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  • Aug. 14, 1875
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  • GRAND LODGE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
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Grand Lodge Of Massachusetts.

working and lectures of the third degree , and it was unanimously adopted . The Committee appointed to consider certain proposed amendments to Grand Constitutions then delivered their report , which was accepted . On the motion of R . W . John McClellan

five hundred dollars was voted for charitable purposes , to be disbursed by the Committee on Charity . The Committee on Bye-laws then presented their report on Bye-laws and amendments to Bye-laws , submitted by sundry Lodges ; that on Charters recommended the issue of Charters to the

Norfolk and Cochichewick Lodges ; that to which was referred the appeal of Bro . Albert F . Kelly against the ruling of the W . M . of John Cutler Lodge , recommended that the appeal be sustained , and the ruling of the W . M . be declared null and void , was accepted ; while the Committee on Masonic Insurance submitted that further

action on a certain petition that G . L . should take steps to protect the rights of individual brethren in connection with Life Assurance Associations , was inexpedient . M . W . G . M . Bassett , Kansas , having addressed a few words before retiring , Grand Lodge was shortly after closed in

ample form , at forty minutes past seven p . m ., W . Rev . J . Young Grand Chaplain offering up prayer . At the Special Communication held on 17 th Jnne , for the purpose of taking part in the public solemnisation of the hundreth anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill , and the death of

General Warren in that conflict , a considerable number of those already enumerated were present , the M . W . G . M . P . L . Everett , wearing the late General Warren ' s Masonic apron , and R . W . Winslow M . D . as D . G . M ., wearing that of the late

Marquis de Lafayette . After the procession was over , Grand Lodge , at the invitation of the Lodge of St . Andrew , returned to a building in Union Street , occupying the site of the Old Green Dragon Tavern , famous , a century since , as the place where Masonic Communications used to be

held . Here they met the officers and members of the De Molay and Richmond Commanderies of Knight Templars , but as we have already referred to this in the account given , a few weeks since , of the visit to Boston of the Richmond Commandery , we need not go into details a

second time . The special communication on 3 rd July was held to celebrate the anniversary of the day when General George Washington , under the old elm at Cambridge , assumed command of the colonial forces in the War of Independence . G . L . having been opened the G . M . shortly after

called it from labour to refreshment , and the brethren proceeded in carriages to Lyceum Hall , Cambridge , and there , as guests ' of the municipal authorities of the city , took part in the ceremony , and at the banquet which followed , in Memorial Hall , Harvard Lodge , under the presidency of the

Mayor , W . Bro . IsaacBradford , the toasts were—Washington , the United States , Massachusetts , the Thirteen Original States , the Army and Navy , and Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , towhichlasttheM . W . G . Mresponded in appropriate

terms , and with considerable eloquence . Other toasts followed , after which the brethren returned to the Masonic Temple , and Grand Lodge was closed in ample form at eight o ' clock p . m .

East West And South.

EAST WEST AND SOUTH .

BY A WAND ] ERING FREEMASON . III .

" 0 NLY . nine ounces and nine pennyweights , " said the v / Captain , in deep disgust , laying down the scales and

upsettin g his bottle of quicksilver : " haven't done such a bad week ' s work since I hel ped a Maori woman to pull peas at six shillings a day . No wonder Alfred wants to leave us . I'll give up the claim , and make over mv share to Jack ! " J

It was in the early days of New Zealand goldfields , before the great find in Otago . On the very day that great discovery dawned upon the Middle Island , I set sail from its shores in miserable ignorance . A month afterwards , forty thousand men landed at Port Chalmers .

There were five of us—the Captain , Scottie ( called after ms nationalit y ) , Baker ( called after his former trade ) , myself ( called "Alfred" upon abstract grounds which were never explained to me ) , and Jack , a runaway sailor boy whom we hired for his rations and £ 1 sterling a day : gigging for gold at Wai-kara-mumu , Massacre Bay , New

East West And South.

