Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
the absolute exigency of the case being , I should think , ample protection from the abuse of a deviation from a fixed rule necessary to be observed in England , but from which the peculiar circumstances of a foreign lodge may require some exemption ; and the assimilation of the rules and practice of English to Scotch and Irish lodges on these not very material points , would be attended with an incalculable amount of goodancl maintain the Catholic character of the Craft more integrall
, y than the present different observances appear to characterize it . Lodge No . 748 lately had a narrow escape from legal extinction by the Book of Constitutions , in consequence of the difficulty in procuring a duly qualified brother to relieve the W . M ., ivho hacl served two years , and the non-receipt of any dispensation from the Grand Lodge , though applied for in the month of March last . In places like this , where the brethren are so frequently leaving the settlementthese
, emergencies must be expected , and lodges in such cases shouldhavepower to elect the W . M ., or a brother who has been previously appointed a Warden , without reference to the time he has served in that office . It is fortunate that the lodge has been able to obtain the services of its present active and zealous Master without infringing the existing laws ; but certainly we are not indebted to the care and attention of the Grand Lodge officials for our preservation from extinction , which the operation
of this rule would otherwise have produced ; and a flourishing lodge , which has received the highest commendations from numerous visitors from Calcutta , China , Batavia , and continental Europe , has thus been exposed to constitutional annihilation . Surely the rigidity of laws which may thus be attended with destructive effects should be modified to suit the peculiar circumstances of foreign lodges , who have nothing to depend upon for safety but hopeless references , which are seldom so much as acknowledged , and which I verily believe are systematically withheld from the notice of the Grand Master to save the trouble which
must otherwise ensue to the Grand Secretary , and his subordinates , who I fancy are not sufficiently remunerated to attend to anything more than register and certificate fees , otherwise there is indeed most crying need of a radical reform in that department , and you who are nearest the fountain head of evil can better tell where it lies , and the most appropriate remedy , I should think the Grand Secretary , for his own ease and convenience , would advocate these relaxations , for they must be attended with the entire cessation of complaints like thisas the
, exciting cause will then be entirely removed . The brethren here , I can venture to affirm , feel much regret that they are not supported in the question of the relaxation of the required interval between degrees by so high and respected an authority as the " Freemasons' Quarterly Review ; " and however reluctant they may be to oppose their sentiments to its views upon this or any other subject , they cannot in the face of their long felt need of this most useful reform
alter their opinions upon a question of so much vital importance to the Craft on foreign stations ; and I trust that the very different circumstances which exist in home and foreign lodges will eventually reconcile you to a measure which we conscientiously believe will be highly useful to us , and all other lodges in foreign parts . In your remarks on my namesake ' s letter , you give us some very useful information on the law of expulsion , which has , to my certain knowledge , been for years in vain solicited from the Grand Loclge , by another lodge in the Straits . If that lodge did wrong in expelling one of its members ,, why , I would ask , was it not explicitly so told them
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
the absolute exigency of the case being , I should think , ample protection from the abuse of a deviation from a fixed rule necessary to be observed in England , but from which the peculiar circumstances of a foreign lodge may require some exemption ; and the assimilation of the rules and practice of English to Scotch and Irish lodges on these not very material points , would be attended with an incalculable amount of goodancl maintain the Catholic character of the Craft more integrall
, y than the present different observances appear to characterize it . Lodge No . 748 lately had a narrow escape from legal extinction by the Book of Constitutions , in consequence of the difficulty in procuring a duly qualified brother to relieve the W . M ., ivho hacl served two years , and the non-receipt of any dispensation from the Grand Lodge , though applied for in the month of March last . In places like this , where the brethren are so frequently leaving the settlementthese
, emergencies must be expected , and lodges in such cases shouldhavepower to elect the W . M ., or a brother who has been previously appointed a Warden , without reference to the time he has served in that office . It is fortunate that the lodge has been able to obtain the services of its present active and zealous Master without infringing the existing laws ; but certainly we are not indebted to the care and attention of the Grand Lodge officials for our preservation from extinction , which the operation
of this rule would otherwise have produced ; and a flourishing lodge , which has received the highest commendations from numerous visitors from Calcutta , China , Batavia , and continental Europe , has thus been exposed to constitutional annihilation . Surely the rigidity of laws which may thus be attended with destructive effects should be modified to suit the peculiar circumstances of foreign lodges , who have nothing to depend upon for safety but hopeless references , which are seldom so much as acknowledged , and which I verily believe are systematically withheld from the notice of the Grand Master to save the trouble which
must otherwise ensue to the Grand Secretary , and his subordinates , who I fancy are not sufficiently remunerated to attend to anything more than register and certificate fees , otherwise there is indeed most crying need of a radical reform in that department , and you who are nearest the fountain head of evil can better tell where it lies , and the most appropriate remedy , I should think the Grand Secretary , for his own ease and convenience , would advocate these relaxations , for they must be attended with the entire cessation of complaints like thisas the
, exciting cause will then be entirely removed . The brethren here , I can venture to affirm , feel much regret that they are not supported in the question of the relaxation of the required interval between degrees by so high and respected an authority as the " Freemasons' Quarterly Review ; " and however reluctant they may be to oppose their sentiments to its views upon this or any other subject , they cannot in the face of their long felt need of this most useful reform
alter their opinions upon a question of so much vital importance to the Craft on foreign stations ; and I trust that the very different circumstances which exist in home and foreign lodges will eventually reconcile you to a measure which we conscientiously believe will be highly useful to us , and all other lodges in foreign parts . In your remarks on my namesake ' s letter , you give us some very useful information on the law of expulsion , which has , to my certain knowledge , been for years in vain solicited from the Grand Loclge , by another lodge in the Straits . If that lodge did wrong in expelling one of its members ,, why , I would ask , was it not explicitly so told them