Grand Lodge.

M'Intyre entirely fulfilled his duty , and they ought to support him , for ho had done everything that was right excepting as regarded the accidental error that occurred in the Grand Secretary ' s office . Bro . Glegg said ho felt also that the G . Reg . deserved the support of Grand Lodge , but at the same time that the

latterpart of the resolution had better be omitted . Ho moved as an amendment that all tbo words after the word " pronounced , " at the end of tho first paragraph , be omitted . Bro . W . Smith , P . G . Steward , seconded the amendment . After a few words from Bro . Havers in reply—The G . M . put the question , when only six bands were held up for the amendment . Tho original resolution was then put and carried by a large majority .

BOAED or BENEVOLENCE . The report of tbo Board of Benevolence for the last quarter was presented , in which were recommendations for tbe following grants , viz .: — The widow of the late Bro . Alfred Lyons B of the Frederick Lodge of Unity , No . 452 , Croydon ... £ 50

Bro . J . H of thc Gresham Lodge , No . 869 , Wattham Cross £ 100 Bro . D . S . P of the High Cross Lodge , No . 754 , Tottenham £ 30 Bro . G . W of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Lodge , No . 24 . , Newcastle-upon-Tyne ... .., £ 30 The whole of these recommendations were agreed to .

BOAED oi ? GENERAL PURPOSES . The following was the singularly brief report of the Board of General Purposes : — " To the United Grand Lodgo of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England . " The Board of General Purposes beg to submit a statement

of the Grand Lodge accounts at the last meeting of the Finance Committee , held on Friday , the 14 th day of August inst ,, showing a balance in tho hands of tho Grand Treasurer of £ 2 , 702 10 s . Gd . ; and in tbe hands of tbe Grand Secretary , for petty cash £ 50 . Of these sums there belong to tbe Fund of Benevolence £ 1 , 389 Gs . 10 d ., to the Fund of General Purposes

£ 910 13 s . lid ., and in the unappropriated account £ 452 9 s . 2 d . " ( Signed ) J . LLEWELLYN EVANS , President . " Freemasons' Hall , IStli August , 1 SCS . " On the motion of Bro . L . Evans this report was unanimously adopted .

REPORT OP THE BUILDING COMMITTEE . The following report from the Building Committee was presented : — ' ¦ To the United Grand Lodgo of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England . " Thc Building Committee bave proceeded with tho work entrusted to them , in reference to the repairing and

rc-decoration of the Great H / ill , and they report with ixuicli regret thatin order to carry out the work satisfactorily there will bo considerable addition to the expense at first calculated upon . "This extra expense may be divided under two heads , one which could not be foretold and is absolutely unavoidable , tho other which need not now bo incurred unless Grand Lodge shall

approve of it . " The extra cost which could not be avoided arises from tbe fact that upon removing some of tho old plastering it was found that the bond timbers behind it , many of which were of large size , were in such a state of decay that it was imperative to remove them , and with them tho whole of the plastering of

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the walls ; this has been done , the spaces formerly occupied by the bond timbers have been made good with brick-work , and the plastering and enrichments restored at a cost of £ 182 . Upon taking upon the floor boards it was found that the brick arches of the cellar beneath are not continued up to the north end of tho hall , and that this part is only separated from rooms

in the basement , occupied by the tavern , by the ceiling of those rooms ; this would give rise to the greatest danger to the hall in case of fire , the committee have therefore ordered tho whole to be made fire-proof . There was , likewise , considerable danger of fire from tho close proximity of the carpenters' sheds at the south end of the hall ; this has been provided against by the use

of fire-proof shutters to the windows at that end ; the cost of these works will amount to £ 1 G 7 . "The Committee hope and believe that they have found the means of making the ventilation sufficient , and of improving materially the acoustic properties of the hall ; the cost of this is trifling . As to the extra works which are uot absolutely

necessary , but which the committee strongly recommend should be done , they refer entirely to the amount of gilding which , shall be used in the decoration of the walls and ceilings of the great hall . Mr . Grace , to whom tho decoration has been entrusted , strongly urges a further outlay than that originally agreed upon ; this outlay will amount to about £ 463 .

Tho Committee have had portions of the work finished with the smaller , and with the larg er amount of gold respectively in order that they might judge of its effect , aud taking into consideration , the great beauty of the room , the purpose for which it is intended , the dignity , wealth , and influence of the Order , and the fact that the gilding , if well done , will last for

many years , though they felt that they could not take upon themselves to incur without authority so large an extra expense ,, yet they most earnestly recommend Grand Lodge to sanction it , and they believe that the result will be tbat the great hall will not only be worthy of its character as the Temple of Masonry , but that it will be oue of tbe most beautiful rooms in .

tbe metropolis . Bro . Havers moved that the report be received and adopted and in doing so said , he should not go through the different items that made up the body of tho report , but expressed his regret that they found it necessary to spend more money than tbey anticipated . As they had said , on removing some of the

plastering of thc building erected by their forefathers , they found the bond timbers behind it so rotten , that they were obliged to remove them , and the space formerly occupied by them had been made good with brick-work . An additional sum was also proposed for decoration , but it would bo for Grand Lodgo to sanction that or not . He had looked over the estimate

sent in to the committee , but they were strongly recommended to lay out a sum of upwards of £ 400 beyond tbat originally agreed upon . He should move , "that tbo recommendation of the committee , as set forth in the report , bo approved and adopted . " Bro . Udall , P-G . D ., seconded the motion .

Bro . Bracl-stcne Baker asked the chairman of tho Building Committee if they intended cleaning the paintings in thc Hall , as they had some merit in them . Bro . Havers said that had already been done , and they were in the hands of Mr . Crace . The motion was then put and agreed to .

APPEAL moil MELBOURNE . The next business on tho paper was an appeal of the W . M . of the Lodge of Australasia , No . 530 , Melbourne , against his suspension from his Masonic functions by the D . G . M of Victoria .