Provincial.

Bro . Cordingley expressed his thanks to tho brethren for the distinguished honour conferred upon him , and said that it was with great diffidence he prepared to discharge the duties pertaining to the Master ' s chair after the very efficient and able manner in which his predecessor , Bro . Peel , P . M . had performed them ; he , however , relied on their support and kind forbearance , and trusted that whatever might be the result of his of officehe should be able to leave that chair unstained

year , to his successor as it had been handed to him . He then invested the following brethren as his officers : —Bros . C . Brook , S . AV ; R . Johnson , J . W . ; J . Beanland , S . D . ; S . Pollard , J . D . ; George Englehardt , I . G . ; T . Fallon , O . G . ; J . Denton and J . AVright , Stewards ; J . Ward , P . M ., Treas . ; S . 0 . Bailey , P . M ., Secretary . ^ The lodge was then closed , and the brethren adjourned to the refreshment room , where , according to ancient usage , they

celebrated the Festival of St . John . The lodge was honoured by the presence of twenty-one Past Masters , including the Masters of the neighbouring loclges , as well as other visitors .

Royal Arch.

ROYAL ARCH .

INSTRUCTION . METEOPOLITAN CHAPTEE . —At the meeting of this chapter held last Tuesday evening , the 29 th ult ., at the George Hotel , Aldermanbury , there were present Comps . Stevens , Z . Penny , H . Pendlebury , J . Cox , P . S . Buss , Treas . and Assist . Soj . ; Brett , and many other companions . The chapter was declared opened , and the minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed , after which the ceremony of exaltation was rehearsech Comp

. Lemaitre being the candidate » . Comp . Brett , the Preceptor , then worked the third clause of the first section , ancl the first , second , and third clauses of the second section . It was unanimously resolved that a vote of thanks be recorded on the minutes to Comp . Stevens for the very able manner in which lie had discharged the duties of his higli office . The undermentioned companions were ^ then unanimously elected members of the chapterviz .: HodgesP . Soj . and Levander of Chapter

, , , No . 720 . The following companions were appointed to office for the ensuing fortnight , viz .: Stevens , Z . Penny , H . AV . Turner , J . Cox , N . Hodges , P . Soj . ; Smithers , 1 st Assist ., and Levander , 2 nd Assist ., Sojs . The chajiter was then closed and adjourned to Tuesday evening next , the 3 rd July , when the working of the sections will be resumed . The chapter opens at seven o ' clock every Tuesday .

CUMBERLAND . CAEMSIE . —Ghaptcr of Union ( No . 310 . )—The annual convocation of this chapter held at- the Freemasons' Hall , was convened for Monday , the 25 th ult ., for the purpose , of re-electing the three first principals , and appointing the office bearers for the ensuing year ; the chapter was opened in due form by the M . E . C ., Thomas Routledge , Past Z . of AVington , and ably b

supported y M . E . C , F . AV . Hayward . Comps . Thomas Blacklock , H . W . Murray , J . M . Fisher , Scribe E . ; J . Brown , N . ; G . G . Hayward , Prin . Soj . ; J . Howe , Assist . Soj . ; also Comps . W . Carrick , J . Turnbull , W . Johnston , Thomas Pratchill , J . Slack , Henry Fleming , J . Barnes Janitor . Comp . AA . Fisher , Scribe E „ read the minutes of a former meeting , which were put to the assembly , and passed accordingly . A candidate , Bro . Arthur WoodhouseEngineerLod ( No 310 ) Carlislewas in

, , ge . , , attendance , proved a Master Mason , and of clue probation , was prepared and exalted in this high and holy degree ; paid his fees and signified his intention of being a subscribing member Comp . Fisher proposed Bro . Baynton Hayne , of Lodge No . 339 , Penrith , as a fit and proper person to be exalted in this chapter . The officers for the ensuing year are M . E . C . F . AV . Hayward , Z . ; Thomas Blacklock HAV AVoodhouse

, . ; . Murray , J . Comps . A . , S . E ; Henry Fleming , N . ; J . Howe , Prin . Soj . ; AV . Johnston , Assist . Soj . Comp . M . Fisher tendered his resignation of this chapter . This convocation was formally closed , and the companions retired to refreshment , and parted in peace at an early hour . J

Scotland.

SCOTLAND .

