Provincial Grand Lodge Of Essex.

of the Provincial Grand Master , Colonel Lockwood , M . P . The total sum subscribed at the Festival was £ 24 , 297 , towards which the Province of Essex contributed the munificient subscription of £ 5 , 250 . The accounts for the financial year were presented , and after payment of all outstanding claims , show- a balance in hand of £ 195 12 s . 7 c ! . on the

General Account , and £ 7 8 3 s . 5 c ! . on the Charity Account . The returns from the lodges show that during the year there had been 199 initiations , compared with 258 last year ; and 18 3 joining members , compared with 86 last year . There have been 115 resignations against 117 last year ; the losses

by death have been 30 ; whilst 45 brethren have been struck off the books of their respective lodges , leaving the present strength of the Province 3 , 129 members , against 2 , 937 last year . The number of lodges on the roll is now 55 , no less than five new ones having been added during the year , viz . :

The Rainham , No . 3079 ; the Roding , No . 3090 ; the Canute , No . 3104 ; the Mark Lockwood , No . 3114 ; and the Saint Chad , No . 3115 . The Board recommended a donation of £ 10 10 s . to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , and £ 5 5 s . to the Buckhurst Hill Village Hospital ,

also £ 52 10 s . to the Egerton-Green Memorial Fund , which sum , added to the amount which it is hoped may be received from those lodges that have not yet contributed , will , it is anticipated , be sufficient to defray the expenses of the memorial . From the Charity Fund they recommended a

donation of £ 10 10 s . to the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , and a like sum to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution .

W . Bro . J . J . C . Turner moved the adoption of the report , W . Bro . R . Clowes seconded , and it was agreed to . The report of the Charity Committee detailed the year's work , and after referring to the Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , stated that at the Benevolent Festival , £ 279 was subscribed , and that of the Boys £ 21 , making the total contribution for the year up to £ 5 , 550 .

W . Bro . H . E . Dehane proposed the adoption of the report , and this was carried . The Provincial Grand Master addressed the brethren . Following an illusion to the losses sustained during the year , Col . Lockwood said Masonry in Essex continued to flourish in an extraordinary degree . He had always said that the

largeness of the Province entailed a very great responsibility , not only to himself , but on the Deputy Prov . Grand Master , the Secretary , and all the Officers . He took this opportunity of thanking the brethren of the Province for the noble way in which they supported him when he took the chair in

connection with the Girls' School . He felt it a very great compliment to be allowed to present , in their name , the magnificent sum of £ 5 , , and he had endeavoured to express his thanks to the various lodges in a circular letter . It marked a clay that he would never forget , and it was all

the more remarkable because Essex had never husbanded its resources of charity with a view of making a great splash on some especial occasion . The flow of charity had been continual , and showed how thoroughly the brethren entered into the true spirit of Masonry . The Prov . Grand Master concluded with a compliment to the Charity Representatives , particularly to W . Bro . Dehane .

The following were elected members of the Provincial Board of General Purposes : —W . Bros . E . H . Baily , P . M . 2006 , P . P . J . G . W . ; W . E . Dring , P . M . 453 , P . P . S . G . W . ; W . Scott Miller , P . M . 2717 , P . P . J . G . W . ; and John J . C . Turner , P . M . 51 , P . G . Std . B ., P . P . S . G . W . The Provincial Grand Master announced that he had

been asked to decide between two nominees for the office of treasurer , and had determined upon the name of W . Bro . James Edmund Betts , W . M . 2749 . The Provincial Grand Officers were then appointed and invested . The brethren subsequently dined together .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Shropshire.

Provincial Grand Lodge of Shropshire .

THE annual communication of the Shropshire Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons was held in the Music Hall , Shrewsbury , on Thursday , July 27 th , when a presentation was made to W . Bro . Rowland G . Venables , in commemoration of the completion of his 20 th year as

Deputy-Grand Master of the Province , the celebration of his silver wedding , and in recognition of his services to Masonry . Prior to the Grand Loclge being opened , the brethren partook of luncheon , excellently served by Bro . J . T . Wall . The R . W . Prov . Grand Master , Sir Offley Wakeman , Bt ., presided .

A very large number of Provincial Grand Officers and Brethren were present . On the motion of the Provincial Grand Master it was agreed to make a donation of fwe guineas from the Prov . Grand Loclge funds to the Midland Counties' Asylum .

In presenting Brother R . G . Venables with an illuminated address and two silver bowls , Bro . Graham lirst read the address as follows : —

" Province of Shropshire . To W . Bro . Rowland George Venables , Dep . Prov . G . M ., P . A . G . D . C . ( Eng . ) . We , the Freemasons of the Province of Shropshire , desire to offer to you our hearty and fraternal congratulations upon your having now filled the office of Dep . Prov . G . M . of the Province for the

space of twenty years , and also upon the celebration of your silver wedding . We wish to place on record our recognition of the facts that during the time you have presided over us you have most thoroughly earned our sincere esteem and regard by the earnestness , ability , and brotherly love with

which you have discharged your duties , that your work has been of immense advantage to the Province and to the lodges that are under its jurisdiction , and that your teaching and

example have helped all of us in our Masonic life . We pray that the Great Architect of the Universe may give you health and strength to continue long in . the high and important post you have so worthily occupied with satisfaction to yourself and with advantage to the craft to which we belong , and that

you and Mrs . Venables may have every happiness which goodness and virtue can bring in the future that lies before you . As a small token of our goodwill we ask you to accept the accompanying memento of this happy occasion , and trust that it will often serve to remind you of our gratitude

and fraternal affection . Signed on behalf of the Province—Offley Wakeman , Provincial Grand Master , Alexander Graham , Chairman , V . C . L . Crump , Hon . Secretary . " The address , Bro . Graham said , was carefully prepared , and the sentiments in it were a true expression of the real ,

earnest , and sincere respect and brotherly affection they all felt for their Deputy-Grand Master . They hoped in the future which lay before him—a future , no doubt of honour and of hard work—that he would look upon those presents , and remember that happy occasion , and remember those who

had joined in giving them to him ; and they- hoped the recollection would inspire both him and them to work loyally and heartily together in the future for the promulgation of the tenets and for the good of the Order to which they were so happy and proud to belong , and that they might meet in

another twenty-five years' time to celebrate Brother Venables ' golden wedding and the jubilee of his connection with the loclge . The Provincial Grand Master endorsed the words of Bro . Graham , and said few had clone more for the Craft than Brother Venables .