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which it governs . Believing as we do that such a condition of things is pregnant with ill , we shall feel it our duty constantly to protest against its continuance . Heedless of what is said as to " ulterior designs , " we announce our main object to be to secure practical efficiency to our councils and administration ; and our remonstrances will continue to be urged , no matter how unpalatable they may prove to those in high places .

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THE art of cooking has not died with poor Mr . Alexis Soyer . The culinary mantle has descended in all its magic might to the purveyors of the authorized minutes of Grand Lodge proceedings ; and we invite those Brethren who assisted at the last meetings to give its due meed of praise to the talent which so admirably

evinces its capability to cook a report . With the " Salaries Debate" fresh in our recollection , we are amazed at the audacity of the studied mutilation which seeks to convey to those absent on that night an erroneous impression of what actually occurred . Not intending to recapitulate all the pros and cons of

that debate , we should fail in our dut y did we not call attention to its most notorious incident , respecting which the crisp blue pages before us are ominously but disgracefully silent . The Board of General Purposes in June last with the G . REGISTRAR , as its President had formed a decided opinionand embodied in then- report a strong

, recommendation , that no increase should be made in any of the salaries in the Grand Secretary ' s department . Such opinion they might have every right to arrive at , nor would we ascribe to them any motive but that of a disinterested economy . Be that as it may , from the

effect of this sweeping clause it was the wish of many ( whom a subsequent division has shown to be a considerable majority ) to except Bro . PARNFIELD , whose long and able sendees appeared to them worthy of some recognition ; and Bro . BEADON ( no authority of yesterday on points of order ) placed himself in the van as their spokesman .

But a debate ensued as to the precise time when an increase to Bro . FARNFJELD ' salary might in order be moved ; and it was ruled , after several contradictory opinions , that it might come on as an amendment on the motion for the adoption of the report . Now it would be imagined by those unacquanted with the di plomacy

of our officials , that such adoption would have been moved as a matter of course b y the President of the Board . So straightforward a procedure is scorned by those who habitually sacrifice public convenience to the tactics of party manceuvre . One by one Bro . ROXBURGH moved the adoption of the more uninteresting hs

paragrap of the report , while he refused to brethren who had come up from all parts of the country to support Bro . BEADON , an opportunity of recording their opinion on the subject of the salaries .

So far then , matters were at a dead-lock . The wellwishers to Bro . FARNFIELD were insulted and snubbed and hushed , while the G . REGISTRAR beamed triumphant in a halo of self-stultification , having succeeded in forming a resolution , which he had not courage to suggest that G . L . should adopt . And by this blaze of triumph the Editor of the authorized minutes seems to

have been so dazzled that he saw no further . He has indeed a confused notion that " several Brethren took part in the discussion , " but he notices not that Bro . GREEN , to rescue G . L . from the slough of absurdity in which they were prostrate , asked a simple and pertinent questionviz : whether it be not " competent for any

, member of G . L . to move the adoption of any portion of the report ? " He tramples into oblivion the dictum of the M . W . G . M . who replied that it was competent . He thinks it unworthy of mention that by Bros . GREEN and PORTAL accordingly such motion was made

and seconded , and that the G . REGISTRAR declined , to submit himself to the ruling of the M . W . G . M . How Bro . STEBBING told that Brother that he had failed to do his duty , and denounced , amid the cheers of the hall , the whisper along the D ais which whispered away the privileges of the Craft ; iiow he protested against

such tyranny over the country members ; all this is a matter of record , but we seek it in vain in the authorized minutes . Who is responsible for that publication ? Why are the most important portions of debate suppressed ? Here we join issue with that Editor . We accuse him of wilfully suppressing what he feels to be damaging to the powers that be . Let the Craft at large

give judgment between us and this ministerial brochure , and decide how far a mirror of our proceedings is trustworthy , which either distorts the images it jwofesses to reflect , or glosses over the deformities which disgrace our Masonic rule . Not that it is hard to trace the point and intention of

this emasculated system of reporting . That shews itself pretty plainly in the prodigality of type accorded to the reply upon Bro . STEBBING delivered after mature consideration in the Especial G . L . Fourteen days after utterance of the accusation ( which accusation strikes too home on somebody to find a place in the publication

before us ) the reply of the M . W . G . M . is prominently paraded ; but this rather sets one fancying what position a journal would hold , which , professing to report an important trial , should slur over the opening day ' s proceedings , and begin with the exordium of the counsel for the defence .

However having arrived at facility of suppression we may expect our Editor shortly to aspire to interpolation and invention . Familiarity with the scissors will breed contempt for simple dull fact . It will be but one more step in the art of Ooolcing . Let us have a spice of romance infused into the mess ; already the menial trammels of reporting are spurned , and opinions are introduced and interwoven with recital . Communications from brethren of note in Canada are stigmatized as irrelevant , ( Page 6 of this