The Festival Of The Masonic Benevolent Fund.

conducted himself with so much obtrusive fussiness as to make his behaviour a reflection upon the whole Board of Stewards . Bro . Parkinson added that as he had not the aggrieved brother ' s permission to mention the matter officialh ' , he did not feel justified in giving his

name to the meeting , but would be willing to communicate it privately to the Chairman . He might add , however , that the brother who had been subjected to this indignity ( and it was the offensive and hectoring manner which had been complained of far more than the specific act ,

was one honoured by the personal friendship of the Prince of Wales , and that an insult to him was in effect an insult to his Royal Highness , at whose table he sat . Bro . Parkinson concluded by proposing a hearty vote of thanks to Bro . Sir Albert "Woods and Bro . Thomas Fennfor their invaluable

assistance and unfailing courtesy , and with an expression of his personal annoyance that their efforts should have been supplemented so unworthily by some brother who had by his unseemly officiousness brought discredit upon the whole Board of Stewards . After the vote had been carried unanimously , several brethren spoke

upon the unpleasant incident brought to their knowledge by Bro . Parkinson , and an earnest desire was expressed to discover the offender . Eventually it was agreed to leave the investigation of the matter in the hands of the Chairman , Bro . Major Creaton , with power to take such steps as he should think fit , after conferring with Bro . Parkinson .

United Grand Lodge.

UNITED GRAND LODGE .

( Continued . ) Bro . Horace Lloyd moved that this report be received and entered on the minutes . Alter prefacing his motion by observing that this form was more convenient than the old one— " that this report be adopted" —he said that at the former

meeting he congratulated the brethren on the brevity of the report . The present one , however , was long , but it dealt with four subjects of great importance . The rent of the Tavern was a subject on which he intended to found a substantive motion , and therefore he would not say

anything on that . The matter of " irregular dispensation" had been sufficiently explained on the face of the report , but the subject of " the exclusion of members by lodges was of such great importance that he trusted he might be allowed to explain in a few words what the result of the

Board ' s deliberations had been . It would be in the remembrance of Grand Lodge that their question had been referred to the Board of General Purposes ; and he would venture to remind Grand Lodge that the word " exclusion " was a technical phrase [ which was prescribed for

Freemasons by the Book of Constitutions . That book drew a distinction between " the expulsion of a member from Masonry , " which rested wholly in the power of Grand Lodge , so that not even the Grand Master could do anything upon it , and the exclusion of member by his own

lodge . It was suggested that at present the power of exclusion was not sufficiently extensive , that some alteration was desired on the subject , and the whole matter was , without any selection , left . Jo the consideration of the Board . He begged his hon . friend who had brought forward

the subject ( Bro . Stebbing ) to believe him when he said that the Board approached the question with feelings of grave responsibility , and deliberated on it with the greatest attention , and with an earnest desire to do what was ri ght . It must be obvious to that brother what a difficult

duty they had to perform , and the members of the Board who were now present would bear him out when he said that on two different occasions it was under their consideration , and that the conclusion at which they arrived was an unanimous one . That unaninmity was not the unanimity

of a flock of sheep following a leader , but , whereas , there was at first a difference of opinion , careful consideration of the matter produced the conclusion they had now come to . Their first duty had been to see how the matter stood , and

what the Book of Constitutions provided on the subject . On one point they found it made special provisions , and this was to be found in clause ' , at pp . 67 and 68 , which dealt with an express charge—contumely in open lodge . A

United Grand Lodge.

brother who will not obey the Master in calling to order a second and a third time at last is to be dealt with for that persistent disobedience . Upon all that the Book of Constitutions was clear ; but he , ( Bro . Lloyd ) , agreed with Bro . Stebbing , that if that were all the Book of

Constitutions provided it would leave untouched many cases . With all possible care that was exercised the Board found some one -was occasionally introduced into lodges who was not worthy to be a member . In the first instancs , such member was worthy , but being capable of

sliding back from a better position to a worse , if he did so that would not be sufficient to cause his expulsion . The Board had come to the conclusion that there was nothing to present a lodge taking power by its bye-lawsto exclude him ; but , further than that , they did not see that the

Book of Constitutions authorised anyone to go . There was an express provision , and he would call ) irticular attention to this , as it had a very impows . tnt bearing on what they were going to consider . On page , 32 it was said that if the Grand Master should be satisfied that any brother be

illegally or without sufficient cause , —those were the words , —excluded from any of his Masonic functions or privileges by u private lodge or other authority , he may order him to be reinstated , and may also suspend till the next Quarterly Communication the lodge or brother who shall

refuse to comply with his order . And a similar power was given to a Provincial Grand Master . Now , whatever power was intended to be so given , it was not intended that a private lodge should have the power of excluding a brother without sufficient cause . The Constitution

gave an injured brother an appeal to the Grand Master , and the Grand Master in such a case has power ; o reinstate him in his Masonic position . Now , between those two points the Board had had to consider how the matter stood , and the conclusion they had come to was that in their

opinion the present provisions of the Book of Constitutions conferred adequate powers on private lodges for excluding members upon sufficient cause , and so thoroughly by their byelaws that the Board considered the present state of the law was satisfactory .

