Contents.

CONTENTS .

L EADERS 647 Old Warrants . —Nos . XXX . & XXXI 6 4 8 Notes on the Ceremony of Installation ... 6 49 Provincial Grand Lodge of Cnmberland and Westmorland 630 Supreme Grand Chapter 651 firand Lodge of Scotland 65 t Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Cheshire 652 Consecration of the Chorlton Mark Lodge , No . 394 652 Consecration of Lod « e St . John , No . 2280 , Sangor , Bombay 6 j 2 Inauguration of a District Grand Chapter for Malta 653 United Grand Lodge of New South Wales 6 53 CORRESPONDENCEExpulsion of a Scottish Brother 657 Qualification of Candidates to the " Masonic Schoo's 657

CORRESPONDENCE ( Continued)—Masonic Jurisprudence 6 57 An Old Masonic Song 6 5 S Notes and Queries r > 58 RRPURTS OF MASONIC -VU « TIN «>— , Craft Masonry 65 S Instruction 660 Roval Arch 661 Instruction 661 Mark Masonry 661 Ancient and Accepted Rite 661 Australia 661 Centenary Festival of the Chapter of Friendship , at Portsmouth 662 The Annual Banquet of the Constitutional L ' dge of Instruction , No . Jj 665 The Old Masonians 665 Masonic and General Tidings 663 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 66 4

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THE public , from "J O'GROATS to Land's End , " E a Scotti " have been fully inlormedas to the serious " Masonic Scandal " Brother . at EcTmljiirgh , and the utmost publicity has been given to a matter , that according to our minds , and the usages and customs of the English Craft , would have been most rigidly kept as private as possible ,

and would not even have come before the Grand Lodge . In times gone by , when brethren have so far forgotten their obligations to due secrecy as to violate the laws of Freemasonry , an indefinite suspension , after due trial before the " Board of General Purposes , " has answered fully to mark the sense of the Craft of such flagrant and un-lvlasonic

conduct . Of course , the defendant in such a case might have appealed to the Grand Lodge , but no one in their senses would be so foolish , as the result would be expulsion , and all the particulars would become known —to the greater punishment of the offender . The Board , if any report at all , had to be made , would take care not to make it in the unfortunate

manner that the late escapade has been treated in Edinburgh . The misfortune is that the "Grand Committee" of the Grand Lodge of Scotland is required to regularly report all their transactions for the information and approval or disapproval of Grand Lodge , " so that the transactions of this body on the 25 th October , respecting the serious irregularity ^ of one brother

in particular , and also certain members of his lodge , were printed and circulated in the published report , No . 3 , of the Proceedings for 1888 , prior to the meeting of the Grand Lodge , when the vote for expulsion was finally agreed to . We cannot but think that the system adopted in this country is far preferable , and avoids undue publicity as to purely esoteric matters

connected with the Craft , which , unless there is absolute need , should never on any account , in any way , appear in the columns of the public press . We suggest that , unless an appeal be taken , the proceedings of the kind noted should never be mentioned beyond the circle of those composing the Grand Committee of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , and that the laws be altered accordingly .

* * * ihe Prov . Grand ^ man y years past Freemasonry in the counties of Leicester-Leicestersifire sn ' anc » Rutland has been in a most flourishing condition . and Rutland . i ; s ri 0 t perhaps , very strong in the number of its lodges , but those which have been established work well together , the brethren are

actuated by a thoroughly loyal spirit , and there are skilled and veteran Craftsmen to guide the fortunes of the Society in this favoured Province . As a consequence , it invariably happens that when the annual meeting of ihe Provincial Grand Lodge comes round , as it did the other day at Oakham , the reports which the different Executive Officers are called upon to

'ay before the brethren are , almost as a matter of course , satisfactory . The funds seem to be always well administered , and there is generally a good account to render of the work done in aid of one or other of our principal Charitable Institutions , a special effort having been made during the year now concluded in order that the Province might enter a more successful

appearance than usual at the Centenary Festival of the Girls' School , when it fi gured for contributions amounting in the aggregate to upwards of A > ooo . Unfortunately , the Prov . G . Master—Bro . the Earl FERRERS—was detained from the meeting , and so missed hearing the very glowing accounts which were given of the progress made by the Province during the year ,

and which it would have afforded him so much pleasure to hear . But his place was ably filled by his Deputy , Bro . S . S . PARTRIDGE , and under his ab 'e presidency everything passed off most satisfactorily , one circumstance , which was made the subject of a special resolution , very properly attracting 0 'tself a considerable share of attention . This event was the approaching

jubilee of the initiation into Freemasonry of that most able and experienced 0 Masonic veterans , Bro . WILLIAM KELLY , who for some two or three years . Provincial Grand Master and who still presides as Grand Superindent of the Royal Arch Masons in the Province , and as head of the ar k Master Masons in Leicestershire and sundry of the adjoining