AVE . —On Monday , the 25 th June current , the Lodge Ayr

and Renfrew Militia St . Paul , No . 204 , dined in the AVhip Inn , and through its Chairman—Bro . D . Murray Lyon ( ono of the Grand Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland ) , assisted b y Bros . Colour-Sergeant Sim , AA'illiain Guthrie , and James Houston ( Secretary ) , as croupiers—presented Bro . AVilliam D . Chambers with a handsome gold watch , in token of the lodge ' s esteem for him as its thrice re-elected Master , and in appreciation of his highly successful management of St . Paul's during the four

years he has held its principal chair . The gift . was accompanied by a beautiful gold finger-ring for Mrs . Chambers . The strength in which brethren of the Royal North BritisbFusiliers attended on the occasion , recalled to mind the period of St . Paul ' s existence as a military lodge . Tbe following non-commissioned officers of the above-named corps were present : —Colour-Sergt . Sim ( who wore quite a breastful of military decorations , ineluding the Cross of the French Legion of Honour ) ,

Sergeant-Instructor of Musketry , AVm . M'Cowan ( who returned thanks for the army ) , Armoury-Sergeant Dougall , Sergeants Stinchcombe , Rivington ( Crimean medal ) , Burnside , ancl Corporal Harker , with Sergeant Waddell ( Crimean medal ) of the Army-Hospital Corps . The watch , which is of the Grand Jeweller ' s manufacture ( Alex . Hay , Princes-street , Edinburgh ) , was much admired . The following is the substance of Bro . Lyon's remarks on making the presentation : — " AVorshipful Wardens and

Brethren , —Conjoined with the lodge's celebration of the festival of St . John the Baptist , is its formal payment of the debt of gratitude which it owes to our Right AVorshipful brother , tbe guest of the evening . The spontaniety of the movement which has resulted in my temporary occupancy of the oriental chair of my mother lodge speaks so forcibly of the esteem in which you hold the Master of this lodge , as to render superfluous any remarks that Ias your mouthpiececould make at this the most

in-, , teresting part of the night's proceedings . To advance anything in support and approval of the particular act of the lodge which has brought together so many of its sons , would be but the recapitulation of what I have elsewhere said on the subject ; ancl having , more frequently , perhaps , than any other individual member of St . Paul ' s , led the lodge in its expression of regard for its present Master , little more is required of me than to place in the hands of my friend and brother on my right the

testimonial which has been voted from the funds under your control . For the sake , liowever , of those who have but recentl y joined our fraternal circle , I may be permitted in a sentence to advert to the services for which our guest is about to receive the testimonial which you have delegated me to present . Called to the Mastership of this lodge at a time when its fair fame was somewhat tarnished through the disunion and discord which had to some extent usurped the place of fraternal concord

Bro . Chambers entered upon the accomplishment of no easy task , when acceding to the unanimous wish of the members be relinquished the level to assume the trowel wherewith to build up and cement the then dilapidated walls of his mother lodge . That Bro . Chambers has realised the expectations of those who at first elected him to the Mastership , is abundantly testified by the aspect of the present meeting . Not only so—but the acquisitions which have during the past four been made to

years our membership—the various public appearances of the brethren during the same period—the harmony which characterises our business and social meetings , not to speak of the decorum which prevails in the lodge during the conferring ofthe degrees—all unite in furnishing one grand proof of the success which lias attended the efforts of Bro . Chambers to restore Ayr St . Paul ' s to its former prestige . Right AVorshipful Sir , —Nearly five years ago I had the pleasure of moving your appointment to the chair of StPaul

. ' s—during the period which has elapsed , I have had frequent opportunities for noting the mode in which you have wrought this lodge—and it now affords me unfei gned pleasure to present you in the name of its members with this mark of their high appreciation of your Masonic labours ; and they desire me to accompany the act with an expression of the hope that you may be long spared to consult the dial of the watch which I now hand to you ; and when you are called upon to bid farewell to this

sublunary scene , may your dyiim- couch be surrounded hysons worthy of inheriting this token " of the esteem in which their father was held . " Bro . Chambers ' s reply was chaste and appropriate . " Masonic literature" was proposed by Bro . Houston , in an eloquent speech . Many other toasts were given and responded to . Corporal Harker recited some verses ot his own composition , which were really good , considering that they were written amid the din and bustle of a soldier's barrack-room .