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Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

It will be seen from the report tve publish elsewhere of the recent Ouarterly General Court of the l - " ) al Masonic Institution for Boys that it has adopted 'lie same course as the Girls' School Court , held the Previous day , with reference to the Report of the Spicial Committee appointed to inquire into the sub-) l , -t of Perpetual Presentations , and referred the S ATURDAY , J ANUARY 22 , 18 9 8 .

"litter back to the same Committee , but with this ^ Htrence , that it has , directly , offered no opinion "l > un the Report itself ol the said Special Committee , Much was not submitted for its consideration .

Ilowlv < r . a letter had been received from the Secretary of 10 K . M . Institution for Girls announcing what hud l ! "i done at its Quarterly Couit on the 13 th instant , "d the Boys' School has very wisely resolved on '" ' ¦ owing the same course .

Masonic Notes.

On the question of Life Presentations , which is now included among the terms of reference to the Special Joint Committee , the motion of Bro . W . Russell , Prov . G . Treas . of Kent , that Law 79 relating to such Presentations be suspended was carried by a majority of three to one . In the course of the discussion that

took place , it was stated by Bro . Eve , the Chairman , that" he should hold that if anybody presented 500 guineas for a Life Piesentation the Institution would be bound to accept it . " He further stated that if Bro . Russell ' s motion were carried , it could not possibly take effect until after it had been confirmed at the

Quarterly Court which will be held in April . Thus , during the next three months any brother who is so minded , or any body of brethren , may tender the sum ° f 5 ° o guineas under existing Law 79 and obtain a Life Presentation on terms which are admittedly far too

favourable to the purchaser . But if the minutes of Friday ' s Court are confirmed in April , then the present law will be suspended until , we presume , the whole question of Presentations both Perpetual and Life has been finally disposed of .

r * # # Another matter of the very greatest importance was likewise brought to the notice of the Court . Bro . Eve announced that the Board of Management , acting on the advice of their able assessor , Bro . Rowland Plumbe , Past G . Supt . of Works , had unanimously

resolved on accepting , as the first in order of merit of the five plans submitted for the new School to be erected at Bushey , that of Messrs . Gordon , Lowther , and Gunton , of Finsbury Buildings . According to this , the buildings would , as was explained by Bro . Eve , " provide for 400 boys to begin with .

Everything was completed for 500 boys , except additional sleeping accommodation for ioo , but they proposed to have 400 boys to begin with . ' ' It was also explained that the chapel was included in the design , but not in the estimated sum ol £ 99 , , which the new School

will cost if Messrs . Gordon , Lowther , and Gunton's plan is carried out , Bro . C . E . Keyser having promised to contribute 5000 guineas towards the erection of the chapel . We shall take an early opportunity of offering some remarks on this subject .

* * There was one subject dealt with at the Quarterly General Court of the Royal ifasonic Institution for Girls , on the 13 th inst ., which appears to us to be worthy of notice . Under the new terms of reference , the Special Committee is to consider and report as to

the amounts which , in its opinion , should be paid for the future for the two kinds of Presentations . But , on the motion of Bro . W . F . Smithson , the Court resolved by the narrow majority of 11 to 10 votes , to accept a renewed offer from Bro . George Heaton , of West Yorkshire , of 1300 guineas , for a Perpetual

Presentation . This appears to us to be strikingly irregular and most unbusinesslike , to resolve one minute to refer the whole question of Presentations back to the Special Committee to determine what shall be the price paid for them in the future , and the next minute to accept a particular sum in payment for a Perpetual Presentation .

# * * In the event of the Special Committee recommending 1200 guineas as the sum to be paid in future for a Perpetual Presentation , and the Quarterly Court accepting such recommendation ' , Bro . Heaton will have paid 100 guineas in excess of the price to be

accepted in the future . Should the said Committee however , report in favour of ( say ) £ 1500 , and the Court think proper to accept that figure , then Bro . Heaton will have obtained his right at £ 13 $ less than the market price of Perpetual Presentations as about to be paid in the near future . Indeed , it strikes us as being a very nice question for legal brethren to

determine--whether , the Court having accepted the motion to refer the question of the price to be paid in future for a particular ri ght to a Special Committee , such motion did not become binding instanter . If so , it would appear to us , that the Court , as Bro . Russell suggested , had no power to accept a particular price , when it had already , of its ow . i motion , placed the question of price in abeyance .

