Grand Lodge.

ledge it ; but lie would first call on the Grand [ Registrar to explain the circumstances . BRO M . J . MOINTRY < S was sure the brethren knew that in most of our colonies Masons were living under three jurisdictions at least . The iGrand Lodge of England held supreme sway over

those lodges that held warrants from it The Grand Lodge of Scotland was the recognised power iu a number of the colonies . In many of bur colonies i ! w > the Grand Lodge of Ireland had granted wavran's to sub > rdinate lodges which acted with the Grand Lodges of England and

'Scotland , although owing allegiance to the Supreme Grand L dge of Ireland . This was the 'case in Nova > cotii , where England had the largest number of lodges , supported by the most ' eli g ible Masons . It hap : ene 1 some time ago that Grand Lodge of Scotland felt dissatisfied

with the way in which their lodges were conducted , and those Indue * determined to assert their itulepen leoce ; and unknown to the Grand Lodge of Nma Scotia , the Grand Lodge holding eway under the Grand Lodge : of England ,

proving their loyalty t > the mother country , and 'deternrtied to nphol I the interests of Masonry in that col my ; but they found themselves in a Very awkward position , because by the late continental law n notion was abro'd that a certain

number of lodges mi g ht form themselves into a Grand Lodge , and that they then got possession fef the country This caused a great deal of perturbation They frankly and openly communicated their difficulty to the Grand Lodge of England . Thev themselves felt that the time had

icome that by the number and importance of Masons in that colony the 3 jurisdictions na : ned inig ht form a . Grand Lodge , which would do liouour to the 3 parents who hail sent them forth . They j 'ined together and held their various 'Assemblies and communicated to the Grand

Master that they thought tho time had now come when they mig ht assert their independence , and as the dau ghter of Grand Lodge might walk alone and maintain the interests of Masonry elsewhere . The Grantl Master , with that loyalty which always distinguished him , gave them no

countenance to throw off the yoke of England . if it was a y . 'ke at all : but he .-aid " If you find you are strong enough to stand alone , and approach the Grantl Lodge of England as it should " be approached , the Masons of England are too loyal and too sound Alas > n < to reject the prayer

' of any such petition . " Now , they had acted un that recommendation , and the substance of it ' was this : —They felt themselves in a position How to uphold Masonry in the colony ; they had brought themselves to that strong position they now held , and they asked Grand Lodge of

England to rccogirzu them a « a Grantl Lodge , owing to the Grand Lndg ; tho allegiance they had always h 11 . There certainly appeared to him ( Grand Regi . tr ir ) to he nothing more honourable to them or this ( iraud Lodge , so deeply did they feel their obl'gitious that they humbly solicited

that th' -y might ret . in the warrants they now held as a perpetual memorial , to be handed down from geii'iiMti . iii to gi-uciattou , to shew that they sprang from the old tree of Masons in England . ( Cheers . ) Then-lorn he hail much pleasure , in the absence of the Grand Master of England , to

in asking the Grand Lod ^ e recognise the prayer of this petition and to allow that the Giantl Lodge of Nova Scotia .-dioiil I exist as an independent Grand L > dge , but allowing the lodges there to retain their warrants Bio . J LI . EVANS President of the Board of

'General Purposes , sec . ntled the motion on the ground that in .-onveiii .-nce must result iu after ages from three independent Gnvtul Lodges holding jurisdiction ove .- the . lodges in the colonies . When they felt themselves strong enough to establish them-elves as an

independent Grand Lo lg » . it was the duty of the Grand Lodge of Ellwand i . uc'ogi isi them as such . The G : IA I > MASTKU . H vu-yold . Uason . expressed Ilia opinion that nothing could be more satisfao tory ih . in the way in which this subject came

before Grand Lodge , mid ho thought that every old , Miv < oii must eiirne-itl y feel that his labours in Masonry extending itself to our colonies . This important application was significant of the progress . Masonrv was making iu Nova Scotia ,

Grand Lodge.

