Provincial Grand Lodge Of Surrey.

In reply , Bro . Tyler thanked the Provincial Grand Master and the brethren for their reception of his efforts , and also for the sympathy that had been accorded him from the first clay he had been taken ill . His thanks were due to the Prov . G . Master for not having accepted the resignation he had tendered , for it was with very great pleasure that he found himself able , in accordance with Sir Thomas' expectations , to resume his official duties .

BRO W . A . LATHAM , ASST . PROV . GRAND SECRETARY . The Provincial Grand Lodge was then closed . The subsequent banquet was partaken of by between two and three hundred brethren , under the Presidency of

the R . W . Provincial Grand Master , the Hon . Sir Thomas Bucknill . At the conclusion of the repast , the toast of " The King , Protector of the Order , " having been duly honoured , that of "The M . W . Grand Master , H . R . H . the Duke of

Connaught , " was given by the Provincial Grand Master , who said he might describe himself as the connecting link between His Royal Highness and the Surrey brethren . He hoped that the Duke of Connaught might long be spared to them , not only as their Grand Master , but also to occupy the

important position he did in the country . In proposing the toast of " The M . W . Pro Grand Master , the Deputy Grand Master , and the rest of the Grand

Officers , Present and Past , " Sir Thomas Bucknill said the hot weather precluded his remarks being of a lengthy nature . There was only one thing he would like to say , and that was that they felt very great gratitude to the Grand Officers . Further , he hoped they might all one clay attain to that position . He would call upon their worthy brother , the

Rev . Sir William Vincent , P . G . Chap ., who for many years had occupied the post of foreman of the Grand Jury of Surrey , to respond , and he would also couple with the toast the name of Bro . Frank Richardson , P . Dep . G . Reg ., Grand Dir . of Cers ., who had assisted at his own installation and

had come to have a look round at the end of the year . He hoped what he saw met with his satisfaction . If so , they were all very gratified . Bro . Richardson was a most distinguished Grand Officer , although he was not a Surrey man , and what he did not know about the Craft was not worth learning .

V . W . Bro . the Rev . Sir W . Vincent , in reply , said he was reminded by the atmospheric conditions of the German legend , which ran that tobacco ranked third in the order of creation . He told the brethren of his initiation in the Apollo University Lodge , Oxford , than which—in company with its

sister at Cambridge—there was probably no lodge responsible for more initiations . He had been in office in that lodge when the Earl of Lathom was initiated . But it was in Norfolk that his zeal for Freemasonry was greatest , and even now he was a member of the Norfolk Lodge in London . It could not but be a source of pleasure to him to

go from one province to another to meet the same spirit displayed in uniting in good fellowship the lodges and brethren , and especially was it so in the present case where the province had so distinguished a ruler as they had with them that night . Sir Thomas Bucknill was distinguished in

his special work , but not only so , he was equally at home when a five-bar gate had to be considered as when the exigencies of the occasion demanded a sentence of live years ' penal servitude . He believed he was representing the general feeling of the brethren when he said that he was

quite certain that affairs would flourish under his direction in that important province . As a representative of the Grand Lodge of England he might say they were not a little proud of Surrey as one of their constituencies , and also that Grand Lodge did not fail to appreciate the fact of so worthy a

member filling the highest office in that province , the advantage of which would be felt during all the time he might be spared to serve it .

V . W . Bro . Frank Richardson , P . Dep . G . Reg ., Grand Dir . of Cers ., who followed , expressed his gratitude not less to the Provincial Grand Master for the reference he had made to himself , than to the brethren of the province for the very kind way they had been pleased to receive that reference . It was not the first time he had had the pleasure of visiting

that Provincial Grand Lodge , and indeed he could go back to the time of the installation of the late Bro . Col . Noel Money . But the oftener he was invited to their gatherings the better he was pleased . All that Bro . the Rev . Sir William Vincent had said about their present Provincial

Grand Master he could fully endorse . They were much to be congratulated on having at their head Bro . Sir Thomas Bucknill . It was , he believed , the first time that one of the judges of the land had occupied the position of Provincial Grand Master . The Province of Surrey was therefore

unique . The toast of " The Provincial Grand Master " was then proposed by V . W . Bro . the Rev . H . W . Turner , M . A ., Rector of Sutton , the recently installed Grand Superintendent of the province , who said that he had many times had occasion to feel properly proud of the collar which a few

ASSEMBLY ROOMS , SURBITOX . years ago had been bestowed on him by Grand Lodge , but never more so than when , partly in consequence of it , he was called upon to propose the health of their Provincial Grand Master . He was not going to say he did not feel he had a good right to propose that toast , for his whole Masonic career extending over twenty-live years had been spent in