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SlMfiiisM SATURDAY , J 2 , 1900 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The business entered on the Agenda paper for transaction at the Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge on Wednesday , the 6 th instant , is for the most part of the usual character , the most notable

exception being the receipt of a communication from the M . W . Grand Master acknowledging the A-ddress expressing the congratulations of Grand Lodge to his Royal Highness on "his merciful preservation upon Hie recent attempt on his life . " We had looked forward to seeing included in the programme a recom-

Masonic Notes.

mendation from the M . W . G . Master to vote a grant of money to" the Indian Famine Fund , but there is nothing of the kind , and the business is restricted to the elections usual at this time , and the Reports of the Boards of Benevolence and General Purposes . * * *

The Report of the latter mentions that it had found itself under the necessity of summoning before it two lodges on the charge of permitting toasts of a Masonic character to be proposed and responded to-at banquets in the presence of ladies and non-Masons , and that it

has felt it to be its duty to seriously admonish them for so grave an irregularity . It points out emphatically that it is " both improper and irregular to introduce

anything whatever of a Masonic character" into the proceedings at banquets at which ladies and others who are not members of the Craft are being entertained as guests .

••* The Board makes the further and very acceptable announcement that the large and handsome room intended for the reception of the Library and Museum is completed , and they express the hope that the

members of the Craft will generously place at their disposal such additions as they may be able to furnish . We twst that , as time goes on , our Grand Lodge Library and Museum may become , between purchases and gifts , in every way worthy of the mother Grand Lodge of the world .

Of the 13 new lodges for which his Royal Highness the M . W . Grand Master has been pleased to grant warrants of constitution since the March communication of Grand Lodge , three , namely , the Paddington Rifles Lodge , No . 2 S 07 ; the Erkenwald Lodge , No ,

2808 ; and the Capital and Counties Lodge , No . 2809 ; are located in London ; and one—the Hope Lodge , No . 2 S 13 , Savannalamar—in the District of Jamaica . The other nine are located in the Provinces : the St . Martin's Lodge , No . 2 S 12 , Fenny Stratford , and the

Bowen Lodge , No . 216 , Chesham , in Buckinghamshire ; the Fleetwood Lodge , No . 2814 , Liverpool , and the Southport Temperance Lodge , No . 2815 , Southport , in the Province of West Lancashire ; and the Seymour Lodge , No . 2804 , Redditch , and the St . John ' s Lodge

No . 2811 , Coventry , in the Province of Warwickshire ; the Balfour Cockburn Lodge , No . 2805 , Guernsey , in Guernsey and Alderney ; the Lodge of the Three Pillars , No . 2806 , Cockington , in Devonshire ; and Abiff Lodge , No . 2810 , Saxmundham , in the Province of Suffolk .

*¦ * * The result of these additions is that Buckinghamshire will now have 22 lodges on its roll ; West Lancashire , 124 lodges , Warwickshire , 34 lodges ;

Guernsey and Alderney , 7 lodges ; Devonshire , 60 lodges ; aud Suffolk , 23 lodges . The number of lodges for which warrants of constitution have been granted since the publication , early in December last , of the Grand Lodge Calendar is 23 .

* » * The Quarterly Communication of Mark Grand Lodge will be held at Mark Masons' Hall on Tuesday , the 5 th instant , and when the Grand Officers for the ensuing year have been appointed and invested , and the other business on the Agenda paper transacted , the Grand Festival will be held at the adjoining Freemasons' Tavern . # » » The Report of the General Board which will be laid before Grand Lodge shows that during the quarter to 31 st March , 727 Mark certificates were issued , raising the number of registered Mark Master

Masons to 41 , 483 . There have also been granted since the March communication warrants for five new lodges , of which Philanthropic , No . 538 , King ' s Lynn , belongs to East Anglia , and the North Devon Union , No . 540 , Ufracombe , to the Province of Devonshire ;

while Friendship , No . 53 6 , and Union , No . 537 , are added to the roll of the District Grand Lodge of North Africa ; and 15 undaberg Lodge , No . 539 , to that of Queensland . Royal Ark Mariner certificates to the number of 79 were issued during the March quarter , raising the total number registered to 6205 .

