Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar00300
the former at its meeting , one week before G . L . could not be brought forward for three months . It happens however , unfortunatel y for our two legal Brethren , that the Board of Benevolence is an independent Body , appointed with specific powers for a specific purpose , and that their recommendations to G . L . never go before the Board of Masters at , all ; in
feet , the Board of Benevolence is never opened till after the Board of Masters has been declared to be closed ; the only proposed money grants that need be notified to the latter being those for buying property , and for other independent purposes . All this was clearly stated by Br . BINCICES ; but we
think G . L . has a ri ght to complain that the many Brethren of experience on the Dais , who , as Chairmen of the Board of Benevolence , must have been perfectly acquainted with the law , permitted a false impression to prevail , and by their silence acquiesced in the more than questionable mancevre of the GRAND REGISTRAR
and his learned accomplice . Provincial Masons are , and must always be , at , a disadvantage compared with their Brethren in London . Nothing can ever make up for having to cross half England , instead of to cross the street , in order to attend G . L . The least that can be done is to carry
out the spirit and letter of the Constitutions by informing country Brethren of what is coming on in sufficient time for them to discuss the various questions , and make arrangements for the presence of their Delegates in London .
We believe that one week is the very shortest time in which it would be possible , without interfering with the regular work of the office , for the GRAND SECRETARY to print and issue the paper of business ; and a fortnight is the least that ought to be allowed for summoning lodges of emergency to consider the paper when it arrives .
We recommend our country Brethren to attend G . L . in June , when the matter will be again brought forward , so as to secure justice for themselves ; and meanwhile , if they want a subject for consideration , they may estimate the amount of confidence to be reposed in those who use their legal ability not to
elucidate , but to mislead and mystify . A reference to the debate will show that the GRAND REGISTRAR would have also succeeded in preventing an increased grant being given to a distressed Brother , if his law and precedents had not been proved by Br . HAVERS to be equally worthless .
Ar00301
WE fully appreciate the feelings of those Brethren who are anxious that the resignation of the GRAND SECRETARY should be accepted ; at the same time we are not quite certain that the object they have in view will be best attained by the means they ] iropose to adopt . Their object of course is to secure efficiency in the
GRAND SECRETARY ' department , while at the same time they evince their personal respect for that officer by proposing that he should retain the full amount of his salary as a retiring pension . Now there can be no question
but that the experience of a Brother who has been acquainted with all the details of official life for more than fifty years , cannot easily be replaced , and if that experience can still be made available , and the efficiency of the department at the same time be secured , everything will have been gained and nothing lost . We cannot but think therefore that it will better to
embody the opinion of G . L . in a resolution to that eifect , leaving it to the M . W . the G . M . to make such arrangements , by the appointment of a joint GRAND SECRETARY or of additional Clerks , as will secure an efficient staff . While at the same time the feelings of our venerable Brother will have been considered , and the interests of the Craft be promoted .
Ar00302
11 HERE was once an Eastern potentate , who was . much tormented with flies during his post-pradial hours of repose . He stationed a slave by his side with strict orders to slay the obtrusive insects should they presume to hover around his sacred person . One , however , more daring than the rest , actually settled on his
majesty ' s nose ; the slave paused for an instant , and then true to his instructions , aimed a well directed blow at the miscreant . Alas ! the fly was on the alert—he beat a hasty retreat—and the enraged monarch , who received on his most prominent feature , the punishment intended for his assailant , was no sooner sufficiently recovered from the shock ,, than . he ordered the unhappy slave to instant execution .
We commend this tale to the advisers of the M . W . the G . M ., and for fear they should miss the mark , like our friend , we will take the liberty of explaining it to them . The fortunate fly , and the unfortunate slave , represent our own unworthy selves and them . The Nabob ' s nose is their dignity and credit ; and we warn them in all good willthat if they assail us , they will
, most unquestionably succeed in nothing else but striking a heavy blow at their own reputation . They are anxious , it appears , to prevent any report of the debates in G . L . being circulated through the craft , excepting those official skeletons which periodically start up from the Grand Secretary ' s office . But surely
if it is desirable that auy reports should be published at all , it is no less so that they should he full and accurate , in order that the constituents of G . L . may see whether or no their representatives have carried out their instructions , or what have been the arguments which have influenced their decision . We shall doubtless be
told that unauthorized publications offer no guarantee for the suppression of matter which it may be inexpedient to make known . To this we reply , that we are quite certain that a request from the M . W . the G . M . on the subject , -will meet with instant compliance ; and till such a request has been madeand ignoredno case
, , has been made out for permitting the executive to have a monopoly of publication . We apprehend , however , that the advisers of the M . W . the G . M . are as fully aware , as we are , that all this is beside the real point at issue . The "fly" is not the report , but our criticisms .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ar00300
the former at its meeting , one week before G . L . could not be brought forward for three months . It happens however , unfortunatel y for our two legal Brethren , that the Board of Benevolence is an independent Body , appointed with specific powers for a specific purpose , and that their recommendations to G . L . never go before the Board of Masters at , all ; in
feet , the Board of Benevolence is never opened till after the Board of Masters has been declared to be closed ; the only proposed money grants that need be notified to the latter being those for buying property , and for other independent purposes . All this was clearly stated by Br . BINCICES ; but we
think G . L . has a ri ght to complain that the many Brethren of experience on the Dais , who , as Chairmen of the Board of Benevolence , must have been perfectly acquainted with the law , permitted a false impression to prevail , and by their silence acquiesced in the more than questionable mancevre of the GRAND REGISTRAR
and his learned accomplice . Provincial Masons are , and must always be , at , a disadvantage compared with their Brethren in London . Nothing can ever make up for having to cross half England , instead of to cross the street , in order to attend G . L . The least that can be done is to carry
out the spirit and letter of the Constitutions by informing country Brethren of what is coming on in sufficient time for them to discuss the various questions , and make arrangements for the presence of their Delegates in London .
