Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

Wc do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of ou Correspondents . All Letters must bear the name and address of the Writer , not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

THE PREVIOUS QUESTION ,

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —My attention has been oalled to a letter in the CHRONICLE sigaed " LEX SCRIPTA , " as well as to one or two remarks in a previous number on the same subject . We have to thank the brother who has sought and found the interesting Masonio opinions quoted by him upon "The Previous Question" as a mode of

proceeding in debates . Permit me , however , to make one or two remarks injustice to myself and my moving '' The Previous Question " in Grand Lodge lost Jane . I note that though your correspondent adopts the " nom de * plame " " LEX SCRIPTA , " Mackay ' s " Masonio Parliamentary Law " ( which he quotes ) disonssing the "Previous Question , " says , "there is no

positive law on the subject . " lb ia , therefore , clear that I was not acting illegally in moving the " Previons Question , " nor was tho Deputy Grand Master in not calling me to order , or in putting the motion to the Lodge had my seconder ( Bro . Dr . Garson ) been observed by the Grand Master in the ohair amidst tho agitation and movement going on at the time . But if there was not any legal disability , was there

any moral or Masonio objection ? I venture to contend that if the value of an act depends on its motivo , my act on this occasion was in full accord with the spirit if not the letter of all the Masonio authorities quoted by " LEX SCRIPTA . " It was not only in a " spirit of comity and courtesy , " but in the interest of justice and fairness and consideration for our Law adviser and Colonial Board , that I made

the motion in question . I was , in the words of Dr . Oliver , only anxious " to elicit truth and not simply to secure a victory . " The " Previous Question " may ba misused like many other modes of procedure . I do not shrink from using a knife because knives have been often employed bo tako away human life . I do not sit with my feet in a carpet bag and put out my fire beoause some criminal

has spitefully burnt his neighbour ' s haystack . I do not dispense with the " Previous Question " because certain assemblies ( notably the English Parliament so often toasted and landed ) misuse it to " suppress due inquiry , " to " stifle debate , " or to " silence the voice of the minority . " My object was simply to give time and further opportunity to disouss and consider a very difficult and knotty point

surrounded by more than one complication , and to enable our Grand Kegistrar , Colonial Board , and many members of Grand Lc 3 ge to whom the subjeot was new , to read , mark and inwardly digest the arguments of the three important speakers who had addressed ns . Nor did I forget that owiog to the lamented death of our late Grand Secretary wo were deprived of evidence which might have throwu

much light upon tho point at issue . As to the Cambrian Lodge question , I do not express any opinion , bnt I have no doubt it will be eventually decided , not after an hour ' s heated debate , or in an exoitad meeting , but after grave aud calm deliberation , and with a view to promote that love and harmony which ought always to characterise Freemasonry . Yours fraternally , 11 . J . SIMPSON , P . G . C .

G . L . DUES OF DECEASED MEMBERS .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CUKONICLS . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —It is customary to give special credit to those of our deceased members who happened to be clear on the books of Grand Lodge at the time of their death , should it be necessary to make an appeal for their widow or orphans ; but I fancy

many brethren—yourself among the number , if I may be permitted to Bay so , —are not half careful enough in drawing the line as it should be drawn ; while many Lodges are very often particularly mean when the matter of p » ying dues comes forward for attention . Supposing a Brother has paid his annual subscription to his Lodge ,

and dies before the dues are forwarded to Grand Lodge , I suppose he would be so returned as to bear the reputation of haviDg died a subscriber to tho Craft ? but suppose ho had not paid his annual subscription , would it be a crime for his Lodge to return him as clear ? in other words , pay the few pence in the form of duos which

would place him free on the roil of G . Lodge at his decease ? I think not ; in fact , so far from being a crime to do this I consider it the duty of every Lodge to clear a member ' s name under Bnch circunutances , provided he was not considerably in arrear , and assuming the members regarded him as ono who would have paid

had he lived . I am led to mako theBe remarks by noticing the large number of cases in connection with the coming elections for the two Schools , in which tho dues were apparently paid up till within a few weeks of a Brother ' s decease—making all the difference between a subscriber

" until death " aud ouo who is made to appear as if he dropped out boforo his decease . If , as I imagine , a few pence would havo put the majority of these cases on a different footing I think it is hardl y creditable to our Masonic Fraternity that it should not have been paid .

