Fubilee Of St. Augustine's Lodge, No. 885.

" The first meeting of the lodge in the new Masonic hall appears to have been held on January , 23 rd , 18 5 6 , but no mention is made in the minutes of any consecration ceremony .

m ; . . IOIIN SI-AOKH GuxniiY , FOI ; NI > I- _ H , W .. \ I . FOIL FIUST TUH _ : _ : VK . AUsi , ls .-i . i- i-.-i . "At a meeting held December 2 nd , 18 57 , a letter was read from the Pacific Lodge , No . 758 , Wellington , intimating its intention to apply to the Grand Lodge of England for a

patent to form and open a Provincial Grand Lodge for New Zealand , nominating Bro . Isaac Earl Featherston as first Provincial Grand Master , and asking the concurrence of the St . Augustine Lodge thereto . Correspondence was thereupon

Ol- 'HCKHS ()!• ' ST . AU ( ii ; STIXK'H l-OnUK , Xn , I , N . Z . O . AT TIIIO TI . MI-. ()!• ' ITS , 1 bill LEK .

opened with Unanimity Lodge , Lyttelton , to ascertain its views upon the . subject , and , though the reply from Unanimity Lodge is not given in the minutes , it is evident that that lodge was averse to coming in as a lodge under the Provincial Grand Lodge of New Zealand , with the result that at a meeting of St . Augustine Lodge , held January 6 th ,

1858 , it was decided to convene a meeting of all the brethren in the province , to be held in the St . Augustine Hall at noon on the J 6 th inst ., for the purpose of recommending a brother to the United Grand Lodge of England for the office of Provincial Grand Master for the province of Canterbury .

" In March , 1859 , reference is made to the hatchment at present in the lodge , which was used at the funeral of the late Duke of Sussex , Grand Master of England , which was handed to the St . Augustine Lodge , it having been found in the effects of the late Bro . Twigger .

" But nothing touching upon the subject of a Provincial Grand Master for Canterbury appears in the minutes until September 5 th , 18 59 , when a communication from Bro . J . C . Watts Russell was read in the lodge , announcing that he had received a patent from the M . W . Grand Master of England , appointing him Provincial Grand Master for

Canterburythis was the origin of the present District Grand Lodge of Canterbury , E . C . " During the first six years of the lodge ' s existence the respective Worshipful Masters had been actively employed in initiating candidates to Freemasonry , and many were

initiated who afterwards became famous in the political , commercial , and pastoral life of the province of Canterbury . " For several years St . Augustine Hall was used as the annual meeting place of the Christchurch Synod , the first mention of the custom being in November , 1862 , when the

lodge received a letter from the member of the Synod expressing their grateful thanks for the use of the Masonic Hall for the meeting of the last Synod . Up to this date , September 30 th , 186 3 , the number of the St . Augustine Lodge upon the roll of the Grand Lodge of England had

been 88 5 , but , at a lodge meeting held on the above-named date , the Worshipful Master reported the receipt of a communication from the Grand Lodge of England announcing the alteration of the No . 88 5 to 609 , by which number the

lodge was known until it became No . 4 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand in 1890 . During the fifty years of its existence the lodge , like most institutions of a similar character , has experienced its periods of depression and prosperity , and may the latter , which it has happily enjoyed for some time past , long continue . "