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SATURDAY , OCTOBER 20 , 1900 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

We have much pleasure in announcing that his Royal Hi ghness the Prince of Wale .=, M . W . Grand Master , has been pleased to appoint Lord Barnard to " " Provincial Grand Master of Durham in succession to the late lamented liro . Sir Hedworth Williamson ,

"art . His lordshi p is not only a Past Grand Warden 01 the Province , in the affairs of which he has always shown the greatest interest , but in 1 P 95 he was appointed lo the chair of Jun ' cr Grand Warden of England . We congratulate the Province on the

Masonic Notes.

selection of so distinguished a Mason to preside over it as Grand Master , and Lord Barnard on bsing called upon to administer so well-ordered and influential a Province .

Wc have equal pleasure in announcing that Bro . the Hon . Alan de Tatton Egerton , M . P ., has been chosen to succeed the Earl Egerton of Tatton as Provincial Grand Master of Cheshire . Like the Provincial Grand Master nominate of Durham , Bro . the Hon . A .

de 1 atton Egerton is a Past Grand Warden of England ; but , in addition , he is Grand Superintendent and Provincial Grand Mark Master of Cheshire , and will consequently be the ruler of the Province in Craft Royal Arch , and Mark Masonry . We

congratulate the Provincial Grand Master nominate on his appointment over so influential a Province , and Cheshire on having so efficient and enthusiastic a Mason to preside over it . * * *

we are glad to find from the proceedings of the Quarterly Court of Governors and Subscribers to the Royal Masonic institution for Boys that while all are agreed asto the propriety of establishing a memorial that shall perpetuate the fame of the late Bro . Richard

Eve ' s services as Chairman of its Board of Management from the date of iti organisation until his death , the question as to the form the memorial should take has been referred back to the Board for further consideration , and that Bro . Attenborough will see the matter is JO arranged that the Charity Commissioners

shall have nothing to do with it . We see no objection to cither of the plans mentioned , though we prefer that for granting sums to boys on leaving School . But why not have a " Richard Eve Scholarship , " that is , if it can be arranged without giving the aforesaid Charity Commissioners a chance of having any right of intervention ?

» * Bro . C . K . Benson is so well known and his great services to all our Institutions so greatly appreciated that all must sympathise with him in the sudden seizure which necessitated his removal under medical supervision from the Court of Governors he was

attending in his capacity of a member of the Board of Management to a room where he was ablo to remain in perfect quiet and where , as the Court was informed later , he was going on favourably . We hope that the first report has been still further confirmed , and that by this time Bro . Benson is restored , or well on the way to be restored , to his usual health .

In our recent article on Bro . D . M utray Lyon , who is shortly about to vacate the important office of Grand Secretary ot the Grand Lodge of Scotland , we remarked that it would be dillicult , if not impossible , to speik in terms of adequate praise and admiration of the

splendid services he has rendered to Freemasonry , but more especially to the Scottish Craft , throughout nearly the whole of his long career as a member of our Society . More particularly did we refertohisgreat work , firstly in respect of ourliterature . and then to the success

which has attended his administration of the Secretarial office during the last 23 years and upwards . That as regards his achievements in the latter capacity , we did not speak in terms of exaggerated praise is made manifest by the testimony borne to his merits by the present Grand Master Mason of Scotlind , Bro

the Hon . James Hozier , M . P ., on the occasion of his visit some while since to Perth for the purpose of installing Bro . Captain C . II . Graham Stirling , of St rowan , as Provincial Grand Master of Perthshire West , in succession to the late Bro . Col . Stirling , of Kippendavie .

* » * At the banquet which followed the ceremony the Grand Master , in acknowledging the toast of the '' Grand Lodge of Scotland , " pointed out that the Grand Master , ; rrcat as was the influence he exercised

on the welfare of Grand Lodge , was , after all , " only the constitutional monarch of Freemasonry . " The great improvement in Scottish FreemasOnry was principally due " to what he might call the Cabinet in Freemasonry , " and the Grand Committer was that cabinet . Of this body there were two ministers

who were especially deserving of thanks . One of thorn was the Grand Treasurer , whom they might call their Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and the other was the Grand Secretary , whom they might look upon as the Prime Minister of Freemasonry , and " whom he m'ght affectionately call the Grand Old Man of Scottish Freemasonry . "

The Grand Master , in reference to the Chairman ' ^ r marks as to "the great improvement that had taken place in the affairs of Grand Lodge , " then proceeded

