The Election Of Candidates.

of course relatively greater than the white , and the very fact of this power being so much greater should compel us to exercise it with the utmost care . Everyone must also admit that the use of the black ball creates distrust amongst the members , and that not unfrequently suspicion falls unmeritedly on some brother who

is scrupulously honourable in the fulfilment of his duties and responsibilities . But , unfortunately , he has not laid down any plan by which the use of the black ball can be avoided , except it be the plan whicii he refers to in approving terms , and which vve know is adopted in many lodges , of first submitting the name of

a candidate to the members in a kind of informal manner , so that the sponsors may be able to gather from the opinions expressed what is likely to be the result of the formal ballot .

Under any circumstances , however , and whether the reader is likely to accept or reject the views of Bro . GREATBACH , we can strongly recommend his paper , which has been issued in pamphlet form , to the attention of our readers . « ,

The Grand Lodge Movement In New Zealand.

THE GRAND LODGE MOVEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND .

WE are in possession of the circular which was compiled ancl issued by order of the Executive Committee appointed to consider as to the propriety of establishing a United Grand Lodge in Nevv Zealand , at its meeting on the 23 rd May last , and we know , therefore , the reasons vvhich actuate the promoters of this

movement in the steps they are taking to effect their purpose . As regards some of these reasons we are prepared to admit the fairness with which they are stated , ancl that they exhibit a certain degree of cogency , but there are others vvhich , from our point of view , are scarcely worth noticing , and yet others to

which strong exception may justly be taken . Viewing them as a whole , vve are inclined to think the balance of argument is against rather than in favour of the proposed change . For instance , we attach very little weight to the assertion that " the

existence of three Constitutions working side by side , " is " contrary to and subversive of the principles of Unity , which should control all Masonic concerns . " The statement might easily be carried further and applied to the United Kingdom , in which there are three distinct Grand Lodges which are on terms of the

most intimate friendship and yet work independently of each other ; or to the Dominion of Canada , in which there are some seven , or , to the United States , in which there are nearly 50 Grand Lodges vvhich are similarly circumstanced . Yet it has never been seriously proposed that the three Grand Lodges of the

United Kingdom , or the seven Grand Lodges of the Dominion , should be amalgamated ; while the proposal which has been more than once made to establish a general Grand Lodge for

the whole of the United States has been invariably treated vvith supreme indifference , if not with contempt . We are well aware that in these three cases the G . Lodges do not work " side by side " in the sense in which thev so work in the British Colonies

and Dependencies . The territorial limits of their several jurisdictions are strictly defined , while in the Colonies ancl Dependencies they occupy tlie same territory . But , in the case of the latter , the nationalities from vvhich the lodges are recruited are all mingled together in the same district , ancl when Colonials are

desirous of being made Masons they seek affiliation with lodges of their respective nationalities , so that as a rule Scotch Colonials are initiated in Scotch lodges , Irish Colonials in Irish lodges , and English Colonials in English lodges , and it is only

when they visit lodges of other systems than their own that they discover there is any difference in the mode of working . But though the methods may be different , the principles vvhich underlie all these Constitutions are the same .

Again , the Charity of the Craft as it is exemplified by the establishment of Benevolent and Educational Institutions is not rendered impossible by the co-existence of three jurisdictions in one locality . Charity is one of the guiding principles of

Freemasonry , whether its local surroundings happen to be English , Irish , or Scotch , or a compound of all three . In other Colonies ancl Dependencies , the different systems have their different local Charity Funds , and if anything further in the way of Charitable Association existed than what the several local Funds of

Benevolence afford , there is no insuperable obstacle to the establishment of one which would be open to the members of all three jurisdictions . Then , as to the " disadvantages of being governed from a distance , " these are practically nil . In the matter of

government , the District and Provincial Grand Lodges in the Colonies ancl Dependencies are virtually independent of the Grand Lodges to which they severally belong , nor would the

authorities here for a moment dream of interfering in the local administration . It is true there is an appeal from the decisions of the District Grand Lodge to the Grand Lodge at home , but this is an advantage rather than otherwise , as the decisions

The Grand Lodge Movement In New Zealand.

