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QPIERS AND DOND'S OTORES ( NO TICKETS REQUIRED ) . QUEEN VICTORIA STREET , E . C . Opposite Blackfriars Station ( Dist . Ry . ) and St . Paul ' s Station ( L . C . and D . Ry . ) PRICE BOOK ( 1000 pages , illustrated ) free on application . FREE DELIVERY in Suburbs by our own Vans . LIBERAL TERMS FOR COUNTRY ORDERS . For full details see Price Book .

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SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 21 , 1901 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

We havemuch p leasure in announcing that the consecration of the Welsh Lodge , No . 2 S 6 7 , will take place at the Freemasons' Hall , on Momhy , the 30 th instant . The ceremony will be performed by Bro . E . Letchworth , F . S . A ., Grand Secretary , and the principal officeis designate are Bros . Sir John Puleston , W . M . j E . R . Cleator , S . W . ; and T . J . Harries , J . W .

» # * We may further state tint the Forest Hill Lodge , No . 2846 , will be consecrated at Freemasons' Hall this ( Friday ) evening , the ceremony being performed by the Grand Secretary , assisted by Bro . Horace

Brooks Marshall , Grand Treasurer , and other Grand Officers . Our respected Bro . James Speller , Past G . Std . Br ., is the W . M . designate of the naw lodge . We shall publish a full report of the proceedings in our n : xt week ' s issue .

• • * The annual meeting of the Provincial Grand Loige of Durham—the first that has been held under the auspices of Lord Barnard , the newly-installed Prov . Grand Master—will take place at the Victoria Hall , Sunderland , on Tuesday , the 24 th instant , at 2 15

p . m . The business to be transacted will be of the usual character , and will include the appointment and investiture of the Provincial Grand Officers for the ensuing year . We are glad to note that the Prov . G . Treasurer ' s statement of account is a satisfactory one , there being , notwithstanding the additional expenditure rendered necessary by the special meeting at which

Lord Barnard was installed in office , a balance at the close of the account approximating closely to that brought forward from the previous year . When Prov . Grand Lod ge has been closed , the brethren will adjourn to the Palatine Hotel , where a banquet will be served , tickets for which , at 5 s . each , must have been previousl y obtained of Bro . H . J . Halfpenny , 1 , Cresswell Terrace , Sunderland .

Masonic Notes.

It is with the most sincere regret that we record the death of Bro . Lieut .-Col . George Lambert , F . S . A ., V . D ., a memoir of whose services to Freemasonry will be found in another column . Bro . Lambert was born in 1 S 23 , initiated into the mysteries and privileges of Freemasonry in 1844 , and during his long

career of 57 years was honoured with appointments to Grand office in the several branches of the Craft with which he was connected . He was appointed Grand Sword Bearer of Grand Lodge in 1 SS 1 , and Grand Director of Ceremonies in Su preme Grand Chapter in 1 SS 3 . He was also a Past S . G . Deacon of the Mark

Grand Lodge , Past G . Warden of Regalia of Great Priory , having held the position for a long term of years , and Inspector-General ( Unattached ) 33 of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite . To each and every of these Grand bodies our deceased

brother had rendered valuable services , and though for some time past , owing to advancing age , he had taken no very active part in the duties of Masonry , his presence in our midst , as that of a Vetera n of so many years' standing , will be sorely missed .

As a warm supporter of our Central Masonic Institutions his death will be , if possible , still more deeply lamented . He not only took a deep interest in their welfare , but he also very materially contributed to their funds . Thus h ? was a Patron of tbe Ih-ee Charities , and had figured on upwards of 30 occasions

in their Festival Stewards' Returns , about one half of his Stewardships having been served in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , while the other half was about equally divided between our two Scholastic Institutions . He had likewise acted several times in the same capacity for the Mark Benevolent

Fund , for which he had qualified as a Vice-Presidint . Outside Freemasonry he was also a generous benefactor of our Metropolitan Charities , and every now and then we used to read of him as presiding as Chairman at one or other of their Festival dinners . He was , indeed , a most worthy man and Mason , and London

and Freemasonry are the poorer by reason of his death . To the members of his family , to the members of the lodges and other Masonic bodies with which he was or till quite lately had been connected , and to the very large circle of those who were privileged to call him friend , we tender our most respectful sympathy . • •

There are one or two circumstances referred to by Grand Master—now I . P . G . Master—Willard L . Eaton in the address he delivered at the recent annual meeting of the Grand Lodge of Iowa , on which it strikes us we may legitimately offer a few remarks . It appears that in some of the Masonic jurisdictions

in the United States it is regarded as being quite in the ordinary course of things that a lodge in one jurisdiction which helps a distressed member of a lodge in another jurisdiction should apply for and receive reimbursement of the money so expanded . The rule may not be quite in accordance with our old

fashioned ideas of what constitutes Masonic Chirity , but there it is , and it is no business ot ours to contest the rig ht of an American Grand Lodge to adopt it if it chooses . But the rule does not always work smoothly . The lodge of the poor brother who was assisted does

not invariably see its way to reimbursing the lodge which rendered him assistance , and differences , more or less acute , between the two bodies not infrequently follow , which it is not in the power of Grand Masters to adjust . # #

