Hard To Please.

HARD TO PLEASE .

None are so blind as those svho svill not see , and similarly , none are so difficult to please as those who will not be pleased under any circumstances . They experience some trouble more or less serious , some difficulty , which they do not see their way to overcome , or some annoyance , and you at once express your sympathy with them , but they resent it as though it werc a

personal affront or insult . They again find themselves in a difficult ) - or unp leasantly circumstanced and with your previous experience as a guide you stand aloof and say nothing . On this they charge you with indifference , with coldbloodedness , and even it may be with taking a certain fiendish delight in the troubles and misfortunes of others . Those of our

New Zealand brethren who have seceded from the old-established order of things Masonic in that Colony are just now enacting the part of people \ s * ho svill not be pleased under any circumstances . You seriously and sincerely deplore the condition of the Craft in New Zealand , and you suggest that , though under the concurrent jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges of

England , Ireland , and Scotland tViere may have been occasionally a little friction , and those living under the English Constitution may not exactly have hit it off with the Scotch Masons , or the latter with their Irish brothers , still that occasional friction and those little differences of opinion were far preferable to the state of open and declared hostility

svhich now prevails among the Masons in the Colony . You state this in sincerity from your general experience , from the information you receive from your correspondents , and from the articles and letters you read in the New Zealand Masonic papers . But you are directly told that you know nothing whatever about NewZealand , and that Freemasonry , according to the

New Zealand Constitution , is in a flourishing state , both financially and in all other respects . You then avoid expressing any opinion and say , as we have said on many occasions , not that you consider a state of occasional friction among two or three communities-preferable to open warfare , but that the Craft in New Zealand is in the position of a house divided against

itself , and on hearing this , you are charged svith an insane desire to protract and embitter a state svhich you have had no hand in bringing about , which you would have done your very best to prevent , and whicii you have repeatedly said you deeply and sincerely regretted . Thus , in our Review of Freemasonry for the year 1891 , we stated the undeniable fact that

the differences among the several sections of the Craft in New Zealand svere as acute as ever , and that we feared there was very little prospect oi those differences being reconciled . We also referred incidentally in another part of the same review to the irregular establishment of a Grand Lodge of Nesv Zealand—a fact about which , considering that our Grand Lodge has declined

to recognise this bod )' , there can be , in our opinion , very little dispute . Hereupon we are told that evidently "the London Freemason does not desire to supplement the indeavours of the Craft to bring about the reconciliation so earnestly desired by many holding opposite views here . " There is absolutely not the slightest justification for this assertion . We say the

t raft is divided against itself , and the New Zealand paper from whicii we have quoted confirms our statement when it speaks of a " reconciliation " being " earnestly desired by many holding opposite views . " We say further that there does not appear to us to be any prospect of lie differences existing among the several sections of Craftsmen being

healed , and we are forthwith given to understand that we do not desire lhat any reconciliation should take place . This is , of course , as absurd as 11 is illogical , and might be passed by with contempt , werc it not that it sliosvs the spirit which actuates the members of the New Zealand Constitution and the journals which represent them in the press . It may be quite

* 'e , as the New Zealand Mail informs us , that the adherents of the socalled Grand Lodge of New Zealand , " both before and after its formation , shosved and are still showing-every desire to conciliate those who entertain 1 reluctance to see the three Constitutions rolled into one . " It may be , and we hope it is , equally true that "a strong feeling of reciprocal conciliation has

¦ n steadily growing in the thinned ranks of thc opponents to the new order of things Masonic . " But " it was all very well lo dissemble your lo \* e , hut svh y did you kick me downstairs' ! " What is the good of people exhibit' [¦ g'vlial they call a conciliatory spirit if they make it clear at the same ' that they mean to carry out their project -whether you accept their

Cu | " ciliation or not ? The partisans " of the nesv order of things Masonic " ere resolved on seceding from the oltl order , cattle tjiie cottle . Either it '*• "ot strike them that their secession would have the slightest effect in . 'Curbing the relations at the time existing among the Craft in the Colony , 1

j which case they exhibited an amount of folly which may almost be / - ¦ bribed as criminal ; or it did not matter to them svhat the effect might ° the Craft as a whole , in which case they showed themselves to be the sl determined enemies of FYeemasonry . But what kind of conciliatory

Hard To Please.

