Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 437 The Formation of New Grand Lodges 43 8 Amendments Carried at Special Grand Lodge in Book of Constitutions which seem to require Alteration 011 Confirmation ; 43 8 United Grand of

Lodge England 439 CORRESPONDENCEStatus of Fast Masters and Rights of Lodges 440 Status of Past Masters 441 The So-called Grand Lodge o £ Victoria 442 The History o £ St . Mary ' s Lodge . —A Correction 443

Reviews 442 Notes and Queries 442 The Revised Constitutions 443 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 443 Australia 443 New Zealand 443 Summer Banquet of the Merchant Navy

Lodgeof Instruction , No . 7 S 1 443 RF . I ' URTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry : 444 Instruction , 444 Ruyal Arch 444 The Theatres 4 , 1 Masonic and General Tidings 44 6 Lodee Meetings for Next Week ... Page s Cover .

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WE observe that it svill be moved to defer the confirmation of the " Revision " Minutes until December . We venture to think such a proposal both seasonable and sensible in the interests of all alike . " Hurry no man ' s cattle" is a good old English saying * , and its moral is especial ! } ' true of the Book of Constitutions , svhich requires the greatest care and

consideration , alike in its drafting and its settlement . A hasty move or an illadvised change can only result in further agitation , or a fresh revision . " Verbum sat . " London brethren are proverbially " on the sving , " or far asvay from the little village at this time of the year . But still many good brethren , Worshipful Masters , Past Masters , and Wardens of lodges are in

tosvn , and we hope they will assemble and support Bro . MATTHESVS ' motion . We give this advice as " amicus curi ; c , " the more so as sve are openly threatened svith a large representation of provincial feeling . Indeed , from some of the letters sve should almost feel inclined to think that their motto was , " Arise ye Goths and glut your ire . "

* « ONE reason for adopting Bro . MATTHESS ' S ' S motion is that sve shall discuss several vexed and exciting questions in cooler sveather in December next , and before a fuller audience . A " snap victory" svill only lead to an

irresistible demand for a fresh revision , as the interests are too many and too serious to be trifled svith . Another reason is , that it the motion to delay confirmation be rejected , sve shall have a long and heating discussion on the report , svhich svill occupy the svhole night undoubtedly , so much so , that the important question of the Nesv Hall svill have to be postponed .

As regards that most important report of the Building Committee , sve do not profess to be ardent admirers of the design as submitted , but it can easily be altered , and as sve have a special Building Committee , the

matter had better be left honestly in their hands , as in all such matters unity of action and authority is alike desirable and needful . It , hosvever , it is the svish of Grand Lodge to have other designs , such can no doubt be easily obtained . There is no difficulty as to the money question .

THE continued interest taken in the question of the " Status of Past Masters" is evinced by our correspondence columns again this sveek . It seems clear to us , and sve hope to our readers , that the question has tsvo sides , and that it is as absurd as illogical to attempt to settle the discussion

by any such " gush " as " once a Past Master alsvays a Past Masier , " & c . Such a point has nothing svhatever to do svith the question . No one denies that a Past Master is a Past Master as long as he continues a contributing member to some lodge . But if he intermits for twelve months to subscribe to a lodge he loses his rank and Membership in Grand Lodge .

and cannot regain them as a Past Master until he has served as Worshipful Master for a year once more . Surely in this wise provision Grand Lodge gives us the key to the proper understanding of the Past Master question . This rank is given for and earned by service as Worshipful Master to a lodge . But the nesv idea sweeps asvay

the old constitutional maxim , this hitherto unchanging lasv of English breemasonry , sound and safe in every respect , and g ives to a Past Master svho either is rich enough to afford it , or takes a fancy for a particular lodge , a ri ght to place himself on a level wilh the old Past Masters of the lodge which he has recently joined . We know a case where a Past Master , nosv the

father of the lodge , has been 30 years a Past Master and several times Worshipful Masier of the lodge . Bro . R OBINSON joins the lodge , never having done a day ' s work in it , in fact , passes over the heads of all the ° ld members who have not passed the chair , all the officers

not Past Masters ; and svhy , —in the name of common sense ? Because he has been Worshipful Master in another lodge , and because he is a Past Master in the Craft . It seems to us such an act of unmeaning alteration , such an uprooting of all our ideas , customs , lodge

