Contents.

CONTENTS .

EDITORIALS : OUR SECOND VOLUME ; MASONIC HALLS ... 327 THE ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION TOR BOYS 328 NOTIFICATIONS 328 PROPOSED MASONIC HALL AT DEPTFORD 328

OUR TRESTLE BOARD 329 MASONIC POET ' CORNER 329 PROVINCIAL NOTES 329 'W HITE FOR—BLACK AGAINST" 329 & 330 ADVERTISEMENTS Front cover , 326 , 330 , 331 , 332

Our Second Volume.

Our Second Volume .

ITH this number we complete the Second Volume of THE MASONIC STAR . It affords us the opportunity for thanking those members of the Craft who have given us

encouragement during the past year ; and especially those connected with our District Lodges , whose larger

proportionate assistance is somewhat remarkable when comparing the respective home and foreign sections of our subscribers ' lists . That we have supplied to a considerable extent the

expressed want of our Colonial brethren for masonic home news , at a minimum of cost , is a source of much gratification to ourselves : and we shall hope to be enabled to

continue to merit further and increased support from them . It would not be altogether truthful in us to say that our fullest expectations have been realised , in respect of the

furtherance of our work , by the more general patronage of the Lodges and their members in this country . There is much wanting in this respect . Nevertheless we have

reason to be satisfied that so much has been done in our behalf , and in that of extending the literature of Freemasonry amongst all classes of our brethren . At the

moment we have before us an attempt to increase the sphere of our usefulness , and much will depend on the response which may be given to the proposals made in

connection with this journal as to our immediate and future course of action . We have it ill contemplation rather to enlarge than diminish our pages , and the present

issue must not be considered as by any means a sample of past or future numbers . In view of preparations for intended extension , the lessened interest in all masonic

work during the vacation , the dearth of any masonic news of importance , and other cognate reasons , amongst which may be fairly taken into account relaxation for ourselves ,

we have ventured to close our second volume in a somewhat contracted form , reserving sundry communications , correspondence and essays for the opening of Volume Three .

Masonic Halls.

Masonic Halls .

E have noted with much satisfaction , during the past twelve months , an evident and very laudable desire , on the part of individual lodges in some instances , and by the

aggregation of several lodges in the same town or district in others , to secure for the especial purposes of the esoteric work of Freemasonry , accommodation distinct from that

afforded by buildings erected or utilized for other objects ^ It has long been a growing evil , if not a scandal to the Craft , that association with premises of a public character

has been more or less encouraged . Whether or not these are connected with businesses subject to supervision under the licensing laws of the country , or applied to other

objects which adversely affect the absolutely necessary privacy of lodge working , —in other words , if the place ol meeting be one of general public resort , —it is injurious to

Freemasonry , the inviolable secrecy connected with whicli should ever be considered as paramount and essential to its vital interests .

Amongst other projects for the erection of masonic halls , some of whicli have been carried to a successful issue , and others are now in course of development , we have had

occasion to record since the first day of October , 1888 , the following . On that date the foundation stone of a new masonic hall was laid at Howden , Yorks . ( East Riding ) .

m connection with the St . Cuthbert ' s Lodge , No . G 30 , by the R . W . Bro . Lieut .-Col . the Hon . W . T . Orde-Powlett , P . G . W . and Deputy Grand Master oi that

Province : on the Srd of the same month tlip Province ; on the Srd of the same month the same distinguished brother opened and dedicated a similar building at Hull , Yorks . ( E . and N . ) for the

accommodation of the Kingston and De la Pole Lodges ; on the 22 nd of October a new Freemasons' Hall , formerly Club premises , in Castlegate , York , was dedicated by the

R . W . Bro . the Earl of Zetland , P . G . M . of North and East Yorkshire , the Provincial Grand Lodge meeting there for that purpose ; on the 25 th of the same month the R . W . Bro . T . W . Tew . Prov . G . Master of West Yorkshire

and P . G . D . ( England ) , opened a new Masonic Hal ] at Rotherham under the banner of the Phoenix Lodge , No . 904 , and " for the use of the local Freemasons " : on the

2 nd of January , 1889 , a new Freemasons' Hall and Club was opened in Plymouth , and the Hall dedicated in Provincial Grand Lodge by Viscount Ebrington , M . V ., Prov .

G . Master of Devon ; in the early part of May last an influential committee were promoting under favourable auspices the erection of a Masonic Hall at Blyth ,

Northumberland , for the use of the members of the Blagdon Lodge ,