Provincial.

which the warrant of the Lodge completed one hundred years of its existence . The W . M . Bro . Croft was in the chair , and about sixty Brethren of the Lodge were present on the occasion . The usual loyal and Masonic toasts having been given , the W . M . alluded to the occasion on which they had met that evening , and after congratulating the Brethren upon the present prosperity of the Lodge , and the bright prospects of the future which had opened before them , he proposed as

a toast , " Continued Success and Prosperity to the Humber Lodge ( No . 65 ); ' * and he called upon P . M . Bro . Smith to respond . In answer to the call made upon him , Bro . Smith proceeded to reply , and in doing so , said , that in taking a review of some part of the past ^ hi st ory of the Lodge , there would naturally be brought back to the mind memories of friends departed , whose hands they had once pressed , but who were now lying crumbling in the dust . Fancy would repeople old scenes , now almost buried in oblivion ; yet painful , perhaps , as some of these

memories might be , it could not fail to be a source of gratification to those still amongst us , to find the Lodge in the prosperous state in which it at present stood . The history of the Lodge commenced with the issuing of the warrant in 1756 , from which period , down to 1775 , there were no known records in existence ; therefore the first nineteen years was a perfect blank . Prom 1775 to 1809 , a period of thirty * four years , but little of its history was known , save that a Lodge was held under the warrant at a house in Strand-street , Liverpool , known by the sign of the

Duck and Dog , under the name of "Ancient Knight Templars Lodge , during which period the Lodge was respectably conducted , and many Masons , both Englishmen and foreigners , particularly Americans , were iidtiated under it . Owing to the Brethren of the Ancient Knight Templars Lodge having united themselves with other Lodges in Liverrpool , the warrant became dormant until 1809 , when it was obtained by some Brethren in Hull , and they , having first obtained the consent of the Grand Lodge , opened a Lodge at the Fleece Inn

here the name was changed to the " Humber Lodge . " For ten years the Brethren met , and in the course of that period 208 Masons were made or joined the Lodge . Notwithstanding this accession of numbers , however , the Lodge fell into decay ; and , after various disputes , the warrant got into the hands of a few old Masons , who held their meetings in a small room at the Turk ' s Head Inn . This continued for four years , when , owing to a sudden accession of members , it was resolved to establish a Masonic Hall , which was first opened in 1827 , from which period

down to the present time the Lodge has been most prosperously conducted , and there have been initiated , or admitted members of the Lodge , no less than 677 Masons . At the present time the Lodge has 200 subscribing members ; and , independent of their Masonic Hall and paraphernalia , there had been accumulated a benevolent fund for the relief of poor and distressed Brethren amounting to £ 2 , 119 . 10 s . This Lodge had sometimes been accused of not doing sufficient with the funds at its disposal . He ( Bro . Smith ) had taken the trouble to go through

the Treasurer ' s books , and found that during the last ten years there had been expended from the funds of the Lodge £ 221 . 16 s . for educational purposes ; that in local charities within the last five years there had been given away . £ 37 . 16 s . ; that there had been given out of the benevolent fund £ 155 . 2 s . within the last ten years ; and for casual and other relief there had been expended £ 518 . 5 s . 3 d . ; and , on a late occasion , when it was thought that the worthy Secretary ought to receive a substantial acknowledgment for his invaluable services , the Brethren of

the Humber Lodge subscribed amongst themselves £ 225 . He then congratulated the Brethren upon their future prospects , and trusted that the Master who one hundred years hence might fill the chair would be able to give a better account than he ( Bro . Smith ) had done on the present occasion . P . M . Bro . Seaton proposed the next toast , which was " The Founders of the Humber Lodge . " P . M . Bro . Feetam , as the oldest member of the Lodge , returned thanks , and said it was extremely gratifying to him to find that the Lodge was in so prosperous a state as it was . and he trusted that those Brethren into whose hands in the natural

course of . events the management of the funds would fall , would exercise a watchful care that they were distributed judiciously , and not wasted by extravagance . The health of the W . M . and his officers was then proposed , and responded to , after which the Brethren separated . YOL . IT . 3 x