Ar00703

SATURDAY , 25 TH JULY 1896 .

Board Of Benevolence.

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE .

BBOTHERS Robert Grey President , D . D . Mercer Senior "Vice-President , and C . A . Cottebrune Junior Vice-President , occupied the three principal chairs at the monthly meeting of the Board of Benevolence , which was held at Freemasons ' Hall , on "Wednesday evening . There were thirty-one petitions on the list , and the Brethren ,

after confirming recommendations to the Grand Master to the amount of £ 280 , recommended Grand Lodge's confirmation oi a L'rant of £ 75 to one petitioner , and £ 50 to two others ; the Grand

Master ' s sanction to £ 40 being given in one case , and £ 30 to each of nine others , and made immediate grants of £ 20 to ten cases , £ 10 to two , and £ 5 to one other . Three petitions were dismissed , and two were deferred .

We may remind our readers that a special Grand Lodge is to be held on Wednesday next , at 5 o ' clock , to consider the message of the Grand Master in regard to the recognition of the

Grand Lodge of New Zealand ; and we may also direct their attention to an excerpt , in another part of this issue , entitled " Freemasonry and dissension , " from the " Western Morning News . "

Freemasons are nob given to self-praise ; their charity is of the sort that vaunteth not itself ; hence in districts where public full dress Craft ceremonials are scarce , the uninitiated are apt to obtain curiously erroneous notions concerning the aims and methods of the Brotherhood . SucH a sermon as that delivered

at Oswaldtwistle by Bro . the Rev . W . G . Procter affords the only means by which errors may be corrected and the true ideal described . Bro . Procter ' s address , reported in another column , may be commended to the careful reading of the unmasonic : they will derive from it an accurate conception of the only

friendly society which men join from pure altruism , the only Order whose Ritual may reverently be compared with the Collects ; the only " mystery" which sets good citizenship , a liberal knowledge of the arts and sciences , and a devotion to the Great Architect of the Universe , in the forefront of its tenets . — "Rossendale Gazette . "

Federal Interests.

FEDERAL INTERESTS .

THE speeches made at the banquet following the recent installation ceremony at Melbourne were , with one exception , common-place and uninteresting . Only one man appeared to rise to the opportunity and fit his words , in the expression of his opinions , to the occasion which was being celebrated . The Pro Grand Master of Tasmania M . W . Bro . Boom alluded to a future in which the Australasian Constitutions might be gathered

together under one Grand Lodge with Provincial Grand Lodges in the different Provinces and Colonies . This was one of the planks of the platform upon which this paper was established , and we have on several occasions urged the advantages of such co-operation . The first and most prominently potent factor in the way of its consummation is the personal vanity and

bump of acquisitiveness for high sounding titles which sway too many Freemasons who already occupy positions far beyond their capacity to fill them ¦ with dignity to themselves or advantage to the Craft . A moveable Federal Grand Lodge held in Melbourne , Sydney , Adelaide , Brisbane , Hobart , and Perth in consecutive years , with Grand Masters from those centres in the

same order , would immensely increase the power and dignity of the Cralt , and would gather together year after year all the best and most earnest men from the several Constitutions . The function would occupy probably two , three , or even four days , and the installation of the Grand Master would be the crowning feature of the convention , and the banquet be a social re-union

to conclude it . The Provincial or Colonial Grand Lodges would meet as at present , have their Provincial or District Grand Masters , and legislate for local requirements , but for any matter which affected the interests of the entire body questions could be referred to the Federal Grand Lodge for approval and adoption or otherwise

Another great obstacle in the way of such a desirable enlargement of the influence of Freemasonry in Australia lies in the Victorian System . Elsewhere the virility of the Order is protected by the elective system and the popular voice controls the affairs of the Craft in the selection of men best fitted for the purpose . In these Constitutions thore is nothing to interfere

Federal Interests.

with the absolutism and dignity of the Grand Master . On the other hand he represents the expressed wish of the majority of the members as in Victoria , but the Officers who serve under him are also elected by the members , and are not appointed by him in blind ignorance of their fitness or unfitness for the position , and on the recommendation of other Officers who are

irresponsible for their actions , as is unfortunately still the practice in Victoria , resulting on the one hand in the appointment of men who have never done anything in the Craft commensurate with the honour done them , or on the other with the yielding of the privilege to one who has cheek enough to canvass for it with a persistency forceful enough to break down all opposition .

