To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

The largely increased circulation of the Freemason necessitates our going to press at an earlier hour on Thursdays . It is therefore requested that all communications

intended to appear in the current number may be sent to our offices not later than 5 p . m . on Wednesdays . Advertisements and short notices of importance received up to 12 o ' clock noon on Thursdays . »

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TO ADVERTISERS . THE FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts ot thc Globe . In it the official Reports ot the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland are published with the special sanction of thc respective Grand Masters , and it contains a complete record of Masonic work in this country , our Indian Empire , and the Colonies . The vast accession to the ranks of the Order during thc past few years , and thc increasing interest manifested in its doings , has given the Freemason a position and influence which few journals can lay claim to , and the proprietor can assert with confidence that announcements appearing in its columns challenge thc attention of a very large and influential body of readers . Advertisements for thc current week ' s issue are received up to six o ' clock on Wednesday evening .

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TO OUR READERS . THE FREEMASON is published every Friday morning , price 3 d ., and contains the fullest and latest information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscriptions , including Postage : — United States , , .. „ r , . . . ,. United Kingdom . Canada , thc Conti- Ind J ? ' , ?•Australia nent & c . N Zealand , & c . 13 s . 15 s . 6 d . 17 s . 6 d . Remittances may be made in Stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , thc former payable to GEORGE KESNINO , Chief Office , London , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank .

To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

Bro . VV . K . R . BEDFORD , P . G . C—In our next . . BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED .

"Hull Packet , " " Le Monde Maconnique , " "Jewish Chronicle , " " Masonic Herald , " " Citizen , ' * " Keystone , " "The Croydon Guardian , " "Sunday Times , " "Allen ' s Indian Mail , " " Broad Arrow , " "Australian Freemason , " " Der Long Islaender , " " The Egyptian Gazette , " " The Empire . "

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THEFREEMASON. SATURDAY , SEPT . 4 , 1880 .

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WE do not at all wonder at the honest indignation displayed by some of our correspondents at Lieut .-Col . BUTLER ' S remarks anent us " poor Freemasons . " Certainly they display great ignorance and bad taste of the worst kind too . We say

nothing of their injustice , impertinence , and untruthfulness , as a fact . Let us hope that Lieut .-Col . BUTLER wrote in actual ignorance of what he was laying down the law about so dogmatically , as a good many do at the present hour . Still , as there

is always a " locus pasnttentiai here , especially in Freemasonry , for human error and mortal frailty . So we feel persuaded , if Lieut .-Col . BUTLER will avow his ignorance of the Brotherhood he has ,

perhaps unwittingly , calumniated , as well as his regret for the pain he has caused so many worthy men and Masons , his idle words will soon be forgotten and forgiven by our kindly and largehearted Fraternity .

* * WHEN we talked about £ 40 , 000 per annum being raised to support our great Metropolitan Charities , as the best answer to childish cavils or foolish " falutin , " we omitted to state that the Charities of

Freemasons are very many and beneficent . We often forget the large amount granted by the Board of Benevolence , by our Prov . Grand Lodges , by

our lodges and chapters , and the yearly increasing amount raised by provincial organizations for personal relief , or juvenile education . The Charity of Freemasonry is a very wonderful fact to realize .

BRO . TREVOR writes to inform us that though in his lawsuit with Bro . VOIGT thc " Claimant " obtained one farthing damages his own costs will

amount to £ 150 . Can nothing be done to help him ? Surely a Masonic fund might be raised to recoup Bro . TREVOR the unavoidable expenses incurred in vindicating the dignity and upholding the morality of Freemasonry ?

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SINCE we penned the above we have , as in duty bound , perused the letter of "PROV . G . S ., " which , being at a distance from " head quarters , " we did not read , as they say , " at first sight . " We quite agree with the writer , that the constitutional

ignorance , ( not uncommon ) , of the brethren as regards three black balls is inexcusable , and the lodge bye-laws clearly want overhauling . We also concur as to the " disclosure" of the "ballot , " which is highly improper and always to be

deprecated in the interest of all alike . Such a state of things is generally provided for by the lodge byelaws . When , however , our correspondent adds that " he finds no fault with the blackballing , " what can he mean ? None are more zealous than

we are , and ever shall be , in upholding the freedom , and right , and secrecy of the ballot , for the very life of English Freemasonry ; but our correspondent forgets that the only reason for blackballing two unexceptionable candidates , against whom nothing

was alleged , was that the brother was in an ill humour and communicated it to his friends . Probably there was an old " running sore" somewhere ,

but that does not " crop up in the evidence . We say that such a course of action , and such a reason for blackballing a candidate , arealike unjustifiable and most un-Masonic . And here we leave the

matter . * * * THE controversy about the " status " of Provincial Grand Masters , See , is at this point—that the " onus probandi , " as has been already said , rests

upon those who deny the correctness , constitutionally , of the present custom . If the contention of " REVIRESCO " is correct , Provincial and District Grand Masters cannot rule Grand Lodge , or , if they can , under what warrant do they do so ? and

then what becomes of the " Table of Precedence ? " Or are Provincial and District Grand Masters ' warrants to be merely " ornamental , " not " use" ful ? " There is a little " special pleading "

in this " contention which is very amusing , ingenious , and refreshing , but which , we confess , we deem is easily answered alike by the " lex scripta " and the " lex inscripta , " the " statute , " and " common law of English Freemasonry . "

