The Boys' Election.

Institution can be opened and a boy admitted , and clothed , fed and educated until he is fitted to go out into the world and battle for himself in the struggle of life . All this is accomplished through the practice of tlie great Masonic principles , Avhich , not only in

this particular case , but also m many others , are doing so much to alleviate the misery and suffering of tho human race . In view of such a result the world can easily understand the pride Avith which a true Mason regards the Order , ancl the anxiety he feels to help maintain it in its integrity .

Great Fire In Cape Town.

GREAT FIRE IN CAPE TOWN .

L ODGE DE G OEDE Hoo ? D ESTROYED . ON the afternoon of Sunday , 21 st February 1892 , Cape Town wns „ „ the scene of the most disastrous fire that has ever occurred in the history of the city , and , in some respects , even of South Africa at Inrgp . In a word , tho properties of tbe Lodge De Coede Hoop , consisting of tbe magnifiepnt Temple , said to be the third finest in the whole world , and rivalling in splendour the beantifal creation at

Malta , the Native Affairs Offices of the Colonial Government , nnd the vast Exhibition Theatre were all razed to the ( - { round , the last named being completely wiped off ihe face of the earth . There never has been an instance , at all events in Sonth African history , in which destruction has teen so swift and so complete . In less than one

hour from the time of tho discovery of the outbreak of the fire the three buildings above mentioned were bnrnt ont , and , saddest fact of all , the Temple of De Goede Hoop , tbe pride of every Mason , ft glorious monument of the Craft , waa converted into a gaping shapeless ruin .

SAVING THE LODGE ARCHIVES . Mr . AV . H . Tiffany , Secretary to the Lodge De Goede Hoop , saw the fire from his residence , 57 Grave Street , and hastened up with the view of saving what he conld of the Lodge belongings . When he arrived , which was only a few minntes after the discovery of the outbreak , the roof of the Temple was ablaze . Most fortunately

Mr . Tiffany was able to enter the building , though at great personal risk , and he succeeded in saving the priceless archives of the Lodge , from its institntion in the year 1772 . All the documents were rescued , a fact whioh will make the blow somewhat lighter to bear . Little else conld be removed , and all the valuable belongings of tbo

Lodge , tbe beautiful statuary , the work of by-gone generations , the selections of a century and a quarter , absolutely irreplaceable , had to be left in the burning bnilding . The fire went through the Temple , sparing only tbe chamber sacred to workings in the third degree .

HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE . Two , at least , of the three buildings whose destruction was so sudden and complete had attached to thorn associations of a unique interest . The Masonic Temple , for instance , was in this respect the very foremost of South African buildings . Its career stretches right back into the early days of the Cape Colony . During 1755 a number

of the wealthier residents of the Cape decided on the erection of the Temple , and the site having been secured , these persons made the Masonio Brotherhood a gift of the labour necessary as regarded the construction of the building . Slaves , owned by tbe contributors , were engaged in the erection , and the bnilding waa first used for Masonic purposes abont a century ago , or probably a little further

back than that . It was undoubtedly one of the chfnf AInfonic Temples of the world . In the opinion of some Masons a Temple still more magnificent is in existence at Malta , but there are not a few who maintain that the Goede Hoop Temple was the very finest , so far as structural advantages and Masonic sentiment and association go , in the whole world . The interior of the Temple was , as is well

known , constructed on a lavish scale , and contained priceless work of a by-gone generation , work whioh cau never be replaced . It was there tbat the late Earl of Carnarvon was entertained by his Masonio brethren when he visited the Cape Colony , and there also the chief Masonio rites of Sonth Africa had been transacted for a hundred years , the Goede Hoop being the most important of all African

Lodges . Formerly , the property of the settlers referred to in the foregoing , the Temple some years since passed into tbe possession of a number of local Freemasons , who held it in shares , and who , it ia satisfactory to discover , took the precaution to insure their property . Tbere were two policies , of the total value of between £ 4000 and £ 5000 , in tbe South British Office . Thc loss of the Temple ; however

is chiefly deplored by the Masons from a sentimental rather than a monetary point of view , for with it thero have been destroyed some really priceless relica and furniture . Th" ) archives , as above indicated , fortunately were saved , and some furniture also , in consequence of the willing and hearty assistance rendered by the Bev . D . P . Fance , Dr . Herman , Mr . Tiffany , and other prominent

Masons ; bnt for the Masonic brethren of tbe Cape district this misfortune is a bad one indeed , and their loss is one which from its nature cannot be reckoned from any merely commercial standpoint . An esteemed correspondent , "J . B . M ., " writes : ' ¦ The Lodge De Goede Hoop , now laid in ashes , was solemnly dedicated on the 7 th

July 1803 by Deputy Grand Master National Bro . J . A . de Mist , Commitsary General of the Batavian Republic , in the presence ot about two hundred B . B . and one hundred ladies , at a cost of more than " een tonne gouds " ( abont 100 , 000 francs ) , from plans by and under the superintendence of Bro . Thiebalt , Hapetein der Genie .

