Some Notes On Freemasonry In Austraiasia .– –(Continued).

prior to being elected lo the head of the Craft in the State was Deputy Grand Master . There is little more to be said about Masonry in Victoria , and it would be an omission not to point out that two of the ninety-six English lodges retained their allegiance to England , namely , the Meridian Lodge of St . John , No . 729 , and the

Combermere Loclge , No . 752 , both in Melbourne . The lirst named in a year or so changed its mind , but is now extinct . However , the second is still a branch of the parent tree , and flourishing . The Combermere Loclge was warranted in 1858 , its chief founder and first Master being Bro . J . J . Moody ,

P . P . J . GW . of Cheshire , whence emanated its name , the late Viscount Combermere , of Waterloo renown , being at that time Provincial Grand Master of the Palatine Count y Masons . Bro . Moody was for some years Town Clerk of Melbourne , and in the early clays of the Golden Loclge of Bendigo was

despatched thither as commissioner of Captain Standish , the Provincial Grand Master , to inquire into some quarrels that had broken out amongst the members , and , if possible , to effect a reconciliation and restore harmony , which he succeeded in accomplishing . He also went to Australia an enthusiast and a thorough adept in the Royal Arch .

But the Combermere Lodge ' s main claim to distinction in this page is the fact that at the time the Grand Loclge of Victoria was about being formed its warrant was taken away by the representatives of a bare majority- of those in favour of the new regime , the minority thus being brought to a standstill in their work as a locl ge . Up to this point the

incident was a reflex of what had happened in Sydney in connection with the Cambrian Locl ge of Australia only a fewmonths previously ; a reflex with a difference , though , as to the results , for , on the occurrence being pointed out to Sir William Clarke , he , acting in conformity with the then

Article 219 of the Book of Constitutions , ordered the immediate return of the warrant . Had like promptitude and common sense been displayed in the New South Wales case , the years of strife , injustice , and expenditure of money and labour would have been impossible . The Combermere majority then

petitioned for a charter under the new Constitution , for another Combermere Loclge , but Sir William Clarke , while willing to grant a charter for a new lodge , declined to allow the old name to be used , and so a different title was chosen . A certain

amount of rancour and ill-feeling was allowed to prevail for a little while , but the strained relations ultimately passed away , since when the entente cordiale has been everything that could possibl y be desired . As a matter of fact , the late Sir William Clarke , and his successor , Lord Brassey , were both members of the Combermere Lod ge , indeed , his lordship ,

but for returning to England ( when a Warden of the lodge ) would have been its Master . Add to this , the Combermere Lodge now and again votes donations from its funds to the Benevolent Fund of the Grand Lodge of Victoria . The

W . M . in 1904-3 was Sir Samuel Gillott , sometime one of the State Ministry , and Lord Mayor of Melbourne . In 1 905 Sir Samuel Gillott was honoured with the •' purple" of his Grand Loclge , he being the third so distinguished as a P . Mof the Combermere Lodge , the first two being the late Dr . Willmott and the writer of these notes ; the circumstance ,

to say the most of it , is a coincidence rather than a design . In Victoria , by the bye , the Constitutions provide for the appointment of officers in private lodges and in Grand Lodge * in place of election , which latter system is the rule in all the other Australasian Grand Lodges . And of the Victorian Board of General Purposes it is provided that the ( ravelling expenses

of country members shall be defrayed by Grand Lodge . In England , it need scarcely be explained , the membership of the Board of General Purposes ( nominated and elected ) is as nearly as possible confined to the London District . Moreover all officers of Grand Loclge , on re-election or re-appointment ,

are required to pay their fees of honour to the Fund of Benevolence , as in the first instance . Thus the Grand Master , if re-elected during a series of years , has to post his twenty guineas year after year , and the Deputy Grand Master half of that fee . As to finances , in 1904 the total funds were

£ 11 , 49 8 us ., over £ 10 , 000 of which was to the credit of the Benevolent Fund . The membershi p , i . e ., brethren in " good standing , " ran to nearly 9 , 000 in that year . Another gratifying instance of the healthy progress of Masonry in Victoria is provided in the fact that of the 18 4 lodges in town and

country , only ten meet in taverns , whilst eighty-two work in Masonic halls , and ninety-two in other halls . In the city of Melbourne all but one of thirty-one lodges hold their meetings in Freemasons' Hall .

There is a Supreme Grand Chapter of Victoria , on the same lines as our English system ( with the addition of the M . E . M . and other grades , as worked in the United States ) , and a Grand Mark Loclge , there being also two or three lodges still working under their old English and Scottish warrants . During the existence of the first Grand Lodge of

Victoria a Sovereign Great Priory was started ; but , like the Grand Loclge , it was never recognised , and died out in 1903 , whereupon warrants were granted to the former members for two Preceptories under the Great Priory of England . Lastly , a substantial monument of Masonic charily in

Victoria is the Asylum , close to Melbourne , and erected many years ago , wherein a goodly number of decayed members of the Craft , their wives and their widows , are pensioned and sheltered . The cottages have from time to time been increased in number , through the beneficence of wealthy brethren , and quite recently a hall for the

entertainment of the inmates has been generously built by the Hon . George Coppin , P . G . M . ( To be continued . )

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Essex.

Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex .

r pHE rapidity of the growth of Freemasonry in the I Province of Essex is exemplified not only by the fact that a quintette of new lodges have been added to the roll during the last twelve months , but by the pleasant circumstance that Provincial Grand Loclge was entertained at its annual meeting , at the Royal Forest Hotel , on

Thursday , July 20 th , by the seven Lodges which hold their assemblies at Chingford . These are : —Chigweil ( 453 ) , Brooke ( 2005 ) , Epping ( 2077 ) , Phillbrick ( 2255 ) , Warner , ( 2256 ) , Shurmur ( 2374 ) , and Chingford ( 2859 ); the seven having an aggregate of members approximating to 300 . The Provincial Grand Master ( Col . Lockwood , M . P .,

P . G . D . ) presided , supported by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master ( W . Bro . J . Henry Salter , P . G . D ., P . P . J . G . W . ) . There was a very- large muster of Provincial Grand Officers , past and present , as well as of officers and members of lodges .

Provincial Grand Loclge having been opened in due form and the customary formalities disposed of , the roll of lodges was called over . The report of the Board of General Purposes referred at the outset to the death of two very distinguished Provincial Grand Officers , W . Bro . Claude E . Egerton-Greene , D . Prov .

G . M ., and W . Bro . Albert Lucking , for 30 years Director of Ceremonies . The Board felt that both these . brethren have left behind them a record of unselfish devotion to duty , which all may usefully follow . Immediately after the death of W . Bro . Egerton-Greene a general desire was expressed that some memorial should be raised to perpetuate his great

services to the Craft in Essex . Following an allusion to the selection of W . Bro . J . H . Salter as Deputy- Prov . Grand Master , the report referred to the Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , which w as held under the presidency