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FREEMASON'S HYMN . —THE MYSTIC TIE . Words and Music composed by F . J . STEIN . Price is . 6 d . nett . London : GEORGE KENNING , 16 __ I 6 A , Gt . Queen-st . Now ready , price 2 s . 6 d ., N OTES ON THE CEREMONY OF INSTALLATION , by H . SADLER , P . M ., P . Z ., Author of " Masonic Facts and Fictions , " vvith a Masonic Biography , Portrait , and Autograph of SIR ALBERT W . W OODS , C . B ., Garter King of Arms , Past Grand Warden of England and Grand Director of Ceremonies . G EORGE KENNING , 16 , Great Queen-st ., London , W . C .

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Now Ready . Price is . Post Free , Is . id . THE MASTER MASON'S HANDBOOK , by Bro . FRED . J . VV . CROWE , vvith an Introduction by Bro . VV . J . HUGHAN , P . G . D ., Sic . The Master Mason ' s Handbook is a compendium of all information necessary to a knowledge of English Masonry , comprising—An Historical Sketch of Freemasonry—The Grand Lodge : Its Origin and Constitution—Private Lodges , Metropolitan and Provincial—Visiting Private Lodges-Titles , their uses and abbreviations—The Great Masonic Institutions—The " Higher " or additional Degrees , and how to obtain them . London : GEORGE KENNING , 16 , Great Queen-street , W . C .

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ADVERTISEMENT SCALE OF "THE FREEMASON . " Per Insertion . SINGLE COLUMN per inch £ 0 5 o ONE PAGE 10 o o ONE C OLUMN 3 10 o PUBLIC C OMPANIES' & PARAGRAPH ADVERTISEMENTS , IS . PER LINE . WANTS , & C , FOUR LINES , 2 s . 6 d ., and 6 d . PER LINE additional . TO OUR READERS . The F REEMASON is published every Friday morning , price 3 d ., and contains the fullest and latest information relating to Freemasonry of every degree . Subscriptions , including Postage : — United States , United Kingdom . Canada , the Continent , India , China , Ceylon , the Colonies , & c . Arabia , & c . 13 s . 6 d . 15 s . 6 d . 17 s . 6 d . Remittances may be made in Stamps , but Post Otlice Orders or cheques are preferred , the former payable to GEORGE KENNING , Chief Office , London , the latter crossed London foint Stock Bank .

To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

The following communications unavoidably stand over : CRAFT LODGESUnanimity , No . 113 . Yarborough , No . 422 . Skiddaw , No . 1002 . LODGES OK INSTRUCTIONJoppa , No . 188 .

Warner , No . 2172 . OMTUARYBro . Banks . Funeral Oration at Kelso . Grand Encampment of the Temple of Malta for Scotland .

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SATURDAY , J ANUARY IO , 1891 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

Bro . William Watson , of Leeds , has become the fortunate purchaser of the valuable copy of the " Old Charges " of the year 1687 . He obtained it on behalf of the Library of the Province of West Yorkshire , so it is understood , and succeeded in securing the prize , notwithstanding so many others were after it .

* * * Bro . Hughan , of Torquay , will be asked to copy it , and make its contents known to the Craft through the columns of the Freemason . The esteemed Provincial Grand Master of West Yorkshire ( which province now

owns three most valuable Masonic MS . Constitutions ) has decided to call this precious document the " William Watson MS ., " out of compliment to the Honorary Librarian . This well-deserved honour will

doubtless be much appreciated . The R . W . Bro , T . W . Tew , J . P ., Prov . Grand Master , andthe province are to be congratulated on this accession to their grand collection .

We call the attention of our readers to " R . W . O . ' s " letter , which appears elsewhere in our correspondence columns , on the subject of " Masters and Wardens . "

The decisions cited by him are apparentl y in conflict with each other , and it is desirable that on so important a question any difference of opinion , especially between experts , should be considered and , if possible , explained or cleared up .

Masonic Notes.

