The Craft In Greater Britain.

Nearly every European in India has only gone out to that country for a period , and looks forward to retiring on a pension after , say , 25 years' service . He may be engaged in mercantile pursuits or in one of the departments of the public service , but in nine cases out of ten he has come to the country under a

covenant with his employers , which not only provides for the pension aforesaid , but also guarantees him periods of furlough at regular intervals , which are usually employed in visiting England . There is , therefore , practically a continued and uninterrupted stream of communication between English and

Indian brethren . Moreover , Indian interests are always well .. represented at court , if we may thus designate Grand Lodge . The retired Indian brother has generally nothing to do but draw his pension , and the reports of Grand Lodge proceedings show that his claim to sit and speak in Grand Lodge is by no

means an idle one . At the moment of writing , there is a goodly array of Past District Grand Masters , whose presence may be relied upon to adorn successive communications of Grand

Lodge and whose voices are regularly uplifted in debate . Thousands of English brethren never dream of attending Grand Lodge and are ignorant of their right to do so . Not so the Indian brother . Whatever other interest he takes in the Craft

he is sure to turn up at Grand Lodge when he is at home on leave , if he be qualified to attend . And when he returns to the land of his temporary exile he is full of reminiscences of the courteous and fraternal manner in which he was received . For

this reason the Craft in India is well governed . The various District Grand Masters know their work , receiving as they do periodic inspiration from head-quarters . Very few appeals come before Grand Lodge in which they are concerned , and very few indeed are the appeals which succeed . Let us now look at the alien brother . The admission of

non-Christians to the Order was officially recognised years ago , and , therefore , we cannot go back upon it now , But the Hindu brother is a problem . He is constructed on a different plane from the European , and possesses a distinctly different set of ideas . Very often his chief motive in seeking admission to the

Order is one of curiosity . When that is sated he ceases to attend meetings , and his interest declines when he finds it differs from his prc-conccived ideas . There are brilliant exceptions , especially in the north of India , and these brethren readily admit that , up to the present , the Hindu brother is not an ideal

Freemason . We are at the same time bound to say that his treatment by his European brother is not always what it should be . Unless he is a very exceptional person his career generally stops short of the chair ; and in more than one lodge it is perfectly understood among the European members that , whilst

such natives as are already members shall be tolerated as long as they confine themselves to the floor of the lodge , any native candidate shall be blackballed . Some of this feeling is due to the difficulty of assimilation that will always exist between Eastern and Western races , and much more of it is due to the

impossibility of knowing exactly what value the Brahman places on the S . O . The S . O . not only refers to the secrecy of the Institution , but includes many moral precepts . The system is based on the " practice of every moral and social virtue , " and , so far , it is collateral with the Christian religion . That is , the

one helps the other . But the Hindu religion is very far indeed from either moral or social virtue , as understood by the Christian , and Freemasonry comes to him , not as enforcing a set of maxims which have been familiar to him from his youth up , but as teaching him something quite novel . Hence we say the Hindu brother is a problem .

A very intere . stmrr feature of the Craft in India is the

extent to which the existence of a lodge is very often dependent on the activity of one brother . In an ordinary up-country station the population is migratory to an extent unknown in England . The local bank manager is generally transferred to a distant branch after a couple of years . The Civil servants are transferred sometimes at intervals ol a few

months , and the same may be said of all public servants , from the Colonel or the Collector down to the Forest Officer and the Padre . Nearly the whole membership of a lodge may be changed within three months , and , therefore , the history and the reputation and everything else the lodge possesses fall

sooner or later into the safe keeping of any influential brother whose duties keep him on the spot for any length of time . If that brother be a skilful Mason the interests of the (' raft arc , of course , conserved ; if not , his influence still dominates the lodge and the reputation of the Craft suffers .

