Correspondence.

worthy desire to effect such improvement in its administration , and in the routine of its general management , as may tend to increase its efficacy . Pure Freemasonry , which has endured scathless the fires of malignant persecution , triumphed over obstacles and trials of every descriptionand withstood

, all the shafts of ridicule shoAvered against it by the profane world , may surely fear no scrutiny , or shrink from no examination directed towards it by its own members .

With the sentiment , therefore , of those who profess to hold that any discussion of its princi ples is to be deprecated , I have not the least syiripathy , believing , _ Avith others vastly my superiors in Masonic attainments , that the time for undue secresy has passed away , and . that Freemasons , like the rest of mankind , must march with the times . Those secrets

and mysteries which are peculiarly Masonic , cannot , of course , be too carefully preserved , or too securely guarded from the inquisitive ; but that has nothing to do Avith proceedings which challenge publicity . I am quite aware of the ungraciousness of the task of fault-finding , especially when those against Avhom censure is to be directed arebtheir personal

cha-, y racter , objects of esteem and regard . But private virtues cannot be accepted in excuse for Masonic incompetency , any more than the existence of abuses can be held as a valid plea for their continuance . As the interests of the body are not private , but universal , the greater is the necessity that the executive

nhould be maintained in a condition of efficiency ; and hence most ample is the justification of those independent brethren who , regardless of ridicule , sneer , invective , and , above all , of patronage , take upon themselves the somewhat unpleasant , but not the less useful , duty of discussing Avhether the ruling powers do properly fulfil the conditions required of them .

Some ot your readers , unacquainted Avith the course of proceedings in the province , may deem the above a somewhat long and unnecessary preamble to the subject indicated by the heading ; but you are aware of the attempt which has been made hy our amiable , but utterly incompetent , Prov . Grand Master , abetted by a small clique of provincial lace-huntersto

extinp , guish the FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE and to snub its independent correspondents . This " storm in a teakettle" has been raised by your fearless exposure and denunciation of some serious and some comic , but all equally illegal aud unconstitutional , proceedings Avhich have taken place within the tiled recesses of the

lodges , some of them in the presence and under the direct ruling of the hi ghest Masonic authority in the province . The abuse to which I Avish now to call your attention is one not confined Avithin the narrow limits before indicated , but of a more public nature , and one very much calculated to briug contempt upon our Order in a locality composed , in a great measure , of members of clubs and benefit societies of a

laudable , but altogether of an inferior and less pretentious design , but whose practices it Avould appear to be the ambition of certain brethren in that neighbourhood to assimilate . I may at once mention that the lodge is not my own , but that I have been urgently solicited by members of the lodge , who feel themselves disgraced by

the proceedings , as Avell as by members of an immediately adjoining lodge , to expose the practice complained of , in the hope that such exposure may lead to

Correspondence.

its discontinuance . The abuse referred to is the indiscreet and indiscriminate granting of dispensations for " Masonic funerals "—a repetition of which has just recently occurred . Personal respect for the relatives of the deceased brother , several of them Masons , precludes my

entering fully into the details of the case . Suffice it to say , the brother Avas a very young man , and consequently a very young Mason ; that he met his untimely death by accident ( therefore without opportunity of making " special request" for Masonic interment , as required hy the " Constitutions" ) ; that

the funeral took place on Sunday afternoon , and from a public-house ( certainly the most respectable in the vicinity ) . The feeling very generally amongst the brethren in the district is that such exhibitions are calculated to reduce our noble Order to the level of the clubs and benefit societies before alluded to , and that the only element of assimilation wanting is the

exposure of the black flag from the lodge-room window upon the day antecedent to the Sunday ceremony . Now , this lodge is a young one , and composed , for the most part , of brethren who may be little , or not at all , aware of the scandal such undignified proceedings entail upon the Craft ; and I do not blame them

so much as I do the Provincial Grand Master , Avhose dispensation the " Book of Constitutions" renders requisite , and whose indiscriminate use of the same , in my opinion , amounts to an abuse " of his privilege , Avhich no excess of amiability can justify . No matter what individual opinions may he

entertained with regard to the qualifications of our Provincial Grand Masters , even although they may be " singular , " I am prepared to maintain that uutil those appointments are made with a greater regard to Masonic attainment and Masonic experience than to the claims of birth , rank , fortune , or personal friendship , provincial Masonry will never be in a flourishing condition .

As a Masonic reformer of modest pretensions , but earnest desires , I rejoice to claim as one of my leaders , with dispassionate vieAvs but determined energy , the editor of the FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , AVIIO , I feel Avell assured , has the good of our noble institution more sincerely at heart than any of those puny minds who join in condemning his motives . Tours fraternally , REFORMER .

Masonic Taxation.

MASONIC TAXATION .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC 1 IIEROB . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —The "P . M . ' s" rejoinder is such a strong example of writing—I cannot call it arguing—in a circle , that it really is time wasted , and an abuse of your courtesy , to trespass further on your space in reply . I now humbly await the issue of the

case before the tribunal which makes our laws , and hope the " P . M . " ivill have the courage to bring it forward , by motion , at the next meeting of Grand Lodge . If he does , misguided as I think him , he will ensure my respect for his consistency . If he fails to submit his theory to that touchstone , his

letters will bear the stamp of unutility and impracticability . I am , dear Sir and Brother , Tours truly and fraternally , A W . M .