The point on vvhich the Book of Constitutions insists so strenuously in Article 130 is that no brother shall be installed in the Master ' s chair unless he has " served for one year the office of Master or Warden in a regular lodge warranted under the English

Constitution . " Not only is this point made clear by the Grand Registrar ' s ruling , as cited by our correspondentwhich ruling , as we see , was adopted by Grand Lodge

—but a careful study of Article 130 itself will show that , though the phraseology of the law may be open to question , its meaning and intent are sufficiently manifest . » * »

Article 130 says at the outset , " Every lodge shall annually , on the day named in the by-laws for that purpose , elect its Master by ballot from among those of its members who have served for one year the office of Master or Warden , " & c . At first sig ht this might

be understood to intend that only those brethren are elig ible for the chair of Master vvho have completed a year's service as Master or Warden on the day the election by ballot is appointed to take place . In that case , as the interval between a brother ' s appointment as

Warden and the day next ensuing for the election of Master is , as a rule , less than one year , it would be in direct contravention of the Book of Constitutions , Article 130 , if any brother vvere elected Master—as very many indeed have been — after having been

appointed only once a Warden . But b y the light of what follows a little later on in the Article— " if they ( the minutes ) be confirmed , at least as relates to the election of Master , he shall be deemed to be

elected" , it is evident that the act of electing a new Master is not completed until the minutes relating to it have been confirmed , by which time such Master elect will , as a rule , have completed one full year ' s service as a Warden .

* * * This , indeed , is evidently the grou ' nd on vvhich the Grand Registrar based his ruling in the case referred to . "If , " said he , " a Warden was elected W . M . 11 months after he had been a Warden , and the

following month his election vvas confirmed , he had been 12 months a Warden and was duly elected and installed . " # # # The Grand Registrar even went further than this in illustration of his meaning , for he added , " if on the

19 th November , 1886 , he were elected , and on the 18 th November , 188 7 , he were installed , he was properly placed in the chair . " In other words—as vve understand this illustration—if the by-laws of a lodge provide that it shall hold only one stated or regular

meeting in the year , and the minutes of the previous meeting having been confirmed and the Master elect installed , and having appointed his officers , then if the brother appointed S . W . —who has never before served

as Master or Warden—is elected W . M . for the ensuing year , and the minutes twelve months afterwards , so far as they relate to his election , are confirmed , the brother so elected will be properly installed in the chair .

So far then we have the ruling of Grand Registrar , as accepted by Grand Lodge , in favour of the brother who is elected W . M . after only n months' service as Warden , being properly installed in the chair , if at the regular meeting next ensuing after his election the minutes relating to his election are confirmed .

As regards the other case quoted by our correspondent , it is impossible for us at this distance of time , and seeing that Bro . Hervey is dead , to determine the grounds on which that brother based his decision . It can hardly have been because the S . W . was invested b y

proxy , as the edition of the Book of Constitutions issued under his auspices as Grand Secretary , and in use at the date of his decision , contained the following clause appended to the article re the election of Master , & c .: " It is very desirable that a brother

should be present when appointed to office . " The word " desirable" would not have been used , if a brother ' s absence on the day of his appointment to ( say ) to the office of Warden were intended to shorten his term of service , and so have a disqualifying effect upon his eligibility for the chair .

Nor do we think he can have been guided , in forming his judgment , by the fact of the brother not having comp leted a full year ' s service as Warden , and being ineligible on that ground , for the instances were as numerous then as they are now of brethren being

elected to the chair after only eleven months' service as Senior or Junior Warden , and installed the following month . But whatever may have been the reasons on which Bro . Hervey based his judgment , the law as interpreted by the Grand Registrar is clear beyond all question .

Correspondence.

Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible For the opinions expressed by our correspondents , but we wish in a spirit of fair play to all to permit—within certain necessary limits—free discussion . ] WARDENS AND MASTERS .

To the Editor of the " Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , With regard to the last case cited by "A Student" in the letter vvhich appeared in your issue of the 27 th December— " A brother appointed to

a Warden ' s chair his first office in a lodge . In this case the brother not being present was elected W . M . at the next regular period of election , " I beg to refer your correspondent to the ruling of Grand Lodge on the 7 th March , 1888 , on a somewhat similar case .