In India sister Constitutions work side by side . 'I lie various lodges drink to the health and success of the Constitutions concerned , with enthusiasm , and lose no opportunity of dwelling with emphasis on the harmony with which they work side b y side . One is inclined to ask of what nature is that unity and harmony which needs so much public attention being drawn to

The Craft In Greater Britain.

it . In Hyderabad , for instance , there are three English and two Scotch Lodges , one of the latter being formed of Muhammadan members only , and working in the Hindustani language . At

Bombay the Grand Lodge of All Scottish Freemasonry in India and the District Grand Lodge of Bombay . work side by side , and are jointly responsible for the building of a handsome Masonic hall recent !) ' opened .

The Masonic loafer is well developed in India . He will turn up in Madras in the possession of certificates which appear to show that he has just come , say , from New Zealand , and is on his way to find work in Patagonia , and is just short of the money to pay his railway fare to Bombay en route . A European

in distress in India is a very pitiable sight , and the misery of the situation is not qualified by any question as to whose is the fault . Better , they say , to be deceived a dozen times rather than run the risk of sending away one deserving case unrelieved—and so the loafer flourishes .

The Parsis arc an honourable exception to the remarks made above about native , brethren . Ordinarily the Parsi would not describe himself as a " native . " As a Freemason he flourishes exceedingly , and is in every case an ornament to the

Order . He will very often be found discharging the duties of District Grand Treasurer . He generally possesses a thorough knowledge of ritual , and his conception of the Order is the highest possible . ( To he continued ) .

A Remarkable Work.

A REMARKABLE WORK .

The firm of " The Hunter , Rose , Co ., " of Toronto , have just printed , bound , and published , the volume ol "The History of Freemasonry in Canada , from its Introduction in 1 749 to 18 99 , " by M . W . Bro . J . Ross ROMIRTSON , P . G . M ., of the G . Lodge of Canada . It is an extraordinary book , and its deeply interesting

and instructive character is maintained from the first page to the end ( some 2000 pages ) , and it is so lavishly illustrated that even the index to the latter occupies 14 pages , these being valuable aids to the understanding of the text . The volume is divided into LXXIX chapters .

It is simply impossible to do justice even to the chief characteristics of this noble and remarkable work in a brief notice

such as this is intended to be , for even a more pretentious and extended review could only touch the fringe of the subject , as the author has not only provided for his readers a general history of the Craft , and a complete account of Freemasonry in the Province of Upper . Canada , now Ontario , covering the period

1 740 to 18 99 , but several of the chapters arc devoted to an abl y condensed digest of the geographical and political divisions of British North America and of Upper Canada ; early Colonial currency is very ably treated , heraldry generally and specifically described in relation to the arms of Masonry , the Mason ' s

Co ., the' Grand Lodge of England , Canada , & c , and , in fact , the whole subject of the origin and history of the Craft is both skilfully and entertainingly described , so that our Canadian brethren

in particular , and the Craft in general , can now procure and study a most valuable and carefully-condensed History , the like of which , for any single Grand Lodge mainly , has neither been attempted nor accomplished hitherto .

In not a few respects , this most artistic production contains much that will be new and most acceptable to English readers ; many of the illustrations we in this country have long wanted , and now , thanks to one of the most indefatigable and painstaking of authors , we have , such as views of the Masons' Hall ,

Basinghall-street ( interior and exterior ) ; several of the large Companys' Halls in which the Grand Lodge of England assembled early last century ; the " Goose and Gridiron Tavern " ( since demolished ) in several pictures , and also several valuable Portraits .

The facsimile reproductions of Certificates , Warrants , and other documents from 1761 are most welcome features of this colossal volume , and all I can now do is to express my warm appreciation of its conspicuous merits , and congratulate the author , Bro . J . Ross Robertson , on its advent . More particulars should follow ere long . W . J . 'MUGHAN .

United Grand Lodge.

UNITED GRAND LODGE .

The following is the business to be transacted on Wednesday next , the 7 th instant : 1 . The minutes of the Quarteily Communication of the 1 st March for confirmation . 2 . The minutes of the Grand Festival of the 26 th April for con * firmation ,