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SnmSasQfSi inii '" mg" - - ' g'Pg ' . 'S HMHri niii tf * wffl SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER i 6 , 1899

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

There can be no doubt as to the right of the Board of General Purposes to act as it has done in the matter of the Cambiian Lodge , No . 656 ( E . G . ) , Sydney , New South Wales . The Articles quoted by the G . Registrar from the Book of Constitutions are as clear upon 'he matter as "the sun at noonday . " Article 272

declares that " the Board has authority to hear and determine all subjects of Masonic complaint or irregularit y respecting lodges or individual Masons when regularl y brought before it , " while Article 273 provides for the Board proceeding to admonition , fine , or suspension , according to the laws , and then goes on to declare that "its decision shall be linal , unless an a PPeal be made to the Crand Lodge . " On the

Masonic Notes.

subject of appeals , Article 217—which was not referred to by the G . Registrar—lays it down that " any Lodge or Brother who feels aggrieved by the decision of a Provincial Grand Master , a District Grand Master , or District Grand Lodge , or of any Board or Committee , or of any other Masonic authority or jurisdiction whatsoever , may appeal against such- decision to the

next practicable meeting of the Grand Lodge . " It is hardly necessary to remark that the Cambrian Lodge is not likely to feel aggrieved by a decision which condones the irregularities it is shown to have committed under the pressure of " a great emergency , " and as no one else would have a locus standi as an appellant , there is an end of the Cambrian case once and for all , and we are not sorry for it .

« * At the same time , we fully sympathise with Earl Carrington , who was the last District Grand Master of New South Wales under the English Constitution , and the first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of that Colony . His lordship remarked in his

speech , that when he was sent out to New South Wales , " he had a distinct message from the Grand Master to heal , if he possibly could , the differences which unhappily existed in Freemasonry in the Colony , " and thanks lo the " courtesy , geniality , and tact , " shown by the late Earl of Carnarvon , Pro G . Master ,

those differences were adjusted . The lodges of the different Constitutions determined upon establishing a Sovereign Grand Lodge of their own , and Lord Carrington , after having been unanimously elected Grand Master , was installed in office as M . W . Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales , in

the presence ot upwards of 4000 members of the Craft . At first , it was supposed that the whole body of Masons had joined in the good work . It was not long , however , before a body of dissentients turned up in a section of the members of the Cambrian Lodge , No . 656 , under the English Constitution , and as , though

the majority had cast in their lot with the new Grand Lodge , these dissentients were numerous enough to claim under old Article 219 , the right of retaining the Warrant , our Grand Lodge had no other course open to it than that of recognising them as the Cambrian Lodge and retaining it in its place on the roll of lodges . By the recent decision of the Board of

General Purposes the lodge has had the irregularities it subsequently committed condoned , but we are confident that if its members had joined the new order of things instead of holding aloof from it and engaging in bitter controversies with the New South Wales Mat-ons , they would have stood far higher in the estimation of all English brethren .

* » In our article on the Ashton Mark Lodge , we state it as our opinion that the Mark Grand Lod ge has acted unwisely in declaring it " spurious and clandestine . " Here , for instance , is one of the difficulties with which we are confronted at the very outset of this unfortunate

dispute . Bro . Thomas D . Foreman , in the letter which appeared in our issue of the 2 nd instant , shows that in December , 188 7 , he was accepted as a joining member of the Skelmersdale Lodge , ranking as No . 141 on the roll of Mark Grand Lodge , from the Mark Lodge under the Ashton-under-Lyne Constitution , and

that at the present time he is " a Past Officer in both the Ashton District Mark and the Prov . Grand Lodge of M . M . M . of Lancashire . " But the Mark Grand Lodge by the resolution it adopted at its June Quarterly Communication not only declared the Ashton Mark " a spurious and clandestine Body , " but

also that "all members of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England , Wales , and the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown are hereby prohibited from visiting such Body , or from receiving any member thereof as a visitor in any Lodge of Mark Master Masons under this jurisdiction . " Nor , would

it seem , does his case stand alone , as he states in another part of his letter , that , " in conjunction with a number of others connected with the Ashton District Mark , I joined the Skelmersdale Lodge , wherein many of us took office , passed through the different chairs , and were rewarded with Provincial Rank . "