Then , how did the matter stand as to bye-laws ; what provision could a lodge make by its byelaws for dealing with this matter ? Then , again , the Book of Constitutions was perfectl y clear . Every lodge had the power of framing bye-laws lor its government , provided they were not

inconsistent with the laws of Grand Lodge . On this the Board had come to the conclusion that there was no doubt at all that a lodge had the power of framing bye-laws under which it should exclude a member . Was that a satisfactory solution , or would it be better that some general law

should be framed attempting to define what was " sufficient cause ? " The Board had thought it better t » bave the matter elastic . It was rather for the lodge itself to determine how it would deal with the question of exclusion , and therefore the members of the Board were disposed so to

leave it . But , upon the other hand , they thought it would only open the door to private piques and quarrels if the bye-laws in this respect were not hedged round with some safeguards to prevent too great laxity in this

matter . The Board therefore recommended that it would be desirable that lodges should be permitted to include in their bye-laws , as framed under Sec . 5 on page 6 , 3 . one authorising the exclusion of members for sufficient cause on

condithat every such bye-law shall provide for the member complained of receiving due notice of the complaint made against him , and of the time appointed for its consideration , shall give the power of exclusion only to a majority of not less than two-thirds of the brethren present , and

shall state on its fac <» the right of appeal against exclusion if illegal or without sufficient cause . As to giving notice , that was already provided for in page 68 . It was only necessary that it should be on the bye-laws that a brother should know what his position was . As to the majority

of two-thirds , that was the exact majority Br « . Stebbing had proposed . As to the right of appeal , it existed already , and was given by the Book of Constitutions , but it was well known that all the provisions of that book were not within the knowledsr « of all the members of

United Grand Lodge.

lodges at the time it was necessary to recall them by those who w « re enforcing them . But the brother against whom action might be taken should know where he might go for redress , and that should be brought prominently before him . He hoped that this easy solution of the question

would be satisfactory to Bro . Stebbing . It was true it would not permit a lodge' to exclude a member for a fanciful reason ; it would not permit a lodge to exclude a member for some of the faults suggested last meeting , because he eat

with his knife instead of his fork , or spilt his soup , or was overstrict in enforcing the exact Masonic law oil most inopportune occasions : but he ventured to say that that was a grievance for which they must go to the Book of Constitutions to find out what was a sufficient cause .

"Sufficient cause ' was used in that book , and it meant a cause which was a substantial grievance to a lodge . Still , the right of appeal existed in any case ; but , depend upon it , no man who felt himself in the wrong would ever exercise the right of appeal , and no one would succeed in such an

appeal unless he could show that his exclusion was frivolous or fanciful . He hoped this would settle the question , and that he would satisfy Bro . Stebbing , who , in his reply on the last occasion , thought that he was treated with somewhat of discourtesy . This he ( Bro . Loyd ) did not

intend : but he had a duty to perform as President of the Board of General Purposes , and he had done it . He did not speak for the other members , but only for himself . He was , however , sure that Bro . Stebbing could not have

thought he meant personal discourtesy to him , who was an old and distinguished and energetic Freemason , and also was a brother to whom they were all deeply indebted for that splendid building in which they were then assembled- —a most active and valuable member of the Buildinsr

Committee . ( Cheers . ) The Acting Grand Master having put the motion for the entry of the Teport of the Board on t !? e minutes , Bro . Stebbing said it was not his intention to raise a discussion on this matter then ; it would

be better , as it had been raised at former Grand Lodge , and had been considered by the Board , not to deal with it now . He might venture to bring it j ! forward again in some way or other when the brethren were educated up to the point from their own and their friends sufferings in

lodges , and they were anxious that they should be remedied . He thanked the President of the Board for his courtesy and acknowledged it with gratitude ; and although he had certainly felt hurt at the time the observations of Bro . Loyd were made , he assured him that the irritation

had passed away before he went to b ; d . There was this advantage in the discussion that had taken place—it had taught the brethren that they had no more power in their bye-laws than they had supposed they possessed , and he hopt-d the brethren would feel they could now take a wide

range as to the treatment ol disagreeable brethren by making bye-laws more applicable than it had bjen thought they had power to do before . The circumstance of the words "sufficient cause " having been dwelt on so especially by the President of tin- Board was significant in removing a

difficulty they had all felt . They knew they must specif y a particular law that had been broken , and this removed much of the diificulty that existed previously ; but with regard to the special report , lu- must remind the President of the Board that what they proposed to do was a

restriction on the previous condition of the law rather than an extension of the power he ( Bro . Stebbing ) had proposed should be given to private lodges . He had proposed that twothirds majority of members should be necessary to exclude ; but he did this as a counteracting

power to prevent the exclusion of a member without giving a reason for doing so . When they took this ingredient out , they took out that which was against him , but they gave nothing which was in his favour , which reminded him of tlie old saying , " thank you for nothing . "

However , as he had said it was not his intention to proceed with the matter that night , he hoped to approach the President at some other time with a solution of the difficulty , and he would have an opportunity in the meantime of ascertaining the feelings of brethren by visiting