A Masonic New Century Banquet.

P . P . G . W . ; T . A . Bramsdon , P . P . G . W . ; H . L . Watts , P . G . Chaplain ; W . C . Hawksley , P . P . G . C ; ( .. E . Kent , P . P . G . W ., and J . Hayden , P . P . J . G . W . There were also present a large number of other Present and Past Provincial Grand Officers , and most of the Worshipful Masters and

officers of the Portsmouth and district lodges . There are eighteen lodges in Portsmouth and the district , and all of them were represented , the members of each lodge occupying a separate table . A beautiful souvenir of the unique gathering was handed to each present . It took the form of an artistically arranged

book , which contained the badges and names of the Worshipful Masters of the lodges in the district , as well as an historical sketch of Freemasonry in Portsmouth during the nineteenth century , and was compiled by W . Bro . G . F . Lancaster , P . M . Gosport Lodge , No . 903 .

The toast of the evening— " Success to Freemasonry in Portsmouth and neighbourhood "—was proposed by the Provincial Grand Master , who remarked that they had met to celebrate the existence of Freemasonry and the progress it had made during the century that had passed . The advent

THE P 1 IOV . OIIAXI ) MASTKIi . ( I'hulu nii- \ -iimiu , Xm- l ) uu : l St . )

of another century led them to think of the great and remote antiquity of the Order . No trace whatever could be found of its commencement , but from the remotest ages its secrets had been handed down from generation to generation . In whatever country or land where knowledge existed there

also Freemasonry existed . It was not for him to dilate upon the many excellencies of the constitution , but he might say that those who had carried out to the lull the noble principles of benevolence and charity upon which it was founded had done a good deal for their generation . He referred especially to the work which was being done in connection with the

various charitable institutions of the Order , and said that these bore testimony to the fact that they bad not been unmindful of their duties or of the noble examples of their ancestors . They had their institutions in which the education of their boys and girls was looked after ; they bad also an asylum to which old Freemasons and their widows could go

and spend their declining years if necessity arose . In these directions Masonry had done a great work , and they had every reason to congratulate themselves , not only upon their progress , but upon their present flourishing condition . The P . G . M . next referred to the large portion of the Hants and Isle of Wight Province , which was comprised of the

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lodges iii the Portsmouth district . Considering what a large and populous neighbourhood it was , it was not surprising that many Masons should have joined , and that the district numbered main- excellent brethren who had done their duly to the Craft , and brought credit upon it . He congratulated

them upon the manner in which they conducted their business in the locality , and trusted that for many a year to come , Freemasonry would retain the same credit in the province as it had in former years . W . Bro . T . A . Bramsdon responded , remarking that they in Portsmouth greatly appreciated the manner in which the

toast had been proposed . Referring to the great antiquity of Freemasony , he remarked that in Portsmouth there were four separate Masonic bodies , all of which were over 100 years old , meeting in the same building . "The Health of the Provincial Grand Master" was proposed b y Bro . H . R . Pink , P . Prov . G . W ., and Bro . Beach briefly responded , thus bringing to a finish a meeting memorable in the annals of Portsmouth Freemasonry .

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