They were surface-diggings , discovered by the Captain , a first-rate prospector . The whole surface of the side of a hill was found to be pervaded with gold-dust . Our difficulty at the outset had beeu to get water-power in immediate proximity . A fine stream , the " Wai-kara-mmnn , " ran

round the base of fcho hill , but the labour of bringing the soil down to it would have been too great for our small party . When Scottie and I joined the Captain and Baker we found , high up in the hollow of a hill which rose behind ours , a deep rotten swamp , and saw at ' once the water-power

we wanted , if we could bring it to bear upon the golden soil . This I pronounced possible , and the work of engineering the same was delegated to me accordingly ! Whilst with rude extemporised instruments I was taking the levels and staking out the , tortuous course which should make the

precious water our auxiliary , my comrades were employed building a hut on the bank of the stream . All day long the stroke of the axe rang through the bush . Many an empty sardine-tin and broken beer-bottle was flung upon roots and boulders which had remained

untouched until the advent of the white man . The Ka-kas , * clinging sagely to the supplejacksf which overhung their native streamlet , ceased not to cackle their astonishment , and 'ere retiring to rest doubtless warned their night-watchmen , the Mawpawks , ! aud excited them

likewise to screaming indignation . All night long did the latter flit to and fro over our tent of blankets , permitting little sleep to me , at least . After a time when established as inhabitants , we became mutually accustomed and I seldom noticed their monotonous cry .

A capacious chimney of clay and boulders was erected at the end of our hut , beside the doorway ( door we had none ) , and a pile of faggots and brushwood stacked for future fuel . By that time we had commenced the hard work in the hills . Across the narrowest end of the

swamp , whore it just dipped between two saddles and struck rock , we builded bit by bit a solid dam . Through the centre of the latter we inserted a wooden conduit , closed by a trap . We then began cutting the " race " along the line traced by me . Two feet deep , on an average ,

and one foot wide , we made it , on a regular gradient winding round one hill , taking advantage of a saddle to cross to another , and so descending to the side of our claim . This done , we halted , after some days' hard close work , for " refreshment . "

This , by an unanimous vote , it was settled should be taken at the nearest " accommodation-house "j|—Takaka , some twenty miles off . Thither we journeyed , wading down the stream one bright morning , leaving poor Jack in charge of our dominions . I was glad of a change , as

I should be of a trip to the sea-side now , and of the prospect of some variety in food , after a long course of salt meat , damper and tea , with an occasional fish or Maori-cabbage

as a luxury . Especially I longed for fresh cows' milk ; my comrades were equally athirst for milk to their taste of another description : and this was my first introduction to that ideal of celestial bliss , the digger ' s " spree . "

No sooner had we entered the hospitable door of Miller , the highland proprietor of the solitary hostelry , than they began to imbibe , first with eagerness then with stead y determination , beer ( vile stuff ) , then brandy , whiskey , rum and gin ( viler in quality , if possible ) , with utter

impartiality . In two hours they were quarrelling , on the verge of a fight ; Miller plied them with fire-water the more assiduously , and within four hours Scottie and Baker subsided into blessed insensibility . Towards evening came in one Maurice , known to fame as " the lucky digger , " of

whose good fortune and of the piles he had made and dissipated I had often heard . He had come from prospecting on the " Anatoka , " ancl , with his usual luck , brought in his pocket about au ounce of gold , which he had scooped out of crevices with his knife . He let fall his swag , § and

came holding the little nuggets in his hand for us to see . After supper we helped mine host to bar his doors and shutters ; for a party of Maoris , headed by one " Tamati-Waka" ( Tommy Walker ) , were camped in the nei ghbourhood . A law recently passed forbade their being

sup-* Ka-ka , —a small green parrot . t Supplejack , —a tough creeper , looped and twined like a cord from bough to bxmgk and from tree to tree . % Mavvpawk , —a night owl , called after its peculiar cry , "More

pork . " || Accommodation-house , —inn and general stove . § Swag , —a burden slang by flux—withes across the back , usually consisting of a pair of scarlet blankets , a flannel shirt , a comb , a washing diah or prospecting pan and rations .

