India.

of the lodge to drink the toast with all honours . ( This was done in true English style . ) Bro . GTOIPEET rose and said : Worshipful Brother Diver aud Brethren , I rise hidden to speak , 1 would rather have listened to a speech , because I am wholly . unprepared ; I must confess I have learned much by being upstairs with you . I , as a Worshipful Master , say , that I admire the working of this lod and as your hospitalitis greatI here

ge , y , take the liberty of stating that , as a Mason , I should like to see a Benevolent Fund established for the Masons of Western India ; the widow , and the orphan , and the destitute would then have to go to one place for help , when they would receive such help as their cases may deserve . " I hope the time is ' not distant when this will he carried out by those who have authority in our Order . Brethren ought not to

forget the lesson of the evening , Charity , which is so properly taught in the first degree . I hope those who can will show that they are Masons by attending at the meeting in the Town Hall , on Wednesday , 25 th April , for the . Strangers ' Society ; our good Governor , who is a Mason at heart , will preside ; let us convince those around that we are not forgetful to entertain strangers . I again thank you on behalf of the Visitors .

Bro . Diver then proposed " The Health of the Newly-Initiated , " to which Bro . A . T . Moorhouse responded . The DISTRICT GEAND MASTEE then rose and said : Before we part , I have a few words to tell you , indeed , I have a pleasing task to perform ; had it been an unpleasant one I would not have shrunk from it , but would have told you your faults . However , on this occasion , I haye to congratulate the Worshipful Master , Officers , and Brethren of

this lodge for the good working of the lodge , for the brotherly love pervading among you all , and for the respect you showto those high in the Order . I am delighted to see such a large gathering . I am sorry I have not been oftener with you ; it was because I was not certain that my stay in India would have been long , but as I now intend to remain so long as health is spared to me , I hope to see -you oftener . Brethren , let me now propose the last toast" Happy to meetsorry to

, , part , and happy to meet again . ' , The bretluen sang , " Auld Lang Syne " in honour of the distinguished guest and visitor , the District Grand Master . The excellent singing of Bros . H . Dwyer , Bourne , Burton , W . G . King , D . Young , and others , jadded greatly to the pleasures of the evening , and the happy band of brothers separated at 10 p . m .

Masonic Statistics.

MASONIC STATISTICS .

[ The following was sent to the National Freemason by our Bro . Brown , of Turkey in Europe : ] In a work entitled "A General Histoiy of Freemasonry , " published in Paris , there is an interesting account of our Order , from which the following has been extracted . It says that , from the most recently obtained information , there exists at the present time , some 5 , 000 lodges in all parts of the world , comprising 500000 active membersand that the full number of

, , the brethren is some 3 , 000 , 000 : — "Freemasonry is spread over the five parts of the globe , viz : over Europe , Asia , Africa , America , and Australia . In Europe it flourishes almost everywhere , protectedjand respected . England , Scotland , Ireland , Sweden , Denmark , Holland , Saxony , the minor German States , France , Switzerland , and a part of Protestant Bavariacontain about 3000 lod governed b

, , ges , y twenty-one Grand Lodges . " In Africa , lodges are found in Algeria , Egypt , Senegal , Senegambia , Guinea , the Cape of Good Hope , " Mozambique , the Canary Islands , the Marquesas , at St . Helena , and at the islands of Renmin and Maurice . "In America the prosperity of the Order is immense , and there is no State but has its Grand Lodge . Freemasonry has

reached the very extremity of this vast continent . Nova Scotia and New Brunswick , as well as Newfoundland , have erected temples to the Great Architect ot the Universe . Mexico and California have now more than one hundred lodges . The great Antilles , Cuba , Porto Rico , and Jamaica have each a lodge , and Hayti has one Grand Lodge and fifteen lodges , As to the Antilles , some of them have no lodge , whilst others have two . Although but recently introduced into South America , it has there spread with wonderful rapidity ; for not only the French , English , and Dutch Guiana , the Republics o ' f Venezuela .

Masonic Statistics.

