Some Notes On Freemasonry In Australasia.-(Continued).

kind m existence , namel y . Harmonic Lodge , No . 356 , Island of St . Thomas , Virgin Islands , West Indies . This lodge was warranted in 1818 , and is still working ; it has also a Royal Arch Chapter . In the year 18 39 the Grand Lodge of England taking a leaf out of its neighbour's book , created a Provincial Grand Lodge of Australia , the ruler

appointed to that merely nominal office being " George Robert Nichol , Esquire . " At the time of his appointment he had but three lodges under his control , the second oldest being the Lodge of Adelaide , No . 613 , constituted under most interesting circumstances in London , in the year 18 34 , two

years before the Colony of South Australia was proclaimed , but of which lodge more anon , under its proper heading . The third lodge in this vast provincial area was that of St . John , No . 668 , at Parramatta , near Sydney , warranted in 18 3 8 , and erased in 1862 . Below are the Provincial or District Grand Masters of New South Wales under the

English Constitution : — Capt . George Long-Innes .. ... 18 4 8 Sir Samuel Osborne Gibbs , Bart . ... 1835 John Williams ... ... ... 1861 Hon . Arthur Todd Holroyd ... 1867 John Williams ... ... ... 1 877 Baron Carrington , G . C . M . G . ... 1888

Lord Carrington , it should be explained , went out to New South Wales as Governor of that colony . Six years before his lordship had served the office of Senior Grand Warden of England , but though designated District Grand Master of New South Wales , he was never installed , for the reason that the present United Grand Lodge being then on the eve

of its inauguration , he was elected the first Grand Master . The lodges under the English Constitution yearly went on increasing , as many as fne being opened in one year , till 1888 , when the last warrant was granted , that of the Barrier , No . 2276 , at Broken Hill , the Australian Argentina . When

the present sovereign body was created , the total warrants then granted by the Mother Grand Lodge of the world in New South Wales , from 1828 , in sixty years reached ninety-one . The great personality of the English iv ' ifi ' nit' was , undoubtedly , Bro . John Williams , under whose rule the Craft had flourished

exceedingly , and it is specially worthy of note that during his reign , the present Benevolent Institution and University Scholarship ( named after him ) were founded . He was the Deputy from 1830 till he succeeded Sir Samuel Osborne Gibbs . Bro . Williams abstained from any active part in the erection of the now existing Grand Lodge , and his views as

to ifs utility stopped at a union of the English , Irish , and Scottish lodges , excluding those hailing from the unrecognised body started in 1877 . An able administrator , in very troublous times , he died in 1889 , universally regretted , and he was accorded a Masonic funeral , in which the Past Masters

of his Mother Lodge of Australia , No . 390 ( No . 3 under the New South Wales Constitution ) , were most prominent . Bro . Williams was one of the founders of the now famous Cambrian Lodge of Australia in 18 55 , as was also Bro . Holroyd .

We now turn to the Scottish Constitution in New South Wales , premising that the first lodge was opened in Sydney , in the year 1851 , under the designation of St . Andrew , No . 358 . This was not by any means the first Scotch lodge in Australia , for eight years previously one had been chartered in Melbournein the colony then known as Port Phillip ,

, which , for administrative purposes , was under the government of New South Wales . But this lodge of St . Andrew was subsequently the sponsor—through its Provincial Grand Lodge—of Scolch lodges in the neighbouring colonics , as for instancein 1838 the Lodge of " Judah , in Melbourne

, , ( nor No . 20 , Victorian Constitution ) ; another St . Andrew , in Auckland , New Zealand , in 1861 ; and a third , named after Scotland ' s patron saint , in Brisbane , Queensland , three years subsequently . The Brisbane lodge , as is gathered from a Historical Review of the late Scottish Coiis / iiuliou , in New South

Wales , compiled by its last District Grand Secretary , Bro . William Higstrim , was granted its dispensation " on condition that the name of the R . W . M . be omitted and some other

brother appointed . " The year after , however , the lodge in question " disclaimed allegiance " to the Provincial Grand Lodge of New South Wales , the chiefs of which , Provincial and District , were : — Robert Campbell 1856

Dr . John McFarlane i 860 Dr . John Beh'sario ... 1865 Dr . William Gillctt Sedgwick ... 1870 In 1876 , yet a fourth St . Andrew Lodge was warranted by the Scottish Province of New South Wales , this time at Launceston , in Tasmania . This lodge also eventually shook

THK LA'I'K HON . DR . MAI'FA I ! LANK , M . L . P ., P . G . SI . OF NKW SOPTII WALKS , S . C . off the local control , and put itself in direct communication with Edinburgh . It is now No . 6 on the Tasmanian roll . Harking back to the old St . Andrew Lodge , however ,

as , has earlier been mentioned , it had its troubles , not only with the province , but likewise with the Grand Lodge , indeed , it was the first lodge suspended for refusing to pay dues , and notice of the suspension was intimated to the lodges under the other constitutions in the neighbouring

colonies . This was in 18 72 , and the climax was arrived at when a Grand Lodge was started by the recalcitrant daughter lodge as already mentioned . In the same year , quoting the minutes of the Provincial Grand Lodge , it was

ordered" That steps be taken to prevent the Lodge St . Andrew , No . r , New South Wales Constitution , as well as the suspended Lodge St . Andrew , No . 35 8 , Scottish Constitution , holding their meetings in that part of the building devoted to Masonic purposes , and that the directors of the Freemasons' Hall , York

Street , be informed of the suspension having been confirmed by the Grand Lodge of Scotland . " Expulsion from the Craft succeeded the suspension , whilst in 1875 , the Lodge St . Andrew , No . 35 8 , was reopened , with the District Grand Secretary , Bro . Higstrim , as R . W . M .

There are several incidents connected with the history of the old St . Andrew Lodge , prior to and after the secession , that are worthy of reproduction . In 18 57 , six years after its foundation , it must have been a lodge of superior standing , seeing that the members paid the expenses of a widow and

the large family of a member of the Lodge Journeyman , in Edinburgh , back to the old country , besides remitting to the Grand Secretary a substantial sum to be handed to the