» * » But here comes in the difficulty . Bro . Foreman , as a member of the Ashton District Mark Lodge , may not be admitted into the Skelmersdale Mark Lodge , but as a P . M . of the latter he is eligible to attend its

meetings , and as a Past Prov . G . Warden of Lancashire he can also be present at the meetings of the Prov . Grand Lodge of Lancashire . There is nothing new in this , many of the most prominent "Ancient " or " Atholl " Masons having been esteemed members of the " Modern " or " Regular " lodges j indeed , there

Masonic Notes.

were some lodges which worked under warrants from both Grand Lodges . But Mark Grand Lodge must either ignore its own resolution in the case of those Mark Master Masons who are members of both bodies ; or , if it carries out its resolution strictly , it must strike all of them from the roll of its own lodges . If

it adopts the former course it would have been wiser to have left things as they were ; if the latter , it punishes one of its own lodges and one of its Prov . Grand Lodges by depriving them of the services of sundry of their members , while the difference between the two Mark Constitutions will remain in all its force

and bitterness . * . * * Again , brethren will naturally ask themselves—How can a lodge , which , according to the certificate furnished to Bro . Foreman by the then Grand Mark Secretary , Bro . Binckes , was accepted as regular as

recently as the 28 th December , 1887 , be now spurious and clandestine " ? It is the same now as it was then , but it has taken to itself the title of the " United Grand Lodge" for the " Ashton District . " It is greatly to be regretted that it should have assumed its present title , but it is clear there is no attempt on its part to enter into rivalry with the " Grand Lodge of

Mark Master Masons for England , Wales , and the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Crown . " And if it reverts to its old title , or adopts a less grandiose designation than it has recently chosen for itself , who shall say it is not to the full as regular as any of the other " Time Immemorial" lodges on the roll of the Mark Grand Lodge ?

» * But while we consider the course adopted by the Mark Grand Lodge a mistaken one—we may almost venture to say the course that is best calculated to promote differences and render them still more acute —we trust no effort will be spared on either side to adjust these unfortunate differences . Bro . Foreman

is of opinion that it is the Mark Grand Lodge which has shown an unconciliatory spirit . We hope he is wrong , and that he has mistaken the cold formality of an official communication , for the abruptness of which he complains . In any circumstances , the case is one which ought not to present any difficulties to an early adjustment , if the dissentient parties meet each other in a fraternal spirit .

* * * The voting papers for the School Elections next month have been issued and with them the lists of candidates , with the needful particulars as to their claims , ages , & c , & c , & c . These lists we purpose

analysing as usual in out next issue . We remark with pleasure that the number of children who will have their names removed in the event of their failing to secure admission at the coming election is small , there being only two girls and four boys , with whom it will be a case of " now or never . "

» * » The Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution held its regular monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , under the presidency of Bro . Col . A . Durrant . Bro . James Terry , the Secretary , was present , and

received the hearty congratulations of all the members on his evident restoration to health , after his usual summer holiday . The Committee was for the most part occupied with the consideration of petitions , of which there were two for the Mala , Fund and two for the Widows' Fund , the result being that the four were accepted .

* » ? Bro . J . C . Remington was installed M . W . G . Master of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales at the new Masonic Hall , Sydney , on Monday , the 24 th July . The ceremony was performed by the retiring Grand Master , Bro . Sir Joseph Abbott , K . C . M . G .,

who was assisted by Bro . R . Teece , Dep . G . Master . There was a large attendance , and great enthusiasm was exhibited . Bro . Earl Carrington and the Earl of Jersey , who were respectively the first and second Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge , sent their hearty congratulations by cablegram , and so also did Bro .

Lord Brassey , Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria , whose official duties as Governor of the Colony prevented him accepting the invitation to be present . Among the visitors on the occasion was Bro . R . G . Sadler , Pro Grand Master Tasmania

and Bro . S . C . Sadler , Past J . G . D . After acknowledging the congratulations tendered him on behalf of Grand Lodge by Bro . Sir Joseph Abbott , the newlyinstalled Grand Master delivered a very able address , which was received with the hearty applause of the brethren .