Quarterly Communication Of United Grand Lodge.

Tbe Grand Secretary next reported , that the Grand Steward who was nominated last year for the Eoyal Somerset HOUSJ and Inverness Lodge , No . 4 , Bro . Herbert

dc | Sterrt , having resigned his Lodge , and become ineligible to act , the Lodgo had nominated in his place Brother the Rev . A . W . Oxford W . M ., and that nomination had been ratified and approved by tho M . W . G . M .

Bro . F . A . Philbrick , Q . C , Grand Registrar , said that as a communication had been made to Grand Lodge by the Grand Secretary with regard to the Dnke of Connanght , he begged to move that the reply of his Royal Highness

be entered npon the minntes of Grand Lodge . Ho thought it was dne to Grand Lodge that his Royal Highness ' s gracious reply in acceptance should appear on Grand Lodge records . The motion was seconded , and carried .

Bro . Beach then read the following communication from the Most Worshipful Grand Master : —

The Most Worshipfnl Grand Master regrets to have to inform Grand Lodge that in the month of August last he received a-Report from the District Grand Lodge of Wellington , New Zealand , that Brother Sir Robert Stont , K . O . M . G ., Past Assistant G . Director of

Ceremonies , and Deputy District Grand Master of Otago and Southland , had obtained a Warrant from the Grand Orient of France , to establish a Lodgo nnder it in New Zealand , and had , under that authority , recently opened a Lodge in the town of Wellington in that Colony , of which Lodgo he is the Master .

On receipt of this information , the Grand Master directed the Grand Secretary to address Brother Sir Robert Stont on the subject , and to call on him for an explanation of the grounds on which he felt himself justified in thns taking part in an invasion of British

territory by a foreign Masonic Body , and especially by one , many of whose members had been declared , by a Solemn Resolution of the Grand Lodge of England , on the Gth March 1878 , not to be true and genuine Brethren .

A reply has now been received from Brother Sir Robert Stont on the subject , in whioh he admits the facts alleged , and seeks to justify his action . Under these circumstances , the Grand Master , with mnch regret ,

feels that he has no alternative bat to make a complaint of the conduct of Brother Sir Robert Stont , and to submit the matter , with the correspondence relating thereto , to Grand Lodge for its consideration and decision .

The Grand Secretary read the correspondence which had taken place on the subject , and next Bro . Philbrick , in laying tho matter before Grand Lodge , said the Grand Master regretted to havo to make such a communication to Grand Lodge , and had asked the Grand Lodge to take

into consideration the complaint which he made to it of tho conduct of one of its Officer ? , and that they should consider and decide npon tho circumstances of tho cage . After the correspondence which had just been read , he thought the facts stood pretty clearly before them . The

colony of New Zealand was a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Its governor was appointed by the Sovereign of this country , and writs went in the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen , and the ultimate appeal was hero fo Her Majesty in

Council . He could not conceive , therefore , apart from Masonic question , a case of a land which was more a colony of this Kingdom . With regard to the Masonic jurisdictions ;—there wero five English District Grand Lodges , the District Grand Masters of which were appointed by

the M . W . G . M ., the Deputy of one of them being Sir Robert Stout himself . There were also a District Grand Lodgo holding under the Grand Lodge of Scotland , and one "under the Grand Lodge of Ireland , respectively , besides which , as Sir R . Stout mentioned , there was a fourth bod y

which , at a very recent Quarterly Communication , Grand Lodge declined to recognise as being the Graud Lodge of New Zealand . Under those circumstances all three jurisdictions , England , Scotland , and Ireland , being lawful within the colony , each having Masons , all of whom held

allegiance to a Grand Lodge situate within their jurisdiction of the United Kingdom , and there having been no invasion of that colony by any other actual or pretended foreign Masonic jurisdiction whatever , he thought he was not going beyond what the good sense of every Mason present

would confirm , when he said that they had here a clear case—as clear a case as coald be—of a territorial Masonic jurisdiction of the United Kingdom . He ventured to say that that which had been alleged by Bro . Sir Robert Stout , in his long and elaborate defence in answer to the Grand

Secretary , who challenged him on the matter , would hardly carry the opinion of Grand Lodge with it . With regard to Bro . Sir R . Stout himself , his act was an extremely clear one , as he himself admitted . In a colony such as Uo ( Bro . Philbrick ) had described , with Maaonic matters

Quarterly Communication Of United Grand Lodge.

in it snch as he had also put before this Grand Lodge , Sir Robert Stout had brought a warrant purporting to establish a Masonic Lodge , of which be was , and is , tho

first W . M ., holding under the Graud Orient of Franco . Bro . Sir Robert Stout took an exception to the fact that Grand Lodge of England had held themselves not to be iii full Masonio union with the Grand Orient of Franco .

