Some Notes On Freemasonry In Australasia.– – (Continued).

Some Notes on Freemasonry in Australasia . – – ( Continued ) .

By Bro . W . F . LAMONHV , P . D . G . M . of Victoria , and P . A . G . D . C . of England .

IN the early days of Scottish Masonry in New South Wales , moreover , there were troubles ot another nature , namely , the neglect and dilatoriness of the Grand . Lodge

executive officials in Edinburgh . Complaints were continuous as to the difficulty in getting certificates and answers to letters . Matters were quite as unsatisfactory in the other colonies , and a striking object lesson is shown in the circumstance that in one New South Wales lodge four years were dallied away in the attempt to secure a

confirmation warrant to replace the burnt original . But the advent of the late Bro . David Murray Lyon as Grand Secretary , speedily brought about a wonderful change in business methods , as compared with the slovenly and slothful ways of the old executive .

One more extract from the Scottish District Grand Lodge minutes is worthy of reproduction . It arose out of a question put in the year 1885 , as follows : — " Can a brother who is a Past Master of a lodge consistently administer an obligation on the Volume of the Sacred Law , and take a prominent

position at a freethought lecture , and at their meetings act as chairman ? " The ruling was : — " As Freemasonry requires in every candidate for its mysteries a firm and unalterable

TIIK l . A'I'l-: llli . SKIX-WICK , LAST IIISTIiNT OIIANII MAS'J'Ell OK SKW SOI . 'TII WALKS , S . C belief in a God-head , therefore a subsequent change of opinion in any of its members in this respect reverses the whole position on which the ground-work of Freemasonry is based . "

Before parting company with Scottish Masonry in New South Wales , it would be an omission to pass over the invaluable services rendered to the Craft by its last District

Grand Master , Dr . Sedgwick , and his nunqiiam dorinio Grand Secretary , Bro . Higstrim , also the last to hold that important office . Up to 1870 , when Dr . Sedgwick assumed the reins of government , Scottish Masonry had made very slow progress ; but , energetically backed as lie was by his chief

executive officer , lodges sprang up , here and there , like magic , whilst his strict and firm adherence to the Constitutions ensured law and order in their fullest sense . He was , in short , eighteen years head of the Scottish Craft in New South Wales , that is , until the dissolution of his District ,

consequent on the erection of the present Grand Lodge , and during his reign he signed provisional warrants for as many as forty-six lodges . On retiring from office he was presented with an illuminated address at a complimentary banquet , and was made a Past Grand Master of New South Wales .

Dr . Sedgwick was an " Old Blue , " and soon after gaining his diploma , proceeded to Australia in search of health . He was Superintendent of Royal Arch Masonry under the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland , besides being head of the Knight Templars and other orders in the course of his long and useful career . He died in 1895 full of years and honours .

Very much of the appreciation of Dr . Sedgwick ' s labours may justly be applied to his right hand man , William Higstrim . He is a Londoner by birth , and , after serving several minor offices in the Scottish District , was made Grand Secretary in 1873 , holding that position until the dissolution in 1888 . The position of affairs in Scottish

Masonry may be judged by the fact that , from 1851 , when St . Andrew Lodge , No . 358 , was opened , to 1888—the last lodge was a St . George , therefore an appropriate Alpha and an Omega—sixty-four lodges were warranted ( forty-six during Bro . Higstrim ' s tenure of office ) , of which fifty-seven were

working when the break-up arrived , with a membership of 2503 and over £ 4000 in funds . Bro . Higstrim , by-the-bve , is a relative of the celebrated and historical Peter Gilkes , whose name is so indelibly connected with the Emulation Lodge of Improvement in London . Of Bro . Higstrim , our

worthy Bro . Gould well remarks in his History of Freemasonry : — " The services of the District Grand Secretary and the expansion of Scottish Masonry in New South Wales—which are alike and phenomenal—represent cause and effect . " Bro . Higstrim , in spite of weight of years , was but recently actively engaged in reviving the dormant K . T . preceptory in Sydney .

Perhaps the oldest living member of the Scottish Craft in New South Wales is Bro . Michael Chapman , now in his eighty-fourth year , a native , though , of Queenstown , in Ireland . He arrived in Sydney in J 8 40 , and was one of the founders of the original St . Andrew Lodge in 1851 . He was the first Provincial Grand Secretary , and apart from

Masonry has done valuable suit and service as a citizen , once being a member of the Legislative Assembly , twice Mayor of Sydney , and an Alderman during the long period of thirty-nine years .

One ought not to overlook the circumstance that , if Scottish Craft Masonry be a thing of the past in New South Wales , that appertaining to the chapter is still flourishing . Soon after the union in 1888 , overtures were made with a view to amalgamating the Scottish chapters with those originally holding under the Grand Chapter of England , but nothing ever came of the negotiations , and at the present lime there is a Supreme Grand Chapter of New South Wales