FIVE ROYAL MASONS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 260, 25 June 1932, Page 2

FIVE ROYAL MASONS

GREAT CEREMONY FOUR PRXNCES ASSIST GRAND MASTER IN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. . FREEMASON'S IIOSPITAL. Four memhers of the Royal Family assisted the Dulce of Cormaught, ] Grand Master of English Freemason- j ry, at Olympia on May 19, when the dedication stone of the new Freemason's Hospital and Nursing Home at Ravenscourt Park was laid. They were. The Prince of Wales, Provincial Grand Master for Surrey; the Duke of York, Provincial Grand Master for Middlesex; Prince Arthur of Connaught, Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire;^ and Prince George, Master of the Navy Lodge, No. 2612. In the Royal Box were the Princess I Royal, with the Earl of Harewood, the Duchess of York, and Prince Arthur of Connaught. None who watched the ceremony and heard the ritual— faultlessly spoken and clearly audible in every part of the immense hall — ctfuld have been other than deeply impressed. Ceremony in Duplicate. On a platform at the far end of Olympia had been erected a hoist, attached to which was a duplicate of the actual dedication stone. By an electrical device every movement of the stone at Olympia synchronised _ with the stone on the site. By this arrangement over 10,000 brethren were able to he present — the largest gathering of Fremaesons ever held in England. The ceremony opened with a fanfare of trumpets and the processional advance from east to west of present Grand Officers (other than those assisting in the dedication), and members of the board of management of the hospital. Another fanfare, and there came in, to the stately music of the band of the' Grenadier Guards, the Grand Master, accompanied by those brethren assisting in the ceremony. In two slowly moving flies : they advanced with perfect step and dignified bearing. Immediately before the Grand Master marched the Grand Sword Bearer. Behind him were. the two Standard Bearers, with flags unfurled and with the merest suggestion of a flutter.

Grand Master and the Craft. Lord Marshall, honorary treasurer of the hospital, invited the Grand Master to lay the dedication stone. "Most gladly will I do so," responded the Grand Master, in a voice which rang out clear and strong, and was heard in every part of the hall. Addressing the assembly before proceeding to the stone the Grand Master said : — "Men and brethren here assembled to-day to behold this ceremony — Know all of you that we he lawful Masons, true and faithful to the laws of our country; and established of old with peace and honour in most countries, and engaged by solemn obligations to erect magnificent buildings to he servieeable to the brethren, and to fear God, the Great Architect of the Universe. "We have amongst us, concealed from the eyes of all men, secrets which cannot be divulged, but these secrets are lawful and honourable, and not repugnant to the laws of God or man. They were entrusted in peace and honour to Masons of ancient times, and have been faithfully transmitted to us, and it is our duty to convey them, unimpaired, to the latest posterity. "Unless our craft were good, and our calling honourable, we should not have lasted for so many centuries, nor should we have been honoured with the patronage of so many illustrious men in all ages, who have ever shown themselves ready to promote our interest, and to defend us against all adecrsaries. "We are here assembled to-day, in the presence of you all, to assist in laying, in ancisnt form, th's stone of dedication of our new hospital as a house of healing, which hospital we pray God may deserve to prosper by becoming a place of concord for good men and for the promotion of harmony and brotherly love throughout the world, until time shall he no more." "Except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that build it," intoned the Grand Chaplain in invoking the hlessing of the Great Architect of the Universe. The Green Light. , Slowly the stone was raised at the command of the Grand Master, revealing a cavity. In this were placed a number of coins of the realm and a roll of newspapers of the day. This done, the cavity was sealed, and the Grand Master, with trowel and cement, proceeded to prepare a bed for the stone. Inch by inch the stone was then lowered, and, coming to rest on its foundation, there appeared above it a green light, indicating that the actual stone of dedication on the site at Ravenscourt Park had synchronised with Ihe act in Olympia. In remained for the Grand Master to prove hy square, level, and plump rule that the stone had been "well and truly laid." This done, the Pro Grand Master, Lord Ampthill, advanced with a maui, which the Grand Master used to adjust the stone, the while saying: "With temperance, fortitude, prudence, and justice let our work be founded." Thus, with a dignity befitting the occasion was the dedication stone laid. The act of consecration which followed was carried out with a ritual even more impressive, and in this the Royal brother and the son of the Grand Master were the chief actors. Led by the Prince of Wales bearing the cornucopia containing corn, the Duke of York bore a golden ewer of wine, Prince Arthur of Connaught carried a gold chalice of oil, and Prince George a vessel containing salt — the emblems respectively of plenty, of joy and gladness, of charity, and of hospitality and friendship.