Contents.

CONTENTS .

I . E . XBERS 39 V Supreme Grand Chapter 398 The Mark lieiierolent Fund Festira ! 39 S Consecration of the Greenwood Lodge , No . 19 S 2 , Lpsom 39 Summer Entertainment at thc Institution

at Croydon , 399 C ORRESPONDENCEMasonic Repudiation 400 Rex-iexx-s 4 Notes and Queries 401 Prorincial Grand Lodge of Essex 401

REI ' ORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 402 Instruction 403 Royal Arch 403 Annual Summer Outing of the Knphratcs Lodge , No . 212 403 Annual Picnic of the Hx-erton Lodge , No .

S 13 , Lix-erpool 404 Australia 404 South America 404 South Africa 404 The Theatres 405 Masonic and General Tidings 406 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Coyer .

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THEtneetingof Grand Lodgeon theSthinst . for the discussion and settlement of the Book ol Constitutions will be a most important one lor many reasons , and we trust that it will be numerously attended , and wc recommend our

London brethren to muster strongly . We repeat our hope that some provision may be made for " refreshment " as well as " labour , " as a long sitting without food of any kind is a bad thing for all concerned . The hours in London are so late , that few obtain their main food for the day until the

evening hours , and we , therefore , take the liberty , remembering how many suffered much on the last occasion , of pointing out a drawback , and suggesting a remedy . * * * THE question of ' * Past Masters of the lodge " and " Past Masters in the

lodge" is a very vital one for English Freemasonry . We need hardly point out to all expert ancl "bright" Masons that the change as boldly propounded by some provincialbrethren , if carried , will create a revolution in our contemporary Masonic system . As far as our London lodges are concerned we feel sure that such a vital radical chance is absolutely

unworkable , and if workable most harmful to Metropolitan Masonry , rind we doubt very much whether in the provinces such a change is generally desiderated or acceptable , or has even been realized or reasoned out . The whole system of English Freemasonry , as well as that of the status of Past Masters , rests upon a threefold system of service , representation , and subscription . By

this threefold claim combined a brother becomes Past Master of a lodge , representative in a Provincial Grand Lodge , member of Grand Lodge , only so long as , let us note well , he continues a subscribing member of a lodge . If he be erased from the Grand Lodge register , his past rank avails him nothing ; he has to begin , and rightly to begin , "de novo . " But so long

as he continues a subscribing member of a lodge under the English jurisdiction he perforce remains a member of Grand Lodge , and by the common law of Masonry , as the less is always included in the greater , can , if he be also a subscribing member of a lodge in a province , claim admittance into that Provincial Grand Lodge as a Past Master of the

Order , even though he be not an actual Past Master of a lodge , that is , has served in the chair thereof for a year . The contention of some of the speakers at the last meeting that unless he was a Past Master of the lodge in its technical sense , he had no place in any Provincial Grand Lodge is , we feel convinced , untenable , and that though

it be true he cannot be summoned as a Past Master of a lodge , he can claim admittance as a Past Master in the Craft , and as a member of the Provincial Grand Lodge , when he is a bona fide subscribing member of a lodge or in the province . It is this point we wish to see cleared up and conceded . We trust the authorities will see the matter in the

light that we do , and that to prevent a long discussion , they will be ready to interpolate into the section affecting Provincial Grand Lodges the words " and Past Masters actual members of Grand Lodge , subscribing members to lodges in the province . " This enlargement of the clause will , we feel , sure satisfy the great majority of lodges

and brethren . The proposal to make all Past Masters joining another lodge Past Masters of the lodge , though they have not been installed Masters of that lodge , is fraught with every possible and conceivable objection . It will practically " turn the Craft upside down " by the anomalies it will introduce , and the absurdities it will develope . It will give an incentive to

hasty promotions and undue influences ; it will favour those of social position and means , and keep back the humble working Masons . And for these reasons . If a Worshipful Master once installed can claim the Past Mastership of any lodge he joins , we have known of cases where a Mason has been a member of nine lodges at the same time ; it will be a great momentum to those ,

and their name is legion , who seek the rank for rank ' s sake alone . In London the joining fee is high , in the provinces it is low , never exceeding £ 3 rjs ., and very often not so much . So that a lodge „ may be formed and flourishing , a lodge hall may be built at great expense , and any brother who takes a fancy to the lodge may come in as a joining Past Master , and by virtue of

