Our Architectural Chapter.

sitting room . -The height of a Lodge room is always liable to be diminished to the eye by the raised seats ot the officers . This hall is laid out and decorated with strict Masonic propriety . The banqueting room is of the same height , ancl twenty-three feet long by sixteen feet broad . There are besides , a preparing room and a reception room , with suitable conveniences . The rooms are said to be handsomely

decorated . It is pretty well known that a preparing room is too often one requisite neglected , and in some p laces the candidate is passed across a common passage . Indeed it cannot be reasonably expected that a tavern built for other purposes , or assembly rooms , should be found suited for the purposes of our ritual . If we understand ri ghtly , the Druid ' s LoclgeNo . 859 at Redruth ,

, , have their own rooms . The Ereemasons' Hall , Lewes , is not connected with a tavern , but is devoted to Masonic purposes , ancl the banquets are held at a tavern . The Ereemasons' Hall at Newcastle-on-Tyne is in Blackett-street . It is used for Masonic purposes , and bancpiets are held at hotels . A Ereemasons' Hall at Dumfries has to be recorded in our pages .

At Dunfermline is a hall , called the St . Johns Hall , where the Lodges meet , but we do not know whether it is solely appropriated to Masonic purposes . The Masons of Nos . 13 , 73 , ancl 338 , of the Irish register in the city of Limerick , are reported to have Lodge rooms . The Masonic hall in Humber-street , Hull , was built in 1827 , of be at

which some particular ^ will found p . 186 , where it is described as substantial and second perhaps to none in the provinces , as being free from debt , provided with an endowed fund , and possessing elegant and costly Masonic furniture ancl paraphernalia ; whilst during the period that the Lodge met in taverns its career was frequently marked by adversity .

Masonry In Africa.

MASONRY IN AFRICA .

The West African Herald is probably the smallest weekly newspaper in her Majesty ' s dominions . It consists of four small quarto pages , each of which may contain as much as one and a half of this journal . It must by no means however be considered an insignificant organ of public opinion ; on tlie contrary , in perusing its columns , we are impressed ivith a weighty sense of its importance—an aristocratic air pervades the whole ; the very news-agents are all " Esquires "—though we must confess that those who

act for the Herald in London and Manchester have selected as their residence somewhat obscure , not to say low , localities . It ought , therefore , without doubt , to be considered no small compliment to the Masonic fraternity , that nearly half of this limited ( and we presume valuable ) space , in the number for December 80 th , is devoted to the proceedings of the Gold Coast Loclge , who three clays before had given a "grand . ball" at Government House , Cape Coast . We arc glad to find that the Brethren