The Self-Styled Grand Lodge Of New South Wales.

THE SELF-STYLED GRAND LODGE OF NEW SOUTH WALES .

AS might have been anticipated , United Grand Lodge has , at the instance of the Grand Registrar , declined to recognise the Body which , with an assurance that scarcely accords with Masonic principles , has assumed to itself the style and title of " The Grand Lodge of New South Wales of Free ancl Accepted Masons . " Modesty is

not the least among the Masonic virtues , and it might have been expected that a small minority of the Lodges in the Colony of New South Wales would not have gone out of their way and arrogated to themselves a title to which they must be well aware they have not the smallest

right . We pass over the fact of their ignoring altogether the claims to respectful consideration to which the ei ghty and odd Lodges holding under the Grand Lodges of

England , Scotland , and Ireland are entitled . These arc content to remain in allegiance to the Bodies from which they have sprung . They outnumber the malcontent Lodges in the ratio of about six and a half to one . In

point of membership they are overwhelmingly superior , yet in the face of these indubitable facts these disturbers of Masonic harmony have not scrupled to meet together and organise themselves as an independent sovereign Grand Lodge . They have been applying right

and left to the various Grand Lodges in other countries for recognition in their newly-assumed character , ancl in some quarters , on grounds which Ave shall not seriously concern ourselves about , their application has been successful . By Scotland , Ireland , and now by England , however , this

app lication has been very properly refused , and as the Grand Lodges of these countries are the only ones realty affected by the act of this irregular Grand Lodge of New South

Wales , we shall look forward with some degree of interest to the steps that may next be taken by the Grand Lodges that have recognised it . Will they continue the recognition now ?

The application to Grand Lodge on Wednesday last was refused , for the following reasons , as indicated by Grand Registrar . It had already been refused by the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland . The new body comprised only thirteen Lodges , whereas in the District

Grand Lodges of New South Wales , under the English , Scotch , ancl Irish Constitutions , there were eighty-six Lodges . If , then , the application for recognition were entertained , these eighty-six Lodges would become irregular . In his opinion , moreover , the statement in the

memorial as to the colony of New South Wales being unoccupied territory was not correct , and equally incorrect was the suggestion that United Grand Lodge should not reject the application on the grounds of tho financial contributions of the Lodges in tho colony to Grand

Lodge—there being , as a matter of fact , no such contributions to Grand Lodge . We are not going to call in question the reasons assigned by Bro . Mclntyre

for the advice he tendered . His facts are accurate enough no doubt ; but we . think he would have bettor consulted the dignity of Grand Lodge , if ho had based his advice on other and far stronger reasons . Had

The Self-Styled Grand Lodge Of New South Wales.

the question involved some nice legal distinctions , such as a man possessing average intelligence , but unversed in points of Masonic law , there might have been some grounds for setting up tho course adopted by the sister Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland in dealing with similar

applications as an example to be followed by us . It was in tho order of things that those Grand Lodges , having similar interests at stake , should do what thoy have done , but Grand Registrar should not have given their conduct the prominence he did . He should have ruled unhesitatingly

that the so-called Grand Lodge of New South Wales was an irregular body , organised by a number of malcontent brethren , the recognition of which would bo tantamount to an abdication by Grand Lodge of the authority invested in it . Ho should have

pointed out that the establishment of such a body in the presence of so vast a preponderance of regular Lodges was , if not an insult to our common sense—as many might be disposed to say it was—a very gross insult to the members of those regular Lodges , tho District organisation

which held immediate sway over them , and the United Grand Lodge of England itself , to which such district organisation is in its turn amenable . He should have pointed out that even the faintest shadow of an idea that the irregularity of which the promoters of this movement

had been guilty was a matter to bo argued , could not be entertained with any sense of respect for our Grand Lodge . He should have laid it down , with all

the authority that attaches to his high , office , that these promoters had set at defiance the laws and regulations of our Craft . He might have gone further , and shown that the establishment of a so-called Grand Lodere in

Lancashire or Yorkshire would have been no greater insult , and involved no more outrageous breach of discipline , than did the action of those New South Wales brethren . He might have added , also , that if even the slightest countenance were shown them , there must bo at once and for

ever an end to the integrity of all Masonic jurisdiction . Masonically , New South Wales is as much English territory as London , with this difference , that the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland have concurrent jurisdiction in it . whereas in London they have not . Had the bulk

of the Lodges , in imitation of the example sot them some quarter of a century since by Canada , said—Wo are no longer , as it were , children . We have arrived afc the years of discretion , and are numerous and reputable enough to have a Grand Lodge of our own . Wo

consider it would be preferable to the existing state of the Craft in our Colony , with concurrent jurisdictions and various systems of work . We shall organise ourselves , therefore , as an independent Grand Lodge , with all its sovereign rights and privileges , and apply to those from

whom we arc descended to recognise us in that capacity . We repeat , had the bulk of the Lodges done this , and made their application for recognition , we have no doubt our United Grand Lodge would have acted as it did _ . o _____

in the case of Canada , and as it has done in other cases , under similar circumstances , and unhesitatingly recognised the new Body , subject , of course , to the very proper proviso that , if any of the Lodges were dosuous of

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