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LONDON & NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY . AUTUMN " EXCURSIONS . LAST TRIP OF THE SEASON TO IRELAND . CHEAP EXCURSIONS will be run from LONDON ( Euston ) , Broad-street , Addison-road , Willesden Junction , & c , & c .: — ON THURDAY , SEPTEMBER 21 st , for 16 Days . To DUBLIN , with booking's from Euston Station only , to Thurles , Limerick Junction , Cork , Killarney , Roscommon , Galway , Ballina , Westport , & c . On FRIDAY MIDNIGHT , SEPTEMBER 22 nd . To MANCHESTER , for Three Days . For fares and full particulars , see small bills , which can l _ e . o btained at the Stations and Parcels Receiving Offices . FRED . HARRISON , General Manager . Euston Station , September , 1893 .

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NOW READY . Demy Svo . About 500 pages . Price 10 s . 6 d . Crown 4 to , Price £ l is . HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN HERTFORDSHIRE . Dedicated by permission to THOMAS FREDERICK HALSEY , Esq ., M . P ., Prov . Grand Master . BY G . BLIZARD ABBOTT , W . M . GLADSMUIR LODGE , NO . 13 S 5 , BARNET . WITH PORTRAITS . London . —GEORGE KENNING , 16 and 16 a , Great Queen-st ., Lincoln's Inn Fields , W . C .

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FREEHOLD BUILDING LAND FOR SALE . Splendid Sites . — Leigh-on-Sea , Southend , and Heme Bay Land Co ., 92 , London Wall , E . C .

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DREEMASON'S HYMN .-THE JT MYSTIC TIE . Words and Mqfiic composed by F . J . STHIN . Price is . 6 d . nett . ^ London : GBORGH KENNING , 16 & I 6 A , Gt . Queen-st .

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MASTER . MASON desires Appointment as ACCOUNTANT , Cashier , Private Secretary , Confidential Clerk , or other POSITION OF TRUST . . lEacellent Business Man ; First-olass References . —Apply EMULATION , Freemason ollice , 16 & I 6 A Great Queen-street , W . C .

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PARTRIDGE & COOPER , "THE" STATIONERS , 191 . & 192 , FLEET STREET , LONDON , Would invite attention to their LARGE AND WELL-SELECTED STOCK OF GENERAL & FANCY STATIONERY , Suitable for presents , such as Inkstands , Stationery , Cabinets , Ladies' and Gentlemen's Dressing Bags , Travelling and Brief Bags , & c , all of whicli are enumerated in their New Illustrated Catalogue , sent free on application .

To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY OF WORSHIPFUL MASTERS . In future numbers of the Freemason we purpose giving a series of portraits of Worshipful Masters who have been recently installed . Recognising the fact that no greater honour can be bestowed on a brother than to be elected the Master of his lodge , we

desire to do our part towards creating a permanent record of such event in his Masonic history by placing his portrait before our readers . We shall be pleased to furnish Secretaries of lodges and others who may take an interest in our project whatever information may be desired as to our proposed method of procedure .

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Ppr'e^SSB ^ ^ Liit ^ S sSSw & i ^ N ^ W i r ^ ^ i ^^^^ SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 16 , 1893 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

Wc can well understand that Bro . Viscount Ebringon . P . G . M ., and our Devon friends must have been fli ghted with the proceedings which took place at the j CCent annual meeting at Plymouth of their Prov . G . uge . There was an unusually numerous attendance ,

'' " several reports which were submitted showed at . though there had been a sli ght falling off in the , ' ter ot numbers during t ' P year , the province j every reason to be gratified with what had taken

Masonic Notes.

The Provincial Grand Treasurer ' s report was eminently satisfactory . The receipts , including the balance of i . 254 . from previous year , amounted to close on £ 655 . Of this 160 guineas had been paid over to the

Central Masonic Charities , 15 guineas to the Devon Masonic Educational Fund , and 66 guineas to the Fortescue Annuity Fund , while the balance remaining in hand was , £ 278 .

