A United Craft.

A UNITED CRAFT .

WE are extremely gratified , and we believe the general feeling will be one of satisfaction , that our Grand Lodge , at the Special meeting on Wednesday , decided to recognise the Grand Lodge of New Zealand , and thus put an end to what has long been a reproach to the Craft .

There is yet another split to heal—that of Quebec—and we hope the Grand Master will soon see his way to take in hand the case of our Brethren there . No matter who ia

right or who wrong , the kindly intervention of the Prince of Wales would , we confidently anticipate , soon lead to an adjustment of the differences that exist , and thus would

another disagreement among Masons be put an end to , and our boast of unanimity and Brotherly love be brought nearer realisation .

R.M.B.I. Lodge Votes.

R . M . B . I . LODGE VOTES .

THE opposition we expected from London Brethren to the proposal submitted for the Special Meeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution last Tuesday was so strong as to lead to the exclusion of the metropolis from the proposed rule , which was unanimously agreed to so far as the Provinces

were affected . We report the meeting in full elsewhere and congratulate Bro . Whitmarsh on having conceived and successfully launched a project that will immediately effect a saving of an amount equal to a Widow ' s annuity , and may

ere long represent an economy sufficient to create another aged Brother ' s pension of £ 40 a year . The attendance at the meeting was but small , it is true , but the points of the case were fully discussed and , we believe , satisfactorily arranged .

Royal Arch Masonry.

ROYAL ARCH MASONRY .

OUTSIDE of Freemasonry the trouble for a considerable period has been to know what to do with the rising generation—the boys and the girls of to-day being a source of considerable anxiety when the settlement of their future has to be decided . Within the ranks of the Order the trouble

seems to be what to do with the seniors , in the form of the Supreme Degree of the Royal Arch ; for no sooner is one proposal with a view to the improvement of the Degree submitted , approved of and adopted , than it becomes apparent

that some other attraction will have to be found , in order to secure the support and popularity that is desirable , nay , necessary , for the future of this section of the English Order . A few months back there was considerable

excitementin a manner of speaking—over the proposal to reduce the period of probation necessary in a . Master Mason ere he could be advanced to the Sublime Degree , but it was pointed

out that some step was absolutely necessary to popularise the Royal Arch , and the new arrangement was sanctioned ; but there are not many who will claim even a moderate success

Royal Arch Masonry.

for that step ; as a matter of fact we believe the alteration has had little or no effect on the Degree , which is to-day in almost as sleepy a state as it was when the shorter period

for preparation was proposed and decided upon , and the question now comes , what is to be done in order to arouse enthusiasm in what is regarded as the crowning point of a Mason ' s education ?

From the Agenda of Business to be transacted at next week's meeting of Grand Chapter , given elsewhere in this issue , it will be seen the practice of excluding Companions other than Installed Principals from the opening of Chapters

is sought to be abolished—m the hope of making the work more popular , it is to be surmised—and we believe there are very many Companions who will support Comp . Garrod in his proposition , as the exclusiveness of the opening has long been a matter of regret in many quarters .

Whether the alteration will have the effect of creating new interest in the Degree is a matter the future can alone decide—we have our doubts on the point , doubts which are but

a continuation of those previously expressed in connection with other recent proposed alterations in the work of this branch of Freemasonry .

The other business before Grand Chapter is likely to arouse but little excitement , although there will be many who will regret the loss of Comp . Robert Grey as President of the

Committee of General Purposes , and as many who will be ready to support the proposed grant on behalf of Guy ' s Hospital .

Mr . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., the senior Member of the House of Commons next to Mr . Villiers , having uninterruptedly represented a portion of Hampshire for thirty-nine years , was present on the 22 nd ult . at a dinner given in his honour at Andover . Major Poore , Chairman of the local Conservative

Association , presided , and Mrs . Beach and several ladies were among the company . The Chairman , in proposing the toast . of the day , the health of Mr , Beach , mentioned that that gentleman was first elected to represent North Hampshire in 1857 , and that since 1885 he had been returned unopposed . Mr . Beach was

also most popular as a country squire and landlord and a master of hounds , while he was widely known to the Masonic Craft as Provincial Grand Master of Hants and the Isle of Wight , and a member of the Grand Lodge of England , besides being a Past Grand Master of the Mark Masons . The toast was drunk with enthusiasm , and Mr .. Beach suitably responded . — " Standard . "

In the current number of "The Craftsman , " a journal published for Freemasons in Wales and the Border Counties , there is a strikingly successful portrait of Mr . W . Peers , the clerk of the Chester Corporation Committees , accompanied by an interesting sketch of his Masonic career , says the " Chester

Courant . " The occasion which called these forth was the recent consecration in Chester of the Travellers Lodge of Freemasons , of which Bro . Peers had been chosen first W . M . The biographical sketch notes how Bro . Peers went through the chairs of the Lodge of Independence , and subsequently received Provincial

honours , to be followed by a still higher distinction in September last , when Lord Egerton made him Prov . G . S . D . It also states that Bro . Peers is Chairman of the Chester Division of the Cheshire Charity Council and a P . Z . of the Grosvenor Chapter of Royal Arch Freemasons .