Unfortunately at the moment , from causes the existence of which they all deplored , that was true ; but if any brother within the sound of his voice would reflect for one moment he would see ifc did not matter even where the body was irregular—which ho was far from saying the Grand Orient

was—although there might be Masons in it professing doctrines to which English Masons never subscribed , bat if it were irregular , that did not in any way alter the case . If the Lodge was the most regular Lodge in the world , and in amity with the Grand Lodge of England , if it took

on itself to establish a Lodge of its own anywhere where the Union Jack flew it would be guilty of a great Masonic mistake . In all cases ho ventured to say the real and sound doctrine was the general rule that where the flag flies to take another jurisdiction into that territory was

invasion . It was so , in common sense , in general and ordinary matters , and according to French law , and he ventured to think the Masonic law in point of principle did not differ . It was hardly worth while to quote principle in such a matter , but that was the accepted doctrine

of Grand Lodge in regard to the case of 1863 , when a case came before the Grand Master of the Supreme Conseil of France , which was another body , a supreme body iu Masonry of France , and which had issued a warrant for Jersey , and a Lodge had been established there under it ,

and its first Master was a brother under the English Constitution . He was summoned before Grand Lodge , and the matter was fully gone into . His ( Bro . Philbrick ' s ) distinguished predecessor ( Bro . Mclntyre ) , in advising Grand Lodge , very clearly laid down that the jurisdiction

of Grand Lodge of England extended over the island of Jersey , and bringing in a warrant under the Grand Conseil of France was an invasion ; the brother was therefore suspended from all his Masonic privileges till he had made due submission to the Grand Master , and till tho Grand

Master was pleased to remove his suspension . He ( Bro . Philbrick ) did nofc think he need trouble Grand Lodge by dilating further . Bro . Sir Robert Stout was not an inexperienced Mason ; he was one of us , he was initiated under onr Constitution , he had occupied the chair in a

Lodge holding under tho District Grand Lodge of England , and had been appointed and was under the District Graud Lodge of Otago and Southland . Moreover , he had received the honours of Grand Lodge , having been appointed Past Grand Assistant Director of Ceremonies .

Being , therefore , an experienced Mason , his act had been a deliberate one , and ho defended ifc , and said that Grand Lodge was a Court of Appeal and not a Court of First Instance . Ho ( Bro . Philbrick ) would very much like to know how a District Grand Lodge in New Zealand or any

other foreign part would interfere between Grand Lodgo and an Officer of Grand Lodge . But . apart from that , on principle , this Grand Lodge had a jurisdiction , and a direct and absolute jurisdiction over every brother who was a member of it—certainly over the Grand Officers ,

and it actually asserted that jurisdiction more than once , and in a very early period of United Grand Lodge of England , after the Union , in the year 1816 it did so , and in the case of a Bro . Bonner , the Grand Lodge resolved that he be deprived of his insignia as a Grand Officer and

all the privileges arising therefrom . Therefore both princi ples , Masonic precedent and Masonic law , showed that Grand Lodge had a direct and primary jurisdiction over all those who were members of it , certainl y over Grand Officers . Bro . Sir Robert Stout says further , and

in a matter of this importance Grand Lodgo would pardon him ( Bro . Philbrick ) for referring to what he said in his defence , for the Grand Lodge ought to consider it fullythat Graud Lodge had no more concern with the matter than if he had joined the Oddfellows , the Foresters , or fche Buffaloes . Sir Robert Stout said Grand Lodge had no

concern in the matter , because the Grand Orient of iranoo was nofc a recognised Masonic body . Taking the question of invasion , he would put an analogy not entirely exact ,

but sufficient perhaps to convey his meaning . Suppose the case of an invasion of one country by another ; would it bo any answer if the invaders , caught rod handed , after landing wore to say they were not invaders , hecauao they