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^VWW^^^^^ Mre^masoOT mxbgm^mmsimSM SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER I , IQOO .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The Quarterl y Communicatior . of United Grand '•od ge will be held at Freemasons' Hall on Wcdnesay , the 5 th instant , when , as soon as the minutes of A P y'ous meeting have been read and confirmed , <( ere will be moved from the chair a resolution of " •spcctful and fraternal sympathy" with the Prince

Masonic Notes.

of Wales , K . G ., M . W . G . Master , on the loss his Royal Highness has sustained through the death of his brother , H . R . H . the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha , K . G . ( Duke of Edinburgh ) .

# * The Report of the Board of General Purposes deals mainly with reference to the new premises—and very handsome and commodious premises they are , toowhich have beenadded to Freemasons' Hall and are now completed . Certain modifications of , and additions to

the original plan have been made , and the formal sanction of Grand Lodge is asked for the further expenditure thereby entailed as well as for the expenditure of a sum not exceeding ^ 2500 for furniture . It is also stated that policies of insurance havebeen taken out for ; £ 10 , 000 on the new premises and £ 2000 on the furniture .

* * * The Report also contains an announcement to the effect that the South African Masonic Relief Fund amounts to over , £ 9000 , of which £ 4000 has been remitted , and is in course of distribution by Bros .

George Richards , Dist . G . M . Transvaal ; the Very Rev . the Dean of Capetown , Dist . G . M . South Africa ( W . D . ); Chas . J . Egan , M . D ., Dist . G . M . South Africa ( E . D . ) j and the heads of the other Districts . There is one notice of motion by Bro . G . W . Speth .

P . A . G . D . C , that printed copies of the Minutes of the previous Communications be furnished to brethren attending G . Lodge , and as this will effect a considerable saving of time , we have little doubt it will be adopted .

The new lodges for which his Royal Highness the M . W . Grand Master has been pleased to grant warrants since the June Communication are 13 in number , and of these six are located in London , namely , the St . Bride Lodge , No . 2817 ; the Kirby ,

No . 281 S ; the Horistic , No . 2822 ; the William Rogers , No . 2823 ; the Grove Park Kent , No . 2824 ; and the Lord Roberts Lodge , No . 2827 . Of the four lodges located in the Provinces two have been added to the roll of West Lancashire—the Widnes Lodge ,

No . 2819 , meeting in the town of the same name , and the St . John Lodge , No . 2825 , Blackpool . The Birkenhead Lodge , No . 2826 , Birkenhead , goes to swell the number of lodges in Cheshire , and the Whitley Lodge , No . 2821 , Whitley , in Northumberland . The

remaining three are located in the Colonies , namely , the Perseverance , No . 2820 , Mount Morgan , in Queensland , the Evening Star , No . 2 S 28 , Burghersdorp , Cape Colony , and the Caribbee Lodge , No . 2829 , St . John , Antigua , West Indies .

••» The Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons will be held at Mark Masons ' Hall on Tuesday , the 4 th instant , when , as usual , the

time of the Grand Lodge will be taken up with the consideration of the Report of the General Board , and any resolutions that may arise out of any of its clauses .

* * » As regards the contents of this Report , we note a steady increase during the past quarter both in Mark and Royal Ark Masonry , two warrants having been granted in the former , of which the Staffordshire Knot , No . 541 , will meet at Stafford , and the Davoren

Lodge , No . 542 , at Wellington , in Madras . The total number of registered Mark Master Masons has been increased to 41 , 775 by the insueof 292 certificates . A warrant has been granted for the Leopold Royal Ark Mariners Lodge , in connection with the Leopold Mark Lodge , Xo . 235 , Reading , and 9 8 certificates issued , increasing the total number registered to 6303 .

* As regards the other items it is annoanced that his Royal Highness the M . W . G . Master has been pleased to re-appoint Bros , the Rev . Canon Tristram , the Alan de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., and R . V . Vassar-^^

Smith as Prov . Grand Masters for a further term of thrce years of Northumberland and Durham , Cheshire , and Gloucestershire and Herefordshire , respectively , while the death is recorded with regret of the Earl of Radnor , Prov . Grand Mark Master of Wiltshire .

