At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar.

The London daily Press includes within its ranks many enthusiastic members of the Craft . Amongst them may be mentioned Bro . W . J . Fisher , editor of the Daily Chronicle , to which enviable but onerous position he was appointed in November , 18 99 , after a period of service on the editorial

UliO . W . J . FISHKR .-- (_ 'Wo Viimlir Weyth ; Jteiji-nt SI . )

staff dating back to 188 3 , in which year he became foreign editor . For this latter post he was peculiarly qualified , for in addition to finishing his education in Paris and Leipzig , he had , during the early portion of his journalistic career , been assistant editor of the International Gazelle , published in

Berlin . Previously to his succession to the editorial chair of the Chronicle , he had served five years as assistant editor . Bro . Fisher , who was born in London in 1852 , 3110 ! married in 18 97 Miss Adrienne Dairolles , a charming and accomplished actress , has some claim as a dramatic author , amongst his efforts in this line being " Lot 49 , " a one-act piece produced at the Gaiety Theatre in 188 9 .

<& @ <& Bro . Fisher was initiated in the Gallery Lodge some fifteen years ago , and subsequently joined the Savage Club Lodge , in which , during a succession of years , he filled every office , becoming W . M . in 18 92 . He was Secretary for about i \ ve years , and was presented on his retirement from that

office , with a handsome silver cigarette box suitabl y inscribed . For some time he acted as Preceptor of the Savage Club Lodge of Instruction , and he also organised in the lodge a Masonic Charities' Society , whereby some fifteen or twent y members of the lodge became Life Governors of one or

the other of the three Masonic Charities . Bro . Fisher is himself a Life Governor of the Girls ' , the Boys ' , and the Mark Benevolent Institution . He is a P . Z . of the Savage Club Chapter , a P . M . of the Savage Club Mark Lodge ( to both of which he acted as Secretary for some years ) , a P . M .

of the Tuscan Mark Lodge , a Grand Steward of the Mark Lodge , and is at present M . W . S . of the Tuscan Rose Croix Chapter . He is also an honorary member of one or two other lodges .

v ' . > » ii " By the death of Bro . Sir J . W . Maclure , Bart ., M . P ., Past Grand Deacon , there has been lost to us a Grand Officer who had made himself an influence for good outside the ranks of the Craft . Primarily a philanthropist and a churchman , he was as much respected in the House of Commons as in his

own City of Manchester . It was in Manchester that he organised the fund for the relief of the inhabitants of the Midland Counties during the cotton famine of 1862-6 , and

founded , with the late Canon Richson , the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association , with the object of improving the homes of the people ; it was also largely due to his efforts that £ 50 , 000 was raised to restore the parish church of Knight Cross St . John of Jerusalem . I © . . r > t _>

We are indebted to M . A . P . for Mr . J . H . Yoxall's reminiscence of Bro . Sir f . Maclure , as a Member of Parliament , he says : " His jovial laugh will be missed from the House of Commons , and the broad Lancashire dialect into which he liked to drop when cronies were dining with

him will not so often be heard in the stranger ' s dining room now he has gone . Although his brother was a Dean , Sir John possessed all the Lancashire suspicion of undue pretensions on the part of the clergy , and concealed under a bluff Toryism some unusually Radical yiews . " Bro . Sir John

Maclure was , we may add , a churchwarden of the cathedral at which his brother officiated . He was created a Junior Grand Deacon in the year 18 93 .

A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian tells the following interesting story of the late Baronet : — "John William , " as we loved to call the dead man , told me a singular story only last Session concerning the death of Romaine Callender . On the night of this sad event , which

occurred at St . Leonards-on-Sea , John William and his wife retired to rest between eleven and twelve , and shortly afterwards they heard a knocking which Freemasons alone would recognise as being connected with the closing of the lodge . Next morning there arrived from Alderman John Bray , the Conservative organiser at Hastings , a telegram

containing the information that Romaine Callender had passed away at the precise minute that the strange manifestation referred to was taking place . & &

into . AHciiiiKAcox w'li . iucnroiii'ic .

Freemasonry possesses no more eloquent exponent of its principles amongst the clergy than Archdeacon W'ilbeifoice . That a Wilberforce should be eloquent , appears to be quite in the natural order of things , and only to be expected from a bearer of that honoured name , and the memorable

gathering of Freemasons at Bournemouth in January , to commemorate the beginning of the new century , will be remembered chielly for the able and thoughtful sermon preached by the Archdeacon at St . Peter ' s Church , in the presence of a crowded congregation , of which upwards of 400 were members of the Fraternity .