•• This ( Friday ) afternoon the Royal Masonic Institu . tion for Boys will again be honoured by H . R . H . the Duke of Connaught , M . W . Past G . M ., Prov . G . M .

Sussex , Dist . G . M . Bombay , who , with the Duchess of Connaught , will drive down to Wood Green and inspect the School , her Royal Highness having very graciously consented to distribute the prizes to those

Masonic Notes.

of the pupils who have been awarded class and other distinctions during the past year . We have no doubt that those who are fortunate enough to receive their prizes from the hands of the Duchess will in after life look upon the event as marking one of the bri ghtest of the red-letter days of their boyhood .

* * * ¦ We have been requested to announce that Thursday , the 7 th instant , is the last day on which petitions for the October Election of the Royal Masonic

Institution for Girls must reach the offices of the Institution , 5 , Freemasons' Hall , W . C . It is , however , very desirable that they should be forwarded as much before that date as possible .

» * * We are glad to see that the "South African Masonic Relief Fund " is gradually mounting up , and that the total to the close of last week , inclusive of the . £ 256 4 s . from the Province of Durham , substantially exceeded

£ 6000 , and we trust that before many weeks are over we shall be in a position to record that the round sum of . £ 10 , 000 has been recorded in our columns . In addition , however , to the , £ 6000 already

acknowledged by us , there is a further sum of between £ 6000 and £ 7000 that has been subscribed to the " Mansion House , the " Daily Telegraph Shilling , " and other War and Refugee Funds , so that the Masonic body may fairly claim that it is doing its duty .

The half-yearly meeting of Great Priory of the Order of the Temple on Friday , the nth ult ., appears to have been a more than usually successful one . The Supreme Grand Master , the Earl of Euston , presided , and there were present , not only a numerous gathering

of Great Officers and Sir Knights , but there were also deputations from the Great Priory of Ireland and the Chapter General of Scotland , to whom a hearty greeting was extended . The Report of the Council was a very favourable one , and as the Great

Treasurer was in a position to show balances in . the General and Benevolent Funds amounting together to upwards of . £ 850 , it was unanimously agreed to vote a sum of 100 guineas to the Festival of the Mark Benevolent Fund , at which the Earl of Euston has consented to preside .

* * * We unfortunately omitted the name of V . E . Knight Charles Fendelow , G . C . J ., from those present at the meeting of the Great Prioiy reported in our last week ' s issue . * * *

With reference to Bro . J . S . Cumberland ' s motion at the recent annual meeting ot the Governors and Subscribers ot the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for removing from the lists of candidates the names of those who fail to secure election after tour

applications , when it first came under our notice , wc expressed ourselves as unfavourably inclined towards it , but it was certainly not a motion meriting the description given of it by Bro . E . W . Nightingale as being " the most unMasonic resolution " ever heard of .

There is nothing unMasonic in proposing time limitations to candidature any more than there is in fixing limits of age for candidates . If there is anything of the kind—which we fail to realise—it must be in recommending people as candidates , who have not the shadow of a chance of being elected .

» # # A short while since a friend very kindly forwarded us a cutting from a Roman Catholic organ on the subject of " Catholics and Freemasonry , " in the belief that it might interest us . And so it would have done

had we not read the same statements in well-nigh innumerable cuttings from similar newspapers . Whence the writer of the communication obtained his information is not very material j he says : " from members of the Craft , both Protestants , and , I am

sorry to say , Catholics . " According to the writer ' s informant , there is a superior kind of lodge , whose behests all other lodges are bound to obey under the most tremendous penalties . There is , of course ,

nothing new , as we have said , in these assertions , and , of course , there is nothing to be gained by repeating for the hundredth , or it may be , the thousandth time that the statement is erroneous .

» * » We are pleased to find , from the letter wc published last week from Bro . Capt . W . Portlock Dadson , 33 '

G . Secretary-General of the Supreme Council , 33 ° of the A . and A . Rite , that that body declines to grant dispensations to its members to wear the clothing of the D egrces at church parades .