Masonic Notes.

Phoenicians during their voyages all over the world . Perhaps some of our more learned brethren will give this matter their consideration . * * * We gather from the Proceedings of the Grand

Lodge of All Scottish Freemasonry in India at the Quarterly Communication , held in Freemasons' Hall , Bombay , on the 25 th July last , that the late Bro . Sir H . Morland having found it necessary , in consequence of the state of his health , to resign his office of M . W .

Grand Master , suggested that Bro . J . W . Smith , Depute Grand Master , should be recommended for nomination as his successor by Grand Lodge , and that the suggestion was acted upon , and Bro . Smith recommended to the Grand Master Mason of Scotland for

the vacant post . There is every reason to believe that a better choice could not have been made . Bro . Smith has the reputation of being a capable man , and in his capacity of Depute Grand Master has had considerable experience of the duties which will devolve upon him

as Grand Master . In succeeding one so distinguished as the late Bro . Sir H . Morland , Bro . Smith will have a hard task before him , but in time no doubt he will be able to establish for himself a reputation second only to that of his late lamented chief .

* * * Our readers must be tolerably familiar with the nam' ; and great reputation of Bro . J . Ross Robertson , Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada for the Province of Ontario . Bro . Robertson visited this country during

the summer of last year , and received a most cordial welcome , a welcome worthy of his exalted rank , both in Grand Lodge and sundry of our private lodges . They will therefore be the more delighted to hear of his recent act of munificence in presenting the Lakeside

Home for Sick Children to the city of Toronto . This institution was founded ei ght years ago by Mr . Robertson , but on a far smaller scale , at a cost of some 3000 dollars . Subsequently additional buildings were erected at a further cost of 2000 dollars , while last year

a new and enlarged Home was planned and its erection begun , the cost of the new premises with the requisite furniture and appointments being set down at a further $ 20 , 000 . On the 5 th September last the new Home was formally presented as a gift to the city by Bro .

Robertson and accepted by the trustees on its behalf . The gift of such an institution as this , which will accommodate 200 sick children and their attendants , and furnish the means for their complete restoration to health , is an act which will hand down the name of

J . Ross Robertson to posterity as one of the greatest and most munificent of benefactors . Toronto must indeed be proud of such a citizen , and the Freemasons of Canada at having so worthy a man to preside over their Grand Lodge . * * *

It will soon be our duty to review the Provincial Calendars which are so numerousl y issued about the beginning of the year , and we are glad to be in a position to announce that the number will be increased in 1802 by the publication by Bro . G . J . Cosburn ,

P . P . A . G . D . C . Berks , of the Caxton Printing Works , Newbury , of a calendar for the Province of Berkshire . The work will be issued with the approval of PI . R . H . the Duke of Clarence and Avondale , P . G . M ., while

the duty of editing and compiling will be discharged by Bro . John T . Morland , D . P . G . M . We trust the new calendar will prove worthy of the Province , and that the day may not be far distant when every Province in England will have its calendar .

# # * We cannot allow the present week to pass without offering our very hearty congratulations to Bro . W . J . Hughan on his recent success in discovering five new MSS . of the Old Charges , all of them being of greater

or less value . Such a find in the brief space of one week is indeed an instance of good fortune which is very rarely heard of . However , Bro . Hughan , with his

untiring energy and marvellous enthusiasm , well deserves whatever good fortune may befall him , and we trust that still further successes await him in the same field of labour .

* * * We notice with regret that our respected Bro . the Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Kent , the ReV . T . Robinson , was unable through continued illness to be present at the annual meeting on

fhe 4 th inst . His place was , however , well filled by ihe able and popular Deputy , the Rev . Hayman Cummings , and the business , of which we hope to give a

report next week , was very satisfactorily gone through . We trust the Mark Masons of Kent will soon have their revered chief again taking an active part in the work ° f the Province .

Masonic Notes.

At a meeting of the Royal Naval College Lodge , No . 1593 , held at the Ship , Greenwich , on Tuesday evening , Bro . Rear-Admiral Albert Hastings Markham , the well-known Arctic explorer , was installed Worshipful Master for the ensuing year by Bro . Robert Main , of

the Admiralty , in the presence of Bros . Col . Shadwell H . Clerke , G . Sec . ; F . A . Philbrick , Q . C , G . Reg . ; W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., Prov . G . M . of Hampshire ; C . F . Matier , Grand Mark Secretary ; Common , P . G . M . of Tennessee ; and many other distinguished members of the Craft .

