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CONTENTS . LBADHRSThe Spurious and Clandestine Mark Lodge ... ... ... 301 The Craft in Bombay ... ... ... ... ... 301 The Craft in Greater Britain ... ... ... ... ... 302 A Handy Wee Book ... ... ... ... ... ^ ... 303 Consecration of the Arts Lodge , No . 275 1 ... ... ... ... 303 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Cheshire ... ... ... .-. 304

Provincial Grand Mark Lodgeof Middlesex ... ... ... ... 304 Laying of the Corner-stone of New Town Hall at Henley-on-Thames ... 305 loyal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 305 MASONIC NOTESEx-Pupils' Day at Royal Masonic Institution for Girls ... ... 307 Laying Foundation Stone of a New Convalescent Home at Heme Bay ... 307 Consecration of the Arts Lodge , No . 2751 ... ... ... 307 Consecration of the St . John ' s Lodge , 2753 ... ... ... 307 Installation of Sir Reginald Hanson , M . P ., as Prov . Grand Mark Master

Middlesex ... ... ... ... ... ... 307 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 30 S Royal Aich ... ... ... ... ... ... -.. 30 S Instiuction ... _ .,. ... ... ... ... ... 308 La } ing Foundation Stone of the Passmore Edwards' Convalescent Home for Railway Men ... ... ... ... ... ... 30 S Craft Masonry .,, ... ... ... ... ... 311 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 311 IVIasonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 312

The Spurious And Clandestine Mark Lodge.

THE SPURIOUS AND CLANDESTINE MARK LODGE .

As'a rule , we think it wise for a Supreme Masonic Authority , especially when it is one whose position is universally recognised , to leave unnoticed any body professing to work thc same or a similar system of degrees which is small in numbers and

smaller still in influence , and of whose existence those who live outside the locality or district in which it meets are for the most part unaware . The formal denunciation of such a body as spurious and clandestine at once invests it with an importance

which , had it been left alone in its insignificance , it could never have hoped to attain . People seem inclined to argue that when extreme measures are taken by a powerful organisation against a small one , there must be other and stronger reasons

than those which have been permitted to appear . Thus , as regards the Mark body , with a very long and high-sounding title , which claims to preside over the Mark Degree in the Ashton district , there is probably not one English Mark Master

Mason in 500 that ever heard of its existence until it was mentioned in the recent Report of the General Board , and certainly not one who thinks it will endanger thc supremacy of tlie Mark Grand Lodge of England and Wales , & ., & c . This body , which is said to have been established towards the close of last

century , and whose records clearly indicate that it was working in July , 1830 , has—taking thc latter date for our guide—been in existence for close upon 70 years , during 43 of which there has been a Mark Grand Lodge of England , yet no one has been the

wiser , or , as far as we are aware , been interfered with in his character of a Mark Mason . It has been known at different times by different titles , and in 1870 , as the General Board informed us in its Report , the

then Grand Master and Grand Secretary of Mark Grand Lodge offered it a warrant of confirmation without charge and to enrol its members as legitimate Mark Masons at a nominal fee , but a funeral Fund subscribed to b y the members stopped the way

and thc proposal came to nothing . Lately the Funeral Fund has ceased to exist , and the body has now dubbed itself the Honourable United Grand Lodge , & c , & c , for the Ashton district . It is still to all interests and purposes thc same body and working

under the same authority , that is , under the warrant of one or other of the Craft lodges in the neighbourhood , but it styles itself a "Grand" Lodge , and the true and only Mark Grand

Lodge of England , brooking no rival , has just declared it to be spurious and clandestine , though 29 years ago , when it was known by a different title , the said G . Lodge was ready and willing to grant it a warrant of confirmation . The present proceeding

The Spurious And Clandestine Mark Lodge.

may be necessary , but it does not strike us as being dignified or consistent with the offer of 18 70 , nor having regard to the statement made by the Secretary of this self-styled United Grand Lodge that such an edict as has now been issued would affect onl y a very few of its members , would it appear to be very wise .

Judging from the discussion which took place in Mark Grand Lodge , when the President of the General Board proposed his resolution , declaring these people in the Ashton district to be a spurious and clandestine body , and the hint thrown out by him

as to the attention ofthe M . W . G . Master of United Grand Lodge being about to be called to the Craft lodges and the irregularities they have been sanctioning , we think the better course would have been to have taken this step first of all , and then , in all

probability , there would have been no cause for employing the powers with which Mark Grand Lodge is invested in order to put clown tliis paltry body . In the old days , when the Mark was worked under Craft warrants , it was , we believe , worked

separately , and the Craft Book of Constitutions , so far as it related to the definition of pure and ancient Masonry as settled at the Union in i 8 i 3 , was not violated . In the case of this body in the Ashton district , we gather from the description given by

the President of tho mode of procedure , that the Cralt lodge which lends its sanction for Mark purposes , meets " on a day not named " in its by-laws , " viz ., on a Sunday , " when " they open in the Three Degrees , and then go through this Degree of Mark Master

Mason . " This is so manifestly contrary to the laws of Craft Masonry , under which thc Mark is not recognised , that wc imagine there can be no difficulty in putting an end to thc

practice , and the authority to meet for Mark purposes being withheld , this self-styled Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Mark Master Masons will , ipso facto , cease to exist .

It must not be supposed that we have the slightest feeling of sympathy with this body , neither do we call in question the power or the right of the Mark Grand Lodge to do what it has done . The statement by Bro . Dr . BREWER that in 1858 it set

itself against the Lodge of Fidelity , which held its warrant from Lord LEIGH , then Mark Grand Master , and was instrumental in causing it " to cease its meetings for many years , " would alone suffice to drive any such feeling from our mind . We hold that

the Mark Degree and all appertaining to it should be governed by the Mark Grand Lodge . What we do questipn is the wisdom and expediency of the course adopted . From what we have learned from Masonic history the policy of denunciation has not been remarkabl y successful ,

The Craft In Bombay.

THE CRAFT IN BOMBAY .

We have received within a few days of each other copies of the Reports of Proceedings at the annual meeting ( 1 ) of the District Grand Lodge , and ( 2 ) of the District Grand Chapter of Bombay , and from the ample information contained in both it is

not difficult to realise that the position of the Craft in thc Presidency is , on the whole , satisfactory . The Dep . District Grand Master , Bro . I . M . SHIELDS , who is evidently not a man of a particularly buoyant temperament , in addressing District Grand

Lodge at the outset of the proceedings , remarked ; " The condition of our daughter lodges is fairly satisfactory , and although I can hardly describe Freemasonry in this . Presidency as

flourishing , yet considering the many adverse circumstances with which we have been struggling during the past three years , and the general depression caused by the ravages of the plague ,