A Lost Province.

division of provinces , or how Masonic provinces are divided with regard to count y divisions , I did fancy that Hampton Court was in Middlesex . Yours fraternally ; INQUIRER .

The Province Of Berks And Bucks.

THE PROVINCE OF BERKS AND BUCKS .

TO THE EDITOR OE THE IliEEHASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIBUOH . Dear Sir and Brother , —Feeling great interest in the meetings of the Provincial Grand Lodges usually held at this season of the year , I have read with much pleasure the success of those held in Devonshire , Hampshire , and elsewhere , but have scanned

your pages in vain to find any report of the one held for this province on the 14 th of July , at Maidenhead , the only record 1 have seen being from a local paper , ¦ which describes it as " a very meagre affair ; " and , on enquiry , while I find at similar meetings , members numbering their hundreds assemble under their

respective banners to do honour to the occasion , the gathering of this united province of Berks and Bucks , with its ten lodges , mustered on that day in Grand Lodge thirty-two ! * and no meeting of the Maidenhead Lodge was held that day to receive them , two of its members onl y being present ; neither could it

be said that Grand Lodge was either opened or closed "in form" with anything like decency , as the Grand Registrar did all the work himself , not one of his officers knowing a syllable about it ; and , further to show their appreciation of the " coveted purple , " five only of the officers were present to be invested ; not even the S . G . W . was there to receive his collar

, evidently showing he did not think the honour worth the trouble attending it- and , as to the Grand Stewards , not one was appointed ! Well might it be described as " a very meagre affair . " However , on the conclusion of this very important and influential . gathering , some sixteen (' . !) formed themselves into

a grand procession , and like Falstaff ' s recruits , marched through the town , a distance of one mile and a half , _ to Boyne Hill Church , in full regaliasome in light suits , some in dark , and some even in the wide-awake hat—that after the service some twenty-three dined together at the Town Hall of that

place , four or five of whom were not eveu subscribing members to any lodge , and that of the members of the Maidenhead Lodge , as I said before , only two attended the proceedings at all . Such are the facts , or rather a portion of the facts ¦ ( as I should not care to pen all I have heard

respecting this grand event ) that I have been enabled to gather of the meeting of 1 S 68 , and I should only be too happy to find I have been misinformed . Surely there must be something rotten at the core to cause such a state of things as this , and I do not think there will be much difficulty in arriving at the cause . In 1862 the then Prov . G . M ., the late Bro . the

The Province Of Berks And Bucks.

Marquis of Downshire , resigned his office , having ceased for some years to take any interest in the Craft , and under whose rule tbe province had almost ceased to exist . It was then resuscitated under the charge of the Grand Registrar of England until a successor should be appointed ; but from that time till the presentnow six years sinceno such

appoint-, , ment has been , or does appear likely will be made , although many good and true men , in every respect qualified , could be found in the province . But , when any allusion has been made to those hig h in authority respecting it , the answer invariably given is , they " want a man of hih standing and position with

g some status in the province . " Our experience of "position" without Masonic qualification in the person of the late Marquis , has been and is still its bane . What we require to rouse us from our lethargic state is a man with energy and zeal ; and , if the feelings of the province were consultedsuch an one could

, be found . I do hope to live long enough to see a new state of things effected in our Order ; and one amongst others is that each province shall have the authority to elect its own G . M ., subject to the approval or confirmation of Grand Lodge , feeling sure some such system would in every respect tend

to the advancement of the interests of the Craft ; but , as at present constituted , many Provincial Grand Masters , like the Grand Registrar , make their annual visit to distribute the purple amongst brethren that they know nothing of , either as to their proficiency as Masons or their private

character , and this is all that is seen of the "Masonic chief" from one year's end to another . Your correspondent , "P . M . ' ' on "The Grand Secretaryship , " says that it is most desirable that a limit 'should be fixed to the term of any Provincial Grand Master—say three or four years , but what

remedy will he prescribe for a province that has been six years without any Grand Master at all ? Such is our case , and surely something should be done to cause our provincial meetings to be respected , and save us a repetition of the miserable display at Maidenhead , making our Order to be nothing more than a

laughing-stock for the small boys of the village in witnessing sixteen fully caparisoned Masons walking a mile and a half in solemn procession , as representing a large province like this , illustrating , after the publicity given to the expectant gathering , the fable of the mountain in labour bringing forth a mouse . Had we a Provincial Grand Master—such an

one as I have before named—that would command the respect of the province instead of its being kept under the charge of the Grand Registrar , as at present , the case would have been very different , and unless a change is speedily made in our province—I , as an old subscribing member to the province , say most seriousland deliberately that it will dwindle

y down to comparative insignificance , from which con dition it is , even now , not far removed . Yours fraternally , DTTM viviims VIVAMUS .

Votes For The Masonic Charities.

VOTES FOR THE MASONIC CHARITIES .

TO THE EDITOE OF THE EHEEMASONs' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIEEOE . Dear Sir and Brother , —As an active East Lancashire Mason , and one who has taken part in the