Correspondence.

Correspondence .

f 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 . ] CENTENARY WARRANTS AND JEWELS .

To the Editor of the "Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , In his last " Note " Bro . " 33 " seems to imply my acceptance of his opinion that , if a lodge warrant is transferred by authority to a new set of brethren , there having been no break in the payments , the

continuity is uninterrupted . I do not , however , assent to this view of the matter . Take an instance—a lodge constituted in the South of England , say in 1770 , for some reason became unable to exist , and returned its warrant to Grand Lodge , which re-issued it , say in iSoo , to an entirely new set of brethren in one of the Northern

Counties , and the dues of both lodges having all been paid , does Bro . " 33 " seriously contend that the Northern lodge could claim a centenary warrant from 1770 ? There was no continuity as a lodge , and the fact that the Northern lodge is in possession of a warrant of that date is easily understood if proper consideration is given to the difficulties the Grand Lodge

and its executive officers had to encounter in consequence of the Act of Parliament of 1 799 ( 39 Geo . III ., c . 79 ) . I thank Bro . " 33 " for his offer of intormation , of which I may be glad to avail myself later on , but should prefer its coming through the Freemason , because the more lig ht is thrown on these matters generally the less probability there will be of a repetition of former errors-.

I go somewhat further perhaps than Bro . " 33 " in stating that every lodge " suspended " or " erased " by the Grand Lodge—whether such action was confirmed at the next meeting or not—became during the period of such suspension or erasure practically dead . Could any member of a suspended lodge ( without other

qualification ) attend Grand Lodge whilst his lodge was in that unpleasant position ? Or , could the lodge itself meet and perform any Masonic work when under suspension ? Most assuredly not , and consequently there must have been in every such instance a break in the continuity—an " interruption " that must prove fatal to

any claim to " uninterrupted existence . " Bro . Lamonby ' s letter in connection with this subject and Lodge No . ng is valuable . The point , however , which he rightly considers " highly important " is not new to me . It is alluded to , briefly , in my letter in the Freemason of 18 th January , 18 90 , in which I challenged

the production of " any satisfactory evidence that the lodge did assemble regularly , " as alleged , " from the year 17 6 S to the end of the year 1806 , " and the matter is also fully referred to in my recent work " Centenary Warrants and Jewels , " which may be consulted on the subject . —Yours fraternally ,

JNO . LANE . Torquay , November 7 th . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Referring to my letter in your issue , anent the Lodge No . 119 controversy , I havereceived a note from Bro . W . J . Hughan , P . G . D ., pointing out a serious error

committed by me in asserting that he , in his " Masonic Register , " gives No . 119 and three other "Ancient " lodges ( now extinct ) as having been warranted in the early part of the present century . The true facts arethat he gives the present No . 119 as warranted in . i 76 S , whilst the other three lodges have no dates at all .

I hasten , in justice to Bro . Hughan , to make the correction , or amende honorable—whichever you like to term it—and I will add that I cannot imagine how I came to make so strange a lapsus calami with respect to our able historian , though , if I may claim any excuse therefore , the said excuse consists in the positive

assurrance that I certainly have seen the figures and dates I referred to in my letter somewhere . Let me , in conclusion , extract the following from the minutes of the old Provincial Grand Lodge of Cumberland , dated April 19 th , 1819 . Amongst other business , the representatives of lodges were " requested to

produce the warrants of their respective lodges , when the Lodge of Harmony appeared the oldest established in the province . " The list is appended : — " Lodge of Harmony , No . 344 , Carlisle ... A . D . 1771 . " Sun and Sector , No . 39 8 , Workington ... ,, 1774 . " Union , No . 579 , Carlisle „ 1796 . " Concord , No . 187 , Whitehaven , 1 S 05 .

" St . John ' s , No . 614 , Wigton „ 1807 . " Unanimity , No . 647 , Penrith „ 1813 . " Hibernian , No . 208 , Wigton „ 1813 . " Holy Temple , No . 682 , Longtown ... „ 1816 . " St . Michael's , No . 683 , Brampton ... „ 1816 . '

Correspondence.