According to the report of the Fortescue Annuity Fund , there are now six annuitants on the fund who receive each £ 30 per annum , and , after providing for this liability and investing ^ 95 in the Devon and Exeter Savings

Bank , there remained in hand the sum of £$ g . A revised code of by-laws was also submitted , but it was decided that these laws as revised should stand over until the lodges had had an opportunity of considering them .

* * Bro . J . B . Gover . as Honorary Secretary of the Committee of Petitions , likewise submitted a long and elaborate report as to the voting strength of the Province , and what had been done during the past year in behalf of candidates from Devonshire for the benefits

of the Central Charities ; and regret was expressed by the Committee that several lodges had omitted to send their votes during the year . On the recommendation of the Committee , the sum of , £ 21 was voted to the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , and . £ 21 to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution .

* * The annual meetings of the Provincial Grand Lodges of Cheshire and of the Western Division of South Wales were held on Wednesday , as announced last week , that of the former taking place at Nantwich

under the banner of the King ' s Friends Lodge , No . 293 ; and that of the latter at Narberth under the banner of the Narberth Lodge , No . 2001 . There was a full attendance at both meetings , and in both cases the proceedings were of a gratifying character .

By kind permission of the Chief Commissioner of the Australian Irrigation Colonies , Bro . James Stevens , P . M ., will give his lecture ( accompanied with numerous dissolving views ) on "Australia and the Irrigation Colonies " in the Large Hall of the Boys' School , at

Wood Green , on Friday , the 22 nd instant , at 6 . 30 p . m . We can promise " Our Boys " and those friends who may desire to be present a most interesting and intellectual evening , as this lecture has excited much attention at the Gardening and Forestry Exhibition at Earl ' s Court .

Correspondence.

Correspondence .

I We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in a spirit of fair play to ill to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ]

COLONIAL GRAND LODGES . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Bro . Whytehead ' s letter , and your leading article thereon , come very appropriately at the present juncture , and I trust the outcome will be an alteration —a much-needed alteration—in our ' ' Book of

Constitutions , " in the direction so ably , logically , and impartially indicated during the last two weeks in your columns . I may , however , at the outset of this communication , be permitted to differ from your views , with regard to the cases of the Cambrian Lodge , No . 656 , Sydney , and the Combermere Lodge , No . 752 , Melbourne . You infer that the trouble connected with

the former lodge " is due to a misunderstanding re Article 219 and other matters , " whilst the Combermere Lodge " remains on the roll of our Grand Lodge in consequence of the usual stipulation as aforesaid . " Now , the fact is that the Combermere Lodge owes its existence at the present day , as an English lodge , fairly and squarely to Article 2 tq . The warrant , as I have

on sundry occasions stated in thc Freemason , was removed by thc majority cf the seceders ; but the Grand Master of the then newly-inaugurated Grand Lodge of Victoria ordered its restoration to the loyal brethren , under the provisions of Article 219 . In other words , the reservation stipulation of recognition of the new Colonial Grand Lodge , by the Grand Lodge of England ,

was outside the question , seeing that recognition had not been accorded at that time . The Cambrian and Combermere , therefore , up to a certain point , are strictly on all fours , and I beg leave to assert most emphatically that thc interminable Sydney complication—it has now been running nearly five years—would have been impossible , had the Grand Master of New

South Wales—his Grand Lodge , mind you , not being then acknowledged by England—taken the bull by the horns himself , instead of leaving the settlement ot the difficulty to the insular prejudices and local animosities of his subordinates . On the other hand , we should now have had a single flourishing English lodge working alongside the powerful New South Wales Constitution , in complete harmony and amity , as is the situation

Correspondence.