and he felt that the proposition would not meet with one dissentient voice . Bro . HYDE CLARKE thought the motion of so much importance , that it was desirable that it should not pass without observation . The matter had been exceedingly well explained by

the Grand Registrar , and also by the President of the Board of General Purposes . What was the importance of this subject ? The independence of Nova Scotia was a necessary consequence of the independence of Canada ; but if we did not take care under the circumstances that Grand Registrar

had explained , we should lose the whole of our colonial jurisdiction ; we should lose Australia , and we should certainly lose Nova Scotia . When a country reached that state of development , it threw off the dominion of this Grantl Lodge . Ou the other hand , they must not forget that there were some of our colonies which

thought it was of great advantage to them to have the organization and administration of one Grand Lodge . We know b y experience the practical working of the unfortunate system of having two Provincial or District Grand Masters working against each other . ( No , no ) . He was speaking not without some practical experience of the inconvenience . Three Grand Masters

must create considerable rivalry , however well they mi ght at times agree together . He therefore drew the attention of the President of the Board of General Purposes , and of the Colonial Board to the subject . He suggested that it

wonld be possible by joint action of the three Grand Masters to bring about a much better state of things than existed now . It was a subject worth y of consideration , and of great importance with regard to Grand Lodge and the advancement of the Order .

Bio HAVERS said there was one point in Bro . Clarke ' s address he must draw attention to . He had saitl that in the course of time we should lose Australia and other colonies . Now , he ( Bro . Havers ) entirely doubted it , and for this reason . Australia was not a place to which

a man went with the intention of living there . He went for the purpose of making money and then returning here to spend it . In the same way a man tlid not go to China to stay . But he did go to Nova Scotia to stop , a id consequentl y req"ired a Grand Lodge . Those countries in

which we had a largo number of Lodges , to which Eng ish Masons resort for purposes of business , were not likely t <> throw off allegiance to the Grand Lod g * of England . If we found they were strong enough to stand alone he was sure wo should rejoice at it , and welcome them

: is elder sons , and say , < - go your way , and prosper . " Bro . F . BENNOCII would rectify a grand error of Bro . Havers . The settlers in Au . sti alia were not a nomadic people . After going there they inav in four or five years have returned here ,

but they had gone back anil stayed , and found iv good constituent b > dy there ; and he believed that iu a few years our Australian colonies w . rild be more important to us as a Masonic body . He drew attention to this because he did not wish it to be understood that the Australians were a nomadic people , returning

heie to spend their money . They were a large people who would become as great as the United States of America were at the present moment . Bros . JAMES MASON , the REV . It . J . SIMPSON , If . MURRAY and another Brother having spok' u on the subject , Bro . MTntyie rep'ied and the motion was carried .

Ihe Commemoration Jewel was then handed to about 100 different brethren who acted as Stewards at the Inauguration Festival . Bros . Charles 11 osgood , P . M , ( No . 1 !) 2 ) , II M . Levey , P . M , ( No . ltfS ) , John George Thompson . P M ., ( No . 8 G 21 , and Frcdeiick Walters ,

I' . AL , ( No . 73 ) , ' were appointed members for the Committee of Manng-nioiit of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freemasons antl the Widows of Frcemas ms . ( Deferred frontthe Qunrlerly ( Jimiiimiiicatioo . in June lad )

Ihe GRAND SECRETARY re id the follosving report of the Board of Benevolence for hist , quarter , in which are recommendations for the following grants , viz : — Bro . . 1 J , ol th Lodge of Unanimity , 287 , Stockport . ' .. £ 30

Grand Lodge.