Regret is also expressed at the death of Bro . Richard Eve , a member of the Board , the vacancy so caused being filled for the rest of his term of office by the appointment of Bro . C . L . Mason , Prov . G . M . M . of

West Yorkshire . Mention is also made of the fact that the Grand Master has been pleased to confer the rank of Past Junior Grand Warden on Bro . Charles Belton , P . G . M . O ., in recognition of his many services to tho Mark Degree .

Masonic Notes.

On the Board ' s recommendation an addition will be proposed to be mado to Article 21 of the Book of Constitutions providing that in cases of necessity a dispensation may issue for holding a regular ledge meeting not more than seven days before or . after the day fixed by the bye-laws , and that such day shall be held to be the " regular day of meeting . "

We have been recently publishing from time to time sundry letters on the subject of " Masonic Jurisprudence" from a correspondent signing himself in the majority of cases " M . L . S ., " but in his last week ' s letter " An Independent P . M ., " who appears to possess

in a remarkable degree the faculty of confounding matters of opinion with matters of fact , and the assurance to ask our readers to place them all on an equal footing in the matter of value . To his matters of fact we raise no objection . We know nothing of the lodges

he refers to or the circumstance he describes . His version may be strictly accurate , and , in the absence of any other , we accept it as such . But his opinions , we take leave to say , are worthless , except in so far as they reflect his own views of the circumstances as he

informs us they occurred ; nor until he succeeds in persuading us that all the wisdom of the lodge is concentred in himself and all the unwisdom in the Master , officers , and other members , do we think it vvill be in our power to describe them as being anything else .

¦ * » * The latest case to which our correspondent has invited attention is that of a certain lodge which more than 50 years ago established a Benevolent Fund " for the sole purpose of relieving their OWN members

and accumulated rather a large sum for this purpose only . " But let us mark the sequel . In 1898 the Secretary of this lodge , who was going up as a Steward for the Boys' Centenary Festival , " proposed that the lodge should authorise the Benevolent Fund to place

; 62 oo on his List , and as no one ventured to object , the thing was done . " To our mind there is nothing very alarming in this . The lodge , when it acted thus , brought upon itself no very serious calamity , and was

certainly guiltless of any such misconduct as would lessen its fair fame in the estimation of our Grand Lodge authorities . It merely did , in a sensible way , what it had a perfect right to do with its own property .

« » * Our correspondent evidently does not know that the right inheres in every body corporate to suspend the rules and regulations it has framed forthe

government of its own affairs in order to meet special or emergent cases . Here we find the case of a lodge which , after an experience of upwards of 50 years , has accumulated for its Benevolent Fund for the benefit of its own members what is described as " rather a

large sum . The members were clearly not of that class which needs much help from its own or other Benevolent Funds , or this " rather a large sum " would not have been accumulated . Hence , when the Boys ' School was about to celebrate the Centenary of its

foundation by raising money for the erection of new premises , the Secretary proposed and the members agreed that the rule respecting the appropriation of this Fund to the benefit of its own members should be suspended , and £ 200 voted to

the truly Benevolent purpose of assisting one of our Masonic Charitable Institutions . The proposal appeared so very reasonable that , as our correspondent puts it , " no one ventured to object , " and " the thing was done . " In other words , the lodge proved its

Benevolence by helping a Masonic Institution which needed help instead of members who did not ; at the same time reserving—for aught we are told to the contrary—an ample sum wherewith to assist any of its own brethren who may appeal for help in the future .

But there is no need for us to offer any further observations on this and the previous letters of our esteemed correspondent . They are supposed to havo some remote reference to one of the series of valuable articles which are appearing in our columns on the

subject of "Masonic Jurisprudence . " The help he stands mostly in need of is a little friendly advice for his guidance in the domain of common sense , and when he has had the advantage of that guidance , he will , doubtless , experience no difficulty in satisfying

himself that a lodge may take upon itself to do what it likes with its own funds , provided always that it does not thereby violate the Constitutions of Freemasonry or infringe upon the rights and privileges of other lodges . We must ask our correspondent to rest content with the space we have found for his letters .