The Empire Lodge, No. 2108.

THE EMPIRE LODGE , No . 2108 .

Few , if any , of the meetings which have been held by the Empire Lodge , No . 2108 , have furnished a happier or more successful illustration of the immense benefit which must result to the Craft of Masonry throughout the British Empire from having such bodies established in our midst . This lodge , as our readers are aware , was constituted some ten years since by

brethren who had been , or were at the time , in some way or other interested in the development of British Colonial enterprise , the leading spirit among the founders being Bro . LENNOX BROWNE , and their purpose in founding it being to provide what may justly be termed a Masonic home in London for Colonial brethren , who might from time to time pay a visit to the metropolis

ot the empire . Its name , too , was happily chosen , and what is of still greater importance , it has demonstrated its utility on many and many an occasion by entertaining sundry among the most distinguished members of the Craft in the Colonies , who have one and all expressed their admiration with the manner in which the lodge fulfilled its part ,

and the pleasure it gave them to be thus hospitably received by their brethren of this huge Metropolis . But at no previous meeting has it entertained a more distinguished Colonial brother , or one who is doing grander service to the Biitish Empire , than Bro . the Rt . Hon . CECIL RHODES , the Prime Minister of Cape Colony , and the prime mover in all that concerns

the development of British enterprise in the South African portion of Her Majesty ' s Dominions . Moreover , the visit appears to have been made most opportunely , just at the very time when Bro . RHODES was visiting this country for the purpose of receiving honour from the Queen , and consulting her Ministers on questions concerning the maintenance and confirmation of British interests in Africa , Nor does it detract from the interest

we have taken in Bro . RHODES S present visit , that among its minor purposes was to obtain a warrant tor the establishment of a lodge in Buluwayo , which was so recently the capital of the late King LOBENGULA , King of the Matabele , and which is now part of the territory administered by Dr . J AMIESON in behalf of the Chartered South African Company .

There is , indeed , a further reason which cannot be lost sight of for the exceeding pleasure whkh this visit has afforded us , namely , that it is almost coincident with the progress so recently made throughout the various Masonic sub-divisions of South Africa , but most especially with the erection of the Transvaal into a District Grand Lodge under the United GrandlLodge

of England . For these reasons we are all the more urgently impelled to offer our congratulations to the members of the Empire Lodge on the success they have met with during the brief period of their existence as a lodge , and our hopes that this prosperity may be even greater and more pronounced in the future than it has been in the past .

A Further Development In The New Zealand Question.

A FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW ZEALAND QUESTION .

We are not of those who think that all the fympathy should be with the wrongdoer and none whatever with the person or persons he has wronged . When some five years ago sundry lodges in the Colony of New Zealand seceded from the Grand Lodges cf England , Ireland , and Scotland , and constituted themselves an independent Grand Lodge , they committed a

wrong towards their parent Grand Lodges , not by seceding , which was a perfectl y legitimate act on their part , but by setting up a rival Grand Lodge in territory which no one in the possession of his senses could venture to define as " unoccupied j " nor does the fact that other lodges have since then followed their example and cast in their lot with this irregularly-established

Grand Lodge in any way detract from the measure of the wrong they have done to the Grand Bodies from which they derive their existence . On 'he other hand , the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland have not consciously done—nor have we found any one audacious enough to assert that they have done—any act that is capable of

Q emg misinterpreted into one of aggression against the rights and privileges which they themselves solemnly conferred upon the seceding lodges in their several Warrants of Constitution . So , far , indeed , have they been from Qoing anything of an offensive or aggressive character towards their former a ughter lodges , that , when the secession movement was first started—we

exclude from our remarks those minor attempts in previous years which had een talked about rather than seriously contemplated—it is well known thatconfining our attention to England only—provided a good round majority of e 149 lod ges in the Colony declared in favour of a local Grand Lodge , r o . the Earl of ONSLOW , a distinguished English brother , and at the time ° vernor of the Colony , was piepared to accept the office of G rand Master ,

A Further Development In The New Zealand Question.

