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npHE Most Worshipful the Grand Master , on taking ¦ *¦ the Chair , announced to Grand Lodge that he had . received the resignation of the Grand Secretary , who only held office till his successor should be appointed . The minutes of the Quarterly Communication of the 3 rd

of September aud of the Grand Lodge of Emergency held on the 19 th of November , were then confirmed ; care being taken that the erasure from the former , by the G . M . ' s command , of the motion for adjournment , should be hurried over in so low a tone of voice by the

Grand Secretary , that Brethren sitting opposite , within a few yards , were unaware of what had been read , till the motion for confirmation had been put , audit was too late to take the sense of G . L . upon the unconstitutional mutilation of its minutes . An attempt was likewise made to upset the Colonial Board , but threatened disclosures as to the present

state of feeling in Canada had the desired effect , and the appointment of the Board was carried by an overwhelming majority . LORD ZETLAND was again nominated for the office of G . M . by Brother BBADFOED .

LOHD SOUTHAMPTON was proposed by Bro . WAHKEN . Some discussion took place upon a communication from the G . L . of Ireland , involving the right of the Master of a Lodge to exclude visiting Brethren of notoriously bad character , and ultimately a resolution to

that effect was adopted . Of the twenty-two motions upon the paper of business , not one was able to be brought forward before 11 o ' clock , consequently they will all lapse , unless the M . W . the G . M . —in accordance with a suggestion made to him in G . L . —shall be pleased to summon a G . L . of Emergency .

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THE announcement that the Grand- Secretary had resigned , was received by G . L . in dignified silence . There were two motions on the paper recommending this step , and it was pretty generally known that it would take place . "VVe are content to throw a veil over the past—to

express our conviction that G . L . will grant a retiring pension worthy of itself , and of the long services of the venerable brother—and our earnest hope that he may long live to continue to the Craft the priceless experience of more than half a century . An ingenious , though characteristic , attempt to screen

the Dais at his expense , by throwing upon him the whole blame of the accumulated arrogance and blundering of the Executive , was not allowed to pass unquestioned . But it was left to the opponents of the Grand Secretary to save him from the tender mercies of his friends .

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THE year to which we are fast saying farewell has been a very important one for Masonic interests . He who watches the sea for five minutes may doubt whether it ebbs or flows , but he who watches for an hour will see landmark after landmark disappear , and will know that

the tide is rising . So has it been with us . Within the twelvemonth a Constitutional Party has been called into existence solely through official maladministration ; and though its progress may have been thwarted at one time by arbitrary authority , at another by intrigue , the motions of Bro . Portal and Lord Carnarvon affording

respectively * to the London and Country Lodges an acquaintance with the public business of G . L . is of itself the evidence of an unmistakeable advance . So far the general aspect of our affairs at home is cheering . Abroad it must be owned that the new year ope ' ns under more doubtful auspices . The position of

Ar00902

* In March , Bro . Portal ' s motion for the distribution of Notice Papers at the entrance of G . L ., and in December , Lord Carnarvon's motion for the circulation of the same among the Country Lodges were confirmed .