Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

CONDUCT OF LODGES . To the Editor of THK FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I would respectfully ask your deliver , ance ou tho following matter . I mention names , but so as not to offend . My reason for addressing yon is partly that I may be confirmed in my view of tbe illegality of the transaction of which I write , and parti ? to sot right , if possible , five worthy brethern who havo

been excluded from a Lodge . Iu January 1876 , Brother the Eeverend John E . Marks , of Lodge " Victoria in Bnrniah , " No . 832 , Eangoon , being then in England , was appointed the Senior Warden of the Lodge . Bro . Marks returned to Rangoon in April 1876 , but did not once attend the Lodge till the mouth of August 1876 , and in that year , on

two or more occasions only ( the Lodge meeting monthly ) , aud then only under the following circumstances . Bro . Marks' absence from Lodgo being observed and commented npon by the members , the Worshipful Master called upon that Brother to shew cause why lie shonld not bo removed from office . The response to this was resignation of membership . An influential

District Grand Officer intervened , the correspondence was withdrawn on both sides , mutual apologies were made , and the Eeverend Brother began to attend Lodgo with some approach to regularity . At the election in December 1876 , Bro . T . N . Seymour , a Past Warden , raised the question whether Bro . Marks was eligible for the chair , nofc having served a whole year as a Warden . Speeches wero made ,

and the Worshipful Master ruled that Bro . Marks was eligible . The ballot was taken , when it was found that there were 13 votes in favour of Bro . Marks , and 11 votes in favour of Bro . A . L . Vaillant , also a Past Warden . Bro . Marks , I omitted to state , had never . been invested with the collar of the Senior Warden . The election of Bro . Marks was believed by several members of tho

Lodgo to be irregular and void , and so sis brethren , including among them Bros . T . N . Seymour and A . L , Vaillant , appealed to the Deputy District Grand Master to set aside the election . This appeal was rejected , for alleged disrespectful language , but the appellants , desirous of having a ruling on the disputed point , submitted a second appeal . In tho meantime the installation is proceeded with , and after the

installation the retiring Master brought charges against the six appellants for using insulting expresssions regarding the officers of the Lodge , in reality for having dared to appeal . Theso charges were heard , and nine members of the Lodge excluded five of the six appellants for un . Masonio conduct . As soon as this was clone , the Deputy District Grand Master , who had hitherto withheld his decision , made his

deliverance , and supported the action of the Lodge , thus rejecting the second appeal . The five victims appeal agaiust tho sentence of exclusion , and are informed by the Deputy District Grand Master that he cannot interfere with . the economy of a private Lodge . I have a strong opinion that the Deputy District Grand Master has a right to set aside exclusion if there are grounds for so doing . But tlie Deputy District Grand Master cbes not make any inquiry ; he throws

aside his sceptre , stultifies himself , and demits himself from his high position . Had these brethren been guilty of any moral offence I should nofc have troubled you in this matter , but they are men of blameless lives ; two of them aro Past Wardens , and ono of the two had tho month before been appointed Provincial Grand Secretary of Mark Master Masons .

Avoiding all verbiage and recrimination , I unhesitatingly declare that theso brethren have beeu punished for appealing ; because they have dared to raise their voices against Masonic irregularity and high-handedness , and yet the Deputy District Grand Master says , " I have no power . " This species of self-abdication might be allowed to pass unnoticed but for its effects on these brethren .

Here wo find Craftsmen who take sufficient interest in Masonry to set their faces agaiust the election of one whom they looked upon as an unqualified intruder ; they appeal , and are crushed . Their remedy is an appeal to Grand Lodgo . It is a long way to Freemasons' Hall , London , these brethren might shout themselvo hoarse , and yet may not bo heard . Their previous non-success may so have disheartened

them that they may not venture to appeal . I submit this is a constitutional question , and that whether these brethren appeal or not , it is the duty of the Grand Secretary or other proper officer , to take the Orders of the Most Worshipful the Grand Master , and direct a full enquiry and report to be made , and if justified to direct that these brethren be restored , and the order of exclusion quashed .

lours fraternally , A LOOKER ON British Burmah , Eangoon , 20 th July 1877 .

Freemasonry In South Wales

FREEMASONRY IN SOUTH WALES

To the Editor of the SOUTH WALES DAILY NEWS . SIK , — In your issue of the £ 0 th inst ., I noticed a paragraph headed "Fieemasenry in South Wales , " which contains statements and reflections whiih 1 feci—as one having a deep interest iu all that concerns Freemasonry—should not remain unchallenged , as they are misleading and unjust . 1 certainly was unaware that the Masons of this Province—as such

—had any stigma attaching to them in consequence of any neglect ou their part in connection with the natter of which you write . Point the time ot the lamented unci untimely cleaih of our fate chief , it will be iu the recollection of most ol the Freemasons , of Cardiff at least—with the exception , perhaps , of those "holding a high , social , and Masonic position "—that by all means open and possible to them , they test fitd by their unfeigned ana heartfelt expressions of sorrow that they were uofc ujnaiaclful of the great ios § they had . sustained ,

