Proposed Grand Lodge In New Zealand.

PROPOSED GRAND LODGE IN NEW ZEALAND .

rpHE committee appointed at a meeting of the threo ¦ *• Masonic Constitutions working in New Zealand , held in Dunedin , for the purpose of considering the advisableness of attempting to bring about a union with the view of founding a Grand Lodge in that colony , has submitted its report . The committee recommends that

if the subordinate Lodges and the Craft generally approve of tho formation of a Grand Lodge in New Zealand the following principles should be insisted upon , and made unalterable by the Grand Lodge , save with the

consent of all the District Grand Lodges . The Grand Lodge should meet once a year ; and the place of meeting should be changed annually . The Grand Lodge should be

composed of the District Grand Masters , Deputy District Grand Masters , and Wardens ex-officio , and fifty members appointed by the subordinate Lodges . The Grand Mast 3 r should hold office for four years , and appoiut his Deputy . But all tho other Officers should be elected by the Grand Lodge . In other respects the Grand Lodgo should have full legislative powers , and supervise the administration of District Grand Lodges . There should be five District Grand Lodges in the colony

—viz .: Auckland , Wellington , Westland , Canterbury , and Otago ; and new District Grand Lodges may be constituted from time to time by the Grand Lodge . In the opinion of the Committee , no real union will be

consummated until there is greater harmony among tho members and Lodges on the question of a Grand Lodge ; and this cannot be obtained without further consideration and

negotiation . Pending the consideration of the foregoing recommendations by the subordinate Lodges , the Committee suggests that the Grand Lodge formed in Wellington should not be countenanced .

Australian Freemasonry.

AUSTRALIAN FREEMASONRY .

( Continued from page 402 . ) THB installation was then proceeded with , the Giand Master elect being presented by his predecessor in the high office , and being regularly installed by Lord Carrington . Tho Post Grand Master ( Bro . S . J . Way ) delivered a most intsresting charge to the Grand Master , which we are able to print : —

" Notwithstanding the surpassing interest of this imposing ceremonial , there are many amongst na who , even during its most solemn incidents , have been unable to refrain from recalling memories of another gathering in this Hall , between five and six years ago , when the Grand Lclge of South Australia announced its

independenco to tho world . We did not falter in onr faith in the principles of Masonio union which wo had espoused , or in the lawfulness of the work to which we had set oar hands . Bnt we did not anticipate that the acceptance of those principles or the recognition of onr work would be so rapid and so universal . We were prepared

for a harder fight ; we did not expect snoh a speedy victory . The great Masonic eveuts in New SonLh Wales and Victoria during the lost eighteen months Btill lay hidden in the womb of the future .

None of us , oven in onr most sanguine moments , forosaw that when we next assembled as a Grand Lodge in thia building it woti'd be to instal , with such distinguished assistance ? , a Grand Master beai ' ng a great hi ' jfcor ' o nnme in British Masopnr , r ^ d who h-1 won for Km-

Australian Freemasonry.

self brilliant rank in the Craft on the other side of the world . In undertaking the work whioh has had such happy results , we knew we were making ' no innovation in Masonry . ' We only essayed to set up in South Australia two of tho ancient' landmarks— ' the government of tho Fraternity in eaoh country by a Grand Master , '

and the subjection of ' every Mason to the Grand Lodge of the country in whioh he resides . ' Onr contentions were for the same principles as were upheld in the establishment of the Grand Ledges of tho United Kingdom . Those principles , it cannot be irrelevant to mention , were advocated as earnestly as we advocate them by the

head , M . W . G . M ., of your own family at that time . Students of our history will remember that in the first half of the 18 th Centuiy , when George the Second was king , the doctrine of Masonic Autonomy in eaoh country and of Masonio Unity in all countries was supported by three Scottish noblemen in th ! s practical way : —

Eaoh of them served a year in the Grand Mastership , first of Scotland and afterwards of England . The first of these threo noblemen waa John , Earl of Kintore , who was install A Grand Master Mason of Scotland in 1738 , and Grand Master of England va 1740 . It is not unworthy , I think , of the traditions of a noble house that the

principles which were aotad upon by the third Earl of Kintore 150 years ago should be consistently maintained to-day by bis successor , the ninth Earl , on a continent whioh was then unnamed , and , except to a few adventurous navigators , altogether unknown . Certainly it adds to the prestige of your office , and it unites us as South Australians

still more closely to British Mason ; / , that our Grand Master's ohair should be filled by the des , mdant of one of the early Graud Masters of England and of S « . jtland . But , M . W . G . M ., although venerable Masonic associations attach themselves to yon" name , your title to the suffrages of your brethren rest 1 upon something higher . Yours

is an hereditary fitness indeed , but yonr own character and your own career furnish your best qualifications . Surely no Grand Master ever had a more ( omplete training for his duties . Initiated into Masonry iu the Lodge of Edinburgh , Mary ' s Chapel—the mother Lodge of your ancestor and of so many eminent Scotsmen—yon scon rose to

be Provincial Grand Master of Kincardineshire . Dur ' ng 13 years ' membership of the Grand Lodge of Scotland you filled various high offices in succession , being for the last four yeirs Substitute Grand Master Mason , with only one step intervening batween you and the Grand Master's chair . You are still Second Grand Principal of tho

Supreme Grand Eoyal Arch Chapter of Scotland , and Trustee of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , of the Fund of Masonio Benevolence , and of the Annuity Fund . If I may not speak on this orr . sion of your rank in those more advanced deg . ees whioh ere not recognised in Craft Lodges , I may turn to your seui 3 S to EngMsh and Colonial

Masonry , which unt ! now had the 7 culnruation : i yot " . ' tenure for three years of the Grand Mr tership of the Grand Lodge of Mark Masons of England , Wales , nnd the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown—en Order wbioh is still a bond of organic union between English and Colonial Masons . It was a striking tribute to

the success of your goveuiment of Mark Masomy that H . R . H . the Prince of Wales should have consented to become , yor-r successor , and that you should have had the privilege of yourself installing him in the chair , which you had filled so long and with so much distinction . When I edd to this imperfect sketch of yor- MasoDic work that you

have won the confidence and favour of yonr Sovereign , and that since you have been amongst ns wo have not failed to decern yorzeal for the Craft , your earnest manliness of character , and that you wear 'the white flower of a blameless life' —it v » . 'U be understood why with common consent your brethren in South Australia invited

you to place yourself at their head . Let me say , also , that the enthusiasm with which we hail your installation ; i increased by the fact of yonr being our Governor ; for , in choosing Her Majesty ' s representative as our Grnd Master , we are able to mar'fest in the most emphatic manner possible to us our loyalty and devotion to the

Queen . M . W . G . M . —I accept it as a great honor-to be the first to convey to you myowa coiigratu ' ations and the congratulations of your brethren on your complete installation . Most sincerely and heartily do I congratulate tho daft also on the accession to the Grand Mastership of South Austre'ia of so illustrious a Mason . May

yorrule , M . W . G . M ., be long , happy , and prosperous , honourable to yourself , and for the advancement of Masonry . It would not become me to offer advice as ta yor" duties to e <~ - expe . lenced a brother . The first Grand Master of your name ' ntroduced into Scotland the

practico at ail events of the visitatio . . i > y the Grand Lodge of private Lodger which for similar reasor 3 we nave this veiy year taken steps to secure for oc •most d itant Bit- Li lges . During his Grand Mastarrhip t \ j f- ' ie off ! - * of Prov 1 Gra ^ d Mf iter was created .