Grand Lodge.

GRAND LODGE .

XOiVDOiV , SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 8 , 1 SC 0 .

THE quarterly communication of " Wednesday Avas very fairly attended , notwithstanding the season of the year , when so many of the brethren are out of town . Grand Lodge was presided over by the R . W . Bro . Admiral Sir Lucuis Curtis , Proy . G . M . for Hampshire—both the M . W . G . M . and the D . G . M . being detained in the

country . The meeting of "Wednesday was principally remarkable for doing literally nothing , and if it did no good to the Craft , it certainly did not inflict any injury upon it . The question of expunging the Lodge of Concord ( No .

49 ) from the list was again adjourned for six months , to enable Bro . Madden , if possible , to regain the warrant which he informs us was left in a bag at some house of call of the Late Bro . Dr . Crucifix—no one knows where . But even should the warrant be recovered , it is difficult to conceive how the lodge is to be legally restored to its position , it being all but admitted that there are not

three of its members remaining , and there having been no meeting since 1849 . We always regret when an old lodge is allowed to expire ; but , having done so , the Constitutions ought not be strained to restore it to vitality , or an injustice is done to those brethren who hold firm to their lodges , and ' use every exertion to

preserve them from decay . We give Bro . Madden—¦ Avho , we believe , was the last master of the lodge—all credit for his exertions to resuscitate it , but we confess we should have more deeply sympathised with him in those exertions , had lie been an earnest worker in Freemasonry during the time that has elapsed since his Lodge

last met . If we are not mistaken , Bro . Madden has been for eleven years absent from the Order , and has only come forward now that the Lodge is threatened with being cancelled from the list of lodges , in order that it may be secured for brethren who never had the slightest connection with it .

Bro . Geo . Barrett brought forward a resolution for supplying the inmates of the Asylum at Croydon with coals and candles at the expense of the Fund of General Purposes ; which , on a division , was negatived by a majority of 00 to 51 . We confess we are not sorry for the decision , for though we deeply sympathise with our

poor brethren and their widows who are in the Asylum , Ave cannot too strongly deprecate the system of continually going to Grand Lodge for special grants to do that which ought to be done through the private charity of the brethren ; thus giving a pretext too readily taken

hold of for buttoning up the breeches pocket not only of the brethren , but , so to speak , of the lodges who boast of their charity becaure they say , "we subscribe to Grand Lodge , and it is therefore our money that is voted for the support of the charities . "

Our charities are graceful additions to , not part of , our system ; and it is our bounden duty to support them . If the annuities are too low , and in our opinion they certainl y are , let us use our best exertions to raise

Grand Lodge.

them by , in every means in our power , increasing the funds of the Institution ; and , if aid is wanted for such a purpose , we feel assured we need only ask Grand Lodge for a vote of £ 500 or £ 1 , 000 as a nucleus of a Sjieeial Annuity Enlargement Fund , to obtain it ; but even of such a fund , it is the duty of the brethren to find the

larger part . Before voting away our General Purposes Fund , we must recollect that the restoration of our property in Great Queen Street must take p lace at no distant clay ; and that at the present moment we hold property , bought within the last few years , lying idle , alike a disgrace to the neighbourhood and to the Order .

A motion was also brought forward by Bro . Jos . Smith for granting £ 1 , 000 to each of the charitable institfitions—tbe Girls' School , the Boys' School , the Male Annuity Fund , and the Widows' Annuity Fund , from the Fund of Benevolence ; certainl y a more

legitimate fund for such a purpose than the Fund of General Purposes , from which Bro . Barnett had given notice to draw the like amount of money for these institutions . After a short discussion , the question was adjourned , in consequence' of the few members present , and to give

the brethren a better opportunity of considering it . There can be no doubt thai the Fund of Benevolence is now growing larger than is required for the proposes to which alone it is dedicated , under the present laws laid down for its government in the Boole of Constitutions ; and mncli might "be done to add to its value to the Craft by judicious alteration in those laws—but that is a subject to which we shall return at no distant date .

Masonic Missions.

MASONIC MISSIONS .

THE PltOVK-fCE OT SOBFOLK . Bro . Benjamin Bond Cabbell , Prov . Grand Master for Norfolk , has been dul y feted ( as will be seen by reference to our report at page 173 of our last week's number ) in the good city of Norwich , for his great exertions (?) in the promotion of the interests of the Craft in that Province . As it would appearlie had but little to boast of

, on that head , he availed himself of the opportunity of again endeavouring to answer an article ^ Yhich appeared iu the FREEMASONS' MACIAZIXK an long since as April , 1859 , under the head of Masonic Missions , by favourin g us with a second edition of his speech at North Walsham , last . year , which we fully answered at the time ; but Bro .

Cabbell could not speak out ; he could not state that the article to which he referred appeared in the FBEEICASOXS' MAGAZINE , being fearful , perhaps , of giving us the benefit of a gratuitous advertisment , or of offending the feelings of the worthy brother , who represented us upon the occasionand whobelonging to the province

, , over which Bro . Cabbell presides , was entirely ignorant of the article until it appeared in the MAGAZINE , though , we doubt not , were we to ask him his opinion , he would endorse the vast majority , if not the whole , of our statements with regard to the unsatisfactory position of Masonry in the provinceNoBrother Cabbell could

. , not mention the FI { I ; I : JI : A . SOS " S MAGAZINE , but he introduces his attack upon us by observing that " somebody has somewhere said something , " which stroke of wit was , of course , duly received with laughter . But what was it "somebody has somewhere said r" Why , " something