Article 219.

ARTICLE 219 .

The question whether Article 219 , Book of Constitutions , means what it says or something which it does not say , is one which Grand Lodge should be invited to decide at the earliest available opportunity . This Article , as our readers are aware , lays it down clearly and unequivocally that— " Should the

majority of any lodge determine to retire from it , the power of assembling remains , with the rest of the members , but should the number of members remaining at any time be less than three , then the warrant becomes extinct . " Here , as we have pointed out in more than one previous article , there is nothing

whatever said as to this particular law being applicable to one class of cases and not to another , On the contrary , it is impossible to conceive how any words which the English language contains could have been chosen which would have made it more clear than those we have quoted , that

in all cases in which a majority of the members of any lodge see fit to retire from it , and no matter what may be their reasons or their object in so retiring , the minority , provided only they are not " less than three" in number , retain " the power of assembling " and carrying on the work of the lodge . But though all this is so clear that it is difficult to imagine how anyone

can possibly misinterpret the law as it is worded in our Book of Constitutions , GRAND REGISTRAR appears to have advised the Colonial Board that this law was never intended to apply to those cases in which a majority of the members of a lodge decide on retiring from it for the purpose of joining another Grand

Lodge . In all these cases he has decided that the question whether a lodge shall remain in its allegiance to our Grand Lodge or join another must be determined by the votes of a majority of the members , and that if such majority is in favour of abandoning its allegiance to England , the lodge ,

as an English lodge , becomes , ipso facto , extinct . We sincerely trust we have not misrepresented the GRAND REGISTRAR ' S judgment in this matter , but our interpretation of his meaning will be more clear if we re-state the case cited by Bro . W . F . LAMONBY in the letter of his which we

published last week . According to his account the Combermere Lodge , No . 752 , decided at an informal meeting by 25 votes to 24—the number of members in good standing being 103—to leave the English Constitution , and join the Victorian Constitution . But the minority of 24 elected , under Article 219

of the Book of Constitutions to carry on the lodge under its English warrant . During the two years which have since elapsed , this lodge has discharged its duties satisfactorily . At the present time it has 115 members , including Bro . Sir W . J . CLARKE , Bart ., M . W . G . M . of Victoria , on its roll ; many of its

Members belong to Victorian lodges , and it subscribes to the one Victorian Masonic Charity . But if our GRAND REGISTRAR is right in his judgment this lodge with its 115 members has no locus standi whatever under our Grand Lodge . Two years a & ° its members decided , not in open lodge where such

a question as that of continuing or not continuing to render a ljegiance to the Grand Lodge of England is forbidden to be discussed , but at an informal gathering , by a majority of one v ote out of 4 g present , to join the Victorian Constitution ; and that being- so . the GRAND REGISTRAR tells us that Combermere

Lod ge , as an English lodge , has ceased to be , notwithstanding the provision in Article 219 respecting the rights of this minority of 24 brethren , to do what they have done . We ask our readers " such a judgment as this—so strained an interpretation of a slI npl y-worded law—should be allowed to pass unchallenged .

The Bengal Masonic Educational Association.

THE BENGAL MASONIC EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION .

We gather from the Report of the Proceedings , which has ee n kindl y forwarded to us , of the Bengal Masonic Association ° r Educating the Children of Indigent Freemasons during the year ended the 31 st December , 1890 , that very satisfactory L ° ^ . made by the Institution during the period referred ' '" at it is in possession of a very considerable amount of

The Bengal Masonic Educational Association.

capital which has been judiciously invested , that the working expenses are on a very modest scale , and that there is every probability that the Charity will continue to remain in a flourishing state . The Committee of Management express a very natural regret that there should

have been a falling off in the annual subscri ptions on which the Association depends so materially , but it is possible , and , indeed , more than probable that the diminution in this branch of its income is only temporary . In our own Institutions we find that occasionally there is a downward tendency in this respect , and

we may be sure that a similar experience must now and then befall those of our Bengal brethren who narrowly watch the fluctuations in income of this Charity . In ali other respects , however , the Committee appear to have been well satisfied with the support vouchsafed them . The contributions to the

Permanent Fund amounted to 38 77 rupees , of which 3 rupees have been invested . The income derived from capitation assessment , subscriptions , and interest on securities , reached 3666 rupees , and the balance in bank and in hand at the close of the accounts amounted to 560 rupees . As regards the

expenditure , we note with pleasure that it is almost wholly devoted to the objects for which the Association has been established , the amount expended on the education of 32 children during the six months being 57 88 rupees , while the expenses of management , including bank commission , earnest money , and premium on

stock purchased , as well as for advertisements , printing , postages , & c „ were only 429 rupees . There are now , it seems , 33 children on the establishment , who are placed out at different schools in the Presidency , the privilege of sending four of their wards to the La Martiniere College , Lucknow , for 300 rupees each per

annum , having been recently accorded to the Committee . The total amount of Stock invested is £ 80 , 500 , so that there need be very little doubt , as we have said already , as to the Association being able to maintain itself in a state of efficiency . We congratulate our Bengal brethren on the tenour of this latest

report of their Educational Association . It is to their credit that though the Charity was founded as recently as 166 9 , it should have been able to accumulate so substantial an amount of funded property , and that , in spite of an occasional decrease in income from subscriptions , it should be in a position to command so ready a support .

Transactions "Q.C." Lodge, London.

TRANSACTIONS " Q . C . " LODGE , LONDON .

Part 1 , of Volume IV ., of the " Ars Quatuor Coronatorum " being the transactions of the Lodge Quatuor Coronati , No . 2076 , London , is now in the hands of British members of the " Outer Circle , " but it will take some time yet before it reaches the antipodes , and other distant spots where numerous

correspondents reside who belong to " the thousand and one " subscribers . The present number is not a strong one , Masonically speaking , though it is very interesting from an archaeological

standpoint , and doubtless will prove agreeable and li ght reading compared with several of the previous parts , for those who have not dived very deep down into the " hidden paths" of Masonic history and Masonic research .

The frontispiece consists of the portrait of our dear Bro . Bywater , the W . M . of the lodge , so widely known and respected by the London brethren particularly , and wherever zeal and

enthusiasm , united with sound common sense and quiet but persistent labour on behalf of the Craft for many years , are valued and appreciated . The honour of being W . M ., and that of the lodge in having such a Master , is fairly balanced .

The elaborate report as to the finances for 18 90 must surel y satisfy even the most exacting , especially as all the accounts passed the careful scrutiny of the Permanent and Audit Committee . It is but fair to our esteemed Bro . Speth to state this

much , for though the total receipts for the year far exceeded £ ILOO , every penny is most scrupulously accounted for , and details are so abundant as to be almost confusing to the ordinary reader , who has but little knowledge of the extensive operations