Great Fire In Cape Town.

Thp benntiful statuary in the Temple was sculptured by Bro . Anre . ^ f who also designed and made the much-admired Lutheran pulpit in Strand . street , and the Dntch Reformed pnlpit in Adderley-street . Numbers of people visited the mined buildings yesterday ( Monday , 22 nd , Fehrnary and many obtained ingress to the Goede Hoop Temple , the grand old bnilding wherein so many relica have been destroyed ,

nnd where scarcely a vestige of the former grandeur is left . Many of them were ruthless marauders , no donbt , and were strangers to thopo sacred precincts , bnt the fire has removed all it was necessary to keep secret . The interior of the Temple is a heap of ashes , and the ashes were almost cooled yesterday . —Th * Cape Times , 22 nd and 23 rd February 1892 .

Pope, Friendly Societies, And Masons.

POPE , FRIENDLY SOCIETIES , AND MASONS .

We reproduce the ' following interesting letters from The Speaker : —

THE selection of a new head of the Roman Catholic Church in England gives a good opportunity for calling attention to the most doubtful point connected with the policy in Great Britain of that body . For nearly a quarter of a century I have been a hnmble Freemason , and an inactive member of the Manchester Unity of

Oddfellows—the greatest friendly society in tho world . For tho same period I have been an active member of the Ancient Order of Foresters , the next in power of all friendly societies . Daring the last few years , in Poor Law work , I have seen that the value of these bodies to the nation is as groat as they themselves claim that it is . The Freemasons of shis conntry , as is well known , are a body

of which the first characteristic is good-fellowship , and the second almsgiving ; and they exist mainly for the combination of these two bualities . They have so little sympathy with the Continental societies of the same name—which have mostly political or antireligions objects—that the whole of the Masons of the United Kingdom have solemnly repudiated the Grand Orient of France on account of

the omission by the Grand Orient of the name of the Great Architect of the Universe , and of all recognition of the Grand Lodge above , from their proceedings . It is also a well-known faot tbat British Freemasons are exhorted to be exemplary in the discharge of their civil duties , never to countenance any act whioh may have a tendency to subvert the peace and good order of society , and to pay due

obedience to the laws of any State which may become their place of residence . The Manchester Unity and the Foresters are immense societies of mutual thrift existing among workmen and democratically governed by their members . The Koman Catholic Church had in times past , and has still , ita quarrels with certain Italian secret societies unknown in this country ,

quarrels with which we never have had anything and have nothing to do . Why 9 brj * a \ d British "Roman Catholics be prevented m Great Britain or in the British colonies from joining such admirable societies as those which I have named ? It is a loss to the societies , and it is still more a loss to Roman Catholic Britons that this membership should be forbidden on pain of the censure of their Church . In some

colonies mere censure has been exceeded . Cardinal-Archbishop Moran— according to a private circular which has never , I believe , been repudiated since its publication by Mr . AVise , a former President nf the Oxford Union , and a former Attorney-General of New South AVales—deprives of the sacraments of his Church those who join the Oddfellows , Foresters , Good Templars , Bechabites , and all

kindred societies . This is done on the ground that the Church condemns " secret societies . " "Secret societies" is a big phrase for the playfnl mysteries which surround membership of the societies which I have named . There are libraries in London in which information maybe obtained about the mode of initiation into Masonry whioh is perhaps not far wrong . There are bookshops iu whioh works at

least professing to state the nature of the ceremonies can actually be purchased . But , for fear of incurring censure , I will not name Masonic rites , bnt , alluding only to those of the friendly societies which have among them in Great Britain now millions of members , I will say that it is notorious that those of the Oddfellows are merely pleasant , those of the Foresters merely religiously suggestive , and

that their nature is such that none of the thousands of the clergy of the Chnrch of England , none of the hundreds of Nonconformist ministers who have joined the Orders having signs or pass-words , have aver seen any reason to publicly or privately complain of these at least harmless symbols . Why , then , I repeat should the censure of the Boman Catholic Church visit those who become members of Orders

which , by almost universal admission , have in them nothing but good ? Surely the time haa come when the authorities of the Boman Catholic Church in England and in the British c . ' ouies might properly point ont to the Vatican , with all respect , tl >; essential differ , ence which exists between the so-called secret societies of the British Empire and those secret societies which flourished in Italy between 1815 and 1848 , the memory of which still haunts the Papal repose . CHABIIES AV . DILKE .

SIE , —Sir Charles Dilke ia in error in regard to the attitude of the Catholic Chnrch in Great Britain towards the Friendly Societies he names . Catholics can , and do , join the Forostars and Oddfellows withont let or hindrance . Inquiry in the proper quarter would have at once removed the right hon . gentleman ' s misapprehension on the

point . In regard to Australia I cannot epsak ; but if Cardinal Moran has seen fit to prohibit Catholics joining these societies , there are doubtless local reasons sufficient for his action . Just as the French Freemasons may , and I suppose do , differ from the English , so too in Australia Oddfellows and Foresters may not be the innocent bodies they are in Great Britain .