Of the foregoing lodges , the Concord and Hibernian were of "Ancient " origin , which will account for their precedence in numbers over the " Modern" lodges . I will only add that the present Sun , Square , and

Compasses Lodge , No . 119 , then No . 190 , was not represented at the Provincial meeting referred to , neither were the other two Whitehaven " Antient " lodges—the Royal Cumberland Militia , No . 270 , and the No . 273 ( no name ) . —Fraternally yours ,

W . F . LAMONBY . Cockermouth , November 9 th . To the Editor of the "Freemason , " Dear Sir and Brother , Bro . Lane expresses a wish that some of the ' many people" whom Bro . u 33 " has " put to the question " will reply .

As to the questions put to me , I will do my best , but I am not quite sure I know exactly what " 33 " wants me to answer , and I was at first inclined to say , " Bro . ' 33 ' please ask me another . " As to the first question , I think that in the present state of the law , Art . 175 , makes it clear that so long

as a lodge exists and returns the name of a brother , even if the return be " in arrear , " such brother can at any time , by the payment of all arrears , resume his full rights , and he must then be considered during all the time as having preserved a continuity of membership .

With regard to exclusion by vote of the brethren , such exclusion must be in strict conformity with Art . 210 , and if the proper formalities are not strictly complied with , I think Grand Lodge would at any time reinstate a brother , on his tendering all arrears , who could prove that his name was improperly returned as

excluded , e . g ., if he could prove he had never received due notice in writing of the complaint and time appointed for its consideration ; as pointed out b y Bro . Brackstone Baker in Grand Lodge , in December , 188 S . If so reinstated , such brother would , I take it , be restored to all his privileges and his continuity of

membership preserved even if he appeared in his lodge roll and Grand Lodge books as " excluded . " As to continuity of lodges , I cannot but think that Bro . Lane , with all deference to him , is wrong in the view he takes as to " suspension , " though I admit that Bro . Oliver seems to agree with him to some extent as

to the effect of "suspension" in its application to an individual brother . I think , however , Mackey takes the right view in saying of a brother under suspension " his rights are placed in abeyance . . . . But he is still a Mason . By suspension , as by the " relegatio " of the Roman law , Masonic citizenship is not lost , although

the exercise of its rights and duties is temporaril y ' interdicted . And , therefore , as soon as the period limited by the sentence has expired the Mason at once resumes his former position in the Order , and is reinvested with all his Masonic rights , whether those rights be of a private or of an official nature . " Similarl y

a lodge , on the expiration of the sentence if definite , or on making compliance if the sentence be " until . . . , " is , I should think , restored to all its old rights , and the most that can be urged is that in such a case the hundred years might require to be completed by a further time equal to the suspension .

The case of erasure is somewhat different , but even there I am inclined to think that if the edict was formall y taken off by Grand Lodge , and the lodge restored to its place and privileges , it must be considered as rightly claiming a continuous existence . The restoration must I think be considered as for all purposes a complete

and final restoration , and the sentence considered annulled as from the time of its pronouncement . This , however , is a more difficult question , and must no doubt be considered by the light of the Constitutions existing at the times of the erasure and restoration . A grant of a new charter under the old number to a new

set of brethren would not fall within the lines of the case I am considering and would not ,. I think , be a case of continuity . I do not like to quote cases from Bro . Lane ' s book , but there are examples of each sort , as Bro . " 33 " is no doubt well aware . Beyond the information given by Bro . Lane , I have not sufficient

knowledge to attempt to give the opinion requested as to " Bro . Lane ' s deliverances . " It cannot be too constantly borne in mind that the period to be covered embraces a long period of time , in which the Craft has been governed by varying sets of laws—all of which are not , unfortunately , in my

possession—that the vihole Craft has not always been governed at the same time by the same laws , that strict proof ot every point is not always attainable , and lastly , that in a matter of prerogative the discretion of the Grand Master is not to be questioned too minutely , however grateful we are , as we all ought to

be , for Bro . Lane s careful details . In conclusion , I would ask Bros . Lane and " 33 " how far they are of opinion that the instructions as to applying for the Grand Master ' s permission can strictly be considered as a part of the Constitutions ?—Yours fraternally ,

LEX SCRIPTA , November 6 th .

P . S . —Bro . " 33 " 's note in to-day ' s issue seems to differ a good deal from my views , but I let this go for his consideration . November 7 th .

According to present arrangements her Majesty and the Court will leave Balmoral and take up their residence at Windsor Castle on or about the 20 th inst .