The Deputy Grand Master Of The Grand Lodge Of Ireland.

THE DEPUTY GRAND MASTER OF THE GRAND LODGE OF IRELAND .

A momentous change has taken place this week in the personnel of the Grand Officers of Ireland . Our R . W . Bro . R . W . SlIEKLE'lON , Q . C ., who has for nearly 30 years discharged the duties of Deputy Grand Master in the sister jurisdiction , has

found that the burden of increasing years renders it necessary for him to place his resignation in the hands of the M . W . G . M ., his Grace the Duke of AliERCORN . Three years ago , when circumstances first led Bro . SilEKI . ETON to contemplate

retirement , an enthusiastic request on the part of Grand Lodge to reconsider his determination induced him to continue at his arduous , if exalted ,. post . But the strain has been severe , and , in view of the heavy exactions of the QUEEN '

commemoration fetes , the Grand Lodge and the Grand Master have no option but to accede to . his reiterated request , though with unfeigned reluctance and most sincere regret at losing the skilful and kindly guidance by which the Craft has so largely profited

during more than a quarter of a century . Happily , our illustrious brother is still spared to the Grand Lodge over which he so long presided , unimpaired in intellect , and unsurpassed in devotion to the Craft . Long may he continue to be at hand for counsel and advice !

A competent successor to Bro . R . \ v . SHEKLETON IS not to be found every day , and the Grand Lodge of Ireland is singularly fortunate in the selection made by his Grace the Duke of AHERCORN . The new Deputy Grand Master has been nominated

in the person of the present Grand Treasurer , R . W . Bro . JAMES CREED MEREDITH , LL . D ., who will , we understand , be installed at the June Communication of Grand Lodge . No appointment could be more popular in the Irish Craft . Our Irish brethren

have had long experience of Bro . Dr . MEREDITH S zeal and ability as a Grand Officer . Lately , when commenting on Bro . CHETWODE CRAWLEY ' S seventeen years of continuous service as

a Grand Officer , we drew the inference that when our good brethren of the Sister Grand Lodge got hold of an efficient Grand Officer , they knew how to retain him . But R . W . Bro . MEREDITH ' record beats even this . If

we mistake not , he is in the twentieth year of his consecutive service as Grand Officer , having held in succession every post to which his brethren could elect him . Prominent as Bro . MEREDITH is in the ranks of our Brotherhood , he is almost equally

conspicuous outside it . When a popular member of the Irish Bar , he attracted attention by 'his mastery over statistics , and his power of organisation . This led to his appointment as Senior Secretary of the Royal University of Ireland , and no

more capable or efficient officer could be desired . Under his auspices , the Royal University of Ireland has made an amazing development , numbering its alumni by thousands . Dr . J . C . MEREDITH is also Honorary bay Secretary of the governing body of

the Church of Ireland , and is , at the present moment , actively engaged in arranging of the complex synodical elections that stand as preliminaries to the enthronement of a successor in the Archiepiseopal Sec of Dublin to the late revered Grand Chaplain ,

Lord Pl . l'NKET , whose Masonic record we summarised last month . Dr . MEREDITH is also on the Council of the Royal Dublin Society , and is prominent in a score of ways in Ireland . The constitution of the Grand Lodge of Ireland differs

considerably from ours in the duties it imposes on the Deputy Grand Master . Much of the weighty responsibilities that attach with us to the posts of Grand Secretary and of Grand Registrar devolves on the Deputy Grand Master in Ireland . No

matter how zealous or energetic the . Grand Master may be—and no Irish brother will dispute the claims of the M . W . G . M ., the Duke of ABERCORN , to both zeal and energy—he cannot be always on the spot . Nor can the minor difficulties that

continually crop up in the daily course of Masonic jurisprudence , discipline , or finance be submitted to him for adjudication . All these matters are within the province of the Irish Deputy Grand

Master . It is for this reason thai we styled the appointment momentous , and we congratulate the Grand Lodge of Ireland on having secured the services of so eminent and experienced a brother as R . W . J AMES CREED MEREDITH , K . C . T .