Bro . AV W , of the Lodge of Perseverance , 213 , Stockport £ 30 The Widow of the late Bro . J T , of the tit . Ililds Lodge , 240 , South Suieids ... £ 50 Bro . J R B of the Royal Sussex

Lodge , 3 + 2 , Portsea £ 30 Bro . A R , of the Prince of Wales ' Lodge , 2511 , London jljft Bro . \ V G , of Lodge of Prince George , 308 , Bottoms , Stansfield £ -10

The following report of the Board of General Purposes was taken as read : — 1 . A complaint was made by the Board of Benevolence against the Lotlge of United Strength , No . 228 , London , for having tailed on two separate oeea > ioits to send any Brother from tbe Lodge to

support the petition of a widow for relief , whose case had been recommended by the Lodge . The XV \ Master antl Junior Warden attended the Board and pr itluced the Warrant ami Books . Having heard the explanation given by the W Master , and it appearing

that the Lotlge itself had , in consideration of the delay wliieh had occurred , relieved the Petitioner , the Board accepted the explanation , but cautioned the XV . . Master to be more careful for the future , and ordered the Warrant and Books to be returned .

2 . It having cane to the knowledge of the Board that the AV . Master of the Union AVaterloo Lodge , No . 13 , Woolwich , had caused a summons for the meeting of his Lotlge to be issued containing a paragraph stating , that the " new working as approved by the Board of ( General Purposes" would be given at

the meeting of the Lotlge therein referred to , life Board summoned the W . . Master and Ids Wardens to attend before them to answer for having directed a statement to be circulated , calculated greatly to mislead the Brethren of the Lodge . The W . Master and both his Wardens accordingly attended and produced

the AVarrant and Books . It appeared from ihe explanation of the XV . Master that lie had been led into error through niistind . rstanding , and he freely admitted his fault , expressed his very great regret for the occurrence , and submitted to the judgment of tho Board : under the circumstances the Board

resolved—That the explanation be accepted , but ordered that the W . Master be reprimanded and be informed that this Board have not sanctioned or approved of any form of working whatever , nor has the question in any way come before the Board , and the W . Master was so informed by the 1 ' resideiit antl was reprimanded

accordingly . The Warrant and Books were thereupon returned ' . ' 3 . The Board also beg to report that a perfect set of Plans ami Sections of the valuable Freehold Buildings b . longing to Grand Lodge bits been received

from the Grantl Supernitendeiit of Works . 'The Board have caused these Plans and Sections to be suitably bono I , and have directed them to be deposited in the Muniment Room at Freemasons' Hall , so as to be available for future reference . ( Signed ) J LLEWELLYN EVANS ,

President . Freemasons' Hall , 17 th August , 1 SC 9 . To the Report is subjoined a Statement of th Grand Lotlge Accoui . ts at tho hist Meeting of th Finance Committee , hel I on the I 3 l . li August , 18 G 98 sh HI i ig a balance in the hands of the Grantl Treasurer , of £ 1502 3 s . Id ., and in the hands of the Graud Secretary , for Petty Cash , £ 75 .

Bro . J LI . EVANS on the second section of this icport reiterated the . statements inn In in it , and saitl he wished it to go forth t > the C -aft , that any allegation that the Board of General Purposes hail sanctioned any system of working was not true ; and alter receiving the explanation of the

Master of No . 13 , and his regret that he had allowed an unauthorised statement to appear on the . summons , reprimanded him . It was left to a future occasion , to dooido whether any system of working should b , j recognise . ! , but iu present nothing of the kind ha t been under their

consideration , nor had any motion whatever been made to that vtTesb . Bro . COLONEL BUIIDBTT said a brother had come down from London to AVoolw cli . und represented there was a new system of working , and worked it . Tim Muster and Wardens where

called before the Board of General Purposes and reprimanded for sai . t tiouiug a new system of working . They had been deceived . No person had been sent by the Board to show this new system , and th -rehire he thought the Ma-teraiid Wardens of the Lodge ought to be exonerated ,

and the name of th-brother who nm-reprcsotitod himself should be math ; known . Br < . G liosaooo , P .. V ., ( No . 102 ) . denied that when he * ventto the Union Waterloo Lotlge , No 13 , he gave a now system of working . It wis the sy > tein practised by Bro . Broa I font , sub ' sequelill y b y lire . I ' etei ^ Thotnpson , and now so