and that our Grand Lodge would have accepted the new order of things unhesitatingl y . But when the critical moment arrived for determining what lodges in New Zealand were and what were not in favour of independence , the good round majority which had been stipulated for was found to be a minority of less than one-fourth of the whole body . Still , the

promoters of the scheme determined to proceed at all hazards , a Grand Lodge was constituted by the 32 lodges—out of 149 , be it remembered—which had seceded with Bro . HENRY THOMPSON who till then had filled the office of District Grand Master of Canterbury , South Island ( E . C ) , as its first Grand Master ; and when this body appealed to United Grand Lodge for

recognition as the Grand Lodge of New Zealand , its request was very courteously but very righteously , declined . What has happened since is matter of history , but with whomsoever may rest the responsibility for the deplorable condition in which New Zealand has ] existed during the [ last five years , no blame whatever can possibly attach to the Grand Lodge of England , whose

conduct throughout has been generous , dignified , and self-respectful . Those English , Irish , and Scotch lodges which have remained true to their old allegiance cannot have had a pleasant time of it , | if we may judge of the opinions held of them and their rulers , from the general tone of the letters for which from time to time place has been found in the columns of the New

Zealand Craftsman . Yet our G . Lodge has never once assumed an offensive attitude towards its seceded lodges . What its responsible officers have done has been to instruct the District Grand Lodge authorities in the Colony to secure as far as possible the due administration of our laws and to safeguard the interests of the lodges which remain faithful ; and if the result of these

instructions has been a considerable amount of friction among the partisans of the irregular Grand Lodge of New Zealand , our Grand Lodge can conscientiously wash its hands of all responsibility for such a misfortune . It is clear that our Grand Lodge is innocent of originating , and has not persisted in the establishment of , a Grand Lodge that should set its own aulhority at

defiance . It has not carried off , retained , or transferred its own warrants in contravention of its own laws as contained in its own Book of Constitutions ; and if , as we have said before , it has ordered steps to be taken to vindicate its own laws and for the protection of its own interests—well the Grand Lodge which declined to do this much would be unworthy of the

name . But whither does all this tend ? We have had five years of Masonic turmoil in New Zealand , and the situation at this moment is not more disconcerting than it has been at any other time during the whole of that period . The answer to our question will be found in the fact that according to the

latest advices from that Colony the irregular Grand Lodge of New Zealand , having first of all returned—but not unconditionally—the warrants it has retained in contravention of our laws , intends forthwith approaching the Grand ^ odges of England , Ireland , and Scotland , for the purpose of obtaining , if possible , that recognition of its status which was denied it at

the time of its constitution . On the face of it , this may be taken as an act of rare magnanimity on the part of this irregular Grand Lodge that , after a protracted labour of five years , it should have brought forth a resolution for at once entering into friendly relations with the three Grand Lodges , whose character it has rarily

failed to asperse from the day of its birth till now . And what certainly does not place matters in a more acceptable light , we regret to sny there are those in England—and it may be in Ireland and Scotland likewise —who openly avow their belief that the proper course for us to pursue is lo accept the withheld warrants on the conditions proposed and afterwards

accord recognition to the so-called Grand Lodge of New Zealand . They argue , or—which is much the same thing—the tendency of their argumen s is , that we have been too sensitive about our own honour and too indifferent to the true interests of Freemasonry ; that we should adopt any course which will have the effect of determining the present pitiable condition of the

Craft in the Colony affected ; that we should abandon all idea of protecting our own lodges ; and generally that , sitting [ in sackcloth and ashes , we should demean ourselves by doing penance for acts we have never committed . The process of fouling one's own nest is proverbially an objectionable able one , nor are we so craven-hearted that we shall advise our Grand

Lodge to conform to these unpatriotic opinions . On the contrary , we are of opinion that , while it is most desirable the present condition of the Craft in New Zealand should be ameliorated , and , while any honourable course which may seem calculated to ensure that consummation should be

adopted , the terms of what we will speak of as the proposed reconciliation of the present divided Masonic interests in New Zealand are not such as any loyal Mason would recommend for acceptance to a Society which retains fc . ritsi . lf a pioper sense if self-resp ct . 1 \\ : honour and welfare of Free-