Masonry In Africa.

MASONRY IN AFRICA .

LONDON , 8 ATl'nDAr , AL'Gl'ST 13 , 1559 .

IN Africa , twelve Lodges under the constitution of the Grand Lodgo of England arc in active existence ; their mimbcr bearing Imt little proportion to the white population of so vast a division of the world ; four of these are situated on . the AVest Coast , and the remaining eight at tho southern settlements , usually called the Cape of Good . llovic . At present

thoy are all under tho direct control of the Grand Master ; for though some years ago a Provincial Grand Master exercised authority in Southern Africa , the office is , and lias been for a considerable period , vacant . Few of our colonial possessions stand more in need of resident Masonic government ; independently of the laxity and want of discipline which

is likely to occur without the constant supervision of a regularly constituted authority , the remoteness from England , more especially of the southern settlements , renders the necessary correspondence with the Grand Secretary , on every slight and unimportant subject not specially provided for in the Constitutions a vexatious and irksome task ; nob that

the Masons in Africa would suffer by a comparison witli brethren in other colonies ; and as far as the Carjc itself is concerned there avc few countries , if any , under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England where Masonry is better acted up to , either in theory or practice ; if the next meeting ofthe . British LodgoNo . 419 ( Cape Town ) wore to bo held

, , in London , and favoured by a numerous attendance of our metropolitan . Past Masters , wc question , from what we hear , whether even those veterans in the Craft would discover any irregularity or deviation from the established ritual . It will however be admitted that inconvenience , to use no harsher wordoccasionally arises from the absence of a local court of

, appeal . Dispensations , certificates for erratic brethren , warrants for new Lodges , and complaints of a Masonic nature , which will sometimes demand redress even in the best regulated communities , are causes sufficient in themselves to call

for provincial government . Frequent correspondence with Freemasons' Hall , . London , more particularly to brethren located in the eastern provinces of the Cape colony , is a matter of grave moment . The mail steamer leaves England on tho Gth of each month , arriving at Capo Town about the 21 st of the following month , returning thence with the home mail

after the lapse of a few days ; letters despatched to Cape Town can thus be answered b y the return mail , but any addressed to the frontier towns cannot bo replied to until the following month . To give an instance of possible procrastination : — let it be supposed that Bro . TV " . Gray Clarke , Grand Secretary , writes to the AVorshipful Master of No . 987 Fordyce Lodge

, , ( meeting at King William ' s Town ) , in the eastern frontier ; the letter leaves England on the 6 ' th of January , arrives at Cape Town on the 21 st of February , and is received at King-William ' s Town on the 26 th ; the Worshi pful Master of No . 987 cannot transmit a reply to our Very Worshipful Brother until about the 25 th of Marchancl the Grand Secretary is

, not in possession of the required information before May ; so that although it maybe of a very urgent nature , Bro . Clarke has nothing for it but to wait patiently the four months . On the West Coast things are not quite so bad , and though provincial government is required , the Masons there are not subjected to equal inconvenience with their more distant

brethren at the Cape . To the want of vigour whicli . such a state must necessarily generate is to be attributed the tardy progress of Masonry in Africa ; and a possible decadence looms iu the future . Able and energetic rulers , vested with proper authority , and assisted as they would be by nearl Mason in their districts

y every , could do much to revive the drooping spirits of unsuccessful brethren , men who hitherto have laboured for the cause alone and unsupported , ancl naturally feel discontented at the barren result .

Masonry In Africa.

Africa requires two District Grand Lodgen , which for the present will suffice , though in a few years the spread of Masonry may bo such as to demand additional provinces . They should be called tho Provinces of AVestern and Southern Africa ; the former to comprise Nos . SG 7 , 4-10 , 500 , and 468 ; ancl the latter , Nos . 419 . 4-73 , 515 , 871 , 884 , 987 , 1 , 013 , and

. 1 , 040 . The Provincial Grand Master of Western Africa should be resident at Cape Coast Castle , and his Deputy at Sierra Leone , the latter having authority to grant dispensations , & e ., delegated to him . A Capo Town brother should preside over the province of Southern Africa , and a Deputy Provincial Grand Master ought to be by him selected from

amongst the most experienced Masons living on tho eastern frontier j for example , at Graham ' s Town , King William ' s Town , or Beaufort , in whom should be vested the discretionary power of granting dispensations , warrants , etc . Lodge No . 1 , 040 , situate at Port Natal , would certainly be somewhat isolated , if these arrangements woro carried into effect ,

though even it would profit by the change ; communication with Capo Town is not a matter of many days , ancl when the brethren at Pioter Maritzburg and D'lJrban shall have added a few mora Lodges to the present roll , which will in all probability soon be done , they will bo justly entitled to a province of their own . At no very distant date , it is to be hoped that Southern Africa will be divided into four Masonic provinces , viz ., Capo Town , Albany , British Kafir-aria , and Natal .

lhe establishment of District Grand Lodges would be a great boon to Masons in Africa , and our colonial brethren might then enjoy the advantages of provincial rank ; and a permanent and grateful feeling of regard feu- the piarcnt Grand Lodge—which , whilst vigilantly watching over the interests of the Graft in the mother country does not disdain to extend a fostering care to her far distant progeny—ivould be tho

natural consequence . It is to bo hoped that the legislators of tho Craft may see the necessity of an extended system of provincial , government ; and iu the event of such an occurrence , we trust that the claims of African Lodges will not bo overlooked .

Fallacious Views Of The Graft.

FALLACIOUS VIEWS OF THE GRAFT .

THE newspaper press of the present clay , from its intrinsic literary merits , as well as from the beneficial influence which it exercises upon our social system—alternately by its fearless censure , exposure , ancl satire of that which is corrupt and evil , or by advice , encouragement , ancl praise , judiciously bestowed where they are deserved—has fairly earned the

enormous influence which it undeniably possesses over the actions , ancl even the thoughts of a large portion of our countrymen . The daily ancl weekly journals of this metropolis comprise among the ranks of their contributors a bod y of essayists of ability ancl information for which we may in . vain search the previous history of literature to find a parallel ;

the spirit of the age indeed demands this , for so improved and so extended has education become of late years that the public is now too enlightened to accept with favour the efforts of inferior writers ; and any journal which omits to secure the highest talent available for its means must inevitably be thrust aside and passed in the race ivith so

mairybrilliant contemporaries . So universally acknowledged , are this ability and this great power for good and for evil , that the praise , or the strictures of " the fourth estate" cannot noiv pass' unregarded b y any rank or power in the state however exalted or however strong in themselves . If it bo possible to make any exception ,

to this rule it would be in the case of our venerable Order , which from its peculiar constitution and its extended sway over the whole surface of the inhabited globe , might well look with indifference upon any expression of the opinion of the outer world , taking a local or ( if that were possible ) even a national form . Foremost among the princi ples ofthe brethren