spirit could that have been which determined on having its own way in any circumstances that might arise . Conciliation implies a certain amount of forbearance , a readiness to give as well as take in order to bring about an arrangement that shall be as agreeable as possible to the different parties concerned . But the Grand Lodge of New Zealand was

established in the teeth of a strong opposition from those svho adhered to the old order of things . Certainly one half of the whole Masonic body in New Zealand considered the movement to establish an independent Grand Lodge undesirable . Whv thev so considered il is no business of ours or of the adherents

of thc new order of things , but we imagine it ss'as because they held that the movement was premature . Nearly everybody appears to be looking forsvard to the da ) ' when New Zealand , like Victoria , Nesv South Wales , South Australia , Tasmania , Canada , Nova Scotia , & c , svill be in a position to boast of having an independent and so \* ereign Grand Lodge of

its own , which the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland will gladly recognise . But the adherents of the old order of things thoug ht the time for such a consummation had not arrived . They had a perfect right to their opinion , the same right as the supporters of the new and irregular Grand Lodge had to their opinion that it was desirable to establish such a

Grand Lodge , no matter what might be the consequences to Freemasonry . But when , we ask , was there anything like a conciliatory spirit in pressing forward a movement which everybody was agreed would come sooner or later '" Even the most uncompromising supporters of " the nesv order of things Masonic " must admit that so far the effects of forcing forward the movement

has been disastrous to the best interests of Freemasonry . These interests , indeed , appear to have been entirely overlooked in the hurry and scramble to establish the new Grand Lodge , and it isnoapologyforliavingos'erlookcdthem that the so-called Grand Lodgeof NewZealand is nosv a flourishing body , both as regards means and members . However , we have said enough to show that

whether we content ourselves with playing the role of chronicler and recording facts which no one disputes , or whether we occasionally express opinions which are logically deducible from those facts , our statements are equally obnoxious to the partisans of the local Grand Lodge . We say the state of FYeemasonry in New Zealand is to be deplored , and that there is no

immediate prospect of a reconciliation between the rival supporters of the old order and the new , and we are immediately credited with a desire to protract and embitter the contros-ersy between them . However , just nosv—and for a

considerable time past—our brethren in this Colony for all this talk about conciliation seem determined not to be pleased with any account that is given of their doings , and all we can hope for is they will in time become a little more amenable to reason .

United Grand Lodge Of England.

UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND .

The Ouarterly Communication of United Grand I . odge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England , was held on Wednesday evening , at Freemasons' Hall , London . The Right Hon , the Earl of Lathom , Al . VV . Pro Grand Master , presided . Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., Prov . G . M . of

Hants and the Isle of Wight , acted as Dep . G . Master ; Bro . Viscount Dungarvan , Prov . G . M . of Somersetshire , as Past G . M . ; Bro . Sir John B . Monckton , P . G . W ., as S . G . W . ; Bro . Sir Gabriel Goldney , P . G . W ., as J . G . W . ; Edsvard Letchworth , G . Sec . ; nnd there were about 1000 brethren present .

After the formal opening of Grand Lodge , the minutes of the March Ouarlerly Communication and of the Grand Festival were read by Bro . LETCUWOU . TU , G . Sec , and confirmed . The Earl of LATHOM rose and said that at the Grand Festival the Senior Grand Warden , his Grace the Duke of Portland , was unable to be present , he was , however , present to-night , and he ( the Earl of Lathom ) should have the pleasure and-honour of investing him nosv .

The Duke of Portland was thereupon presented to the Karl of Lathom , who invested him with the insignia of Senior Grand Warden , and congratulated him on his appointment . His Grace was aftersvards conducted by Bros . Sir Albert Woods and Dr . Strong to the chair of Senior Grand Warden amidst loud applause .

The Earl of LATHOM next said that in like manner the Marquis of Granby , M . P ., J . G . W ., ss as unable to be present on the last occasion , but being now in attendance hc would have thc honour of investing him . 'The Marquis of Granby was then also introduced to the Pro Grand Master , who invested and congratulated him . The noble marquis was also conducted by Bros . Sir Albert Woods and Dr . Strong to his chair amidst applause , and at thc direction of Bro . Sir Albert Woods the iwo Grand Wardens were saluted according to ancient custom .

The Earl of LATHOM then rose and said he regretted that on account of a previous pressing engagement he was unable to stay any longer with the brethren that evening ; but he could not resist attending to invest two such old friends of his own in Grand Lodge that evening . His lordship , as well as the two new Wardens , s * acated their chairs and