* » * If , in dealing with the Report of the Special Committee appointed last October , the Court had contented itself with rejecting it , then it seems to us it would have been competent for it to accept Bro . Helton ' s new

offer of 1300 guineas . But instead of adopting this course , it referred the question back to its said Committee with instructions " to report on the terms on which Perpetual and Life Presentations shall be accepted in the future . " The next moment , in the

Masonic Notes.

very teeth of its own resolution , it takes the matter out of the hands of its own Special Committee and determines there and then that 1300 guineas is the proper sum to be accepted for a Perpetual Presentation in the future . This , with af ! deference to the

Quarterly General Court of Governors and Subscribers of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , is not business , but playing at business in a most unbusinesslike fashion , and we trust the matter will not be allowed to remain as it is , when the question is raised in April next of confirming the minutes of the recent Court .

* * * There is yet another important point which must not be overlooked . Article S 7 of the Laws of the Institution provides that " a properly qualified Girl may be placed in the Institution , provided such Girl can be conveniently admitted , by a lodge or Masonic body

making an annual payment of [ 40 Guineas , and giving such guarantee for continuous annual payments as the General Committee may require . " From this we deduce that the cost of each girl in the Institution is estimated to amount to £ 42 per annum , and the question arises—Will the sum of £ 1365 paid over in a

lump sum suffice to provide such an annual cost in perpetuity ? On this point we must be guided by the opinions of those who are familiar with this kind of calculation . To us it appears to be too small , having regard to the cheapness of money at the present time . » # *

We have much pleasure in announcing that Bro . Sydney T . Klein , W . M . of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , No . 2076 , has been invited by the Board of General Purposes to give an epitome of his paper on " The Great Symbol , " with esoteric demonstration , in the Board Room , Freemasons' Hall , on Tuesday , the 25 th inst ., at 5 p . m .

We have been asked to state that Bro . C . W . Hudson , who has already been twice a candidate for the office of Grand Treasurer , will be again nominated for the office in December next by his Province of Sussex .

* * * Some years ago , when the question of forming an independent Grand Lodge of New Zealand was just mooted , and it was argued by those in favour of the movement , that what had been accomplished by the Colonies of South Australia , New South Wales , and

Victoria , ought not to be impossible of accomplishment in the case of the Colony of New Zealand , we took upon ourselves to point out that the organisation of Freemasonry was not the same in the four Colonies In the three great Australasian Colonies , there was but one District Grand Lodge under the English , Irish , and

Scottish Constitutions—in some instances , we believe , not even that , but only a few lodges scattered here and there—whose interests would have to be consulted in any reorganisation of the Craft—and in New South Wales and Victoria there were , in addition , local Grand

Lodges , but unrecognised by the parent Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom . There were , therefore , no serious difficulties in the shape of local jealousies , & c , to be overcome , and the amalgamation of the different Constitutions was accomplished almost as soon as it was proposed .

* * In the case of New Zealand , however , we pointed out that neither the English nor the Scottish Constitution was a homogeneous body , each with a District or Provincial Grand Lodge having supreme local authority over the interests under its charge

that was co-terminous with the geographical limits of the Colony . On the contrary , under the English Constitution there were—as there are now—live , and under the Scottish , three District Grand Lodges , while under the Irish Constitution there was one Provincial Grand Lodge for the whole Colony . The

consolidation of these nine bodies with a view to forming them into one Grand Lodge for the whole of New Zealand could not , we suggested , be accomplished with the same facility as that of the District and Provincial Grand Lodges of the three great Colonies already specified . Local interests would have to be

reconciled and local jealousies adjusted . We argued that it would be far better to tackle this pirt of the question , and then , when the reconciliation of intere .-ts and the adjustment of rivalries had been brought about , to take in hand the question of forming the proposed Colonial Grand Lodge .

It seems that we did not at the time over-estimate the inllucnce which those District jealousies are calculated to exercise . At the semi-annual meeting of the so-called Grand Lodge of New Zealand , at Auckland , last October , and so far as we arc able to ga ' . her from

the brief account of the Report of the Board of General Purposes , the question of establishing permanently the offices of Grand Lodge in some central position was debated at some length , the opinions in favour of a fixed central home for Grand Lodge being far from unanimous .