of local authorities are sometimes unintentionally influence 1 by local feeling , while the Grand Lodge is strictly impartial knowing nothing whatever of the opposing parties in ai ' dispute which may be referred to them . ^ As regards the " Evils of Concurrent Jurisdiction "—as thp v

are described in the circular—the " Rivalry of Constitutions '' ancl the question of " New Lodges and Small Lodges , " vve admit there is some force in these objections to the present system , blIr they are very far from being insuperable . There is , indeed as regards the first , no reason why they should not continue to exist

under a single Constitution to almost , if not quite , the same extent as now , unless very stringent laws were passed against one lodge accepting the rejected candidates of other lodo- es With reference to the saving that would be effected by subst ; tuting one Grand Lodge for the Dist . G . Lodges under the threo

systems , it is possible that much in this direction mi ght be clone at the outset ; but we question if the reduced scale of expenditure would be maintained for long . Our experience inclines to think that the return to the present rate , which is by no means heavy , would be speedy , while the benefits which exist under the

present arrangements would have disappeared entirely . Bro FENWICK , Dist . G . Secretary of Queensland , in the able paper we published the other day , has fully explained the nature of these benefits , and we doubt if their loss would be compensated by the small saving of expenditure which vvould undoubtedly follow for a time after the establishment of a United G . Lod ge But our chief objection to any change , at all events in the present immature state of feeling on the subject , is that New Zealand , unlike South Australia , New South Wales , andVictoria

under the old system , is both geographically and Masonically broken up into districts , ancl though it may have been easy to combine three Dist . G . Lodges working in a compact territory it will not be easy to combine nine such D . G . Lodges in " a territory which is not compact .

Brief Essays On Curious Subjects.

BRIEF ESSAYS ON CURIOUS SUBJECTS .

3 . THE APRON . This essential article of our attire seems to have assumed its present shape a few months after the . " Union" of 1813 , prior to which the flap was semi-circular , as the Scottish pattern still is .

Let us consider it as if the pad were turned up , in which position we should see an equilateral triangle , supported on a square base , for , strictly speaking , Ave must view it as an absolute square rather than as the rectangle we wear of lambskin .

The Triad has always been held in the very highest esteem , and by the Pythagoreans especiall y vvas venerated as divine , even more so than the Septenary or any of the other odd numbers . Virgil has embalmed the old feeling in recording that the Gods love uneven numbers . We need not here speak of the three greater or lesser lights , or other ternaries which must readily

occur to every brother . All the old Theosophies inculcated the existence of Trinity , and so do many of our present faiths ; but space forbids more than a simple reference . Our purpose in these papers is to hint at the more than probability that our ceremonies have come down to us from the remote

past , for either our Order is , roughly speaking , barely two centuries old , or it is the descendant , no matter b y what tortuous paths , of the Osirian and similar mysteries . If the former be true then we have assumed ancient symbols vvhich may mean whatever the innovators understood thereby—if we can learn , as may be expected at so recent a date , what these implied

to our founders—but , on the other hand , if our Institution possesses legitimatel y the heritage from our early or pre-historic ancestors , then we are morally bound to accept the symbols wc have heireel from them at . their ori ginal value , so far as we can attain to this knowledge .

Now-a-days some of our instructors are prone to tell us that the Triangle typifies the Christian Trinity , forgetting that Masonry is UNIVERSAL , ancl that we enrol in our ranks Unitarians . Parsees , Mahommedans , and any who can take a binding OB . in t ' name of the Great Architect . That the Equilateral Triang le

represents Trinity , goes without saying , but the Kabbalist reads it for the first three Sephiroth , the earliest emanations of tn c Ain Soph ., while the Hindu understands it in a wide sense , <

Creation , Preservation , ancl Renewal . -When apex upwards , " may take it as emblematic of Spirit , or Fire , the sign of Siv « % ancl masculine—with the base above it , signifies Matter , V * atel ' Vishnuand is feminine .

, A Cube has six faces , or , as some say , the four cardinal pom •' with height and depth . If we unfold a die made of pasteboarc . we pet a Latin Cross ( known also tn lhe older F . o-vntiansjj " ? ,

squares for the upright , and one square on each side of the tin ^ block , counting from the first . If we include the cen r < space in the total of both the horizontal and vertical Iij *^' we obtain the mystical number seven . In the top square le