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occasion was in June , and the next meeting of the lodge , when he was invested , was in October , so that lie only served eight months in each chair , and between the one and the other there was an interval of four months , which was just as fatal as if it had been four years . But insomuch as he has now completed a full year ' s service since he was invested as Senior Warden , under the second ruling of the Board , he will be eligible for election

to the Master ' s chair at the next regular period of ele ction in the lodge . No penalty was imposed by the Board either on Bro . Sims or on the lodge , as it was felt that the error had been committed inadvertently . The lodge , however , as I have learned recently from an interview I had with the appellants , feels that _ it has a grievance , inasmuch as it was deprived of the opportunity of being represented at the installation of the M . W . G . Master at the Albert Hall . On

inquiry I find that neither the Board nor the Grand Secretary was responsible for this , but t hat it occurred through a misunderstanding . I would , therefore , suggest that a resolution of sympathy and regret be adopted by Grand Lodge as an act of justice . The resolution I move is : . '' That the

appeal of Regent's Park Lodge be dismissed . That Grand Lodge sympathises with Regent ' s Park Lodge in its exclusion from the installation ceremony , and regrets that the tickets were withheld through a misunderstanding . " He also proposed a vote of sympathy of Grand Lodge with the brethren at their exclusion from the installation ceremony .

Bro . FRANK RICHARDSON said they were not excluded . Notice was given lo the lodge calling their attention to the irregularity , but they would r ot attend at the office . Bro . VESEY FITZGERALD , K . C ., Dep . G . Reg ., seconded the motion He thought unless they were to stultify themselves they must be regular in their proceedings , and they were bound to follow precedent .

Bro . Sir J B . MONCKTQN , P . G . W ., said he was going to follow on the other side . He had been a member of the Board for 3 6 years , and he traversed what was brought up as the opinion of the Board . It was the opinion cf the Board by such a narrow majority that at the last moment they did not know how the opinion was going . He hoped to show that he

was right , and that the Grand Registrar for once was wrong . The man who was always right was too good for this world . They , had got to look at the letter and the spirit of the Constitutions and not to stultify themselves . The Constitutions provided that a brother must serve the office of Warden for one year . There was no distinction between the Wardens and if a brother had served

for 12 months in the Junior and Senior Wardens' chairs that was sufficient . Here the brother had served eight months as J . W . and eight months as S . W . He was not giving his opinion alone , but the opinion of brethren of rank and position in the Craft , who were as strong as himself , and he left the question to Grand Lodge with confidence . Bro . Strachan said two halfpennies did-not make a penny . Well , they were always tendered as a

penny , and would be accepted by anybody as value for a penny , and he claimed that two eight months were as good as one 12 month .- He moved , as an amendment , that the appeal be allowed . Bro . FRANK RICHARDSON said he seconded Sir John Monckton ' s amendment with a great amount of pleasure , and he hoped the brethren would support it . He endorsed everything Sir J . Monckton had said , and therefore he would not weary Grand Lodge by repeating his arguments .

He would simply draw attention to the maxim of their esteemed late Bro . Fenn , who said that Masonry was a voluntary body ; we got nothing out of it , but paid a great deal into it . What we wanted was common sense , not common law , for common law was not always common sense . He hoped the brethren would take this view , and decide according to common sense—they would , he felt , decide that two eights were a good deal more than one twelve . ( Hear , hear . )

Bro . THOMAS J ONES , P . G . D ., P . D . D . G . M . of Bengal : Most Worshipful Grand Master in the chair , in the interest of numerous lodges in India , I feel constrained to offer a word in support of the amendment suggested by R . W . Bro . Sir John Monckton . The vicissitudes of the Military and other services in the up-country districts in India not ui

frequently compel a brother to leave his duties / and thus his attendance at a particular lodge meeting is rendered impossible . But , no other brother being appointed to the office , the Wardens may be able' to attend at subsequent meetings , and thus it is considered that his office has been duly lulfilled . For these reasons it appears to me that the contention raised by Sir John Monckton is deserving of support .

Another brother wished to know what was the majority in the Board of General Purposes . He contended that a brother must be in his oln : e of Warden for a year , if it was the practice in Freemasonry . If that was not the meaning of the Book of Constitutions , let it be altered . That was the way with Acts of Parliament .

Bro . J STRACHAN , K . C ., said it was for the Grand Master to decide when the voting should take place . As mover of the resolution the brethren would admit he was entitled to say something in reply , because his very excellent and Right Worshipful Bro . Sir John Monckton had dealt with this matter most gocd-temperedly , as he always did . When Sir John Monckton Said " Let me be your adviser , " he should remember that he

( Bro . Strachan ) was advising ; and by the Constitutions to which Sir John appealed he ( Bro . Stiachan ) was the adviser of Grand Lodge , but it did not follow that the Grand Lodge was to endorse ever ) thing the Grand Registrar advised . He wished to guard himself about that , and he wanted to deal with the other points . A question was asked whether it was not a narrow majority ; whether it was a narrow majority or a large majority of

Jhe Board , or a unanimous vole , it is not for this Grand Lodge to questicn . He was very sorry to find that any member of the Board revealed out of the Board what happened in the Board ; but he would say nothing further about that . Bro . Monckton had said he had been 35 years a men . ber of the Beard of General Purposes . He thought the late Bro . Finn was also a long time a member of the Board

of General Purposes . When he said that for the purposes of the slot two half pennies would not make a pinny , so for the purpose of this Article of l q ! . Constitutions two imperfect services would not make a perfect service . •1 wice nothing never did make one , and if a brother acquired nothing by his service in the J . W . chair and acquired nothing by the office of the S . W ., he

acquired nothing , berause twice nothing never did make one . It was not correct , as Sir John Monckton had said ( he apokgised for his weak voice , as he had been travelling from Leeds since two o ' clock , but he would try to make himself heard ) , it was not a continuous service because the brother served as J . W . Let the brethren understand he expressed his sympathy

