District Grand Lodge Of Bengal.

DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF BENGAL .

It is evident from the report we have received of the proceedings at the Quarterly Communication of the District Grand Lodge of Bengal , held in Freemasons' Hall , Calcutta , on the 2 ist March last , that English Freemasonry in this portion of our Indian Empire , if not exactly in the position in which we should

desire to see it , made very considerable progress during the year 1889 . There are 37 lodges on the roll of this District Grand Lodge , and though it is to be regretted that seven of these are in abeyance , and likely to remain so , it is at least satisfactory to hear that the 30 lodges which are in a state of

activity , have , as a body , increased in numbers , and as regards funds , are in a prosperous condition . The returns show that the number of subscribing members in the District is 776 , as against 720 at the close of the year 1888 , while the number of Degrees conferred in 1880 was 530 , as compared with 455 in 1888 .

The District Grand Master ( Bro . the Hon . H . T . PRINSEP ) , in the address he delivered on the occasion , laid considerable stress on the latter figures , and he was further careful to point out that the strength of lodges meeting in India is more liable to fluctuations than in other parts of the British Empire , owing to the frequency

with which brethren , both civil and military , are transferred from one station to another . As to the pecuniary resources of the Craft , nothing could well be better . Both the Fund of General Purposes and the Hall Sustentation Fund were stated to be in such a prosperous condition that , on therecommendationof

the Board , it was agreed to transfer a part of their surplus balances to the Building Fund , so that the balance on the latter has been increased from 19 , 000 to 23 , 000 rupees . The Fund of Benevolence was also reported to be in a satisfactory position , while the Bengal Masonic

Charitable Association , which has 33 children under its care , possesses an invested capital of 72 , 500 rupees . The credit for this was ascribed by Bro . PRINSEP to the indefatigable exertions of the Hon . Secretary , Bro . Louis , and others , who had been influenced by his example to raise large subscriptions

for the benefit of the Association , and the District Grand Master regretted it was not in his power to confer upon those brethren some special mark of favour . However , they have their reward in the knowledge that their exertions have been thus signally

successful , while Bro . PRINSEP must be gratified beyond measure to have been able thus publicly to recognise their merit . We congratulate him on the progress made by the lodges comprised in his District during the year 1889 .

The Confusion In New Zealand.

THE CONFUSION IN NEW ZEALAND .

Apropos of an opinion , which we have again and again expressed—and which , notwithstanding what has happened , we still hold—to the effect that , as the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland had established District or Provincial Grand Lodges in New Zealand , it was most unlikely "that

foreign Grand Lodges would venture to invade a territory over which the three Grand Lodges held sway , " a correspondent signing himself " CRAFTSMAN , " and dating his letter from " Wellington , N . Z ., July ioth , " informs us that the invasion has been made , and that , according to the New Zealand Times of

the ist July , " on Sunday evening" —the 29 th June last—" at the Masonic Hall , Boulcott-street , Sir ROBERT STOUT , under commission from the Grand Orient of France , formally opened a Masonic lodge under that Constitution . " On the same authority we learn further that " there were some 23 brethren present , and

the ceremony was most impressive . The officers of the new lodge are as follows : W . M ., Bro . Sir ROBERT STOUT ; S . W ., Bro . the Hon . J BALANCE ; J . W ., Bro . J . D . WRIGGLES - WORTH ; Orator , Bro . WALTER HiLL ; Secretary , Bro . W . B . T

HUDSON ; I . G ., Bro . WILLIS , of Wanganui . A candidate was proposed for initiation , and it was stated that a large accession of members was expected shortly . " This information which " CRAFTSMAN" has so obligingl y forwarded to us certainly

The Confusion In New Zealand.

appears to negative the opinion we have expressed as to the extreme unlikelihood of a foreign Masonic power setting up subordinate lodges on British soil . But we are not prepared to sacrifice that opinion merely because in one solitary instance

the event has happened which we have declared to be unlikel y or even impossible . One swallow does not make a summer , and the fact that a solitary lodge holding a commission or warrant from the Grand Orient of France has been established in a

British colony , that is , on territory which is as emphaticall y British as the ground on which the capitals of England , Ireland , and Scotland are built , will not destroy our belief that , though there may be no clearly-established international Masonic law on the subject , the unwritten law of international Masonic

comity will be generally and at the same time most scrupulousl y observed by the Grand Lodges or Grand Orients of all countries in which the Craft of Freemasonry is set up . Hitherto we believe—though , as we have said , there is no known international Masonic law which governs these matters—the rule has been

that Masonry follows the flag . Thus the Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom exercise , each of them , the supreme Masonic . authority in their respective sub-divisions of the aforesaid United Kingdom , namely , the United Grand Lodge of England in England and Wales ; the Grand Lodge of Ireland in Ireland ;

and the Grand Lodge of Scotland in Scotland ; while as regards those British Colonies and Dependencies to which Masonic autonomy has not been conceded by them , they exercise conjointly , or rather concurrently , the same supreme authority which they exercise at home . Similarly the Grand Orient of

France is the supreme Masonic authority for France and the French Colonies and Dependencies ; the Grand Lodge or Orient of the Netherlands for the Netherlands and the various Dutch Colonies or possessions abroad . The United States of North America have no colonies or possessions in foreign parts , and

therefore there is no difficulty in determining the limits of the authority exercised by their various Grand Lodges . As a rule , each State and Territory comprised in the Union has its own Grand Lodge , which is supreme everywhere within its territorial limits , while as regards the more remote and sparsely-peopled

country lying to the west , where no Grand Lodges have yet been established , warrants for new lodges are issued indiscriminatel y by existing Grand Lodges , until in time the lodges are sufficientl y numerous and well-to-do to constitute a supreme authority of their own . In British North America , with the exception of

Newfoundland , the same system prevails as in the United States , and each of the Provinces comprised in the Dominion has its Grand Lodge , whose authority is recognised generally as being sovereign and supreme within their several territorial limits , except as regards the small contingent of lodges which have

elected to remain in their old allegiance . So , too , with the newly-formed Grand Lodges of South Australia , New South Wales , Victoria , and Tasmania , the first three are , and the latter no doubt will be at an early date , recognised by us each as being the supreme Masonic authority over the colony in which it is

established . In the case of foreign States in which no supreme Masonic authority has been established , it is open to any Grand Lodge or Grand Orient to set up lodges of its own ; nor could any one Grand Lodge or Grand Orient which had planted lodges

in such a State have just ground of complaint against any other Grand Lodge or Grand Orient which followed its example , seeing that it is only through the courtesy of the "powers that be" that Masonic lodges are permitted to exercise their functions .

We have described as far as possible , in the absence of any written international law on the subject , what we have always understood to be the law or usage followed by the different Grand Lodges and Grand Orients in the establishment of subordinate lodges ; and as we imagine that the Grand Orient of France does not issue its commission or warrant for the

formation ot a lodge until after a petition by the requisite number of brethren has been presented and approved , it is clear that , if the facts are as stated by our correspondent , the supreme Masonic