NEW ZEALAND MASONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 175, 23 June 1930, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND MASONS

LODGE FORMED IN LONDON. IMPORTANT EMPIRE BOND. Gallipoli Day was chosen as the day for the consecration of the new Masonic Lodge which has been formed in London lor those either born in New Zealand or who have resided there for some time. The ceremony took place at .Pagani’s Restaurant, Great Portland Street. The new lodge is named New Zealand, and is numbered 5175 on tho. register. It is the third lodge in London directly associated with the colonies and Dominions, the others being the Canada, No. 3527, founded in 1911, and the Caribbean, No. 4826, founded in 1926. The chaplain, Bro. Rev. T. T. Blockley. in his oration laid stress upon tho additional bond between the Old Country and the Dominion which the formation of the lodge created, and also upon the date, “Anzac Day” being the most appropriate day on which it could be brought into being, as it was on April 25, 1915, that the famous landing was made at Gallipoli, which will ever stand out among the most gallant incidents of the war. After the consecration the master was duly installed and the officers were invested. Bro. Cecil J. Wray, M.8.E., who had acted as secretary for tho founders, will be appointed secretary of the lodge when ho has been elected at the next meeting. GREAT SOURCE OF STRENGTH. The grand secretary, replying to the toast of “The Consecrating Officers,” said that of the 467 consecrations in which he had taken part none had given him more pleasure than the New Zealand Lodge. Such lodges as this were all for good and a great source of strength. Other lodges, such as tho Royal Colonial Institute, Empire, etc., were not so directly connected with any specific part of the Empire. Soon there would bo a lodge connected with the Eastern Archipelago in London, which would make the fourth. Bro. Sir Lionel Halsey recalled having taken H.M.S. New Zealand for her first cruise, and his experiences in New Zealand, where he had received the greatest hospitality, and where, at one time, he’ felt like settling when his naval career was over. He also told of the “puiapuia” given to him by a Maori chief, with the request that lie should wear it whenever he was going to fight. He had actually worn it, greatly to the surprise of his officers, when lie took the New Zealand into action on three occasions in 1914 and 1915, and on every occasion the New Zealand had escaped without a casualty. He could not say for certain that it was the wearing of that special New Zealand uniform that had brought them such luck, but they certainly had been very lucky. Ships on either side of them had been sunk and they had never had a casualty.

“HECTIC” TIME WITH THE

MAORIS. “When he handed over the command of the New Zealand he handed over the “puiapuia” to his successor, but his old friend the chief had insisted that the “puiapuia” was meant for him and nobody else, and he had sent another one for the ship, so that the original still remained with him. When he visited New Zealand in 1920 with his Royal master, the Prince of Wales, he had seen his old friend the chief, and had had a very hectic time when the Maoris learnt of the good fortune which tho “puiapuia” had broughthim. He would never forget New Zealand, and his heart was there. Bro. T. M. Wilford said lie was convinced that the New Zealand Lodge would servo a very great and useful purpose. Ho suggested that its title mi"ht supply a motto for the lodge—- “ New Zeal and Vigour.” (Applause.) He had been a Mason for 30 years, and this was the first opportunity ho had had of being inside an English lodge. The badge of the lodge is an oval, flanked by two fern leaves. In the oval is a female huia bird on the branch of a tree.