“The Freemason's Chronicle: 1875-08-14, Page 3” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 6 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fcn/issues/fcn_14081875/page/3/.
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Title Category Page
DINING AS A FINE ART. Article 1
A PROVINCE FOR BEDFORDSHIRE. Article 2
GRAND LODGE OF MASSACHUSETTS. Article 2
EAST WEST AND SOUTH. Article 3
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 5
REVIEWS. Article 6
LITERATURE. Article 7
THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE AND THE RELIEF OF THE SUFFERERS BY THE RECENT INUNDATIONS. Article 7
MASONRY IN ROUMANIA. Article 7
Untitled Article 7
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Untitled Article 8
OUR WEEKLY BUDGET. Article 8
ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION FOR AGED FREEMASONS AND WIDOWS OF FREEMASONS. Article 10
PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. Article 10
MASONIC HONOUR Article 11
ENTHUSIASTIC FREEMASONS. Article 11
DIARY FOR THE WEEK. Article 12
NOTICES OF MEETINGS. Article 12
BOMBAY. Article 13
THE LONDON MASONIC CLUB. Article 14
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Grand Lodge Of Massachusetts.

working and lectures of the third degree , and it was unanimously adopted . The Committee appointed to consider certain proposed amendments to Grand Constitutions then delivered their report , which was accepted . On the motion of R . W . John McClellan

five hundred dollars was voted for charitable purposes , to be disbursed by the Committee on Charity . The Committee on Bye-laws then presented their report on Bye-laws and amendments to Bye-laws , submitted by sundry Lodges ; that on Charters recommended the issue of Charters to the

Norfolk and Cochichewick Lodges ; that to which was referred the appeal of Bro . Albert F . Kelly against the ruling of the W . M . of John Cutler Lodge , recommended that the appeal be sustained , and the ruling of the W . M . be declared null and void , was accepted ; while the Committee on Masonic Insurance submitted that further

action on a certain petition that G . L . should take steps to protect the rights of individual brethren in connection with Life Assurance Associations , was inexpedient . M . W . G . M . Bassett , Kansas , having addressed a few words before retiring , Grand Lodge was shortly after closed in

ample form , at forty minutes past seven p . m ., W . Rev . J . Young Grand Chaplain offering up prayer . At the Special Communication held on 17 th Jnne , for the purpose of taking part in the public solemnisation of the hundreth anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill , and the death of

General Warren in that conflict , a considerable number of those already enumerated were present , the M . W . G . M . P . L . Everett , wearing the late General Warren ' s Masonic apron , and R . W . Winslow M . D . as D . G . M ., wearing that of the late

Marquis de Lafayette . After the procession was over , Grand Lodge , at the invitation of the Lodge of St . Andrew , returned to a building in Union Street , occupying the site of the Old Green Dragon Tavern , famous , a century since , as the place where Masonic Communications used to be

held . Here they met the officers and members of the De Molay and Richmond Commanderies of Knight Templars , but as we have already referred to this in the account given , a few weeks since , of the visit to Boston of the Richmond Commandery , we need not go into details a

second time . The special communication on 3 rd July was held to celebrate the anniversary of the day when General George Washington , under the old elm at Cambridge , assumed command of the colonial forces in the War of Independence . G . L . having been opened the G . M . shortly after

called it from labour to refreshment , and the brethren proceeded in carriages to Lyceum Hall , Cambridge , and there , as guests ' of the municipal authorities of the city , took part in the ceremony , and at the banquet which followed , in Memorial Hall , Harvard Lodge , under the presidency of the

Mayor , W . Bro . IsaacBradford , the toasts were—Washington , the United States , Massachusetts , the Thirteen Original States , the Army and Navy , and Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , towhichlasttheM . W . G . Mresponded in appropriate

terms , and with considerable eloquence . Other toasts followed , after which the brethren returned to the Masonic Temple , and Grand Lodge was closed in ample form at eight o ' clock p . m .

East West And South.

EAST WEST AND SOUTH .

BY A WAND ] ERING FREEMASON . III .

" 0 NLY . nine ounces and nine pennyweights , " said the v / Captain , in deep disgust , laying down the scales and

upsettin g his bottle of quicksilver : " haven't done such a bad week ' s work since I hel ped a Maori woman to pull peas at six shillings a day . No wonder Alfred wants to leave us . I'll give up the claim , and make over mv share to Jack ! " J

It was in the early days of New Zealand goldfields , before the great find in Otago . On the very day that great discovery dawned upon the Middle Island , I set sail from its shores in miserable ignorance . A month afterwards , forty thousand men landed at Port Chalmers .

There were five of us—the Captain , Scottie ( called after ms nationalit y ) , Baker ( called after his former trade ) , myself ( called "Alfred" upon abstract grounds which were never explained to me ) , and Jack , a runaway sailor boy whom we hired for his rations and £ 1 sterling a day : gigging for gold at Wai-kara-mumu , Massacre Bay , New

East West And South.

