Freemasonry In The Transvaal.

ment of its resources . Our present object , however , is to call attention to the English District Grand Lodge , which held its fourth annual communication at Freemasons' Hall , Johannesburg , on the 26 'Ji April . Bro . RICHARDS , Dist . G . Master , who had

returned from a long visit to this country , presided , and there appears to have been a-very strong muster of Present and Past Dist . G . Officers , while all thc lodges were represented . The first business of moment was the presentation of an Address of

Welcome , to thc District Grand Master on his return home , and before the proceedings terminated Bro . RICHARDS very gracefully acknowledged the kindness thus shown him . From the report of the Board of General Purposes it would

seem that the Enghsn Craft during the past year has received a great accession of strength , as many as 214 candidates for the mysteries and privileges of Freemasonry having been accepted and initiated , while 178 brethren affiliated from

other Constitutions . Here , then , we have an infusion of new blood to the extent of nearly 400 additional members , which , if they are the right class of people to bc elected into our lodges ,

cannot fail to strengthen the rraternity , not only numerically , but also as regards any influence for good it may be able to exercise on thc outer world . But while there can be no doubt

that the Craft has fared well in this respect , thc Report tells us that owing to " the great commercial depression which has prevailed during the greater part of thc year" in the country , "the efforts of those brethren who were working for the establishment

of the Transvaal Masonic Educational Institution " havc been seriously hampered by the " great difficulty they experienced in collecting the various amounts of money which were promised

at the highly successful inaugural banquet in April last year . " We remember to have published some particulars of that banquet , and to have congratulated our brethren in the Transvaal on the marvellous success which then attended

their efforts in this direction , the donations and subscriptions that were announced as having been paid or promised amounting to the large sum of £ 15 , 000 . We have grown so accustomed of late years lo big figures in connection with Festivals held to

originate or promote the success of Masonic Charitable Institutions , lhat subscriptions of a few hundreds or even a few thousands of pounds sterling are apt to escape the attention they deserve lo receive ; but here was a case of such an

Institul . emg firmly established at once on such a basis as apparently to ensure for it a future of great prosperity . Such a sum as £ 15 , 000 is only obtained in England after months and months of organisation and canvassing , and yet in the Transvaal where

the brethren of the different Constitutions taken togetiier cannot then have greatly exceeded in number the aggregate membership of one of our medium-sized provinces and where the country itself is being slowly but surely developed as to its resources ,

such an amount as we have slated was paid or promised—not , of course , without previous effort on the part of the promoters of the scheme—at a single meeting . It is greatly to be regretted thai the promise then held out of a speedy establishment of this

Educational Institution will be somewhat retarded by the adverse circumstances that have existed throughout the country , but we have no doubt the Dist . Board of General Purposes is justified in the hope il expresses , that "with an early return lo

prosperous limes , " such an impetus will be given lo the scheme as will allow of its being realised . For the same reason , no doubt , the proposal for the establishment of a Benevolent Fund in connection with thc District docs not appear to have prospered .

Dist . Grand Lodge voted £ 50 towards tin ' s object , but the private lodges do not seem to havt ; done much . However , with a return of prosperity this shortcoming will be remedied , especiall y if steps are taken , as appears to be contemplated , to allow of the

lodges being called upon to contribute regularly at a fixed rati of so much per member . As for lhc Addresses delivered by tin Dist . Grand Master , Ihey serve to show that the most compleli

confidence exists bet ween him and thebrethren under his charge , and we trust the same feeling will continue to exist , not only while Bro . GKORGK Rli'llAUDS remains in oilice , but always .

ON SATUKDAY LIST Prinrei-s Chiitlian visi . ed Clapham in cider to lay the foundation stone of the St . John Hosvjer l )» y Sthools and Parish Hall in Union-road . Nearly every house in the dis ' rirt was decorated , while owing to the line weather the road was crowded with spectators , who vigorously cheered the Princess .

Negro Masonry.

NEGRO MASONRY .