* WE are amused by the query of a correspondent , who , we think , unnecessarily dubs himself an "ANXIOUS EN » UIRER , " as to a " new rite" termed " Ye Rite of Goss . " There are a great many new

rites just now , equally evanescent , absurd , and puerile , and probably this new " Gosling ' s Rite " is among them . If , however , any brother learned in such matters can throw any light on this "

un" known quantity of nonsense , we can promise him a corner in the Freemason , as , for various reasons , just now " copy " is acceptable , and " great gooseberries " have not yet come in .

* * IN all we said last week about the great gathering at Chicago we wish to be understood as speaking in perfect kindly feeling in respect of those many worthy friends and brethren of ours who form

the Templar body in the United States . Many most excellent Masons , as we well know , swell their ranks , and we must always bear in mind that what mig ht not be esteemed " good form , " or would not be appreciated in the " old country , " may be

perfectly allowable—nay , advisable and needful—and be warmly approved of in a younger nationality . In America Freemasonry has gone through and has " lived down " a direct and bitter and unjust persecution ; and before , therefore , we criticize or

find fault , ( as we are all so fond of doing ) , we ought to put ourselves in the exact position of our good American " Fraters , " and see with their eyes , and hear with their cars , and understand with their minds the full bearing of the " pros and

" cons " of this and similar important questions . But in giving a friendly warning as to the abstract propriety and concrete good of such gatherings

and such displays , we believe that we echo in England the expressed opinion of many brethren in the United States . Still , as we before remarked , we do not affect to pass any opinion on the matter

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ourselves "; we are quite willing to defer to the judgment of our kind American friends , companions , and brethren on the subject .

* * A CORRESPONDENT asks in our last , " Is it lawful to wear a Royal Arch sash in a Craft lodge ? We think not , decidedly . The Craft and the Arch are separate bodies , legally and constitutionally ,

and though custom , ( not law ) , permits the wearing of the Royal Arch jewel in lodge meetings , yet the Royal Arch apron clearly should not be worn in a Craft lodge . As the brother would not be properly clothed without the sash , equally the sash is

inadmissible . There may be something in the idea of our correspondent that wearing the sash in lodge would increase our interest in the Royal Arch ; but we are bound to think that Royal Arch Masonry may

yet be made more interesting and important in itself , by greater attention to its working , more life thrown into its organization , by larger grants to our Charities , better subscriptions , and an increase of Royal Arch chapters .

* * " SOME interesting statistics appear in the annual " report of SIR E . Y . W . HENDERSON on the " Metropolitan Police . It appears that the in" crease in the metropolis during the year has been

" much greater than in former years , a total length " of nearly seventy-two miles of street having been " added during the twelve months . The interest " evoked during the year in the question of street " accidents has induced the Chief Commissioner

" to investigate the matter , and he informs us that " during the last ten years 1096 persons were killed " and 26 , 393 wounded in the streets of London . " Most of our readers will learn with astonishment " that during the past twelve months 9539 children

" and 3309 adults were reported to the London " police as lost or missing , and that only 6015 " children and 684 adults were found and re" stored to their friends by the police . No fewer " than 43 bodies of persons unknown were

" found dead or drowned , and were never identi" fied . " We take this " resume " from our excellent contemporary the Manchester Guardian , as we are always glad to call attention in the

Freemason—and it has been our wont for some years —to this always important report . It will be seen , however , that our contemporary is somewhat in error as to his figures . He omits adults and children found by their friends .

THE fact that during the last ten years 1096 persons have been killed and 26 , 393 wounded by " street accidents " in London , is not at all

reassuring to us poor inhabitants of the " little vil" lage . " There is clearly plenty of scope for the exertions of the society over which General Viscount TEMPLETOWN presides .

NEITHER is another fact at all pleasant to realize , that during the last year 9539 children and 3309 adults were missing , of whom 25 children and 222

adults passed altogether away from human ken . That in this great metropolis thc bodies of 43 persons found were unknown seems as nothing contrasted with the above startling statistics . We shall again call attention to the matter next week .

* * As Freemasons we are friendly to . all measures which tend to the social and morat welfare and comfort of all classes of our dense population , and we , therefore , are glad to read the paragraph

which follows in the Manchester Guardians of August 30 th ;— " There is a likelihood of' the in" dustrial dwellings system receiving a trial in " Liverpool . The Corporation recently swept " away some objectionable buildings in a part of

" the city known as Nash Grove , and the Health " Committee have recommended that the Council " should seek the approval of the Local Govern" ment Board for the erection by the Council of a " number of artisans' dwellings . The estimated " cost of the scheme is £ 115 , 000 . "