Grand Lodge.

at the last meeting of G . L ., and he had again to express his regret that he had not been present to protest against it . A number of papers had been referred to them , by order of the G . M ., and they , in their report , did not give the mere abstract of their contents , but expressed their opinion with respect to them . Was there anything stated in that opinion which was not in perfect consonance with the facts of the case ? Yet because of their having expressed that opinion a Brother thought himself justified in moving its rejection , and in doing so lie said lie objected to the report because it had gone too iar

, and said too much , but that he should not have objected to it if it had gone farther and said much more . Such an observation as that should never have been made in G . L . ( Hear , hear . ) It was then stated that it was a monstrous thing for the Board to take upon itself to recommend any course of action to G . L . It was no such thing , but was , on the contrary , a duty of the Board in the exercise of its legitimate functions , and if the relations with the P . G . L . of Canada had been referred to them years beforethe state of things now

exist-, ing would not exist at all . The GRAND REGISTRAR rose to order and denied that it was competent for Bro . Binckes to enter upon the discussion of that matter , when moving the non-conlirmation of the minutes . R , W . Bro . DOBIE , P . G . R ., said , he understood that part of the report had been adopted , and the other part not actually rejected , but allowed to drop through , and all that was now asked was that the minute of the adoption of the report so far should be confirmed .

There was therefore no opening for Bro . Binckes s amendment . W . Bro . BINCKES thought it unfortunate such a course had been adopted . The M . W . the G . M . —I think the misfortune is that Bro . Binckes was not present at the last meeting of Grand Lodge , when the whole matter was discussed . W . Bro . BINCKES was willing , if out of order , to sit down . The M . W . the G . M . —I do not take it upon myself to say yon are out of order , but should you cany your motion it will amount to the

rejection of all the minutes . W . Bro . BINCKES was willing to take that responsibility , as the report of the Colonial Board might as well be rejected in the gross , as with regard to a portion of it . After a pause , W . Bro . BINCKES said that , having showed that the Colonial Board had not exceeded its power , he should now proceed with the second part of his argument , and prove that in the language of the report there was nothing disrespectful to the G . M .

W . Bro . ROXBURGH said there was no question before the chair upon which Bro . Binckes could go on to refer to the language of the report . W . Bro . BINCKES appealed to the M . W . the G . M . to know if he had permission to go on with his observations . The M . W . the G . M . —You have my permission to do so ; but I tell you that your motion involves the non-confirmation of the whole of

the minutes . W . Bro . BINCKES was thankful to his Lordship , but regretted that he had been so frequently interrupted by the Brethren on the dais . He had a strong objection to the manner in -which the report of the Colonial Board had been received , and felt it his duty to try and have that recalled ; and he had expected , that after the honest , manly , and Masonic confession of his Lordship in March last , there would have been no disposition to quarrel with the report of the Board . As that , however , had not been the case , ho should move the

non-confirmation of the minutes generally , and in doing so , would say that from his lordship he had received every attention and courtesy ; and to his authority he was disposed to bow : but he would ask any unbiassed Bro . present if there was not in action an unconstitutional and an extraneous authority usurped by others in derogation of the dignity of the G . M . ( Hear , hear . ) The M . W . the G . M . —Does any Brother second the motion ? Bro . BENSON said , if no one else was prepared to do so , lie was . ( Ironical cheers . ) He heard some cheers , and would say in answer to

them , Cheer on . Ho thought Bro . Binckes had a good locus standi in moving the rejection of a certain portion of the minutes ; for he considered that the conduct of the Brother , who , at . the last meeting of Grand Lodge , had moved the rejection of a portion of the report of the Colonial Board , had been altogether irregular . At least lie had always imagined—and ho referred to the G . M . if it was not so in another and more important assembly—that when the report of a committee was brought forward ; the first motion made was that it should be adopted . ( Hear , hear . ) If that was so , he must remark that on the occasion of the report of the Colonial Board coming before G . L . at their last meeting , no opportunity was given to any Brother to move its adoption . Before that could be done , up jumps an independent member of G . L ., as he would compliment Bro . Havers , by

