Lodge Officers. [ Communicated.] During The Course Of The Installation Ceremony The Worship Ful Master Elect Has The Advantage Of Hearing Recited, Not Only The Requisite Qualifications For The Office He Proposes To Assume, But The Antient Rules By Which He Is Bound To Regulate

LODGE OFFICERS . [ COMMUNICATED . ] During the course of the installation ceremony the Worship ful Master elect has the advantage of hearing recited , not only the requisite qualifications for the office he proposes to assume , but the antient rules by which he is bound to regulate

No . III . —THE WORSHIPFUL MASTER .

his conduct during his year of office . It is not possible to improve ' upon these , and any observations we may make will be by way of illustration . A candidate for the Eastern chair , we are told , must have served the office of Warden , and Article 130 says he must have served for one year in an English lodge .

Inter alia this excludes Past Masters of foreign lodges , although such are allowed to be present in a Board of Installed Masters , and we have been present when a Scottish Past Master has acted as Installing Master . This apparent anomaly is explained by the fact that there is a difference between being merely in

possession of the Secrets of an Installed A / aster and being the presiding officer of a lodge . In fact , under some Constitutions , the secrets are conferred as a preliminary to the further Degrees upon private members . With regard to serving the office of Warden for one year there have been several important

decisions given at various tunes—quite unnecessarily , one would think , as the Article is so clear . It has been laid down that , to serve one year , the Warden must be present at his investiture , and that to be appointed by name in his

absence and take up the duties at the next or any subsequent meeting is not a sufficient qualification . Grand Lodge has decided this question on an appeal , and reduced a Worshipful Master to the ranks , or rather sent him back to complete a year's service as Warden .

This is all right , but it has also been infcrcnlially laid down that if a Warden is present at his investiture and does not attend another meeting of the lodge , he is yet eligible . It is

only fair to say , however , that , though the writer can recollect five such cases , in not one of them was an appeal made , and , therefore , what Grand Lodge would think and say on the subject yet remains to be known .

With regard to the election , it has been laid down by a former Grand Registrar that "the election of the Master only becomes real and valid on the confirmation 0 ! the minutes ; " and we may , therefore , infer that the Constitutions give a power of revision of a decision previously arrived at , in the case of an election , which their silence on the subject denies in other

matters . The presentation to a Board of Installed Masters is now generally held to mean for the purpose of installation ; but in days gone by ( and even now occasionally ) it meant a stiff examination in various matters with which it was considered desirable

the candidate should show his acquaintance . Were this practice customary , the Craft would profit all round , for an incompetent Master can do an almost incalculable amount of harm not only to the lodge over which he presides , but to the Craft in general . Incompetent or not , he makes history and influences the future .

Unfortunately , social qualifications are too frequently thought to be of supreme importance . Of the 15 paragraphs which compose . ' the ancient charges and regulations , the first seven refer to the Master ' s conduct as a man , three to his conduct as a Mason , and the remaining five to his conduct as a Master in I he chair .

It should be the first duty of the new Master to acquaint himself with what goes on in the Secretarial department . If the lodge possess a good Secretary , and especially if he be a permanent officer , there is a temptation to leave as much as possible in his hands , and occasionally an old established

Secretary may inwardly—and sometimes outwardly—resent what he considers to be interference with bis department . Let this be as it may , there is no getting over the fact that Grand Lodge holds the . Master , and not the Secretary , responsible for all that goes on . Even as a matter of routine the Master should

insist on seeing tin ; summons before it is issued , and should see the minutes before a fair entry is made . Similar remarks apply to the Treasurer . There is , of course , tin : difference that the

latter is elected by the lodge and the Secretary is not , and , therefore , the Treasurer ' s responsibility to the lodge is direct . At the same time , shortcomings on the part of I hat ollicer alwavs reflect upon the Masler in an unfavourable way .

