prov . Grand Lodge of Warwickshire , and in this case there was even greater cause for satisfaction . In few of our Provinces

has there been htterly a greater amount of zeal and activity than in Warwickshire . It is not so very long since that , after an interval of some 13 years , a . new lodge was consecrated in Birmingham , and this year a warrant has been granted for another new lodge in

Coventry , which was constituted on Tuesday , the yth instant . Again the Prov . G . Secretary was in a position to record that the Craft in the Province was in a very flourishing condition . Above all , the Report of the Festival Committee in behalf of the

Warwickshire Masonic Benevolent and Pupils' Aid Fund had the pleasure of announcing that the Stewards had succeeded in raising donations and subscriptions amounting to , £ 3257 ios ., or , in round figures , fully , £ 100 more than was returned at the

Festival itself ! We congratulate the Province , and regret that the venerable Lord Leigh , who has been its Prov . Grand Master for 48 years , was prevented by the state of his health from being present and hearing the gladsome news .

As to the good fortune which attends upon the Province of West Lancashire , there appears to be no end to it , nor , indeed , is there a brother worthy of thc name who could wish thai it should be otherwise .

Masonic Notes.

The Province , as our readers well know , is the strongest in England , yet on Wednesday , the 26 th ult ., another lodge was added to its roll in the St . John ' s Lodge , No . 2 S 25 , Blackpool . The ceremony of consecration was performed by Bro . Robert Wylie ,

P . G . D ., D . P . G . M ., and Bro . John Wray was afterwards installed as its first W . M . By the creation of this lodge Blackpool is able to boast of as many as five lodges , and we sincerely hope that fie St . John's may have before it as long and prosperous a career as its four sister lodges have already known .

But the consecration of the St . John ' s Lodge was not the only event that happened on this day to gladden the hearts of our Blackpool brethren . The Anniversary Festival of the W . Lancashire Alpass Benevolent Institution , which provides annuities for the widows of deceased brethren , and at the sametime

serves to perpetuate the name and Masonic services of Bro . H . S . Alpass , a former Grand Secretary of thc Province , was celebrated at a banquet in the Victoria Cafe , under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of Liverpool ( Bro . Louis S . Cohen ) . The institution was founded 14 years ago , and at the present time provides for some 84 widows . This it

does at an annual cost of about ( £ 1000 , but the permanent income arising from the invested capital does not greatly exceed £ 250 , and the difference is made good by voluntary subscriptions . On this occasion the amount realised was announced 33 ^ 1243 . The good' news was received , very naturally , with the heartiest applause , and the Management are freed from all anxiety as to supplies for the current year .

VVe hearli / y congratulate Brj . W . J . Mison , G . Std . Br ., on the compliment recently paid to him by the brethren of the Tivoli Lodge . The mouthpiece of the lodge was Bro . W . T . Farthing , who presided over it as W . M . during the lirst year of its existence , and who was , therefore , in a better position than any other brother to speak of the valuable services of Bro . Mason

as a founder and Past Master . Bro . Farthing , also referred to the great work which Bro . Mason had done elsewhere in Masonry , and especially as a member and Vice-President of the Board of General Purposes . The compliment , which took the form of Grand Lodge clothing , was well deserved , and we congratulate Bro Mason on this latest recognition of his services .

» As a rule , it is difficult , if not impossible , to determine the meaning of what other people write , but the expression quoted by " R . " in bis letter of last week from the article on " The Influence of thc Masonic Press , " we reprinted from the New Zealand

Craftsman in our issue of the 22 nd ult ., does not , at least in our humble judgment , appear to stand in ne ; d of explanation . To us it seems that " the mystic ' passing , ' ' raising , ' and ' reducing' of lodges" is merely intended to refer to the three ceremonies of ( 1 ) " passing" and ( 2 ) " raising" candidates , and ( 3 )

the '' reducing" of the lodge from the third to tne second , or the second to the first . " R . " must bear in mind that tbe article appeared in a Masonic newspaper , most of the readers of which would have no difficulty in understanding the technical terms introduced by the writer . " R . ' s " criticism is

unreasonable . When a man writes about mysteries he has no desire to explain he takes care not to be too explicit . No doubt the writer of the article might have made his meaning still more clear than it is , but we do not complain ; he has puzzled a brother , and we imagine the non-Mason will be still more puzzled .

* * * The article is , in great measure , a protest against the publicity given to Masonry and its doings as well asagainst innovations that have been encouraged within the Craft itself , and the New Zealand Craftsman is congratulating itself , not without good reason , on the success of its efforts against this undue publicity

and these innovations . Under the foimer head is "The publication of Masonic reports in the newspaper press , " which we take to mean in the non-Masonic press , and the too great explicitness with which lodge proceedings ; ire described in " installation programmes , " and if in the course of his remarks the writer has succeeded in veiling the true meaning of the technical terms he uses , it is merel y a proof that his practice is in harmony with his precept .

* While on this subject we take the opportunity of congratulating the AVH ; Zealand Craftsman on tho successful position it has won for itself in the ranks of the Masonic press during the five years of its exis . ence . It is a paper with whose opinions we have often found

ourselves in disagreement , but the matters about which that disagreement arose are now ancient history and all wc shall trouble ourselves lo remember is that Freemasonry in the Colony of New Zetland is making good progress and that the Craftsman , which is doing its best to promote the success of the Craft , has every

reason to congratulate itself on the success , it has achieved . It is well-written and well-edited , and wc are greatly indebted to it for the ample supply of news it publishes in its monthly issues . We trust it may long remain the organ of the Craft in the Colony and prosper blill more abundantl y than in the past .