Grand Lodge.

his ., office , -Avithout it be made commensurate to the amount of salary he is to receive , and then it Avould'be best to put the office up to auction at once ; aud we hold it is no greater honour to be Grand Secretary than it is to be a clerk in a merchant's

office , or a bank . Why , Ave Avould ask , if the Grand Secretary , AA * 1 IO is a paid officer , be charged a fee of honour , should the Assistant Grand Secretary , -who is equally a paid officer , escape ? If the first office is worth £ 10 10 s ., surely the other

is worth £ 5 5 s ., excepting that the present holder did receive the appointment as something like an acknoAvledgment of past services . Why , again , should the Grand Chaplains , who rank next to Grand Wardens , be exempted from all fees ? We

can see no sufficient reason , unless it be that it is notorious that clergymen , as a rule , are too little paid in their own profession . To return to the Grand Stewards . They have to proAdde the Grand Festival " as that no expense

fall on the Grand Lodge ; " to sell tickets to the brethren at a price not exceeding 15 s . each , and are to " assist in conducting the arrangements

made for the Quarterly Communications and other meetings of Grand Lodge , " and are finable for non-attendance Avhen "duly summoned . " It is true that nothing is said in the " Book of Constitutions " as to the price to be charged or paid

for the tickets ; but we should like to see the reception the Grand Stewards would meet Avith , if they put a five-shilling dinner and a bottle of Avine before the brethren by " arrangement AA'ith the tavern keeper , " as suggested by the Grand

Registrar . It is some j ^ oars since we served the office of Grand Steward , but , to the best of our recollection , a paper AA as read to the effect that Ave must pay not less than £ 15 , or sell the tickets ( which the Grand Stewards are bound to supply to all the brethren requiring them , so far as the

accommodation of the hall will permit ) at a higher price than 15 s . ; and this Ave do ICUOAV , that Ave received a letter from tlie Grand Secretary the very day-Ave paid our money into the banker ' s , informing us that , unless Ave paid forthwith , Ave

should be deprived of our office ; and it is specially provided in the " Book of Constitutions : ""No lodge shall ( under thc penalty of forfeiting the privilege of nomination ) subscribe or in any manner contribute towards the expense to be incurred by any Steward in the discbarge of his dutiesand Steward

; any who shall accept of money towards such expense , or shall neglect to pay his proportion of the necessary expenses , shall forfeit all privilege or distinction acquired in consequence of his serving that office . "

Grand Lodge.

What the privilege and distinction is , except that of Avearing a red apron , we do not know , it being also provided : —• "After his year of office shall have expired , he does not possess any precedence beyond that to which the seniority of his lodge may entitle him . " It is true that there was a reduction in the fees

upon a Past Grand Steward being raised to the purple on appointment to Grand Office—a privilege which not one in twenty was ever likely to taste , but it stood in the "Book of Constitutions , " and that was something . Grand Stewards

know they cannot all become Grand Officers , and , as they are at present appointed , it would be unfair to the large body of the Craft if they could ; though there is no doubt that , in former days , the majority of Grand Officers were selected

from amongst the brethren who had previously served the office of Grand Steward . This privilege being by the revised fees AvithdraAvn , Ave ask in fairness that the last lines in Rule 2 , which Ave have quoted above , should be repealed , and

that the Past Grand Stewards should be alloAved to take their proper rank in the list of precedence , and Avhich , indeed , they can do now , if they choose to join the Grand Stewards' Lodge at a further expense , by Avhich they show their " energy and

devotion to Masonry ; " and Avere Ave Grand Master , we would never appoint any Past Grand SteAvard to office AA'I IO had not been for at least twelve

months a member of that lodge . We may observe that the fee of honour of a Provincial Grand Master is to be reduced from forty guineas ( exclusive of three guineas for his patent ) to ten guineas—the provision of saAing

twenty guineas , should the brother appointed as Provincial Grand Master have previously served the office of Grand Steward , being of course here , as in the other cases , rendered unnecessary , and therefore repealed . We do not know Avhether

any Provincial Grand Master ever served the office of Grand Steward ; but certainly none of those appointed Avithin the last feAV years—and which have therefore come under our notice—have

done so . We trust theneAvlaAvmayAvork advantageously , and no one Avill be more rejoiced than Ave shall to find that it tends to the advancement of brethren distinguished for " their energy and devotion to Masonry . "

Ar00201

KEEP your temper in disputes . The cool hammer fashions the red-hot iorii to any shape needed .