Though not gencrallv laid down , it is desirable tnat the M isler should instruct his officers , if needful , in the due per' .. , . iian <¦<• of ilieir duties . A . word in private now and then may 1 ) ill I ' -. ' it i > needful , and no officer desirous of doing his duty efficiently can possibly resent it . Moreover , it should not be forgotten that the Master's duty , as recited to him every regular

Lodge Officers. [ Communicated.] During The Course Of The Installation Ceremony The Worship Ful Master Elect Has The Advantage Of Hearing Recited, Not Only The Requisite Qualifications For The Office He Proposes To Assume, But The Antient Rules By Which He Is Bound To Regulate

meeting by his predecessor in office , is " to employ and instruct the brethren in Freemasonry . " In its most restricted sense , this must mean the instruction of the officers in their respective duties But there is a less restricted sense in which the injunction may be interpreted . In many lodges there arc what are sometimes

called " blank " evenings . This means that there are no Degrees to be conferred . But it is a reproach to the Master if such an evening is blank . He should be provided with something to read or to speak about , or to raise a discussion upon . Ceremonial work often becomes mechanical , and such an evening as that suggested would be a welcome relief .

One of the Master ' s duties is attendance at the quarterl y communications of Grand Lodge , and , by implication , of Provincial Grand Lodge . At these he should remember he attends in a representative capacity . A Past Master is there on personal grounds , but the Master in the chair , with the two Wardens , represents the interests of the lodge .

So much is said about the autocracy of the Master in the chair that he is now and then tempted to think himself infallible . He delivers a ruling , and whilst , for the sake of peace and harmony in the lodge , if is followed , he should not feel hurt , or even surprised , if it be subsequently appealed against , nor

should he describe the conduct of the appellant as un-Masonic . He proposes a candidate , and it is a good thing for the candidate to start with llie prestige and influence that accompanies a proposition from the chair . But if the candidate be objected to , he should not tell the objector that his proceedings are

un-Masonic . It may happen that a ballot prove unfavourable . Such an occurrence is to be regretted on all grounds , but it must not be forgotten that a black ball is quite as Masonic and legal and constitutional as the ballot-box itself , and the only un-Masonic , illegal , and unconstitutional conduct

in the whole proceeding is that of the Master who openly says it is cowardly . There are two matters in particular in which the Master has to exercise considerable tact . These are the selection of officers and the formation of a new lodge to which he may be asked to give his consent . As to the former , if he

succeeds to the chair of a well-regulated and efficiently-worked lodge he has not much choice , as public opinion very clearly designates the new officers . In such a case he can appoint to those offices which do not lie in the line of promotion , p .. g , the Chaplain , Director of Ceremonies , and Stewards . If the

Secretary be an annual appointment , he may choose his own , and , of working officers , he may exercise his own judgment in selecting an Inner Guard . In such a lodge , moreover , he has always a strong body of Past Masters whom he may consult , who arc as anxious as he is that the lodge should be well

officered . In country and colonial lodges , however , changes are so frequent that sometimes there is no officer left for promotion . More rarely it happens that , say , Brother Junior Warden has performed his duties in so careless a manner as

to leave it open to doubt whether he would be lit to occupy the chair of K . S . when his turn came , as it would if promoted to the west . In such a case the brother in question has to be passed over . However painful it maybe the Master ' s duly is to the lodge , ami not to any individual brother .

The other matter to which we referred is the formation of a new lodge . This , of course , only occasionally happens . The Worshipful Master may leel keenly that the proposed new lodge will mean a serious decline in the membership of the lodge over which he presides . This is a matter in which he must seek

disinterested advice , and , if convinced that the new lodge will further the interests of Freemasonry in general , he must waive all petty and parochial considerations , and give his consent , not grudgingly or of necessity , but with an honest and cheerful free will .

The last two of the ancient charges are very important" No person can he made a Freemason without .... due enquiry into his character . " This docs not mean the few questions put by the W . M . before the ceremony of initiation , but it imposes a serious obligation upon him . It is a delicate duty ,

but the W . M . ought to satisfy himself not only on the subject el the candidate ' s character , but as to his means and his ability t " discharge his Masonic obligations . All the Masonic vagrants and other disgraces to the Craft whom we meet were once proposed in open lodge and balloted for , and we venture to think it

the various Worshipful Masters who initiated them had interpreted this part of their duty strictly , we should not have to deplore the . discredit they now cast upon the Craft . As to visitors received into lodges , the Master ' s conduct should be

uniform . That is to say , the same strict examination and production of vouchers should be insisted upon with regard to the visitor introduced by Brother A as by Brother B . If one visitor is asked to remain to dinner as a lodge guest , other visitors should not be sent empty away .