The following , which I extract from thc St . Louis Daily Globe-Democrat ' , kindly forwarded mc by Bro . C . S . Bixby , of Ossawatomie , Kansas , will be of interest to many readers of the Free inu so 11 : "COLOURED MASONS RECOGNISED .

"STEP TAKEN BY WHITE GRAND LODGE OF THE STATE OK WASHINGTON . " Special Dispatch to the Globe-Democrat . "Seattle , Washington , June 15 . "The Masons of this State have taken a step which will

arouse members of thc Craft everywhere in the United States . To-day the Grand Lodge , jurisdiction of Washington , passed a resolution recognising the coloured Masons as members of the

Craft . The resolution confers power upon the negroes in Masonry to institute lodges among men of their own race . The step is merely a preliminary , as prominent Masons believe , in erantinp * the coloured members full recognition .

" The race question has been before thc Masons of this country for nearly 100 years . The coloured lodges of Masons have always been regarded as clandestine organisations , and

without the pale of true Masonry . Innumerable attempts have been made to obtain from the white Masons recognition of thc coloured organisation . These havc heretofore in every instance failed .

" The Grand Lodge of Washington is the first to recognise coloured men as Masons , and the act , it is believed , will be followed by a similar policy in other States . " The first lodge of coloured Masons was founded in 1774 by Prince Hall , an intelligent negro , in Boston . Hc obtained

his charter from the Grand Lodge of England . From Prince llall Lodge , of Boston , sprang all the coloured lodges in the United States . . Masonry was founded among thc whites in America upon thc granting of a charter from England , so that

the escutcheons of both date back to the same source . A Committee appointed a year ago to investigate thc advisability of recognising the coloured Masons reported to-day in favour of the proposition . After a long debate , it was adopted by the Grand Lodge by a large majority . "

It is , perhaps , not generally known lhat there are Coloured Grand Lodges in 31 states' of thc Union , exclusive of the " National Grand Lodge . " These Coloured or " lesser Grand Lodges" have hitherto failed to secure recognition by any of the American Masonic Jurisdictions , though they have been

more or less recognised as legally constituted bodies in France , Italy , Germany , Hungary , Peru , and Liberia . A decided step in Ihe direction of recognition was indeed made by the Grand l . odge of Ohio in I- -75 , but the resolution whereby the White

acknowledged the regularity of the Black Grand Lodge in that State , was ultimately thrown out , though by a side wind , in 18 7 6 . Writing on tlie subject ( of Coloured Grand Lodges ) in the same year , Bro . Josiah 11 . Drummond , the veteran Pasl Grand Master of Maine , thus expressed himself : —

"To recognise them as Independent Grand Lodges is the death of the doctrine of Exclusive Jurisdiction . If Ohio recognises the African Grand Lodges , she must repeal the ban of non-intercourse with Hamburg and the Grand Orient of

France , and recognise those Bodies in New York , New Jersey , and Louisiana , which she has for so many years declared as clandestine . Again , it introduces into Masonry a distinction founded upon race and colour , which is contrary to fundamental principles . "

It will be apparent , therefore , that the recent action of the Grand Lodge of Washington is likely to occupy the foremost p lace for a considerable time in the reports on Correspondence from the other American Masonic Jurisdictions . K . F . GOULD .

Consecration Of The Weald Lodge, No. 2707.

CONSECRATION OF THE WEALD LODGE , No . 2707 .

An important addition \ va " , mide to the roll of bdge . s in ICssc x by the consecration , on the 2 nd inst ., of the Weald Lodge , No . 2707 . The interesting ceremony took p ' ace at the Drill Hall , Brentwood , and was

performed by B o . the Earl of Warwick , Prov . G . Mister of Kssex , assisted by Bros . Claude Kgerton Green , P . P . G . W ., as S . W . ; J . | . C . Turner , P . P . G . W ., as J . W . ; Rev . C . C . Naters , P . P . G . Chap ., as Chap . ; T .