We believe that one week is the very shortest time in which it would be possible , without interfering with the regular work of the office , for the GRAND SECRETARY to print and issue the paper of business ; and a fortnight is the least that ought to be allowed for summoning lodges of emergency to consider the paper when it arrives .
We recommend our country Brethren to attend G . L . in June , when the matter will be again brought forward , so as to secure justice for themselves ; and meanwhile , if they want a subject for consideration , they may estimate the amount of confidence to be reposed in those who use their legal ability not to
elucidate , but to mislead and mystify . A reference to the debate will show that the GRAND REGISTRAR would have also succeeded in preventing an increased grant being given to a distressed Brother , if his law and precedents had not been proved by Br . HAVERS to be equally worthless .
Ar00301
WE fully appreciate the feelings of those Brethren who are anxious that the resignation of the GRAND SECRETARY should be accepted ; at the same time we are not quite certain that the object they have in view will be best attained by the means they ] iropose to adopt . Their object of course is to secure efficiency in the
GRAND SECRETARY ' department , while at the same time they evince their personal respect for that officer by proposing that he should retain the full amount of his salary as a retiring pension . Now there can be no question
but that the experience of a Brother who has been acquainted with all the details of official life for more than fifty years , cannot easily be replaced , and if that experience can still be made available , and the efficiency of the department at the same time be secured , everything will have been gained and nothing lost . We cannot but think therefore that it will better to
embody the opinion of G . L . in a resolution to that eifect , leaving it to the M . W . the G . M . to make such arrangements , by the appointment of a joint GRAND SECRETARY or of additional Clerks , as will secure an efficient staff . While at the same time the feelings of our venerable Brother will have been considered , and the interests of the Craft be promoted .
Ar00302
11 HERE was once an Eastern potentate , who was . much tormented with flies during his post-pradial hours of repose . He stationed a slave by his side with strict orders to slay the obtrusive insects should they presume to hover around his sacred person . One , however , more daring than the rest , actually settled on his
majesty ' s nose ; the slave paused for an instant , and then true to his instructions , aimed a well directed blow at the miscreant . Alas ! the fly was on the alert—he beat a hasty retreat—and the enraged monarch , who received on his most prominent feature , the punishment intended for his assailant , was no sooner sufficiently recovered from the shock ,, than . he ordered the unhappy slave to instant execution .
We commend this tale to the advisers of the M . W . the G . M ., and for fear they should miss the mark , like our friend , we will take the liberty of explaining it to them . The fortunate fly , and the unfortunate slave , represent our own unworthy selves and them . The Nabob ' s nose is their dignity and credit ; and we warn them in all good willthat if they assail us , they will
, most unquestionably succeed in nothing else but striking a heavy blow at their own reputation . They are anxious , it appears , to prevent any report of the debates in G . L . being circulated through the craft , excepting those official skeletons which periodically start up from the Grand Secretary ' s office . But surely
if it is desirable that auy reports should be published at all , it is no less so that they should he full and accurate , in order that the constituents of G . L . may see whether or no their representatives have carried out their instructions , or what have been the arguments which have influenced their decision . We shall doubtless be
told that unauthorized publications offer no guarantee for the suppression of matter which it may be inexpedient to make known . To this we reply , that we are quite certain that a request from the M . W . the G . M . on the subject , -will meet with instant compliance ; and till such a request has been madeand ignoredno case
, , has been made out for permitting the executive to have a monopoly of publication . We apprehend , however , that the advisers of the M . W . the G . M . are as fully aware , as we are , that all this is beside the real point at issue . The "fly" is not the report , but our criticisms .