A New Duty For Freemasonry.

A NEW DUTY FOR FREEMASONRY .

EEFERENCE has often been made to the boast of our Brotherhood that Freemasonry is not a Benefit Society , in the usual acceptation of the term , and it has also been urged that its principle in this respect might be varied , with probable advantage , so as to induce a more

systematic provision for the future among members of the Order , many of whom are , with a certain amount of justice- accused from time to time of wasting funds which ought to go towards providing something for a rainy day ;

but which instead are used for the purpose of gaining applause or distinction among fellow members of the Craft . We by no means advocate the adoption of the usual form , of sick and funeral allowances of the ordinary

Benefit * Society , and we also * recognise the difficulty of our Lodges making any systematic enquiry into each member's private affairs , but on the other hand we cannoj ; refrain from giving a certain amount of support to those

who argue that one of the chief lessons of Freemasonry should be to induce care among its members that provision should be made for those who , in years to come , may be left dependent on what it has been possible to lay up for them during a Brother ' s life time .

In this direction we may refer to an item we have seen reproduced in several of our American contemporaries , wherein we learn it is a rule among certain Lodges there that each member make his will when he is initiated , the

will being then filed and preserved in the archives of the Lodge , ready to be produced in case of need on the death of the Brother . We say in case of need , for , as may be expected , many of the Brethren make later testamentary

dispositions of their property , and in those cases-the form in the hands of the Lodge is not called for ; but when , as is sometimes the case , the Brother , having repeatedly postponed this duty until a more suitable occasion , finally

dies without leaving any other notification of his wishes , the will in the possession of his Lodge may prove of great advantage to those he meant to provide for , and would have benefited but for the very common practice of putting off that most necessary duty .

It does not require any great stretch of the imagination to believe that a proposal to introduce some such practice into our Lodge procedure would meet with the strongest opposition , and yet it may be asked , where is the likely

disadvantage that will nullify the possible benefit that might accrue ? The answer will probably be , that Freemasonry is free in every particular , and that if the Craft once began to interfere in such matters there would be

no knowing where to stop ; and this is probably the best reply to any proposal that might be put forward in such a direction as we have mentioned . As is well known , Freemasonry in America differs in many respects from what we in the old country are accustomed to , and although it

A New Duty For Freemasonry.

may not be possible to adopt or even recognise all of the innovations of the younger and probably more energetic Constitutions of the new World , there can be no harm in

studying the different points there raised , and deciding for ourselves how far they are applicable to the work of the Craft as practiced in our midst .

Freemasonry is a progressive science , and being so , it would seem to be absurd to make a hard and fast rule prohibiting the introduction of anything new into it . On the contrary , we should display a readiness at all times

to enlarge its borders , and extend its usefulness , but whether this is to include a supervision of a Brother ' s private affairs is a very moot question at present . In years to come something of the sort may be attempted ,

but in the existing mood of the English Craft we cannot give much hope for those who wish to render such matters as will making a qualification for membership . The duty

We owe to our fellow members does not appear to include such an item—although we are fain to admit it might add to the credit and reputation of the Craft if it did .

United Grand Lodge.

UNITED GRAND LODGE .

rriHE Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge was JL held on Wednesday , at Freemasons' Hall , London , when Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight occupied the throne , in the absence of the chiefs of the Order . The communication announced in the Agenda , in

reference to the address presented to the Queen on the completion of Her Majesty ' s sixty years reign , was read by the Grand Secretary , it taking the form of a letter addressed to the Prince of Wales as Grand Master , from Sir Matthew White Ridley , Home Secretary , informing His ' Royal

Highness that he had presented to the Queen the address voted by Grand Lodge on the 2 nd June , and that Her Majesty had been pleased to accept the same very graciously .

The thanks of Grand Lodge were voted to Sir Albert Woods , . Garter , and Bro . Thomas Fenn , for the part they took in arranging the special meeting at the Albert Hall , and the latter Brother acknowledged the compliment .

The proposition of the Grand Master as to the granting of Past Provincial and District Grand rank to distinguished Brethren , to mark the Diamond Jubilee , having been agreed

to , and other business disposed of , the notice of motion of Bro . Lamonby—as specially referred to in our last week ' s issue—was approached , but in the absence of Bro . Lamonby the matter again fell through . Grand Lodge was then closed .

Mark Grand Lodge.

MARK GRAND LODGE .

rriHE Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge of Mark JL Masons was held on Tuesday , at Mark Masons' Hall , London , Bro . Charles Letch Mason Provincial Grand Mark Master West Yorkshire presiding in the absence of the Prince of Wales , the Earl of Euston , and Viscount Dungarvan .

Formal presentation was made to Grand Lodge by Bro . Stevenson , on behalf of the Mark Masons of Cheshire , of a full-length portrait in oil of the Earl of Egerton and Tatton Past Grand Master and Provincial Grand Master of Cheshire . A vote of thanks for the gift was afterwards adopted on the