Knights Templar.

Knights Templar .

GREAT PRIORY . A Great Priory of the United Reli gious and Military Orders of the Temple and of St . John of Jerusalem , Palestine , Rhodes , and Malta in England and Wales and the Dependencies thereof was holden at Mark Masons' Hall , Great Queen-street , on Friday , the 14 th instant , when there were present : The Most Eminent and Supreme Grand Master , the Right Hon . the Earl of Euston , G . C . T ., on the Throne ; the Right Hon . the Viscount Dungarvan ,

G . C . T ., Great Seneschal ; V . E . Provincial Priors : V . E . Knights Captain N . G . Philips , G . C . T ., Eist Anglia ; Captain C . R . N . Beswicke-Royds , G . C . T ., Lancashire ; Major J . W . Woodall , K . C . T ., N . and E . Vorks ; Major George C Davie , K . C . T ., Devonshire ; and Lieut .-Col . Henry Byrde , Ceylon . Great Officers-. E . Knights the Rev . C . E . L . Wright , G . Prelate ; R . Loveland I . oveland , G . C . T ., G . Chancellor ; the Right Hon . the Earl of Yarborough , K . C . T ., 1 st G . Constable ; Col . A . B . Cook , G . C . T ., as 2 nd Constable ; Ralph

Clutton , K . C . T ., G . Treas . ; Frank Richardson , K . C . T ., G . Reg . ; C . F . Matier , K . C . T ., G . Vice-Chancellor ; Charles Belton , K . C . T ., G . Marshal ; the Rev . E . M . Weigall , P . Prelate , as G . Almoner ; A . W . Orwin , M . D ., G . Herald ; R . E . Baynes , G . Std . Br . ( Beauceant ); Alfred Cooper , G . Std . Br . ( Vex . Belli ) ; H . Percy Harris , Grand Master's Banner Bearer ; Capt . George Hearn , G . S . B . ; Joseph A . Robinson and Frederick Mead , G . Aides-de-Camp ; and Frederick

Bevan , G . Organist . Past Great Officers : E . Knights the Rev . Wm . Lynes P . G . Prelate ; Sir Francis G . M . Boileau and Richard Clowes , P . G . Constables , Ralph Gooding , K . C . T ., J . E . Le Feuvre , and Frederick Lawrance , P . G . Heralds ; Sir George D . Harris and Robert Berridge , P . G . Std . Brs . ; R . Joynes Emmerson , P . G . Banner Bearer ; Gordon Miller and Captain R . Gresley Hall , P . G . Aides-de-Camp ; and A . H . Bowles and Major T . W . Richardson , P . G . Capts . of Guards .

The brethren having formed the arch of steel , the Most Eminent and Supreme Grand Master , attended by the National Great Officers , entered and took the throne . The Great Priory was opened in ample form . The GREAT REGISTRAR called the muster roll .

The minutes of the Great Priory meeting of the 10 th December , 1 S 96 , and the Special Great Priory of the Sth of April , 1897 , having been read by the GREAT VICE-CHANCELLOR , were declared to be correctly recorded . On the motion of the GREAT CHANCELLOR , seconded by the GREAT REGISTRAR , the reports of the Council was taken and read as follows :

REPORT OF COUNCIL . Most Eminent and Supreme Grand Master , Your Council have the honour to report , in accordance with the unanimous recommendation of the Finance Committee , that the funds of Great Priory should for the future be invested only in Trustees' securities ; that the Invested Funds on the General Account have been transferred to India 3 per Cent . Stock , and those on the Benevolent Account to Metropolitan 2 . V per Cent . Consolidated Stock .

