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TO ADVERTISERS . The FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS should reach the Office , 19 S , Fleetstreet , London , by 12 o ' clock on Wednesdays .

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NOTICE .

To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FRUF . MASON , may be addressed to the Office , ro 8 , Fie-t-street , London .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON IS a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / 6 . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason" to the following parts abroad for One Year for Thirteen Shillings ( payable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape oi Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America , & c .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Masonic Record for Western India . " " Church Memorial on Intemperance . " " Masonic Advocate . " " Keystone . " " New York Dispatch . " Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Virginia .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ Tne charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceedl * f four lines , under this heading . ]

i BIRI HS . VHRETT . — On the nth inst ., at 2 , Wilton-villas , Forestj hill , S . E ., the wife of Richard H . Barrett , of a daugh-I ter . OWN . —On the iolh inst ., at Caversham-road , N . W .,

i the wife of J . R . Brown , of a son . }«•'• —On thc Cth inst ., at Stanninglcy Rectory , the "T > vife of thc Rev . E . C . Lister , of a daughter . . _ lev . *—On the 9 th inst ., Countess Percy , of a son . WniTEiii- AP . — On the 10 th inst ., at Barming House , the wife , ° f C . Whitehead , Esq ., of a daughter .

- . r - " MARRIAGE . CI . AV- 3 L ) e I 0 tl 1 'nst * ' at *"'• Marylcbone G . = 1 \ Esq ., of Seymour-street , Portmansa . ~ . okes . of Burleigh House , Loudounro _ - v

, -5 DEATHS . CAMI ' DFA 5 Mnst ., at Hastings , John Archibalif . % aged 33 . COE . —Oii- ^ - / i , Langton-road , Vassal-road , North * S- . Frederic Coe , in the 62 nd year of his ~ ¦ ¦ will kindly accept this

intiniatior ^* HOHAIIT . —i . i ' arch 7 , at 9 6 , Phythidii-stre . t , Liverpool , Sarah , the wife of Bro . R . N . Ilobart , one of the best known anil most appreciated brethren in the Liveroool district .

SLACK . —On the 13 th Jan ., at Rangoon , of cholera , Bro . Capt . Slack , of the British ship Mendora . THOMPSON . —March (¦*'• . at 125 , Park-road , Liverpool , Bro . W . II ) n - _^ ' P * ^* y antl Ripon Lodge-, N .. itere __ .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , MAR . 1 ,, 1877 .

An Important Announcement.

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT .

It will be seen in our correspondence last week that the Secretary to the Board of Inland Revenue has , in reply to a query , stated that for ali payments above g £ i stamped receipts must le given . We therefore think it well to call the notice of our

W . M . ' s and Treasurers of lodges to this serious and pressing question , since , as Freemasons , we always obey the laws of the land , we must not actually , or even by implication , appear to break them .

The Last Quarterly Communication.

THE LAST QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION .

Our last Quarterly Communication passed over , amid a brilliant gathering , with great unanimity and eclat . Our Royal Grand Master was unanimously and enthusiastically re-elected , and duly proclaimed by our distinguished Bro . Sir Albert Woods . Our most esteemed Grand

Treasurer , to whom the best thanks of the Craft are due , was also unanimously re-elected , with loud demonstrations of hearty acceptance and applause . The grant of £ __) . ooo for the two lifeboats , as a grateful act of recognition , was unanimously agreed to , and the picture of our Royal Grand Master , painted by Bro . 'Desanges . a gift of

the Lodge of Friendship , No . 6 , was unveiled amid the hearty cheers of Grand Lodge . The needful business was transacted , two appeals were decided after the lucid explanations of our distinguished Grand Registrar , and then the Grand Lodge took up the notices of motion . Our Excellent Bro . Hatch could not find a

seconder to his motion , which , as we ventured to say last week , was inopportune , and could hardly be seriously argued ( with all respect to our good brother ) and so it fell to the ground . Bro . Mallam wisely withdrew his motion , and the

proceedings of Grand Lodge , which had began in peace and goodwill , ended in hearty unanimity and concord , to the entire satisfaction of all present . Long may our Masonic Parliament pursue the even tenour of its way in all of genial harmony and brotherly love .

The Cambridge Local Examination And The Boys' School.

THE CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATION AND THE BOYS ' SCHOOL .

We rejoice much to hear of the successful result of this examination as regards the Boys ' School . Out of ^ aS candidates 26 passed , a very large proportion , and of these 26 , 1 was on the senior and 25 were on the junior list . 14 of the 25 juniors gained a place on the honour list , 2 in the ist class , 3 in the 2 nd class , 0 in the 3 rd class .