In New South Wales and South Australia we have seen men defeated

year after year who , having held other offices , are not thought worthy of further promotion , either on account of unfitness for office or from want of probity and temperate living in private life . Such safeguards as these it is impossible to exercise in Victoria , and consequently each Grand Lodge possesses amongst its Officers one or more instances of unfitness or

unworthiness for such great honours . But there are other very important objects to be gained in the federation of the Craft in Australia , which will tend towards its purification and safeguard it from imposture , and these must be most apparent to anyone who has been behind the scenes as we have been in the fulfilment of our press duties .

Not very long since a case occurred in Victoria in which a New South Wales Brother boasted that he was W . M .-elect , whereas the installation was still six months off . This was exposed in " Masonry . " The culprit shielded himself by lies and misrepresentations , and was still further exposed , with the result that he was very properly and finally shut out from promotion in

his Lodge . More recently P . M . Bro . Hanton , of the Lord Camngton Lodge , Victoria , is reported to have said in Adelaide , after eulogising their local work , that " he ( Bro . Hanton ) had determined to raise his Lodge to a good standard , and work it as well as any in Victoria , but to show the gratitude of the Brethren in Victoria he had not had the support of a P . M . except on one occasion during the eleven months he had been in the chair . " We have

allowed the publication of these facts to remain unnoticed so long , first because of pressure on our space owing to Grand Lodge functions , and Easter and other holiday interruptions , and also because we thought it was a matter he , for honour ' s sake , would have himself set right , or else have been called upon for an explanation within his own Lodge by those whom he so seriously wronged and defamed .

The Adelaide Brethren will be enlightened when we tell them that we , in mercy to the Lodge , reported as little of its proceedings whilst under the control of Bro . Hanton as possible , because his work was so inefficient and incorrect as to show his unfitness for the position he was called upon to fill and that the Lodge gained nothing in dignity or efficiency under his care .

But the most serious revelation will be , that the statement made by him about the support of his Past Masters is quite unfounded , and is a libel on the good name which they have each earned . Past Masters Bros . Blashki and Bona were regular in their attendance ; P . D . G . M . Bro . P . Blashki was frequently in his place ; the I . P . M . Bro . H . I . Scott attended seven

meetings , on the dates of two meetings he was ill , confined to his house , and apologies were received for his absence , and on the date of another meeting he was away from the colony travelling for the benefit of his health ; this Brother lives five miles away from the place of meeting of the Lodge , and on the only other occasion on which he was absent Bro . Hanton had no work for the Brethren of the Lodge to do .

Bro . Hanton further libelled the Craft in Victoria by stating that Lodges which were rich and could give good suppers , instancing the Victorian Naval and Military Lodge , were simply flooded with visitors . Now , as a matter of fact , there is no Lodge in the territory more careful over its festive board expenditure than this very Lodge , and no Lodge which puts a more frugal supper before its Brethren . The secret of the large attendance is that the

ceremonies in the Lodge are an object lesson to the Craft , and the Lodge has done what Bro . Hanton professed was his own object—but which he most signally failed in accomplishing—raised itself to a good standard of work . Now with federated interests such balderdash as this Brother talked in Adelaide would not be tolerated , for a good standard of work would be secured and the advancement of unaccomplished Brethren like Bro . Hanton would become a very rare , indeed , an almost impossible event .

Just as this paper conserves the intercolonial interests of the Craft in the exposure of these misrepresentations , so a Federal Grand Lodge would conserve its best interests in promoting its dignity , spreading still wider its influence and in convincing the world more generally of the goodness of the Institution . Of all men in the community Freemasons should be the most

broad minded , the most unselfish , free from petty jealousies and provincial distinctions , and should be the first in this great country to be welded together as a whole and represented as Australasian in aspirations and in reality , and to M . W . Bro . Boom we are indebted for such a clear enunciation of these hopes which ^ id well as the best possible reply to the toast of Visitors from Sister Constitutions . — " Masonry . "

GLOUCESTER PIC-NIC . A VEBY successful Lodge of Becreation was held on Thursday , 9 th inst ., by the members of the Boyal Lebanon Lodge , No . 493 , and the Zetland , No . 1005 . The party was conveyed to Frampton-on-Severn , where the event of the day was a cricket match between the two Lodges , resulting in a victory for the Boyal Lebanon Lodge by 23 runs , 79 to 56 , After the match ample justice was done to a capital tea provided by Mr , Hodder , of the Bell Hotel , followed by various amusements .