" Bro . Philbrick , G . Reg ., next brought up the appeal by Bro . Henry Alfred Michael , of the Emulation Lodge , No . 2071 , Sydney , N . S . W ., against a ruling of the District Grand Master of New South Wales declaring that Bro . Joseph James Allen , J . W ., had been duly elected W . M . of the said lodge . In this case Bro .

Allen , J . W ., vvas elected W . M ., and the ground of the complaining brother was that when Bro . Allen was elected and installed he had not been 12 months a Warden . Bro . Philbrick explained that if a Warden was elected W . M . 11 months after he had been a Warden , and the following month his election was

confirmed , he had been 12 months a Warden according to the Constitutions , and was duly elected and installed . If , on the 19 th November , 1886 , he was elected , and on the 18 th November , 1887 , he was installed , he was properly p laced in the chair . He advised the dismissal of the appeal , and the confirmation of the ruling of the District Grand Master .

" Bro . Thomas Fenn seconded the motion , and it was put by the Grand Master in the chair and carried . " A similar case to that of Bro . " A Student" happened in a lodge in 1877 . The S . D . was appointed S . VV . by proxy . Before the election of W . M . at the regular period in 1878 , the case was sent up to the Grand Secretary , the late Bro . John Hervey , who ruled that the S . W . vvas not eligible for the Master's chair .

In an unanswered communication of mine on the ruling of Grand Lodge in case of the Emulation Lodge , No . 2071 , Sydney , N . S . W ., in the Freemason of 17 th March , 1888 , I asked the following query ; "Is the decision of the Grand Lodge on the appeal of Bro . Henry Alfred Michael , of the Emulation Lodge ,

No . 2071 , Sydney , N . S . W ., declaring that Bro . J . J . Allen , J . W ., had been duly elected W . M . of the said lodge in accordance with the Constitutions , Rule 130 ? ' Every lodge shall annually , on the day named in its by-laws for that purpose , proceed to elect its Master by ballot from among those of its members " who have served for one year the office of Master or Warden " in

a regular lodge warranted under the English Constitution . The ballot shall be declared in favour of the member thus qualified who obtains the largest number of votes of the brethren present and voting . ' Was Brother Allen qualified to be balloted for as W . M . in accordance with the above law when he had only been 11 months a Warden ? "

Trusting that some brother will take up the ruling of Grand Lodge upon this vexed question of 12 months a Warden , and clearing it up with regard to Rule 130 of the Book of Constitution . —I remain , yours fraternally , R . W . O .

"OLD MASONIANS . " To the Editor of the Freemason . Dear Sir , I should esteem it a favour if you will kindly bring it to the notice of your many influential readers that there are several boys who have just left the Royal

Masonic Institution for Boys who are anxious to obtain situations . As Hon . Secretary of the "Old Masonians " ( an association of old pupils of the Boys' School ) , I should be glad to enter into communication with any gentlemen who can assist me in obtaining suitable situations for the lads . —I am , dear sir , yours faithfully , R . S . CHANDLER . Anderton ' s Hotel , Fleet-street , E . C .

A QUERY . To the Editor of the "Freemason , " Dear Sir and Brother , Punch ' s advice to those about to be married was— " Don't . ; " my humble advice to " A Student , "

when rushing to print trivial questions not affecting-his lodge , is the same— " Don ' t . " It will be pardonable to surmise that " Student" is young in Masonry , or he would not be surprised at other lodges differing from his own .

Why a poor F . C . should be debarred from serving as Steward I cannot understand , as the barrier which " Student " thinks must be surmounted first—the M . M . Degree—would only take a month to remove . It looks as if the one on whom " the highest honour of the lodge had been bestowed " was a trifle selfish .

In answer to the second query , " Warde ' nship , " I am afraid " Student ' s " stumbling block is to be found in the words , " the brother in question is of a high social