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case at the next meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence . Under these circumstances the Board has deferred passing any vote on the subject , until they shall be informed of the result of the next meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence . ( Signed ) A . Dobie ,, Zith February , 1857 . Presiderd ,
The above report was adopted , and ordered to be entered upon the minutes . Bro . Dobie made the formal motion necessary to give effect to the suggestion therein made , that documents , & c , be not read in extenso , & c . It was only just , he said , to Bro . Warren , to say that the suggestion came to him ( Bro . Dobie ) in consequence of one of his ( Bro . Warren ' s ) notices of motion . ( Hear , hear . ) He thought this was a recommendation which it would be obviously for the advantage of Grand Lodge to have adopted and carried into effect . ( Hear , hear . )
Bro . Warren seconded the motion with much pleasure , and said that he did not expect to have received such a compliment . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He was glad to see the Board of General Purposes admit that , for once , he was in the right . ( Laughter , and cheers . ) The question was then put , and carried unanimously . Bro . Portal asked .-if Bro . Dobie was going to omit the recommendation in the first paragraph of the report ?
Bro . Dobie said he had no resolution on the subject . It was not brought forward by him , and it would not be unanimously agreed to if put , as it would interfere with the report of the Board of Benevolence to the Board of Masters . Bro . Portal : " Then I move it . ( Hear . ) The country Masons should know what is going on in Grand Lodge , and this can only be secured by sending to the country Lodges a paper of the business to be brought forward . They need not
insist on the report of the last meeting of the Board of Benevolence passing through the Board of Masters at all . Practically it did not pass through the Board of Masters at present . The provincial Masons ought to have the same privilege as the London Masons of knowing what was going on . " Bro . Allan Herbert seconded the motion , and expressed his cordial concurrence in the observations that had fallen from the Bev . Bro . Portal .
Bro . Roxburgh admitted that it was desirable to study the interests of country Lodges > but he did not wish that to be done at the expense of the London Lodges , whose interests he did not wish to see altogether sacrificed for the sake of the provincial Brethren . He objected , also , to the perpetual tinkering at their laws , which Grand Lodge had recently seemed disposed to keep up . ( Hear , hear . ) In making alterations absolutely required , they must consider their Constitutions as a whole . ( Applause . ) The alteration now proposed at page 20 would in
fact take away five weeks out of the thirteen which they had to consider what should be brought before Grand Lodge ; and if a matter occurred within four weeks' before Grand Lodge , they would not be able to move in it for five months . The consequence of the proposed alterations would be to make their laws contradictory . He had the greatest desire that the Brethren in the country should
know what was going on , but he contended that these alterations should be made with consistency and with regularity . He proposed as an amendment ;— " That the first paragraph of the Board of General Purposes , which refers to the alterations to be made in the Book of Constitutions , be referred to the Board of General Purposes , with the recommendation that they should consider the effect which such a change would have on the Constitutions generally . " ( Hear , hear . )
Bro . Binckcs said , he could not bring to the discussion of this question such legal acumen as Bro . Roxburgh , but he thought he could show that the objections urged by that Brother were of little real value or weight . There would bo some inconvenience to London members to wait five weeks , but this would only occur once , viz ., when the change first came into operation ; and even if it
occurred every quarter , eight weeks out of the thirteen afforded quite sufficient time for Brethren to settle what questions should be brought before Grand Lodge , except in a case of emergency . The inconvenience to the London Lodges was tar outweighed by the convenience to the country Brethren , who formed after all so large a proportion of the Craft in this country ( hear , hear ); and he thought that the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
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case at the next meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence . Under these circumstances the Board has deferred passing any vote on the subject , until they shall be informed of the result of the next meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence . ( Signed ) A . Dobie ,, Zith February , 1857 . Presiderd ,
The above report was adopted , and ordered to be entered upon the minutes . Bro . Dobie made the formal motion necessary to give effect to the suggestion therein made , that documents , & c , be not read in extenso , & c . It was only just , he said , to Bro . Warren , to say that the suggestion came to him ( Bro . Dobie ) in consequence of one of his ( Bro . Warren ' s ) notices of motion . ( Hear , hear . ) He thought this was a recommendation which it would be obviously for the advantage of Grand Lodge to have adopted and carried into effect . ( Hear , hear . )
Bro . Warren seconded the motion with much pleasure , and said that he did not expect to have received such a compliment . ( Hear , hear , and cheers . ) He was glad to see the Board of General Purposes admit that , for once , he was in the right . ( Laughter , and cheers . ) The question was then put , and carried unanimously . Bro . Portal asked .-if Bro . Dobie was going to omit the recommendation in the first paragraph of the report ?
Bro . Dobie said he had no resolution on the subject . It was not brought forward by him , and it would not be unanimously agreed to if put , as it would interfere with the report of the Board of Benevolence to the Board of Masters . Bro . Portal : " Then I move it . ( Hear . ) The country Masons should know what is going on in Grand Lodge , and this can only be secured by sending to the country Lodges a paper of the business to be brought forward . They need not
insist on the report of the last meeting of the Board of Benevolence passing through the Board of Masters at all . Practically it did not pass through the Board of Masters at present . The provincial Masons ought to have the same privilege as the London Masons of knowing what was going on . " Bro . Allan Herbert seconded the motion , and expressed his cordial concurrence in the observations that had fallen from the Bev . Bro . Portal .
Bro . Roxburgh admitted that it was desirable to study the interests of country Lodges > but he did not wish that to be done at the expense of the London Lodges , whose interests he did not wish to see altogether sacrificed for the sake of the provincial Brethren . He objected , also , to the perpetual tinkering at their laws , which Grand Lodge had recently seemed disposed to keep up . ( Hear , hear . ) In making alterations absolutely required , they must consider their Constitutions as a whole . ( Applause . ) The alteration now proposed at page 20 would in
fact take away five weeks out of the thirteen which they had to consider what should be brought before Grand Lodge ; and if a matter occurred within four weeks' before Grand Lodge , they would not be able to move in it for five months . The consequence of the proposed alterations would be to make their laws contradictory . He had the greatest desire that the Brethren in the country should
know what was going on , but he contended that these alterations should be made with consistency and with regularity . He proposed as an amendment ;— " That the first paragraph of the Board of General Purposes , which refers to the alterations to be made in the Book of Constitutions , be referred to the Board of General Purposes , with the recommendation that they should consider the effect which such a change would have on the Constitutions generally . " ( Hear , hear . )
Bro . Binckcs said , he could not bring to the discussion of this question such legal acumen as Bro . Roxburgh , but he thought he could show that the objections urged by that Brother were of little real value or weight . There would bo some inconvenience to London members to wait five weeks , but this would only occur once , viz ., when the change first came into operation ; and even if it
occurred every quarter , eight weeks out of the thirteen afforded quite sufficient time for Brethren to settle what questions should be brought before Grand Lodge , except in a case of emergency . The inconvenience to the London Lodges was tar outweighed by the convenience to the country Brethren , who formed after all so large a proportion of the Craft in this country ( hear , hear ); and he thought that the