between the Combermere Lodge in Melbourne and the Grand Lodge of Victoria . Returning to Article 219 , and the extreme necessity for its immediate amendment , so as to avoid the possibility of misunderstandings , heartburnings , and injustices in the future , I am content to leave the elaboration of legislation thereanent in the hands of

far abler brethren . My contention , however , has all along been that , so long as the said Article is one of our statutes , it strictly applies to the Cambrian Lodge , No . 656 , Sydney , because mere personal opinions , however valuable they may be , ought not for a single moment to be permitted to override or abrogate our written and printed laws . At all events , nothing has

yet been produced in black and white throughout the whole of the controversy to show that minorities cannot claim their rights under the provisions of Article 219 . Common sense must therefore dictate that it would be exceedingly dangerous for us to permit anything to the contrary , even though exigencies and inconveniences be pleaded in extenuation , as have been

done in the matter of the Cambrian Lodge . Knowing as I do something about the practical side of this question , that is to say , Colonial Grand Lodges and their recognition by the Grand Lodge of England , I have no hesitation in asserting that in every one of the four Australasian instances in which we have been concerned , our proceedings have been far too hasty

and unbusinesslike— -hasty and unbusinesslike , as compared with the calm deliberation of the Grand Lodges of Scotland , Ireland , New York , Pennsylvania , and others of the more important supreme jurisdictions of the United States . And then , as to details , the cancelling of warrants has been delegated to authorities

other than our own , whereas the cancellation should have been done in our own Grand Lodge . This and other like blunders—committed on the spur of the moment , of course , and distinctly attributable to the unreasonable hurry of our recognition procedurerendered the reservation stipulation an absolute nullity . —Fraternally yours , W . F . LAMONBY . September 11 .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

Masonic Notes and Queries .

1043 ] AN OLD MASONIC CERTIFICATE . My old friend , Bro . Brackstone Baker , P . G . D ., has done more good service to the Craft , and the right thing in presenting the Universis Certificate , copy of which Bro . Sadler has kindly sent to the Freemason of the gth inst ., to the Grand Lodge Library . I think it is the rig htful custodian of such documents , ' and " congratulate Bro . Sadler on this accession , which is the

most important contribution of this kind ever made to the collection . There are a number of these certificates known of course , but all of later dates , and I consider every one of them valuable on account of the extreme scarcity . The om" in question , however , besides being the earliest engraved certificate of the Ancients so far known to exist , brings us within two years (

perhaps only one year , as the date is doubtful ) of the issue of the document ! Personally , I had fixed such issue at 1766 , but it might be 1765 ; however , as Laurence Dermott himself wrote out the certificates in 1 764 ( which he would not have done had there been any engraved forms then in use ) , this treasure is undoubtedly nearer the fountain-head than Bro . Sadler supposes .

The SEAL , 1 have no doubt , was engraved in 1760 , and it is on wholly written certificates of similar character in 1764 and earlier . I appreciate much the fraternal mention of my book by Bro . Sadler , and also thank him sincerely for making known the possession of

important certificates . The information is not only of value to those specially interested , but is one of the best methods of concentrating interest on many longneglected parchments in lodges , and , let us hope , bringing them , as in this case , into thc Grand Lodge collection . J . RAMSDEN RILEY .

1044 ] With reference to the very interesting engraved certificate , recently presented by Bro . Brackstone Baker , P . G . D ., to the Grand Lodge , and transcribed by Bro . Sadler for publication in last week's issue of the Freemason , it would seem from the " Table of the Grand Secretary's Fees " for thc year 1756 , which will

be found in the earliest Athol Minute or Rec > rA Book , that certificates in "English and Latin" were first issued by the Ancients in that year , the fee payable to the Grand Secretary for such a certificate being set down as 2 s . In the Tables for 1751 and 1755 respectively the entry is for a "Certificate in English , " is . I imagine that Bro . Sadler ' s conjecture

¦ —that the plate from which this early certificate was printed was engraved " about 1760 " —is not very wide of the mark . In the minutes of the proceedings of Grand Lodge on the 3 rd June , 17 C 1 , there is an entry among the disbursements of " £ 1 us . 6 d . " having been paid " To the G . S . Dermott for a new seal which he got engraved in the year 1760 . " Provision is made in the Table of Fees for 1 755 for the

payment of ios . 6 d . to the Grand Secretary for a ' warrant on parchment with Grand Sea ! attached , and the employment of the word " new " in the entry referring to the 1760 seal points to an earlier seal having been in use j but 1 am not aware of ; iny record showing that such an earlier seal was engraved and paid lor . This , of course , applies only to thi : neal and not to the engraved plate from which the certificate