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To Correspondents.

To Correspondents .

Wanted . — -The present address of the wife of the late Ilco . Kennett MacKeni ' ve , author of the " Masonic Kncyclopiujia . "—Dr . W . Wynn Westcott , 39 O , Camdenrcad , N . W .

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Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

SATURDAY , AUGUST 20 , 18 9 8 .

« 'V a happy chance , the Freemason of last week , « hich contained the lecture delivered by the Orator of

- ' ^ ge de Goede Hoop at its installation meeting , con'lined also a letter from Bro . Arthur Lovell , in which " ¦ earnestl y advocated a closer and more careful stud y ° - our ritual than is at present possible at the great J «~ 'Jority of our lod of instructionBoth Dutch

ges . our ' other and our correspondent desire that the study of •' - ¦ hidden mysteries of our Masonic Science should « more thoroughly investigated . The former seems ° ° = haunted by the fear that if what we will call the . 1 .. -- -J - ¦• - ¦ -- -... «• . » "" - ¦ ¦ VYK vrui uail U 1 C

H' . osoph y of Masonry is not studied , the Fraternity L ' degenerate into a mere benefit society . Bro . Hon F COnsiders that we fail t 0 show a J appreciawitli ° beautifuI ritual by contenting ourselves 1 a mere parrot-iike repetition of our ceremonies .

Masonic Notes.

There is much to be said in commendation of these views . But in order to give effect to Bro Lovell's contention , it will be necessary , first of all , either to extend the scope which our lodges of instruction have thus far set themselves ; or establish lodges of

instruction which shall devote themselves chiefly , if not entirely , to the study of the inner life , as it were , of our ritual , nor do we see any reason why this should not be done . Very material benefit has resulted to tbe study of Masonic history and of the old constitutional

rolls in particular from the formation of such lodges as the Quatuor Coronati , the Lodge of Research , & c . & c . | and as far as we know , there is no obstacle to the formation of lodges of instruction that shall make the exposition of the deeper and broader meaning of our ritual their chief object .

* * * The Indian Masonic Review ior last month contains an article by Bro . Frank Stevens , on the subject of " Masonic Halls , " in which he strenuously advocates the erection of more of such buildings in India . In

order to obtain information upon the subject he appears to have communicated with a number of brethren in the United States , where there are many magnificent Masonic Halls , with the object of learning how the lodges raise the funds for the purpose . He has

ascertained that the matter is managed without serious difficulty , the members of a lodge , which desires to have a hall of its own , advancing the money and receiving bonds bearing interest at so much per cent ., which are redeemed year by year until the whole indebtedness is cancelled . The same kind of plan has

been adopted here by many lodges , and in those cities in India which can boast of several lodges there is reason to believe that it might also be adopted with advantage . But lodges in the latter country , especially at outlying stations , are not , as a rule , strong as regards membership , and we imagine the difficulty in raising the money would be greater .

* » * It is , as Bro . Crawley remarked in his letter of last week , a very great compliment which has been paid to our Bro . G . W . Speth , P . A . G . D . C , Secretary of Lodge Quatuor Coronati Lodge , No . " 2076 , by the Editors of

the Philological Society ' s " English Dictionary " now in course of publication by the Clarendon Press , Oxford . Readers of the " Ars Quatuor Coronatorum " will perhaps remember that Bro . Speth in a paper entitled " A tentative Enquiry , " which he read last

year before that lodge , suggested that the word Free in Freemason meant , not as it has been commonly interpreted heretofore , Free of the Mason Guild or Company , but Free from it , that is , from the control exercised by the Guild . The Editors of the Dictionary

have not gone so far as to adopt Bro , Speth ' s suggestion , but a modification ot it , which strikes us as differing only in the very slightest possible degree from his theory . However , whether the adoplion is complete , or stops

short by a mere hair s breadth as it were of being so , it is a great compliment that has been paid him , and all the greater because , as Bro . Crawley points out , there are so few Masonic authors whose opinions are treated with anything like respect by scholars of repute .

# * * According to the Freemason ' s Repository for last month , the Grand Master of North Dakota " some two months ago authorised the making of 31 Masons , practically ' at sight , ' the avowed justification of such proceedings being the fact that the candidates then

initiated , passed , and raised were volunteer soldiers under orders for the Philippine Islands . The same Grand Master issued a dispensation authorising thc brethren thus received within Masonic lodge to form and open ' a movable military Lodge' on reaching their distant destination . "

» * * So far as the selection of Sunday for thc making passing , and raising of the 31 volunteer soldiers , we agree with our contemporary that it was neither wise nor expedient , but as regards the conferring of the

Three Degrees at one sitting , it has been done before in jurisdictions which are senior to that of North Dakota , and unless emergencies are to be altogether wiped out of existence , we consider the circumstances in this particular case justified to a certain extent the departure from the strict letter of the law . These

brethren were going on foreign service , and there was no knowing when ( here would bean opportunity for them to take their Second and Third . The further allowing them to meet as a lodge strikes us as being somewhat absurd , unless there was a fair sprinkling of experienced Masons going out with them , who would be able to conduct the business of the lodge .

