Sir R. Stout And The Graft In New Zealand.

SIR R . STOUT AND THE GRAFT IN NEW ZEALAND .

Sir ROBERT STOUT , who by resolution of Grand Lodge was in March last deprived of his rank of Past Grand Officer , and who by resigning his office of Deputy District Grand Master of Otago and Southland and his membership of the Dunedin Lodge , No . 931 , has since then entirely severed his connection with

English Freemasonry , has been interviewed by a reporter of the Otago Daily Times , and the remarks he made are fully and we presume accurately reported in the columns of that journal . We do not ourselves attach any great importance to the opinions expressed by our ex-brother . The majority of those who

abandon one creed and adopt another invariably become so madly enamoured of the latter that their testimony as regards the creed they have abandoned is hardly worth the paper it is written upon . There are those , however , who , knowing little about the merits or demerits of the New Zealand question and

the additional confusion which has been introduced into it by the action of Sir ROBERT STOUT may be led into accepting his statements , as furnishing in some way or other a full and sufficient justification of the part he has played in the New Zealand Imbroglio . To them , accordingly , we address a few words of warning .

Sir ROBERT STOUT is a Mason of some years' standing , and having held high office under the English Constitution in New Zealand , and having received as the reward of his services in that capacity the brevet rank of a Past Grand Officer of our United Grand Lodge , it is but reasonable to assume that he must

at some time or other have possessed some knowledge of our laws and the purposes which Freemasonry as an institution has set itself to attain . As regards our laws , however , which from the very commencement of his career he solemnly bound himself to observe , it is very clear that whatever may have been

his acquaintance with them , he never seriously troubled himself as to their observance . Otherwise he would not have set our Grand Lodge at defiance by seeking a warrant of constitution from a body like the Grand Orient of France , whose act in eliminating belief in the existence of a Supreme Being from its

profession of Masonic faith has been solemnl y denounced by the Grand Lodges of England , Scotland , Ireland , and the United States . Had he in his efforts to establish a non-British lodge sought assistance from Masonic powers with which we were not , figuratively speaking , at daggers drawn , he would still have

shown his contempt for our Grand Lodge and its laws and ordinances ; but to have sought aid from a body with which we were at variance in respect of one of the fundamental principles of Freemasonry can only be described as a deliberate insult as well as an injury . We do not complain of his admiration for French

1 ' reemasonry , which may or may not possess the attributes he claims for it ; but as a Past Grand Officer of England and an actual Grand Officer of one of its District Grand Lodges , he

was bound to observe its laws , and instead of doing this he has flouted it before the whole Masonic world . The sentence of deprivation passed upon him is not too severe a punishment for his conduct in this respect .

But his establishment in a British Colony of a lodge holding a ? warrant from the Grand Orient of France , cui bono ? Did Sir ROBERT STOUT anticipate that by enlarging the field of discord he would succeed in restoring peace and harmony to distracted Freemasonry in New Zealand ? He has established in the minds

of all Freemasons in New Zealand , whether of the new or of the ° ' a Constitutions , one common feeling of disgust at his adoption 01 the Grand Orient of France , but , save in this particular , the antagonism between the members of the New Zealand

Constitution and those of the English , Irish , and Scotch Constitutions Is as intense as ever . Indeed , as far as we can judge , the prospect •ot a reunion becomes daily more and more remote , while as re gards Sir ROBERT STOUT and his French lodge , they have merely succeeded in making confusion still worse confounded . Nor can we congratulate Sir ROBERT STOUT on the opinions

Sir R. Stout And The Graft In New Zealand.

he holds as to the objects which Freemasonry is intended to compass . In his letter to our GRAND SECRETARY , he condemns English Freemasonry , because instead of using its influence " to cure some social evils / ' it wastes its energy " in a futile attempt to make Masonry sectarian and national , " while , on

the other hand , in his conversation with the reporter of the Otago Daily Times , he appears to have lauded the Masonry of the Grand Orient of France , because " it does not object to discuss any question in its lodges , social , political , or even religious . " We have heard many hard things said about English