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with the brethren ; if it was possible for a dispensation from Grand Lodge to be granted , he would have advised it ; but it was for the purpjse of getting an expression of opinion the appeal was made to the Board of General Purposes . But from October , 1899 , to June , 1 9 , the brother who was the Junior Warden—he went out of the chair in 1930—was then appointed to the S . W . chair , just as if he had been J . W . for the year , and

he took his place as S . W . Therefore , from June , 1 9 00 , to October , igio , he was not a Warden at all , and it was not a continuous service . It was a great mistake , as he held , that the brethren had made in this matter ; it was not a continuous service ; and , as he had said in opening this matter , four months out of office was just as bad as four years . Suppose he had served four months in 1900 , he acquired nothing ; then there was nothing in

between which made up the time , and it was as bad as four years . Sir John Mor . ckton suggested that the spirit of the law should be observed . Certainly . In advising Grand Lodge in anything he looked first of all , as a lawyer , how to interpret a thing , and then how it bore on Masonry , and to see how in Masonic jurisprudence Masons themselves had to deal with it , and he endeavoured to carry out the intentions of the

framers of the law . He applied that in this case . It was not a question merely of a brother being qualified to serve the office of Warden and to occupy the Master ' s chair . A lodge of instruction would give him all the knowledge he required ; but there was something more if the brethren would consider what they were doing in Masonry . He was very much struck a little while ago when he heard a Provincial Grand Master and a District

Grand Master one a general and the other a colonel—say in his presence that one thing we had in Masonry—absolute discipline . What wa ? the discipline when a brother who undertakes to do a certain thing does not do it ? He acquired no status . A brother was not fit to govern until he had learned to obey . He was told not to deal with the ritual but with the Constitutions . He had not dealt with the ritual . All he said was it was his

interpretation and according to the ritual the brother must have served the officeof Warden for a year . He went to the Constitutions at once , and to Rule 130 . Bro . Richardson said we want common sense , not common law . What he ( Bro , Strachan ) said was common law is common sense . The offices of Junior and Senior Warden were entirely distinct the one from the other .

He did not know that he ought to take up the time of Grand Lodge , but this was a rule for Grand Lodge to express its opinion upon . If they expressed an opinion in favour of the appeal they must not complain if at some time a case occurred which they might regret . It might be a hard case , but hard cases made bad law . If the law was bad , let them alter it . Bro . Bowles , Regent's Park Lodge , rose to speak .

The ACTING GRAND MASTER interrupted , and said that the Grand Registrar had replied , and he could have no further discussion . The brethren then divided—For the dismissal of the appeal 289 For Sir J . B . Monckton ' s amendment allowing the appeal 364

Majority for the appeal ... 75 Bro . T . H . Roberts withdrew his notice of motion to alter Rule 130 , and Grand Lodge was closed in form .

Mark Grand Lodge.

MARK GRAND LODGE .

The Ouarterly Communication of Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons was held at Mark Masons' Hall on Tuesday evening . The Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master , the Earl of Euston , presided . Bro . C . Letch Mason , Prov . G . M . M . for West Yorkshire , acted as D ; puty Grand Master , Lord Herschell was G . S . W ., and Bro . H . J . Sparks , G . J . W . ; Bro . Frederick West , G . M . O . ; Dr . Clement Godson , G . S . O . ; Bro . W . J . Fisher , G . J . O . ; Bro . C . F . Matier , P . G . W ., G . S . ; Bo . R . Loveland Loveland , P . G . M . Hants and the Isle of Wight ; Bros . Fitzroy Tower , Cousans ,

G . D . C . ; H . Lovegrove , Frank Richardson , President of the General Board ; Harry Nicholls , Major Henry Wright , Dr . Kiallmark , Imre Kiralfy , Sir Reginald Hanson . P . G . W . ; Dr . Balfour Co : kburn , P . G . D . C . ; and John Smith , P . G . I . G . The attendance was numerous . Grand Lodge having been opened in ample form , Bro . MATIER read the following letter from Col . Alfred Egerton , Controller and Treasurer of the Household to the Duka of Connaught :

Buckingham Palace , September 11 , 1901 . Dear Sir and Brother , I am commanded by H . R . H . the Duke of Connaught to ask you to convey to the Earl of Euston and to the brethren of the Grand Lodge of M irk Master Masons , his Royal Highness ' s most grateful thinks for their fnternal

sympathy with him in the great loss which he has sustained by the death of the late Empress Frederick , and to express his keen appreciation of their kind letter of condolence . I have the honour to remain , Yours very faithfully , ALFRKD EGRRTON , Comptroller and Treasurer .

Bro . MATIER also read the following letter from Bro . Biich : British Legation , Stockholm . September 15 th . Dear Brother Matier , My mother begs me to request you to express to the Earl of Eutton

and the members of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons our high appreciation of their kind expression of earnest sympathy and condolence with us in the hour of our great sorrow . Yours fraternally , ELLICE HICKS BEACH .

Bro . COUSANS , G . D . C , said the M . W . G . M . had been pleased to appoint Bro . Frank Richardson , G . Reg ., as President of the Gineral Board , in place of Bro . R . Loveland Loveland , and asked the M . W . Pro G . Master to invest him . Bro . Frank Richardson was conducted by Bro . Cousans to the throne , and the Earl of Euston invested him with his collar and jewel of office . Bro . Fran '< Richardson , who was cheered , then took his place at the table as President of the General Board ,