Such a report perhaps tells ns , as well as anything can tell , especially to " experts , " as to the quality of the work and the steady " all-through system " of the school : and we congratulate the executive and thc master , Dr . Morris , on this striking test and happy evidence of meritorious labours and scholastic attainments .

The Hebrew Question In Germany.

THE HEBREW QUESTION IN GERMANY .

We are somewhat taken to task by a writer , C . H ., in the Bauliulte , March 10 , for the ignorance in England , and editorially of the exact state of affairs in Germany . But if he will read with reference to this question the ai tides over again carefully , he will see that we only wished to make " assurance doubly sure , " as we had

ourselves no doubt whatever of the real position of the controversy . No doubt much ignorance exists in England as to the exactness of the allegations made , simply because so many contradictory statements are put forward , and by German Masons , too , in England and the United State ? , in letters to newspapers , in articles in

The Hebrew Question In Germany.

magazines . It is , then , a fact , as we understood it , that the " Great Countries Lodge " of Germany is the only Grand Lodge in which Hebrews cannot be admitted to initiation , though they can be admitted as visiting brethren . Under all the other seven Grand Lodges and the five separate

lodges Hebrews are admitted into Freemasonry . The Great Countries Lodge , the " Gr . Landes Loge von Deutschland , " still formally excludes Hebrews , inasmuch as the required majority of two-thirds was not forthcoming at the last effort to alter the Constitution . This is

exactly how we understand the case to be , but we wrote " ad referendum , " and for information , as we were unwilling to seem dog . matically to contradict others who affected to be well acquainted with the present state of German Freemasonry . We are still in hopes

that the "Great Countries Lodge " will , like the other Grand Lodges , do away with ( on the grounds of justice , fairness , true toleration , and Cosmopolitan Freemasonry ) , the exclusion of Hebrews , and then , as far as we are ourselves concerned in England , our interest in the matter

will cease . For we cannot go along with C . H . in attacking the High Grade System , because it is a High Grade System . We believe that Freemasonry teaches us toleration , and that we should be tolerant of the High Grade System , or of anything else from which we differ . We

speak freely on the subiect , as we are only pure Craft Masons ourselves , and do not belong to the High Grades . But we do say this distinctly , that the High Grades have as much a right "ipse facto , " to exist , as Craft Masonry , and though C . H . evidently does not like the High Grades ,

that is nothing to the point , as it is only after all the expression of private judgment "quantum valet . " We cannot dogmatise on the subject , and seek to excommunicate High Grade Masons , because we dislike their teaching , for when we do so we only imitate the bigotry of the Ultramontanes .

As for waging a war against the Gr . Landes Loge von Deutschland , because it maintains the teaching of a High Grade system , and has united it with symbolical Masonry , we have no mission to do so , inasmuch as it is a legal Grand Lodge , and has a right to make its own laws , and use

its own system . Neither do we wish to enter into the actual contest between Bro . Schiffmann and the Great Countries Lodge . Bro . Schiffmann is no doubt a most honest and conscientious brother , and on the abstract question of actual intolerance we heartily go with him , but

we do not see our way , to join those who are attacking the Gr . Landes Loge , not for what it has done , but for what it is per se . We disapprove heartily of its existing constitution , and wish it speedily amended , and trust that the necessary majority of two-thirds

may be ere long obtained , but we do not attack any system because it is a system which we differ from , and with which we do not sympathise . Vain , then , would be all our professions of unlimited toleration ! In fact , we go back to our old position . The

whole mischief arises from the attempt to combine two antagonistic systems . We repeat what wesaidbefore , that High Grades and Craft Grades cannot be governed by the same authority , and must be separated , and then no such question can arise . We in England are very practical ,

and merely look at things from their concrete side . We wish equal rights for all , and while we regret deeply the exclusion of the Hebrews as a great mistake , and as a greater wrong , we feel that the High Grades , ( though altogether beyond Craft Masonry ) , hi * ve a right to be tolerated and upheld as well as anybody else .

A Breach Of Promise.

A BREACH OF PROMISE .

The newspapers record an amusing trial which has taken place at Bodmin before Mr . Justice Hawkins , and which suggests some considera tions which strike us as alike novel and

improving . The case , says the report , w ' principally remarkable for the age of the intended bride and bridegroom . The p laintiff was not pressed as to her age , but she admitted she was more than 70 . The defendant avowed himself to be 67 , and volunteered the informs-