Your Council also report that they have transferred the current account of Great Priory to the London and Westminster Bank , Limited , Bloomsbury Branch , to which it is requested all cheques may be crossed for the future . You were pleased to appoint the Very Eminent Knight Lieut .-Col . Henry Byrde to be Provincial Prior of Ceylon , and were also pleased to obligate and install him in this high office at a meeting of the Preceptory of St . George , No . 6 , on ioth March .

You have been pleased to promote to the dignity of Knight Grand Cross the V . E . Knig ht R . Loveland Loveland , K . C . T ., Great Chancellor , and to appoint to the dignity ot Knight Commander the V . E . Knights the Earl of Yarborough , the Earl of Onslow , the Hon . A . de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., and Major C . G . Davie . It was reported to the Council that the De Lacy Preceptory , held in the

Province of Lancashire , had inadvertently installed as Preceptor a knight who was not duly qualified according to Statute 7 6 , and your Council directed the Preceptory to at once apply for a dispensation to be dated nunc pro tunc , which has been granted and the irregularity condoned . Your Council regret to report that the warrant of the Star in the East Preceptory , Singapore , has been returned , and accordingly cancelled .

The third of the annual conferences of the Order of the Temple , which have done so much to consolidate the Order , and to promote the harmony , unanimity , and good feeling of the Governing Bodies of the United Kingdom , was held in London , on Wednesday , the 7 th April . There were present from the Chapter General of Scotland : V . E . Sir Knights James Buchanan , Bart ., K . C . T ., Admiral ; L . Mackersy , W . S ., G . C . T ., Treas . and Reg . ; Major F . W . Allan , K . C . T ., Beaucenifer ; and E . Sir Knight Robert K . Inches , Steward . From the Great Priory of Ireland : V . E . Sir Knights C . A . Cameron , M . D ., G . C . T ., G . Chancellor ;

Lieut .-Col . A . V . Uavoren , G . C . T ., G . Constable ; Col . T . A . McCammon , K . C . T ., G . Treas . ; J . C . Meredith , K . C . T . ; and R . H . Walker , G . Vice-Chancellor ; and from the Great Priory of England : M . E . Knight the Earl of Euston , G . C . T ., M . E . and Supreme Grand Master ; V . E . Knights Capt . N . G . Philips , G . C . T ., Prov . Prior for East Anglia ; the Hon . Alan de Tatton Egerton , Prov . Prior for Cheshire ; Col . A . B . Cook , G . C . T . ; Ralph Clutton , K . C . T ., G . Treasurer ; Frank Richardson , K . C . T ., G . Registrar ; and C . F . Matier , K . C . T ., G . Vice-Chancellor .

The conference was presided over by the Grand Master of the Temple in England , and it was unanimously resolved to recommend to the respective governing bodies that knights companions in Scotland should hold concurrent rank with Preceptors in England and Ireland , with seniority according to the dates of their patents . It was unanimously decided that the next annual conference should be held in Edinburgh .

A vote of thanks was unanimously accorded to the Earl of Euston , G . C . T ., for his services in the chair . On the following day a Special Great Priory was held , at which the V . E . and K . Knights from Scotland and Ireland were most heartily welcomed by the G . M ., and the V . E . Knights the Earl of Kintore , Grand Seneschal , and Sir Charles Cameron , G . C . T ., Great Chancellor , respectively returned thanks on behalf of the Order in Scotland and Ireland .

A candidate was received into the Order of the Temple on behalf of , and under the banner of , the Faith and Fidelity Preceptory , the V . E . Knights Maj . Hen . J . C . Hay , K . C . T ., acting as Preceptor ; Col . A . B . Cook , G . C . T ., First Constable ; Frank Richardson , K . C . T ., Second Constable ; C . F . Matier , K . C . T ., Marshal , and others . 1 A Grand Priory of Malta was afterwards held , and 19 candidates were admitted and received the accolade of knighthood , from the hands of the Grand Master . The visiting knights were afterwards entertained at a banquet presided over by the Earl of Euston , which was very numerously attended .