Masonic Notes.

The District Grand Chapter of Bengal is to be congratulated on once again having Comp . the Hon . Sir H . Thoby Prinsep to preside over its fortunes as Grand Superintendent . Sir Henry occupied that office from 1879 , concurrently with that of District Grand Master , till 1896 , when he retired from both those

positions in favour of the late lamented Bro . and Comp . Major-General A . G . Yeatman-Biggs , C . B . The latter , however , died early in the present year from illness contracted while on service with the force under Sir William Lockhart , and Sir Henry has now

been re-appointed to the two offices , with the duties of which he is so familiar . His installation took place at an emergent convocation of District Grand Chapter , held at Freemasons' Hall , Calcutta , on the 29 th June last , the ceremony being performed by M . E . Comp . Comp . W . D . Cruickshank , Past Dist . G . H ., as Grand Superintendent . '

* * * Our worth y contemporary , the Neva Zealand Craftsman , naturally enough writes very indignantly as to the conduct of some 200 or 300 members of the Craft , who have taken that paper for a considerable timesome , we believe , during the whole of the three years the present series of the N . Z . C . has been running—but

have never paid a penny in the way of subscription . The Masonic Newspaper Company , which is the proprietor of the Craftsman , held its third annual meeting on the 2 nd June last , when it was stated that bad debts to the amount of about . £ 178 had been written off , of which all but some £ 12 were subscriptions . This is the reverse of creditable to those who took the paper and then omitted to pay for it .

* * » In the issue of Light for the 6 th ipstant will be found an article from the pen of Bro . Arthur Lovell on " Freemasonry and Spiritualism , " in which he earnestly sets forth the views to which he gave * expression in his letter to this journal which we had the pleasure of

publishing last week and to which we have already referred in some of our preceding Notes . In this he quotes largely from Bro . Klein ' s paper entitled " Hidden Mysteries , No . 3 , or the Loves of the Atoms , " which was read some time since befor Lodge Quatuor Coronati . At the same time he bestows

unqualified praise on the article , regarding it as an evidence that Freemasonry is making a move in the right direction . His belief is that " Freemasonry is destined to play in the future a far more important part in the development of man than it has done in

the past , for it has the unspeakable advantage of a splendid and magnificent organisation , which when saturated with the living Will or Spirit can be made to wield an incalculable influence in the social and political destinies of humanity . "

* » * We have been requested by the W . Master of the Whittington Lodge , No . 862 , to state that the paragraph we published last week under the heading " Summer Outing of the Whittington Lodge , No . 862 " had reference to an excursion organised privately

among sundry of the Past Masters and had nothing whatever to do with the lodge itself . In fact , the summer outing took place some time ago and turned out to be a most enjoyable gathering , there being present between 70 and 80 members and their friends , headed by the W . Master and including Bros . James Terry , John Mason , and James Speller . We regret

the mistake that has occurred , more especially as we fear it is due to some verbal alterations that were made in the report we were favoured with . Of one thing , however , we feel assured that the brother to whom we were indebted for the paragraph had no idea of saying or doing anything that could be construed into disrespect for the lodge or its W . Master .

* * * The unpleasant duty devolves upon u * of recording the death of two prominent members of our Order—Bro . Charles Locock Webb , Q . C , who was appointed Junior G . Deacon in 1863 ; and Bro . James Brett , Past G . Pursuivant , who , till a few vears since took an

active and energetic part in thc proceedings of Free , masonry . Both these brethren rendered valuable services to the Craft in their respective spheres of duty , and in the case of both of them , we are satisfied the memory of those services will be cherished , not

only by the brethren to whom they were known personally , but by the general body of the Craft . VVe give some few particulars as to the Masonic career of both these brethren , reserving a fuller account of their services till next week .

More Minutes.

MORE MINUTES .

The Report of Supreme Grand Chapter , held 3 rd August , just received , states that the minutes of tho last convocation were " read and confirmed . " At a Committee Meeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , held " last Wednesday , " " the

Minutes of the previous meeting are reported in Free , mason , p . 383 , to have . been " read and verified !" May it not be that the expressions " declared correctly recorded , " and " read and verified , " are due merely to the taste and fancy of the Reporter ? C . H . W .