I am , yours fraternai ' y , ON THE IIOAD . Brit to ! , - Mh Soptombor lb'J 3 .

Correspondence.

FORFEITED VOTES . To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER " , —In your report of tbe meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire it is stated that a boy was elected to tbe It . M . I . B ., but was subsequently taken ill and died before admission . Can you please tell me if , in suoh a case , the votes

polled for the boy (>> r girl ) are sacrifice ! to the Provinoe or Lodge working tbe case , or whether tho Institution makes any recompense for what must be an awful loss to the brethren concerned ? Would it bo permissible to enter another boy ( already approved as a candidate ) in place of the deceasod one , or is it a case for whioh there is neither recompense nor remedy ? Yours fraternally , INQUIKKK .

Tlio Vatican really seems to be unnecessarily touchy . It has always set its face hard against Freemasonry , and it may bo owned that in France , at least , if not in Italy , Freemasonry has become almost synonymous with Freethinking ; but that the Vatican should despatch a note to

all tbe Powers protesting against the fact that the Freemasons have takon the first floor of the Borghese Palace and established a Grand Lodge there , borders upon tbe ridiculous . No doubt it ia annoying that a building which was once Papal property should be used for

such a purpose , but when either a Pope or a private person sells a house ho ceases to have any farther control over the letting of rooms there . We have never yet heard of an Anti-Vaccinationist who has uttered a protest , because one who has bought a house from him should

choose to let the ground floor to a public vaccinator . Such a complaint as this made formally to the Governments oi Europe is—to say the least of it—a serious

blunder . It betrays a petulant irritability that ia in the highest degree undignified , and will lessen the force of future remonstrances , even upon subjects in which there may be a solid ground for complaint . —Standard .

Obituary.

Obituary .

— •«»—MAJOR GEORGE FRANCIS IRWIN . THE death of Major Irwin , which occurred on the 26 th of

July last , has , by some inadvertency , hitherto escaped notice in the Masonic newspapers . The immediate cause of death was syncope , arising from Angina pectoris , after an illness of two days only . The deceased was sixty-fivo vears of age , and leaves a widow to deplore his loss . Bro .

Irwin cutered the Royal Engineers , 8 th November 1842 , and after an Army Service of upwards of twenty-ono years , was , on the occasion of the original foundation of the Gloucestershire Volunteer Engineers , commissioned as Adjutant , retiring some ten years ago with the rank of

Major . Our deceased Brother was initiated in 1858 , in Gibraltar , and succeeded Bro . R . F . Gould as W . M . of tho Inhabitants Lodge , No . 153 , at the same station in 1859 . On tbe 7 th of April 1886 ho was elected a full member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , No . 2076 , and his name remained on its roll until hia death .

BRO . W . FISH .

THE funeral took place an the 12 th inst ., at Anfield Cemetery , Liverpool , of Bro . William Fish , who died in his fiftyninth yoar on Saturday last . The deceased was a wellknown Freemason , having passed the chair in the Neptuno Lodge , No . 1264 .

BRO . ISAAC EYRE .

BiiO . Eyre , of Sheffield , died very suddenly last weak at his residence , aud was buried on Saturday . Ho was u P . M . of the Wentworth Lodge , No . 1239 , a P . M . of tho Britaunia Mark Lodge , No . 53 , and Scribe E . of the Chapter of Paradise , No . 139 . Severe Craftsmen woro among those who attended the xaneral .

BRO . W . MACKNEY .

THE remains of the late Bro . Wm . Mackuey P . M . Marlborough Lodge , No . 1620 , were interred at the West Derby Cemetery on the 25 th inst . There was a good muster of members of that Lodgo , as also the W . M . and several members of the Fail-Held , No . 2290 .