Grand Lodge Property.

GRAND LODGE PROPERTY .

LONDON , SATURDAY , MAT 0 , 1865 .

The new building , devoted to tbe purposes of the Craft ., is progressing , and Grand Lodge is absolutely in possession of a large portion of itthe usual business having been transferred into the new offices on Monday last , and the first lodge ,

the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , opened within its walls on the previous Friday , most appropriately , by Bro . John Havers , who , as Chairman of the Building Committee , has been the presiding genius in bringing about the really

wonderful alterations which have taken place in our property . Of course , ive were not present . It would have cost the lodge , or somebody , a penny to have informed us what was about to take place . We have , however , examined the lodge

i-ooms , and can bear testimony not only to the convenient arrangement , but to the neat and appropriate furniture which has been placed in them , and if we give a preference for one suite of rooms over another we vote for the Moira .

The Grand Secretary ' s room we have not seen since it has been furnished , and perhaps never shall j but the offices for the clerks are lofty , spacious , and convenient , and far in advance of those we formerly possessed , though it has been

suggested to us that the use of so much " officing , " in front of the " counter" over which a brother has now to ask a question , gives the offices very much the appearance of those attached to a police court . Personally , Ave see no great objection to

the arrangement , but that is all a matter of fancy . The old offices were only closed on Saturday , and yet at ten o ' clock on Monday morning the clerks were comfortably housed in their new quarters , thanks to the indefatigable exertions of

the Chairman of the Committee , and the ready assistance afforded by the clerks themselves , after business hours on the Saturday , in order to prevent confusion on the Monday . A second step was taken on Monday by the

commencement of the fagacle which the contractors are under heavy penalties to complete by the 1 st of March next . During the carrying out of a portion of this work , the usual entrance to the Tavern is necessarily closed ; but a temporary

entrance has been provided through No . 63 , the -house formerly devoted to the Grand Secretary ' s offices .

Grand Lodge Property.

Subjoined we joublish a copy of a notice placed in every lodge-room , and cannot too strongly direct attention to the following paragraph : —¦ u Ib is arranged that any refreshments-which may be required before lodge meetings shall be served in the dining-rooms or ante-rooms of the

Tavern , so that the lodge-rooms and ante-rooms " of the Hall shall be preserved sacredly to Masonic work alone . "" What refreshments are required before the lodge meetings we do not well understand ; but

we trust the rulers of the various lodges will be careful to exclude alike from their lodge and anterooms , or , as our Scotch friends would say , " the adjacent , " anything in the shape of refreshment , excepting it be in the words of the song , "Water ,

pure / ' The very last time we attended a meeting of a loclg-e which shall be nameless , wo were disgusted to see the title of " the adjacent" covered with bottles which had contained sherry—and we cannot imagine that such a sipjht added to the

feelings of solemnity with which the initiates entered on the ceremony of being introduced into the Order , or gave them a very exalted idea of the manner in which we practise the virtue of temperance of which we talk so much . Wwvporte . When we again see such scenes we shall name the

lodge . One word more and we have done . Secretaries and Misters of their lodges should take care that in all future summonses they call their lodges to meet at Freemasons "' Hall , not Freemasons ' Tavern .

The following is the notice to which we allude above : — NOTICE TO THE BRETHREN . The new buildings of Freemasons' Hall aro now in possession of the Graft , and are devoted solely to the use of the executive officers and of the various private lodges .

For the present , and until the whole of the now Freemasons' Hall is completed , there must be some degree of inconvenience to tho brethren attending-. This will be found chiefly in the temporary means of access . Ifc is hoped that the permanent entrance from Great Qneensfcreet will be lit for use in three months from this dateuntil that time it will be convenient that all brethren

having business at the Offices should enter au tho temporary entrance in New Yard—and that brethren attending lodges should enter by the Tavern , from the staircase of which there is access on each iloor to tho Grand and Upper Corridors respectively . On the Grand Corridor are the "Zetland" and the "Dalhousie" Lod and ante rooms . On the Upper

ge Corridor are the "De Grey" and the " Moira" Lodge rooms with their respective ante-rooms . Access to the Lower Corridor , in which the board-room and offices are situated , can also , if required , be had from the Tavern ; but in such case the back-stairs leading from the Grand