Masonic Notes.

to illustrate the justice of the statement by " two very striking facts . " Said , Bro . Hozier : " In 1 S 77 , only 23 years ago , the Grand Lodge of Scotland was ^ 20 , 000 in debt . At the present moment , in 1900 , the Grand Lodge of Scotland had stock and property to the value of £ So , oo-v . That was to say , in 23 years the finances of Grand Lodge had improved to the extent

of ^ 100 , 000 . " Moreover , he added , " at the present moment there were fully 100 , 000 Masors hailing from Lodges under the Scottish Constitution . " The Prime Minister of whom this can be said on the eve of his retirement from official duty well deserves to be awarded his full salary as a pension during his remaining years . * & *

It does not often happen that the tables are so completely turned and an aggrieved Mason so full y re-establishes his credit as in the following appeal against the act of a certain lodge on the register of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , which came before the Committee on Petitions , Complaints , and Appeals of

the Grand Committee on the 19 th July . A member of Lodge Caledonian , No . 796 , Port Elizabeth , appealed against a sentence of expulsion . On the 12 th April the said member received a letter from the Secretary of the lodge informing him that a " charge of un-Masonic conduct" had been laid against him on the

ground that he had " on a certain occasion unduly influenced , a certain brother to blackball a certain candidate . " The member , in reply , complained of the vagueness of the charge , and ( 1 ) requested to know the name of the brother making it ; ( 2 ) pointed out the irregularities of the procedure adopted against

him , and that it was " at variance with the Constitution j" ( 3 ) requested to be informed of the law " which restricted a Master Mason from expressing his opinion privately to another member ot the lodge as to the eligibility of a proposed candidate ,

especially as to one whose name had previously been withdrawn from nomination ; " and ( 4 ) requested that " his letters in reply to the charge be read to the lodge . " This was not done , and the lodge forthwith expelled the member " without a hearing . "

# # * The Committee thereupon proceeded to set forth the requirements of " Rule 191 , under which these proceedings were taken , " namely : " ( 1 ) That the complaint shall be served on the offending brother specifying his offence ; ( 2 ) that on answers being lodged , ' summonses ' shall be sent to the members of

the lodge intimating that the complaint and answers and their disposal would be brought before trie lodge at a particular time ; ( 2 ) that two weeks' notice of such a meeting shall be given to the accused ; and ( 4 ) that the sentence shall be intimated to him and intimation given to him that such sentence will be final , unless appealed against within one month . "

» * # No attempt , however , was made by the lodge to comply with the requirements of this Rule 191—if , indeed , it knew of the existence of such a law . The only communications the accused member received were ( 1 ) the letter from the Secretary of tha 12 th

April announcing that a charge of un-Masonic conduct had been preferred against him ; and ( 2 ) a second letter from the same ollicer of the 5 th May to the effect that he had been expelled from the lodge . Under thes 3 circumstances , the Committee upheld the appeal , and quashed the sentence . Nor were they content with

adopting this course . They went further , and express jd it as their opinion " that it is not a Masonic offencs for a member of a lodge to discuss with another m'J . nS . ir the propriety of admitting a particular cindiditej such practice is universal . " They also sutel that

" the papers in the case disclose no undue inflaense ; and , finally , they remarked that , even if it had bsen a Masonic offence to canvass the merits of a proposed candidate , the sentence of expulsion is altogether excessive and oppressive , and ought to have been restricted to one of censure only . "

Let us hope that this severe but just condemnation of this particular lodge will have the effect in the first place of infusing a little common sense into its proceedings ; and in the next , that it will induce the officers and more particularly the Masters of our lodges to make themselves acquainted with the contents of the

Constitutions . For a lodge to inform one of its members that he is charged with "un-. Misonic conduct " one day , and three weeks later to write him that he has been expelled for the offence with which he has been charged and without taking any notice of the letter he wrote in the interval is so monstrous that we are almost surprised that the Committee did not consider

it to be its duty to take cognisance of the " un-Masonic conduct" of the lodge in passing sentence upon one ol is members without first taking care that the provisions of tho particular law under which it was proceeding had been strictly complied with . Perhaps , however , the condemnation of its conduct will have the desired effect without carrying the matter further .

* * » In our report of the Masonic services of Bro Alderman Green , Lord Mayor elect of the City of London , he was described as "Junior Grand Deacon " instead of " Past Junior Grand Deacon . " Bro . Green was appointed toolliee in Grand Lodge in iSSj .