Freemasonry In South Wales

anil bore willing testimony to Ms high character and Masonic worth . It is nntruo , therefore , in my judgment , to say that " this meeting of Provincial Graud Lodge will remove the stigma from the Masons of the Province of having received for years the best thought and most far-sighted care for the interests of Freemasonry in tho

Province without making tho slightest recognition of them , " for it cannot bo said with justice that they lie under any such stigma . I see the resolutions to bo submitted to Provincial Graud Lodgo are to be carried without a division . I hope they may be of such a nature as to warrant this rather bold assertion . I am afc a loss to know how your informant arrives at the fact that " uouo but thoso

iu sympathy with the movement will attend . " He is in error there , as I , for ono , shall attend to my duties thereat , though I am by no means " in sympathy with tho movement , " as far aa its objects aro set forth in this paragraph . I am , & c ., A PRESENT PROVINCIAL OII'ICER . Cardiff , 20 th August 1877 .

Snt , —As a Mason of many years' standing , I read the paragraph with the above heading , in your issue of the 20 th , with much interest , and I think I may say that tho majority of Past Provincial Grand Officers of the provinco did the same . A letter in your issao of today , signed a " Present Provincial Officer , " declares tho statements in your paragraph to bo " misleading and unjust . " We will seo in what

way they aro so . Can the " Present Provincial Officer " point to any Provincial Grand Lodgo in which the services to Froemasony in general , and the Eastern division of South Wales in particular , of our late chief , have been acknowledged ? I think not , but am open to conviction , and if convicted will have great-pleasure in admitting my ignorance of such resolution . It is , I believe , true that every private

Lodge in the Provinco did testify " by their unfeigned and heartfelt expressions of sorrow that they were not nnmiudful of the great loss they had sustained , " and each and every Lodge boro willing testimony to his high character and Masonio worth . The spontaneity with whicb every Lodge did so , in my judgment , brings ont in more startling contrast the very marked omission of all reference to our late chief ab

the first Provincial Grand Lodge held after hia decease , and it ia this grave want of—shall I say —• common courtesy , that the approaching ; Grand Lodgo of Emergency has been called to remedy . If the numerous and influential Past Provincial Grand Officers who signed the requisition to Sir George Elliot , requesting him to call this Graud Lodge of Emergency , had not felt thafc there was somo

" stigma" attaching to the Province , why adopt the very unusual course of sending a requisition to tho Provincial Grand Master , asking him to call such Grand Lodge ? If Sir George , when ho received the requisition , had not felt the justice of the request , and thafc a " stigma" did rest upon the province , tha probability is that he would have pointed out the nndesirability of calling a Grand Lodgo of

Emergency for tho purposes named iu the requisition , and havo declined to summon it . Our preseub Provincial Grand Master , by calling Grand Lodge together to pass a resolution recording " their high appreciation of his services , and their profound regret afc tho irreparable loss they have sustained by his early death , " ha * surely admitted tho necessitv of such a record . Your statement therefore ,

as regards the object of the meeting—as regards the necessity of removing " the stigma" —is not misleading and unjust . " A Present Provincial Officer" declares your statement , that the resolutions will be carried without a division , to bo bold , and goes on to say that " none but those in sympathy with the movement will attend " is erroneous , because he will attend , and is nofc " in sympathy

with the movement . " Well , some people like to be singula ! - , some people like a little notoriety , even if they have to go counter to all men of judgment in their effort to be notorious . " A Present Provincial Officer " may bo one of such . I do nofc envy him . He is welcome to the coveted position he seeks , and I venture to say that if he proves your statement to be incorrect by opposing tho resolutions to be

proposed at the special meeting- referred to , he will be a long way the most distinguished Freemason in all Wales . He does not seem to hold such a position in tho province at present—although a "Provincial Officer "—as to have been thought worthy to be consulted by the framors of the resolution . The sudden leap from obscurity to be the cynosure of all Masonic eyes may prove too much for his " judgment , "

and may thus work to his disadvantage in the future , and prevent any further promotion in the Order , for the zeal which outruns discretion may bring grief to the cause which ought to be defended . His ignorance of the objects of the special Grand Lodgo is deplorable in " our having a deep interest in all that concerns Freemasonry . " May

I hope that he will in future make himself fully acquainted with his subject before he rushes into print , and proclaims his ignorance to all who care to read . I append the resolutions to be proposed afc tha approaching Provincial Grand Lodgo , and am , & c , 24 th August 1877 . A PAST MASTER .

RESOLUTIONS . "That tho Brethren of tho Province of South Wales Eastern Division , with grateful recollection of the very eminent services rendered to Masonry by the late E . W . Bro . Theodore Mausel Talbofc during tho 11 years he held the distinguished office of Provincial Grand Master—au office , the duties of which he performed with

untiring zeal , with dignity worthy of the Craft , and with urbanity endearino- him to the brethren—desire formally to record their high appreciation of his services , and their profound regret at the irrep irable loss they have sustained b y his early death . " "That this Provincial Graud Lodge " desires to record its grateful

acknowledgments of the eminent services rendered to the Province by tho W . Bro . Edward James Morris , Junior Grand Deacon of England , during the lonjj period he filled the office of Deputy Provincial Grand Master , and to which the present high position held by the Province is due , and its regret at the loss whicb the Province haa sustained , through his withdrawal from active Masonic , life , "