calling him ( a laugh ) , and moved as an original motion , that which in regularity should have been an amendment . ( Hear , hear . ) By that means Bro . Havers got the first hearing , placing the supporters of the report at the disadvantage of having to address the Lodge later in the evening , wdien their attention was exhausted , when the lassitude was general , and when they were sick of the very name of a motion . W . Bro . HAVERS claimed the attention of G . L . for a few moments , with regard to observations of Bro . Binckes . That Brother

commenced his speech , by expressing the hope that , whatever might bo their differences of opinion , they would conduct themselves as gentlemen and Masons ; but ho had followed up that very proper wish , by accusing him ( Bro . Havers ) of Jesuitical conduct . ( Hear , hear ; and ironical cheers . ) Now if he ( Bro . Havers ) knew anything of the meaning of the word Jesuit , it meant one who proceeded to his object in an underhand and snake-like manner . He would now ask them if they considered him a gentleman , if they believed that he went straight forward in whatever he had to do ? ( Hearhear ; and a

, titter . ) If that was the case , what became of the charge of his being a Jesuit ? It had always been his maxim to act as an independent Mason ; ( hear , hear , from Bro . Benson ) and whatever was , in his judgment , opposed to the welfare of the Craft , he should ever oppose . Hero some strong observations were interchanged between Bros . Havers and Binckes , and ultimately W . Bro . BINCKES expressed his regret , if in the heat of the moment he had said any tiling disrespectful to G . L . W . Bro . HAVERS most cordially accepted that expression of regret .

When the report was brought up , no one rose on the part of the Colonial Board to move its adoption , or to say one word in its favor , although there were several of its members present . He , finding such to be the case , brought forward his motion , in the framing of which he had most anxiously studied to so word it , that it might not prove offensive to any one . Influenced by that desire , he moved the acceptance of all those portions of the report , which had relation to the duty of the Board . He felt then , and he still felt , that a subordinate body was not in a position to make any recommendation to a

superior one ; and in not moving for the adoption of the other portions of the report , he had been altogether influenced by a sense of duty . He would again deny that he had moved the rejection of any portion of the report ; and therefore nothing could be more irregular than the moving of that which did not require any confirmation . The M . W . the GRAND MASTER inquired of Bro . Benson , if he wished to know what was the parliamentary practice with respect to committees . Bro . BENSON . —Yes .

The M . W . the GRAND MASTER . —At first the report of a committee in parliament is brought up , which is equivalent to a motion here for the reception of the report . It is then discussed , paragraph by paragraph ; so that it may happen that a portion of it is adopted , and a portion rejected . Bro . BENSON . —Ifl understand yourLordshiparight , the first motion made is that the report be brought up , that is , received ; but that it would not be competent for any one to move that it should not be brought up . ( Hear , hear . ) The amendment was then put from the chair , and lost by a considerable majority . The minutes were then confirmed .

BOARD OF GENERAL PURPOSES . On the motion of W . Bro . H . G . WARREN , the report of the Board of General Purposes , of which the following is a copy , was taken as read . " To the United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons . " The Board of General Purposes beg to report , that Mr . Solomon , the owner of the property in Great Queen Street and Queen's Place , adjoining the Society ' s premises on the west side ( the purchase of

which property has boon sanctioned by Grand Lodge ) , being unwilling to sell the freehold at the price that the Grand Lodge had authorised the Board to offer ; and the Board considering that no improvement could be made to the Society ' s property , nor the additional accommodation required by the Craft be obtained until the proposed purchase was completed ; they have entered into an agreement with Mr . Solomon to buy the house , No . 59 , Great Queen Street , and all the houses and that portion of the court belonging to the houses situated in Queen ' s Placeat an advance of £ 250 on the sum alreadsanctioned

, y by Grand Lodge : that an abstract of the title is now in the hands of Mr . Dobie for investigation : and that Mr . Solomon has entered into a contract to complete the purchase and to give up possession , if required , by the 24 th day of December next . "The Board therefore , under all the circumstances , recommend Grand Lodge to authorize them to complete the purchase for the sum of £ 3 , 250 .