Provincial Grand Lodge Of West Yorkshire.

Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire .

THE autumn meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire was held on October 26 th in the Town Hall , Hudderslield , under the banner of the Huddersfield Lodge , No . 290 . There was a splendid attendance of brethren from all parts of the province , only two of the eighty-five lodges which it comprises being

unrepresented . The R . W . Bro . the Right Hon . Lord Allerton , Provincial Grand Master , presided , supported by a large number of brethren of Grand and Provincial Grand Lodge rank , including W . Bros . Richard W ilson , P . G . D .,

D . P . G . M . ; Henry Smith , P . G D . P . D . P . G . M . ; and J . C . Malcolm , P . G . D ., P . D . P . G . M . The minutes of the last meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge , held at Dewsbury in April last , having been confirmed ,

The Provincial Grand Master , in his address to the brethren , expressed the indebtedness of the province to Bro . Inman , Mayor of Hudderslield , for placing the Town Hall

at their disposal for the purpose of the gathering . Hudderslield had a great history as regarded Masonic work and Masonic meetings . That was the forty-third occasion on which the meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge had taken place in the town . The first meeting was in 1842 , when the gathering was presided over by the then Provincial Grand

Master , Lord Mexborough . In 1859 a great function was made of the laying of the foundation stone of the Mechanics ' Institute by Lord Ripon , then Provincial Grand Master . In the same year the formation of a Charity Committee for the province was first mooted , and it was in Hudderslield the

following year that the first meeting of that committee was held . After further interesting references to other Masonic associations which Hudderslield possessed , Bro . Lord Allerton alluded to the work of the West Yorkshire Benevolent and Educational Fund . That fund since its establishment nearly

fifty years ago had been of great service in many cases . Personally he had good reason to appreciate the power and influence wielded bv the Province of West Yorkshire when

it desired to promote any particular charitable object , and , while nobody desired to impair the usefulness of the three great parent Charities , he thought there was ample scope

for some further effort being made as regarded the promotion of their local scheme . The movement at present on foot to strengthen the West Yorkshire Fund was in no way hostile to the great Charities to which he had alluded , and the action they proposed to take was not without precedent , as

evidenced by the case of East Lancashire . It was desirable that in the administration of the fund , sympathy and supervision should be extended , and the fact that the whole cost of administration over a period of the last seven years amounted to less than £ 40 was a guarantee that the money

was directly devoted to charitable purposes for which it was subscribed , and that expenses were kept clown to the lowest possible level . W . Bro . H . S . Childe , P . G . D ., Chairman of the Charity Committee , having presented the half-yearly Charity report ,

which was unanimously adopted , moved the approval of the revised rules of the West Yorkshire Benevolent and Educational Fund , and also that a sum of . £ 105 be voted to the fund from Provincial Grand Lodge . The fund , which stood a few days age at ^" 7 , had now reached . £ 3700 , and he asked the brethren to promptly raise it to . £ 10 , 000 . The propositions were heartily approved .

The R . W . Provincial Grand Master then conferred Past Provincial Grand rank upon the following brethren : — P . Prov . Junior Grand Warden , R . Inman , Harmony Lodge , No . 275 , Huddersfield ; P . Prov . Senior Grand Deacons , R . Patchett , Probity Lodge , No . 61 , Halifax ; Edward Dickenson , Britannia Lodge , No . 139 , Sheffield ;

Dr . J . W . H . Brown , Goderich Lodge , No . 1211 , and Allerton Lodge , No . 3047 , Leeds ; C . Dilly , Olicana Lodge , No . 1522 , Ilkley ; T . Hargreaves , Doric Lodge , No . 26 95 , Harrogate ; P . Prov . Grand Supt . of Works , W . W . Hutchinson , Friendly Lodge , No . 1513 , Barnsley ; A . Shuttleworlh , Legiolium

Lodge , No . 1542 , Castleford ; S . Hirst , Armitage Lodge , No . 2261 , Milnsbridge ; and P . Prov . Grand Std . Bearer , R . Coates , Royal Forest Lodge , No . 401 , Slaidburn . Invitations as regards the annual meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge in April next were extended from Sheffield

and Wakefield . The brethren subsequently dined together at the Masonic Hall .

Some Notes On Freemasonry In Australia.

Some Notes on Freemasonry in Australia .

By Bro . W . F . LAMO . VISV , P . D . G . M . of Victoria , and P . A . G . D . C . of England .

r pHE INTRODUCTION of the Masonic Craft into the I vast continent of Australia is almost coeval with the foundation of the mother colony of New South Wales . Indeed , in my " new chum" days I was more than once informed by very old colonists tlv . it the establishment of a lodge of Freemasons was invariably one of ( he first

considerations and requirements of a new settlement . It was in the year 17 88 that that part of Australia , subsequently to be known as New South Wales , was proclaimed , though eighteen years previously it had been so designated by Captain James Cook nearly two years after he set sail from

England in his good ship the Endeavour . The famous navigator had duly reported in glowing terms on the potentialities of the country for colonization , but it was not until the close of 1786 that the British Government seriously considered and decided that the time had arrived for

formally taking possession of its new appanage . Practical steps were initiated with the despatch of a fleet of convict transports under the command of Capt . Arthur Phillip , R . N . In due course the long voyage came to an end , and on January 26 th , 1788 , as the historian informs us , " a flagstaff

had been elected and a Union Jack displayed , when the marines fired several volleys , between which the healths of his Majesty and the Royal Family , with success to the new colony , were most cordially drunk . " The landing spot was that part of the great city of Sydney known as Sydney Cove ,

on the east side of the harbour . The first governor was Capt . Phillip , just mentioned , and with various changes of rulers we arrive at the year 1803 , when Capt . King was in power , and when the population of the settlement numbered some 6000 all told . One can readily imagine the tribulations of the governor of a settlement in those days , and ( lie