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sympathies , and " Esprit du Corps , " that sve feel sure sve are right in saying , that if it be carried finally , it svill svork an infinity of evil and confusion , and introduce a regular system of blackballing , a matter not at all to be desiderated , svhile it svill undoubtedly have a tendency to foster grievances , and encourage cliques and cabals . We must remember that at the

present time there is a great craving for Masonic honours and an upsvard movement to the chair . For this reason . The chair is the passport to all Provincial and Grand Lodge rank , and many svho never thought of such things before , in the actual prosperous and honoured condition of our Order , are eagerly seeking , often

svith no claim or svarrant , for the highest honours of the Craft . We ought then to be on the cautious side in all our lodge appointments , and yet on the contrary , by this nesv " fad , " as sve increase the value of the Past Master : * rank and position , sve make the peculiar difficulty and danger of the hour more serious , nay almost insurmountable . Let us trust that

the good sense of Grand Lodge svill soh * c the dilemma , and revert to older and sviser regulations . A curious question supervenes on this subject . Assuming this very undesirable and unreasonable change carried out , svill it have a retrospective bearing ? Or is its effect only prospective ? That is , svill all the Past Masters nosv in lodges , after the confirmation of the Book

of Constitutions , rank as Past Masters of the lodge , or svill that remarkable privilege ( unsvorked for ) be only accorded to those svho honour lodges by joining them , after the confirmation and promulgation of the revised Bookof Constitutions ? In the latter case the evil svill probably settle itself j in the former , it may give rise to much annoying controversy , and to many very intricate questions .

WE hope the authorities of the Girls' School svill not take it amiss in any svay if , yielding to the svishes of many friends , sve beg to suggest an increase in the number of elected candidates in October . VV ' ny cannot the number of inmates in the School be raised to 250 ? If it be true that the original

calculations of space have not been burne out by scientific measurements ; if it be also irue that in these days a proper number of cubical inches per child is most svisely insisted upon as a " sine qua . non ; " yet sve apprehend that there is no real difficulty in the matter svhich cannot be overcome by a little judicious management and rearrangement . As a rule , the School is

never full more than isvo months in the year , ( some of the scholars leaving neaily every month ) , except perhaps the months of " taking in . " But it seems a great pity , svhen so miny poor little girls are svanting a home and the blessings of education , that the School should not be completed to the number originally contemplated . It svould be a good plea lor the support

of the Girls School in 1884 to point out that , even beyond r . s means , it has sought to educale the greatest number of children possible , and many of those svho are interested in cases svould feel , sve know , that such a judicious and seasonable resolution of the House Committee svould claim acknowled gment in the most practical svay , namely , by an enlarged support of the funds

of the School . The Girls' School has no double votes to offer to Life Governors , and it can only rely on the faithful and continuous liberality of attached friends ; and sve , therefore , think it svell to call the attention of the House Committee timely to the matter , as sve knosv the general feeling undoubtedly is that the margin is too great in the present prosperous condition

of the Girls' School , and svith a certainty of effective support in 188 4 , as betsveen the present list of candidates and the official number to be elected in October next . We say nothing as regards other charities and the like ; but sve leel sure if the authorities ol tne Girls' School take our friendly hint they svill truly gratify many svarm supporters , both in the provinces and the metropolis .

WE call attention to an interesting announcement by the President of the Boaid of Benevolence at the last meeting , namely , that the Lodge 1022 , Bloemfontein , South Africa , finding it had an unappropriated balance of £ 8 17 s . 6 d ., remitted it to the Fund of Benevolence . This fraternal contribution svould be as the President said " received svith thanks , " and sve

think that the consideration of our good brethren at Bloemfontein deserves alike note and recognition . Of late years the claims on the funds of the Board of Benevolence have been very great , and as grants are often made to members of Colonial Lodges , and no compulsory benevolent payments are required of Colonial Lodges , such little thoughtful acts of fraternal good feeling are in truth both commendable and very Masonic .

IT is just possible that sve shall have to discount a good deal yet as regards the attempt in Victoria to form a clandestine and illegal Grand Lodge . It