Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

Lodges struck off roll : St . Marnock , Kilmarnock ; Galston , Kilmarnock . " EAST PROVINCE . — , Esq ., E . W . Provincial Grand Master . Maybole Kilwinning , Ayr ; St . James , Newton-on-Ayr ; St . Andrew ,

Girvan ; St . David , Tarbolton ; St . James' Kilwinning , Tarbolton ; Operative , Ayr ; St . Muugo , Mauchline ; Koyal Arch , Ayr ; Eoyal Arch , Maybole ; St . Thomas , Mnirkirk ; Ayr ancl Renfrew Militia St . Paul , Ayr ; St . Barnabas , Old Cumnock ;

St . John , Beith . Struck off : St . Andrew , Newton-on-Ayr ; St . Andrew , Glenbuck . " The Grand Lodge is aAvare that by the Agreement , 20 fch October , 1 S 07 , entered into Avith Mother Kilwinning , the Master of that lodge for

the time shall be ipso facto Provincial Grand Master for the Ayr District—and I am directed by the Grand Lodge to send the foregoing

classification of that province for your sanction and approbation , and to request that you will alter and arrange the provinces in any shape you may think proper for the convenience and interest of the Craft at large . It is intended , however , to be

distinctly understood that the Master of Mother Kilwinning shall be ipso facto Provincial Grand Master of the West district of Ayrshire , and that the Provincial Grand Master of the East district shall be named by , and subordinate to , the Master

of Mother Kilwinning , and subject to the approbation of , and obtaining his commission from , the Grand Lodge of Scotland . The Grand Lodge have therefore to request that you as Master of Mother Kilwinning Avill have the goodness to

name any gentleman in the Eastern Province that you may consider a fit person to fill that situation . "

This proposal , although in some respects most reasonable ancl in accordance Avith the spirit of the compact to Avhich it refers , Avas obnoxious to the Lodge of Kilwinning as containing a clause , giving to Grand Lodge the power of vetoing any

appointment which , under the new arrangement , might be made by its Master . Colonel Hamilton of Grange , Avho then held that post , gave expression in the following terms to Mother Kilwinning ' s objections to the sub-division of the

province , as suggested by the Grand Lodge , and with this communication the negotiations terminated : — " .... I must confess to yon that this proposal has surprised me a good deal , as it Avas most distinctly stipulated in the vear 1807 , when

Mother Kilwinning Avaived her ancient privileges in favour of the Grand Lodge , that the Master of Mother Kilwinning should be Provincial Grand Master of all the Masonic lodges in Ayrshire in all time coming . Mother Kilwinning has uniformly

acted in strict conformity to the articles of that stipulation ancl agreement , and certainly did not expect that any deviation would be made from the opposite quarter . She thereupon feels confident that the Grand Lodge upon reconsidering this ,

subject will be of opinion that matters should continue in the same state as they have been in sinesthe year 1807 , agreeable to the terms and conditions then entered into betwixt the parties-. Upon consulting Avith the office-bearers and

brethren of this lodge , they are unanimously and decidedly of the same sentiments I have noAV delivered . "

In 1 S 27 , Mother Kilwinning again found itself in antagonism to the Grand Lodge , which had on its own responsibility placed tAvo of th & Ayrshire Lodges—Beith St . John and Largs St .. John—under the jurisdiction of the P . G . M . of the

Renfrew province . The dismemberment of its . Masonic territory Avas firmly resisted by the Mother Lodge , Avhose Master ( Smith of Swkmdge ) . thus curtly addressed the Grand Lodge on the subject of its aggression : —

" As I am anxious , as becomes my duty , to preserve the jurisdiction of the Provincial Grand Lodge in the same way as I received it , I insist that the lodges transferred into the two new provinces of Renfrew shall be immediately restored —and if not , I shall call a chapter of the lodge to take their advice . "

This remonstrance had the desired effect : thelodges in question were forthwith disjoined from Renfrew and restored to their former jjositiou . The Provincial Grand Lodge of Glasgow was . the next aggressively to come into collision with Mother Kilwinning . The foundation- stone of the

Wallace Monument Avas laid Avith Masonic honours in June , 1861 . When the procession Avas about to march off to the Abbey C ' raig the deputation from Mother Kilwinning discovered that the Provincial Grand Lodge of Glasgow had , as a separate

body and under its own banner , taken its position immediately in front of the Grand Lodge . This Avas resented by the deputation from Kilwinning , Avho claimed the right of precedence next to the Grand Lodge , ancl carried their protest to the