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counties . There are few men living who have done better or more loyal service to the Craft than Bro . KELLY , and the brethren of Leicestershire and Rutland are conferring honour upon themselves by congratulating their able and genial Past Prov . Grand Master on so eventful an anniversary . Bro . KELLY ' services to his Province

have been of incalculable value , whether we regard him as a former ruler , as the promoter of its Charitable Association , in connection with the establishment of the Masonic Hall in Leicester , or as the historian of its Freemasonry . He has distinguished himself in all the various capacities he has been called upon to fill , and it would be difficult to mention any position

of eminence in Craft , Arch , or Mark Masonry to which he has not been appointed . We cordially re-echo the good wishes which were expressed on his behalf by his Leicestershire and Rutland brethren at the recent meeting of their Provincial Grand Lodge , and we trust it may be many , many

years ere—to use a familiar yet expressive phrase—the place which this distinguished and veteran brother has so long and so ably filled in Freemasonry shall " know him no more . " * *

WE take an early opportunity of recognising the promptitude The Canadian .. ..,, _ ,. r . r , , 1 , Invasion with which the Canadian Craftsman has endorsed our remarks on the recent wanton aggression by the Grand Chapter of

Canada on the rights and privileges of the Grand Lodge and Chapter of England in the Australasian colony of Victoria . As we pointed out in our article condemning the establishment of two Canadian Royal Arch Chapters in the City of Melbourne , " it is difficult to imagine a more wanton , uncalled for , and graceless attack than this on the supremacy of our Grand

Lodge and Chapter j and the Canadian Craftsman is ot opinion that the language is none too strong , considering the enormity of the offence committed . It describes the said offence as " an invasion , pure and simple , " and adds that " a milder word would be entirely out of place . " It further remarks : " In the Colony of Victoria there are at least eleven English

chapters under the government of a District chapter , a fact that our leading Royal Arch Masons should be conversant with . In addition to the English chapters , there are also Irish and Scotch chapters , so that our Canadian companions not only planted their chapters in a colony already occupied , but where some of the chapters were organised under as distinctive a head

as is allowed provincial chapters in England . " It is , no doubt , an aggravation of the offence committed by Canada that English Royal Arch Masonry in Victoria is already furnished with just such an organisation as is accorded to our own Provinces at home , and the Executive Officers of the Grand Chapter of Canada should have known this ; but , as our worthy

contemporary very properly points out , the invasion must be condemned even less on this account than for the injury it is certain to inflict on Freemasonry as a body . It goes on to say : * ' For a vast Brotherhood , scattered over the globe , there should be harmony , if that Brotherhood means anything or aims to accomplish a good purpose . " But , " Can harmony exist , or

brotherly feeling be engendered , if studious efforts are continuously being made to bring about friction ? " This is strictly in accordance with the view we enunciated in our former article , when we pointed out that , " if this new departure is continued , there must be an end to all harmony among the various Grand Lodges in the British Empire . It will be impossible for

them to live on amicable terms with one another if every Grand Lodge to which the Grand Lodges ol England , Ireland , and Scotland have conceded , or may hereafter concede , independence is to be free to attack or ignore the rights and privileges of the latter . " The lodges in our Colonies which belong indifferently to the English , Irish , or Scotch systems have no

difficulty in working side by side in the most complete harmony , such as has always prevailed among the parent Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom . It is difficult for the American Grand Lodges , with their elaborate codes of laws about matters which never concern us here , to understand the secret of this harmony , but it exists

nevertheless , and is likely to exist , in all Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown which are , Masonically , connected , as now , with the Mother Country . But we have an illustration in the Anglo-Quebec difficulty of the discords which are certain to ensue if the other Grand Lodges in the British Empire which have sprung from the Grand Lodges of England ,

Ireland , and Scotland should ever have conceded to them the ri ght to establish lodges outside the limits of their respective territorial jurisdictions . What kind or degree of harmony would be likely to prevail among the lodges of half-a-dozen different systems working within a stone ' s tnrow of each

other , especially when it is known that the laws which govern one half of those systems have been in very many things essential compiled in a different spirit from the laws which govern the other half , and are intended to promote or prevent objects to which the other half of the systems have ever shown themselves indifferent ? However , as we said in our former