Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADER— PAGE West Yorkshire and the Masonic Vagrant .,. ... ... 5 ** - * 9 Lodge Room ... . „ ... ... ... ... 5 6 9 The Latest MS . Discovered ... ... ... ... , ... 57 a

Art and the Drama ... ... ... ... ... — 57 Ladies' Banquet and Concert of the Albion Lodge and Chapter , No . 9 ... 571 Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees ( Annual Meeting ) ... ... 572 Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire ... ... ... ... 57 2 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 574 MASONIC

NOTESConsecration of the Assheton Egerton Lodge , No . 2793 ... ... 577 Death of Bro . J . Newton ... ... ... ... ... 577 Bro . R . F . Gould's New Work , " Military Lodges " ... ... 577 Bro . Sir Charles Warren ... ... ... ... ... 577 Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire ... ... ... 577 Grand Council of the Allied Degrees ... ... ... ... 577 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 57 S

Reviews ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 578 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 578 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 581 Mark Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 S 1 Obituary . „ ... .,. ... .,. ... ... 5 S 1 Instruction ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 82 Masonic Concert .,. * .,. .,. .,. ... ... 5 82 SCOTLANDPreceptory of the Temple in Glasgow .,. .,. ,.. ... 5 8 4 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 584

West Yorkshire And The Masonic Vagrant.

WEST YORKSHIRE AND THE MASONIC VAGRANT .

It is about two months since that our attention was called to a pamphlet issued under the patronage , if not with the authority , of the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire , in which were set forth very clearly and circumstantially the doings of the

Masonic Vagrant , and our earnest hope was expressed that the authorities of the Province would adopt such steps as might have Ihe effect of rendering it unsafe for the out-at-elbows Mason with only a very small modicum of conscience to influence him

to live honestly to take up with vagrancy professionally . From this little publication we learned that the movement against the Masonic Vagrant had its origin in a suggestion of Bro . RICHARD WlLSON , P . G . D ., the newly-appointed Deputy Provincial Grand

Master of West Yorkshire , that a conference of Lodge Almoners should be held for the purpose of concerting measures against the vagrant . The conference was held in Leeds on the 20 th July , under the presidency of Bro . WlLSON , and was attended ,

not only by many lodge Almoners of the Province itself and the Chief Constable of Huddersfield , but also by a brother from the Ashton-under-Lyne District and the Provincial Grand Secretary of East Lancashire . The result of the meeting was that a resolution

was unanimously passed to the effect " That this Conference of Almoners respectfully calls upon the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire to consider the subject of Itinerant Masonic Impostors , and urges upon them to make a representation tothe

Grand Lodge of England that it is desirable to formulate a code of instructions to Almoners throughout England , so that a united stand may be made against an evil which menaces the interests of Freemasonry . " Since then , as will be seen from the

report of the recent half-yearly meeting of the Provincial Grand Lod ge of West Yorkshire which appears in another column , the question has evidently been carefully considered by the authorities of the Province . But the result so far , it must be confessed ,

somewhat disappointing , unless , indeed , we are to regard the resolution to which we are about to refer merely as a preliminary measure . At all events , for the present , the Provincial

• jranci Lodge has contented itself with passing a resolution which provides that in cities and towns where more than one lodge is located only one Almoner for the

West Yorkshire And The Masonic Vagrant.

whole body should be appointed . This , so far as it goes , is satisfactory . One Almoner for the nine lodges in Leeds will be able to do his work more effectually than nine Almoners , one for each lodge . In the latter case an impostor might not be

discovered until he had operated successfully on two or three of the Iodge Almoners . In the former he would succeed or fail at the first and only attempt he would be able to make in Leeds . But , after all , this arrangement by which one brother does duty

for all the lodges in a given town is but a minor detail . It is useful , no doubt , for the town to which it applies , but it does not carry us much beyond the point we have already reached in our endeavours to cope successfully with the Masonic vagrant .

We desire to see , not only each Province striving its utmost to put down this vagrancy , but also all the Provinces in England co-operating together to this end . East Lancashire and West Yorkshire in the north , and Kent and Surrey in

the south , have had good reason to complain of the ravages of the impostor , but while these are complaining , and their Almoners are more on the alert against his depredations , the knowing impostor has betaken himself to other parts of the

country , where people have had less experience of him and his little games ; and while the Provinces we have mentioned are up in arms against him , the Midlands or the Eastern Provinces are helping to make him sleek and fat with the alms

they bestow upon him . Our readers may depend upon it that the only chance of coping successfully with these fraudulent people is for the Provinces to work together to put them

down . Even then , they will not get rid of them altogether , but they reduce their chances of earning a dishonest livelihood at their expense to a minimum .

Lodge Room.

LODGE ROOM .

I . THE PORCH WAY .

[ COMMUNICATED ] . At the entrance , or porchway of King Solomon ' s Temple , there were two pillars , one on either side . Representatives of these two pillars are to be found within the entrance to every lodg-e room . The neophyte is apt to be confused with the

multiplicity of columns and pillars which adorn the lodge . In addition to the two mentioned , there are those to be found at the pedestals of the three principal officers , bearing of course quite a distinct significance , and in some lodges there is to be found what is called the " Broken Column , " which is in evidence

during the period of mourning for a deceased brother . This is , however , not usual in lodges holding under the Grand Lodge of England . In the side degrees , there are references to the " Pillars of Enoch , " also found in the "legend of the Craft " contained in the old Constitution . These were supposed to have

been constructed by that patriarch for the preservation of records of antediluvian inventions . They were of brass , and of course were hollow , to serve their intended purpose . Most columns are hollow , and it has been abundantly proved , both theoretically

and practically , that a hollow pillar possesses far more tensile strength than a solid one of similar dimensions . This truth was not known to the Ancients , however , and the hollow column was probably derived from the pillars of Enoch .

Regarding the pillars in the porchway , we find the following account in Josephus : " Moreover this Hiram made two hollow pillars whose

" outsides were of brass and the thickness of the brass was " four fingers' breadth and the height of the pillars was eighteen " cubits ( twenty seven feet ) and the circumference , twelve " cubits ( eighteen feet ) but there \ yas cast with each of their