Guatemala , Colombia , Bolivia , Peru , the United Provinces of La Plata , Uraguay , Paraguay , & c , possess lodges , but Rio Janeiro , the capital of Brazil , has its Grand Lodge and some twenty dependent lodges . " In Asia , for more than a century , Hindostan has received Freemasonry . There are lodges at Bombay , Pondicherry , Allahabad , Singapore , the Carnat , Darraly , Concan , Fettighur , & c A Grand Lodge exists at Agra , in Bengal ; there are two

lodges in Canton ( China ) and in the Islands of Ceylon and Prince of Wales , at Teheran ( Persia ) , and several in Turkey . " ( In the latter there is a Grand Lodge at Constantinople , and several lodges dependent upon the Grand Lodges of England , Scotland , the United States , France , and Italy , all working in the various languages of those and other countries . There are several lodges at Smyrna , Beyroot , and Alexandria , and there will soon be a Grand Lodge in Greece . )

" In Oceanica Freemasonry w-as iutroduced in 1730 , in the Island of Java . At the present time there are lodges at Sumatra , New Holland , New South Wales , New Zealand , aud Van Diemen's Laud . " Thus in the course of a century Freemasonry has spread over the whole globe , sowing in its path the seeds of civilisation and progress . The ameliorations which have been made in the ideas and manifested in the acts of a vast number of men during this period all come from the mysterious teachings of

Freemasonry , and the principles and usages contracted m the lodges have been carried into ordinary life by the brethren . " Of the 5 , 000 lodges in existence , 3 , 000 are in Europe , 1 , 400 in America , and 600 in Asia , Africa , aud Australia , " The writer adds : " Freemasonry was not publicly know in Italy previous to 1859 , except in Piedmont , where , in 1848 , the lamented and distinguished BroCavourthe Grand Master practiced itIn

. , . 18 ' 54 the Italian lodges mostly were of the Scotch rite ; some few were of the French , dependent upon foreign Grand Lodges . The first independent lodge , called the 'Ansonia , ' was founded in Turin in 1859 , and its first W . M . was the aged and highly respected Bro . Delfine . Soon after this others were founded dependent upon the former , which is the present lodge . In 1861 twenty-nine lodges met in convention for the purpose of forming

by-laws , & c , and voted a medal of hononr to the illustrious Bro . Garibaldi , with the title of the " First Mason of Italy . " Soon after , it entered into correspondence with , and was recognised by , through the missions deputed by it , the lodges of Portugal , Belgium , & c The Grand Lodge was established at Turin , and now there are lodges there , at Milan , and , indeed , in most of the larger cities of Italo . Italian Masonry has , since 1859 ,

been widely extended , and there are other lodges dependent upon its Grand Lodge at Athens , Syra , Constantinople , Alexandria , Cairo , Tripoli , and Tunis . " He thus concludes his interesting statistics of

Freemasonry : — " Our reader may draw his own conclusions as to how much the Sovereign Pontiff of Rome obeyed a holy inspiration when he formally denounced to the world the perils of Freemasonry , in his recent ' Consistorial Allocution . ' The animadversions of Le Monde' ( a French Catholic organ ) were certainly well founded if it he judged by the number of lodges and Freemasons now in . existence , and it is high time that these perils of mankind and to religion were taken into serious consideration ! It may here be added that Freemasonry exists even in Rome , under the very beard of its uncompromising foe , Cordinal Antonelli !"

Reviews.

REVIEWS .

A . Century of Sonnets .- Lines on the Burns Gommmemoration of 1859 . The Funeral of Canning , and other Verses . By JACOB JONES , author of " Bural Sonnets , " & c . London : Alfred W . Bennett , 5 , Bishopsgate Without . 1 S 66 . We haye been very much , pleased -with this volume . It contains real poetry . Let the following be taken as a

specimen . The subject is one ever welcome to the true Mason : — SYMPATHY . In others' joy I take unfeigned joy ; In others' happiness I find a balm ; So that the first he pure , without alloy , The latter equable , benign , and calm .