They were surface-diggings , discovered by the Captain , a first-rate prospector . The whole surface of the side of a hill was found to be pervaded with gold-dust . Our difficulty at the outset had beeu to get water-power in immediate proximity . A fine stream , the " Wai-kara-mmnn , " ran

round the base of fcho hill , but the labour of bringing the soil down to it would have been too great for our small party . When Scottie and I joined the Captain and Baker we found , high up in the hollow of a hill which rose behind ours , a deep rotten swamp , and saw at ' once the water-power

we wanted , if we could bring it to bear upon the golden soil . This I pronounced possible , and the work of engineering the same was delegated to me accordingly ! Whilst with rude extemporised instruments I was taking the levels and staking out the , tortuous course which should make the

precious water our auxiliary , my comrades were employed building a hut on the bank of the stream . All day long the stroke of the axe rang through the bush . Many an empty sardine-tin and broken beer-bottle was flung upon roots and boulders which had remained

untouched until the advent of the white man . The Ka-kas , * clinging sagely to the supplejacksf which overhung their native streamlet , ceased not to cackle their astonishment , and 'ere retiring to rest doubtless warned their night-watchmen , the Mawpawks , ! aud excited them

likewise to screaming indignation . All night long did the latter flit to and fro over our tent of blankets , permitting little sleep to me , at least . After a time when established as inhabitants , we became mutually accustomed and I seldom noticed their monotonous cry .

A capacious chimney of clay and boulders was erected at the end of our hut , beside the doorway ( door we had none ) , and a pile of faggots and brushwood stacked for future fuel . By that time we had commenced the hard work in the hills . Across the narrowest end of the

swamp , whore it just dipped between two saddles and struck rock , we builded bit by bit a solid dam . Through the centre of the latter we inserted a wooden conduit , closed by a trap . We then began cutting the " race " along the line traced by me . Two feet deep , on an average ,

and one foot wide , we made it , on a regular gradient winding round one hill , taking advantage of a saddle to cross to another , and so descending to the side of our claim . This done , we halted , after some days' hard close work , for " refreshment . "

This , by an unanimous vote , it was settled should be taken at the nearest " accommodation-house "j|—Takaka , some twenty miles off . Thither we journeyed , wading down the stream one bright morning , leaving poor Jack in charge of our dominions . I was glad of a change , as

I should be of a trip to the sea-side now , and of the prospect of some variety in food , after a long course of salt meat , damper and tea , with an occasional fish or Maori-cabbage

as a luxury . Especially I longed for fresh cows' milk ; my comrades were equally athirst for milk to their taste of another description : and this was my first introduction to that ideal of celestial bliss , the digger ' s " spree . "

No sooner had we entered the hospitable door of Miller , the highland proprietor of the solitary hostelry , than they began to imbibe , first with eagerness then with stead y determination , beer ( vile stuff ) , then brandy , whiskey , rum and gin ( viler in quality , if possible ) , with utter

impartiality . In two hours they were quarrelling , on the verge of a fight ; Miller plied them with fire-water the more assiduously , and within four hours Scottie and Baker subsided into blessed insensibility . Towards evening came in one Maurice , known to fame as " the lucky digger , " of

whose good fortune and of the piles he had made and dissipated I had often heard . He had come from prospecting on the " Anatoka , " ancl , with his usual luck , brought in his pocket about au ounce of gold , which he had scooped out of crevices with his knife . He let fall his swag , § and

came holding the little nuggets in his hand for us to see . After supper we helped mine host to bar his doors and shutters ; for a party of Maoris , headed by one " Tamati-Waka" ( Tommy Walker ) , were camped in the nei ghbourhood . A law recently passed forbade their being

sup-* Ka-ka , —a small green parrot . t Supplejack , —a tough creeper , looped and twined like a cord from bough to bxmgk and from tree to tree . % Mavvpawk , —a night owl , called after its peculiar cry , "More

pork . " || Accommodation-house , —inn and general stove . § Swag , —a burden slang by flux—withes across the back , usually consisting of a pair of scarlet blankets , a flannel shirt , a comb , a washing diah or prospecting pan and rations .

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