The Province Of Hertfordshire.

There are two more lodges to chronicle which are of quite recent date , the Grove Park Lodge was consecrated at Bushey Hall on the nth February , 18 99 , being founded principally by brethren hailing from Harlesden . It removed to the Victoria Hotel , Rickmansworth , in 1900 , where it flourishes and grows . The last lodge consecrated by the present Provincial

Grand Master was the St . Albans , which has thus taken the bold steji of reviving an ill-omened name in Masonry . It meets at the Red Lion , which probably is not the Red Rampant Lyon of the former days . The new lodge has justified its existence and is indefatigable in sujijiort of the

Charities . There are nine chajiters of Royal Arch Masons attached to lodges in the province , the oldest being the Watford , which was founded the year after the Watford Lodge , and the youngest the Earl of Clarendon , which was consecrated two years ago . Mark Masonry , is also represented by live loclges , which

will shortly be increased to six , a warrant having been granted for a new lodge at Waltham Cross , under the name of the James Terry Lodge . The province has done well in the cause of Charity and , as is only right , has given much more than she has received . Perhaps , the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution has come

in for the lien ' s share of her contributions , though the others have been by no means neglected . For the last three or four years it has contributed about - £ 2 , 000 a year to the three great Masonic Charities , and , under the admirably worked Charity Association of the jirovince , has been able to cany

its candidates at the first ajijieal . With this gratifying statement our record conies to an end , and we have only to acknowledge our indebtedness toithe monumental history of the jirovince , by Bro . G . Blizzard Abbott , to which we would refer those who wish to become more acquainted with the details of this old jirovince .

Bro. H. M. Rustomjee, P .G.D., P.D.S.G .W. Of Bengal .

Bro . H . M . Rustomjee , P . G . D ., P . D . S . G . W . of Bengal .

THERE are few names better known in connection with Freemasonry in our Eastern Empire than that of Bro . Rustomjee , who has for some twenty years jiast held the office of District Grand Secretary of Bengal . Initiated in Lodge "Humility with Fortitude , " No . 229 , 111 1874 , he was ajijiointed Secretary in 1876 and Senior Warden in 1878 .

Having joined Lodge " Star in the East , " No . 67 , in 1876 , he rose to the Master's chair in that ancient lodge in 1879 . One of the founders of the " Prinsep " Lodge , No . 2037 , be was ajijiointed its second Master in . 1885 , and in the following year he filled the chair in his mother lodge . In these lodges he conducted the duties of Secretary six years successively , and in Lodge " Industry and Perseverance , " No . 109 , he has

URO . H . M . RUSTOMJEE , P . G . D ., P . D . S . G . W ., AND DISTRICT GRAND SECRETARY OF BENGAL . discharged the duties of that office for twelve years jiast . He is one of the founders and first I . P . M . of the "Thomas Jones '»

Lodge , No . 2441 , and in a host of different loclges in Bengal his record of honorary membership is unique . In the Calcutta Emulation Lodge of Improvement , of which he was one of the founders , he acted as Secretary from 188 7 uji to 18 99 , when he was elected Preceptor , and this lodge , which has been the means of improving the working of the Calcutta

lodges in a remarkable degree , is still under his guidance He is one of the founders of the " Yeatman-Biggs" Lodge No . 2672 , of which his son , Bro . R . H . M . Rustomjee , was the first Master , and his second son ( who succeeded Bro . Sir Lawrence Jenkins , the present Chief Justice of Bombay ) , was Master in 18 99 .

Bro . Rustomjee has no less distinguished himself as a founder and Principal of Royal Arch Chajiters , and from the year 1880 has held the jiosition of District Grand Scribe E . ( f Bengal . He has shown equal activity in the work of the Mark Degree . In 1882 the Past rank of Junior Grand

Overseer in the Grand Lodge of England was conferred ujion him , and in the Allied Masonic Degrees his record is jirobably unequalled throughout India . As the Secretary of the Bengal Masonic Fund of Benevolence Bro . Rustomjee has done excellent work , and

he is a Life Governor of the Punjab Masonic Institution . He is also a member of the Correspondence Circle of the " Quatuor Coronati " Lodge in London . We cannot bucongratulate Bro . Rustomjee on so distinguished a record It is matter of notoriety that his services are

largelyavailed of by lodges in conferring degrees and conducting installations . He has always ungrudgingly rendered assistance to new Masters and Secretaries of lodges in making uji their returns , looking into their accounts , and otherwise giving them useful advice and assistance . He is ready at a moment ' s notice to work any degree , and the work undertaken by him is always rendered most impressively .

The very cursory account we are able to give of Bro . Rustomjee's Masonic career would be incomplete without a brief reference to his family among the leading merchants of Calcutta . In the pre-steamer clays they owned a large fleet of sailing vessels , which were frequently chartered for transport service , and both father and son rendered

valuable aid to the Government of India . The former was ajijiointed Sheriff of Calcutta in 18 74 , an honour then for the first time conferred on a non-European gentleman , and on his death our brother was elected as the leader of the Parsee community in succession to his father . He is a justice of the

peace and hony . magistrate , a member of the Corporation , and he further succeeded his father as Consul for Persia . He was honoured with Past Grand rank ( Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies ) in the Jubilee year , 18 97 , and we have now to congratulate him on his promotion to the

rank of Past Junior Grand Deacon . As a further honour bestowed upon him during the Coronation year , we observe that he was selected by the Government to ( ill the post of Sheriff of Calcutta . As stated by a contemporary , few civic honours conferred by Government on meritorious citizens

have evoked in India such hearty and general approval as the bestowal of that important trust on our Brother Heerjeebhoy Manackjee Rustomjee .