Grand Lodge For Australia.

GRAND LODGE FOR AUSTRALIA .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JANUARY 10 , 180-1 .

Tbe Melbourne Masonic Journal brings us a communication from tlie M . W . Grand Master , the Earl of Zetland ( through tbe Grand Secretary ) , to Bro . Standish , the Provincial Grand Master of Victoria , on the subject of the proposed Grand Lodge of Victoria . It will be seen that this document , which

we subjoin , takes almost precisely tbe same view with regard to the proposed new Grand Lodge as that which we enunciated some time since , and it is rather curious that our article appears almost simultaneously in the columns of our Melbourne contemporary , with

the letter of the Grand Master . His Lordship expresses regret that the Directors should have taken so unadvised a course as to agitate for the new Grand Lodge , believing that , " so far from enhancing the position of Masonry in Victoria , the formation of an

independent Grand Lodge in that colony would tend to lower it and bring it into disrepute . The course proposed to be taken by tbe brethren in Victoria might , with equal propritey , be taken in JNew Zealand , New South Wales , Tasmania , and other colonies , and

thus there might be a Grand Lodge in each . " That it is injudicious for the Freemasons of Victoria yet to look for the formation of a Grand Lodge we agree , and also that it would , at first , tend to weaken rather than strengthen their position ; yet , withal , we cannot hide from ourselves the truth that the

time must come , and that probably m the life-time of many of the present members , when each of the districts named hy his Lordship will have its own Grand Lodge—bis Lordship throughout the whole of his letter altogether ignoring the great principle on which the new Grand Lodge is proposed to be

founded , viz ., that of getting rid of three conflicting jurisdictions , England , Scotland , and Ireland , with different laws and regulations within one colony , nay , within the same town , as evidenced in the case of Melbourne , where they jostle over one another in

most admired confusion , the whole of which might have been prevented by a little arrangement between the three parent Grand Lodges in the first instance . And , after all , we are not persuaded that there would be any greater inconsistency in there being separate

Grand Lodges for ] N ew Zealand , ISTew South Wales , and Tasmania , than there is for England , Ireland , and Scotland .

The Grand Master refutes the idea that large sums are remitted to this country for the benefit of the Grand Lodge of England , and shows clearly , as we indicated in our former articles , that these remittances barel y pay expenses . " The only payment made to the Grand Lodge of England being seven shillings

and sixpence for each member initiated , which payment includes the Grand Lodge certificate ; and that , in fact , the total receipts from Victoria in twenty-two years has been £ 1 , 3 S 8 , or about £ 63 per annum , arising from forty lodges , the majority of which , howeverareof course , but of recent constitution .

, , His Lordship then proceeds to say , " It is perfectly true tbat the Grand Lodge of England has a very large fund at its disposal for the relief of brethren in distress , but it is entirely maintained by the brethren herealthough brethren from the Colonies are freely

, relieved from it , though they in no way contribute to maintain it . The same remark holds good of our Charities ; and there is nothing to prevent the brethren of Victoria and other Colonies having such Charities of their own . "

"Upon this , the Masonic Journal , in an able article advocating the necessity of establishing Charities in connection with the Order in Australia , admits that £ 63 per annum would go very little way in their support . But there is another question which will arise ,

and which we would put to our Australian brethren , How far would tbat sum go to support a proper establishment for a Grand Secretary ' s office ? Ancl though , as the Grand Master says , " The pecuniary benefit arising to the Grand Lodge of England from its lodges in the Colonies would not weigh for ones instant with either the Grand Master of tha

Grand Lodge in determining the advisability or otherwise of colonial lodges maintaining their allegiance , " the brethren may rest assured that they must increase their strength from five to tenfold before they will be in a proper position to maintain an independent . Grand Lodge ; and when that time comes we are certain

Grand Lodge will raise no obstacle to their securing their own Grand Lodge , but , as we have before said , will wish them God speed with their enterprise . The Grand Master says , " The Grand Master did undoubtedly in a- graceful manner recognise the

Grand Lodge of Canada , but the circumstances there were widely different . There had been put forward grounds of complaint which do not exist in the case of Victoria . " The complaint , let it be remembered , was that communications from the lodges in the

Colony did not meet with proper attention at home ; and the complaint was alike made from the lodges under the jurisdiction of England , Ireland , and Scotland . We have amended the complaint , have the other Grand Lodges done the same ? We fear not . It

was the Irish Lodges that first raised the flag of independence in Canada , on the ground we have just stated , which at that time found a ready echo in the English Lodges . It is again in Victoria the Irish Lodges that are foremost in the movement , and they have put forward the old complaint , but that complaint finds no echo from the English Lodges—though