The Grand Treasurership.

THE GRAND TREASURERSHIP .

LAST week we announced that at the regular Qnarterly Communication of Grand Lodge , held on the previous Wednesday , two brethren were nominated for the office of Grand Treasurer of England for the ensuing year . The election for this

appointment will , as usual , take place on the occasion of the March Communication , when there is every prospect of the contest being as animated and as severe as at any time since the Grand Treasurership came to be

regarded as an office to be held only for a single year . By this time a large number of Metropolitan brethren , and not a few Provincials , who have a voice in election

me , and who are liKeiy to attend brand Lodge when the matter comes on for consideration , have pledged themselves to support one or other of these two candidates , and yet we may look forward

to a busy period of canvassing on the part of those who are taking more than an ordinary interest in advocating the cause of the brethren who are now . eligible for the post .

"We feel considerable surprise , year by year , that so important an appointment as that of Grand Treasurer , —now that it has come to be regarded as an

office calling for a fresh holder each time , —should not attract more than two nominations , and we are still at a loss to understand the apathy which appears to exist in many quarters in reference to what mav

truly be described as one of the most important annual events in connection with the English Craft . We can understand that in the case of the Supreme

Head of the Order change is undesirable , —no better ruler than the Prince of Wales could be found ; and we hope , with the majority—or we may almost say the entire Craft—that he will loner do ns the nrninnv nf

— — — — — _—w „„„„ ^ j , „» filling the Grand Master ' s Chair . The same may perhaps be said in regard to the President and Vice-Presidents of the Board of Benevolence ; were the knowledge gained by experience is no doubt very useful , and at the same time serviceable to the Craft ;

out when it comes to the Past Masters who are to serve on that Board , and the brethren who are to form the various Committees of Grand Lodge , we certainly cannot account for what appears to us as evidence of

wide-spread apathy and lack of interest . For instance , at the last meeting of Grand Lodge twelve Past Masters had to be elected to serve on the Board of Benevolence . There were only twelve nominations ; a matter of frequent occurrence in connection witli

these and similar elections ; and so it only remained for the acting Grand Master to declare the said nominees duly chosen as the representatives of the

Craft , a result , we think , which is more to be regretted than approved of . But even in this and similar elections the apathy is not so surprising as

is the case in regard to the Grand Treasurership . A member of the Craft chosen to fill a place on one j of the Committees or Boards of Grand Lodge acquires

The Grand Treasurership.

no life-long honour such as attaches to the Grand Treasurer , who for all time is regarded as a Grand Officer , and is regularly honoured as such . What ¦ fcVi fm n . n . r ) VIA +. 1 IA ftansfi fnv -f . ViA rtfPin . a TiAincr ffr > II MIA

sought after , or at least so sparingly contested ? Can it be that Freemasons , as a body , are indifferent to the honour it bestows , or are there so few who possess friends and power enough to secure the coveted i

dignity We are aware there are many ways of answering the queries we have propounded , and we also know that what we regard as evidence of apathy is in other quarters looked on as proof of unanimity . We shall

proceed to consider these varied opinions , and leave our readers to formulate a verdict for themselves . At the present time , as we have already said , the English Craft considers that two of its members are worthy of the honours of the Grand Treasurership ,

and accordingly they have been nominated for the appointment . We are personally acquainted with both these gentlemen , and but for the fact that we have known Bro . George Everett longer and more intimately than has been the case with Bro . Edward

Terry , we might have some difficulty in deciding who to favour . With such a narrow distinction between the two candidates it may well be understood we do not feel inclined to advocate

the cause ol one oi them at the expense of the other ; rather we urge a friendly rivalry , and leave the result to be decided on the basis of proving which side possesses the most friends with a voice in Grand

Lodge affairs and the inclination to attend on a given day and record a vote . Fortunately past contests for the office have invariably been conducted with the greatest cordiality and good feeling ; no

bitterness has ever been imported into the struggle , and we hope that similar Masonic feeling will be evinced at all times in the future . But this does not get over our first impression , that the absence of

candidates is proof of apathy and disinterestedness , and we cannot accept as an answer thereto the argument of those who urge that the limited number of

nominations is proof of unanimity . We cannot see how this unanimity is to be made manifest without a contest , and though we are aware that those who take upon themselves the nomination of a candidate

may have been worinng lor weelis previously , we also know they have little trouble to secure for their candidate a comparatively clear field . It is not that a

number oi candidates are mentioned , and a selection has to be made , but rather that one , or perhaps two others are in the field , while tho qualifications of each are frequently so uniform as to leave the ultimate decision merely a question of personal friendship ,

influence or regard . We have already said that our esteem for the two candidates is divided , —that on the principle of

being true to the old love we lean to the side of Brother George Everett , who , it is also mentioned , has the claim of longer membership to urge in his