* A case of this kind was relerred to as having arisen between Malta Lodge , No . 318 , Iowa Register , and Barton Lodge , No . 6 , Canadian Register ( Province of Ontario ) . A member of good standing of the latter went to reside in the jurisdiction of the former . But

misfortune overtook him , and Malta' Lodge , having given the needful help , applied , unsuccessfully , to Barton Lodge for repayment . Iliuc illtu huryma : Barton Lodge pleaded financial inability to meet the demand , and also that when it assisted a travelling brother in distress , according to his necessities and its

own means , it did not ask for , or get , return of its money . Moreover , it lost its temper , forgot " the amenities which belong to the Fraternity "—this , indeed , seems to have been the gravaman of the charge against Barton Lodge—and generally disported

itself to the disgust of the members of the Miita Lodge . In vain , we are told , did the Grand Master of Canada use his gool offices in trying to adjust the difference . The squabble continued , and in the end Grand Master Eaton said he bad " no option but to close the correspondence . " * # * But the remarks of Bro . Eaton in one part of this section of his address sound strange . In one sentence

Masonic Notes.

he says that "the persistent ill-tempered refusal of Barton Lodge to respond to the just demands of Malta Lodge" left him no option but to close the correspondence ; in the next he tells us that the Grand Lodge of Iowa has " incorporated into its code the doctrine that ' no lodge is liable for Masonic aid

furnished by another lodge 01 brother , unless such aid is furnished by request of such lodge or its Committee on Charity . ' " Barton Lodge may have behaved illtemperedly , but in the face of the doctrine thus incorporated , how can the demands of Malta Lodge be

described as just ? True , it is added , that Malta Lodge is said to have had reasonable ground for expecting that Bxrton Lodge would pay , but as to this we can only remark " Blessed is he that expecteth nothing , for he shall not be disappointed . " .

- * In another part of his Address Bro . Eaton vehemently denounced the " unmasonic use of the blackball , " the moral he deduces from this misuse being as follow ,:

We cannot guard our portals too carefully . The absolute right to cast a secret ballot is a landmark of this fraternity , but this right ought never to be exercised through unworthy or unmasonic motives . " And so say all of us .

A Quarterly Communication of the District Grand Lodge of Burma was held at the Masonic Hall , Rangoon , on the 26 th June . In the absence of Bro . J . Copley Moyle , Dist . G . Master , who had gone on leave to England , the chair was occupied by Bro . Dr . N . N . Paiakh , Dep . Dist . G M . in charge , and to

judge from the printed report of proceedings , not only did the meeting pass off satisfactorily , but the District appears to be , for an organisation on so moderate a scale , in a condition that leaves very little to be desired . There are 10 lodges on the roll of the District Grand Lodge , and the number cf subscribing

members does not reach 400—theexact total of the lodge returns on the 31 st March , igol , is 374—but this is in excess of the previous year ' s aggregate . , The lodges also are declared to be in good working order , and prompt and careful in the discharge of their appointed duties . But , after all , an average of 37 members per

lodge in so remote a District , and where the civilian and military sections of the population are so liable to be moved from one station to another , is creditable , and we heartily congratulate the brethren of the District on the good fortune which appears to have attended them during the past year .

* » * The District Grand Chapter is necessarily a smaller body , but in this case also there is a modest increase of membership , The convocation of District Grand Chapter was held at Rangoon two days before the District Grand Lodge , and the District G . H ., who

presided in place of the absent G . Superintendent , took occasion to urge on Craft Masons and especially on the W . Masters of lodges , to do all in their power to encourage Master Masons to join the Royal Arch . He also expressed himself as pleased to know that the

newly-formed " Fort Duffeiin " Chapter was doing such excellent work the number of those who had been exalted under its banner being already—at the date of the convocation—about 20 . With a similar display of energy among the other chapters , the fortunes of the Royal Arch would be still further advanced .

There is only one subject for regret , namely , that the "Greenlaw Masonic Orphan Society" does not seem to have received the amount of support which it deserves , and which alone will enable it to carry out

successfully the purposes for which it was founded . However , as both the District G . Lodge and District G . Chapter voted grants in aid of this praiseworthy Charity , let us hope that others may be emboldened by such excellent examples to go and do likewise .

* If " bigness " may be taken as a criterion of worth , then , beyond all doubt , the St . Paul ' s Royal Arch Chapter , of Boston , Massachusetts , must be preeminently worthy , for , as a contemporary informs us , it has 1142 subscribing members , or not far short of as

many as are to be found in all the 45 chapters of our Province of West Yorkshire taken together . Next in order of worth or " bigness" comes the Oriental Chapter , of Philadelphia , which can boast of 106 9 members , while Hamilton Chapter , No . 62 . Rochester ,

New York , musters 816 members . The biggest Grand Chapter in the United States is that of New York , which has 22 , 817 members under its jurisdiction , but then the Grand Lodge of the same State is also the biggest of all the Grand Lodges in the U . S . A . with over 100 , 000 Craft Masons on its register .

» We have been requested to correct an error in our report of the meeting of Grand Lodge on the 7 th instant . It was Bro . Arthur Williams , not Bro . Dr , Sandberg , who seconded the motion for the removal of certain lodges from the Grand Lodge Register .