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his payment of £ 3 3 s . he can henceforth take his . place with the very founders , and though he has never given a sixpence to the hall fund , remains on an equal footing xvith those xvho lovingly , liberally and ungrudgingly have " borne the burden and heat of the day , " to whom the lodge is indebted for its vitality and prestige , and without whose exertions , sometimes unprecedented , it

never would have existed at all . And then we are told almost cynically , " Oh you have your remedy . Black ball , black ball , black ball ! " As some Freemasons knoxv full well the use of the "fatal bean" is never had recourse to without regret and dislike . It is a bad remedy at the best , and ought only to be ever exercized in extreme cases , when there is no other

door of escape left open , and xvhen public remonstrance and private warnings are in vain . To encourage a system of blackballing in our lodges , and to render it a sort of necessary duty , and to give it a quasi legislative encouragement , is neither politic , safe , nor Masonic . The Book of Constitutions for a certain sure and definite purpose gives that power to lodges .

But it should never be used , as we said before , except in self-defence . We lcel certain that in the provinces and the metropolis there will be the same serious objection to the change when fully realized , and lhat at our next meeting such an alarming innovation on our old customs , our cherished laws , and the actual independence of our lod ges will be successfull y combated , and calmly refused by a large majority even of the Blue .

* * # THE Grand Chapter met on the ist inst . to transact its normal business , not , however , of any importance . Col . CREATON , gave notice that it was his intention lo propose at the next meeting of the Chapter , a grant out

of its funds to assist in the rebuilding of the Temple . Its finances are very flourishing , and the Royal Arch chapters continue slowl y to increase . Wc are among those who desiderate oiv every ground a stillmore marked advance in the number of our English chapters .

* * OUR attention is called specifically by a copy , and elsewhere by a communication , to an address delivered by the GRAND MASTER of the Grand Lod <* e of Canada lo the English Lodges , in terms which certainly will create Teat surprise and regret among English Masons . The " gravamen" is this

the "fons et origo mali , that an English lodge or English lodges admitted and admit as members , _ those who belong to the territory of Quebec , and those who have , it is averred , been rejected for some reason or other in lodges under the Grand Lodge of Quebec . The independence of the English lodges in Canada was admitted , guaranteed , and declared , when the

English Grand Lodge recognized the Grand Lodge of Canada , and their adherence to the Grand Lodge of England was fully known and officially proclaimed , and as a necessary consequence their entire freedom from any jurisdictional interference , and their right to manage themselves by their own Bye-laws . That any act of theirs in admitting Quebec Masons or rejected

Masons constitutes an intrusion into or invasion of a jurisdiction , is too absurd to contend ; neither is it a question we need trouble ourselves about . It might be better to have a sort of understanding as to rejected candidates , but then it must be remembered so weak is human nature , and so frail are some Freemasons , thai candidates , as -we all know

are sometimes rejected from the very worst motives , and for the ? nost unreasonable causes . So far , we cannot see what wrong the English lodges have committed , though we fear the passage in the GRAND MASTER ' S address will create a bad impression in England , as it is a fresh attack on

the legal existence and active life of the lodges at Montreal . We have said much on this subject before which we shall not repeat to-day , but we think some friends of ours in Quebec would be wise and warranted in paying attention to the concluding sentences especiall y , of the letter of an " Old English Mason , " in another portion of our impression to-day .

* * WE are happy to announce that our esteemed GRAND SECRETARY , whose severe indisposition alone kept him away from York , is much better , and , as usual , at work again .

# # WE call attention to a correspondence elsewhere relative to a proposed Grand Lodge lor Victoria , thus far , it seems to us , an utterly meaningless movement , without reality of aim or chance of success . It does not appear to

he English at all either in its inception or developement , and to rely mainly on members of the Scottish and Irish jurisdictions and on a foreign element . There is a constitutional and unconstitutional way of doing things , and thus far we do not profess to see or realize how the "Masonic Union" at the