Masonry , but this is the first time we have heard our Grand Lodge , which admits members of all religious creeds into its lodges , as " sectarian , " or that it is a feather in the cap of the French Grand Orient , that it encourages its lodges to take part in the social , political , and religious controversies of

the day . As for English Freemasonry being " national , ' we see nothing to condemn in this characteristic if Sir ROBERT STOUT means that our Grand Lodge requires obedience to its laws and ordinances from the lodges which derive from it their existence . In the meantime , as Sir ROBERT STOUT has told us what his

opinions are about English and French Masonry , we shall be glad to hear what our New Zealand brethren have to say on the subject , and whether they are desirous , as he gives us to understand they are in his letter to our Grand Secretary , of a

closer acquaintance with that system of Freemasonry which , while it rejects belief in the existence of a Supreme Being as an article of its faith , encourages political and religious controversies in its lodges .

United Grand Lodge Of England.

UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND .

The Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England was held on the night of Wednesday last , in the Temple , Freemasons' Hall . The Earl of Mount Edgcumbe , Deputy Grand Master , presided ; the Earl of Euston , P . G . M . Norths and Hunts , acted as Past Grand Master : the Hon . Justice T . Prinscp , District G . M . Bengal , as Deputy Grand Master ; Lord Wantage , Senior Grand Warden

the Rev . J . Studholme Brownrigg , P . G . Chap ., as Junior Grand Warden ; and there were also present Bros . Lieut .-Col . Aubrey W . O . Saunders , Past District Grand Master of Madras ; Sir Albert W . Woods , K . C . M . G ., C . B . ( Gaiter ) , G . Dir . of Cers . ; Rev . H . Lansdcll , D . D ., G . Chaplain ; Rev . Dr . Smyth , P . G . C . ; George Everett , G . Treas . ; Richard Eve , P . G . Treas . ; Sir Augustus Harris , P . G . Treas . ; F . A . Philbrick , Q . C , G .

Reg . ; Col . Shadwell H . Clerke , G . Sec . ; Dr . Ernest E . Wendt , G . Sec . for German Correspondence ; Robert Grey , President Board of Benevolence ; Walter Long , M . P ., G . D . ; Capt . N . G . Philips , P . G . D . ; Edward Letchworth , P . G . D . ; James Lewis Thomas , P . A . G . D . of C . ; J . L . Mather , P . A . G . D . of C . ; Major George Lambert , P . G . S . B . ; James

Terry , P . G . S . B . ; C . F . Matier , P . G . Std . Br . ; C . F . Hogard , P . G . Std . Br . ; Robert Clay Sudlow , P . G . Std . Br . ; Edward Cutler , Q . C , G . Org . ; A . A . Pendlebury , Asst . G . Sec ; S . Vallentine , G . Purst . ; James Brett , C . A . Cottebrune , H . Garrod , A . Lucking , and T . VV . Whitmarsh , P . G . Purses . ; S . V . Abraham , A . G . P . ; ancl many other Grand Officers , and over 200 other London and Provincial brethren .

Grand Lodge having been formally opened , the Grand Secretary read the minutes of the Quarterly Communication of June 3 rd , which were put by the Grand Master in the chair , and unanimously confirmed . Grand Secretary next read the report of the Board of Benevolence for June , Jul }' , and August , in which were recommendations for the following grants : —

A brother of the Arnold Lodge , No . 1 799 , Waltonon-the Naze ... ... ... . £ 100 0 o A brother of the Buckingham Lodge , No . 591 , Aylesbury ... ... ... 50 o 0 A brother of the Montefiore Lodge , No . 1017 , London ... ... ... 50 o 0

A brother of the Socrates Lodge , No . 373 , Huntingdon ... ... .. 50 0 0 A brother of the Samaritan Lodge , No . 3 68 , Sandbach ... ... ... 50 o o A brother of the Peace and Harmony Lodge , No . 496 , St . Austell ... ... ... 50 0 o

A brother of the High Cross Lodge , No . 754 , Tottenham ... ... ... 50 o o A brother of the Humphrey Chetham Lodge , No . 6 45 , Manchester ... ... ... 60 o o The widow of a brother of the Lebanon Lodge , No . 1326 , Feltham ... ... ... so o 0