For The Last Twenty Years.

death . * Captain Hillier , 14 th Light Dragoons , aide-de-camp for many years at Government House , and a general favourite in society here ; poor Sweetenham , of the 16 tk Lancers , who died a soldier ' s death in the glorious charge at Alliwal , and a tablet to whose memory is in the anteroom of the third

floor of our Masonic Hall ; Major Boileau , well known in our Masonic literature as A . H . E . B ., and as the immediate predecessor in the Provincial Grand Master's chair of R . W . Bro . Sandeman ; Arthur Sanders , and other military men—what a lot of military officers we had iu those days ! Then

Dr . Wallich , superintendent of the Botanical Gardens , an old man in years before he became a Mason , but as young in heart and thought as any Entered Apprentice before or after him . Wallich was , if I mistake not , greatly on the wrong side of fifty when he was initiated , two or three years after

I was ; but , as he himself told me , he felt he had neglected all his previous time in keeping out of Masonry . f As soon as he entered it , he did indeed make up for lost time in the love and zeal he showed for the Craft . He was a perfect child in his ardour for Masoniy , and there was no act of kindness which he would not have done , if it lay in his power to do it , for a distressed brother . No worthier Mason ever lived than Dr . Wallich .

He , too , has gone to his long home ; but we may well hope that he will be found where his kind old Danish heart will be glad to re-welcome those it was haijpy to mingle with in lodge . We had also John King , for many years chief clerk and afterwards judge of the Small Cause Court . To

his memory , also , a tablet hangs in our Mosonic Hall . Again , another tablet hanging there reminds us of poor George Newman , of the then firm of Leach , Kettlewell , and Co ., who was cut off by cholera—a very young man , and with excellent prospectsand for a while he was Master of Lodge

, Industry and Perseverance . For many years a personal friend of nay own , I cannot venture to say much , of him , lest I should write somewhat extravagantly on the subject . I will say this much of George Newman , that I do not believe it was j ) ossible for him to make an enemy , and no one who

knew him failed to be his friend . Charles Huffnagle , the American Consul , doctor , and merchant , known to all his friends as Huffy , was Junior Warden in Industry when I was Senior , with Ilbery as our Master . Iu those days we had many American brethren among us , and many of

my brethren will recal the duets of Torry and Tuckerman , and the strong . lungs of Wilmer { " Biler , " as he was universally called ) when he shouted out is favourite song" 0 ! carry me back to old Yirginny , To old Virginia ' s shore . " If report speaks true , "Biler" finds that the

For The Last Twenty Years.

Britisher's peaceful and pleasant island home is a better place just now than old Virginny . Poor Amory , also , was au American . He , too , died a sudden death by cholera , to the sincere regret of all who knew him . But I cannot name all of our Masonic friends who have left us during the

last twenty years : there are too many . * But often and often in lodge do I think of them , and the memory of each haunts me like

" The phantom of a silent song That comes and goes a thousand times . " And now , in closing my subject , let me say that , for the last twenty years , I have , in Masonry , made many and many a friend , and have never once found an enemy or met with ill-will ; and it is zny

happiness still to mix with Freemasons , and my hope is that the same happiness may be accorded to me for the next twemjy years . Though it has been my good fortune never , in my own case , to have had to appeal for assistance " as a brother in distress , " I sincerely believe , in fact I know , that much kindness and consideration have often been

shown to me ( as always is the case in Masonry ) , and my many shortcomings have been gently thought of , owing to my connection with the Craft . Need I therefore say to any reader of this letter , who is not a Freemason , that I heartily commend him to become and continue one , for a man cannot

aspire to anything worthier in life than to be a good Mason . As such , a man may well possess the hope so beautifully expressed by Tennyson , in words very slightly altered by me" To pass ere life her light withdraws , Not void of righteous self-applause ,

Nor in a merely selfish cause , In some good cause , not all his own , To pass his life , ere helpless grown , Then perish , wept for , honoured , known . "

To which I would make my own poor addition—And thus , while weeping brethren shed Their tears around his dying bed , Of him to have this requiem said"' Through weal and woe , from morn to e ' en , Throughout life ' s long and chequered scene , A true Freemason he has been , " W . H . A .

Savile House: Why Was It Burnt?

SAVILE HOUSE : WHY WAS IT BURNT ?

[ Whilst we are building , and ere it is too late , we would commend the following observations from the Builder to our Building Committee , though we believe every precaution is being taken to make our New Hall as safe as possible ] : —¦ The accounts of the destruction of Saville

House by fire have omitted notice of circumstances that would deserve to be remembered in any efforts to develop a system of construction less productive of danger than that which now prevails . Something has been written , iu our own pages especially , concerning the system which allows each house—or in the mojority of cases . —to be as