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CONTENTS . LEADERS- . PAGE A Devonian Lodge in London ... ... ¦•••••5 " Masonry in New South VVales ... ... •••^ •••5 " Masonic Jurisprudence ... _ _ ... _ _•••. — ••••••S '

United Grand Lodge of England ( Agenda Paper ) ... ... ... 5 * Mark Grand Lodge ( Agenda Paper ) ... ... ... •••5 * 3 Provincial Grand Lodge of Isle of Man ... ... ... - 5 ' . 1 An Address ... — <••— — •••¦¦ 5 ' 5

M ASONIC NOTESAgenda Paper of United Grand Lodge of England ... ... ... 5 ' 7 Agenda Paper of Mark Grand Lodge ... ... ... ¦••5 ' 7 Masonic Jurisprudence ... ... ... ••••••5 ' 7

Correspondence ... ... _ •••— ••¦ •••5 ' 8 Provincial Grand Lod ^ e of Devonshire ... ... ... •••S ^ Ihe Bond of Brotherhood ... ... ... ... •••S Obituary ... ... •» - - - - 5 2 ' Science , Art and the Drama ... ... ... ... ••¦ 5 Misonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ••¦ 5 4 Craft Masonry ... ... ... •••— •¦•5 4

A Devonian Lodge In London.

A DEVONIAN LODGE IN LONDON .

It was to be expected that when residents in London , hailing from different counties , set about founding clubs and societies for the benefit of themselves ancl sojourners from those counties , it would not be very long before lodges were inaugurated for a

like purpose . Hence the United Northern Counties , No . 2128 , which was warranted in 1 SS 5 ; the Cornish Lodge , No . 236 9 , in 1890 ; the Lancastrian , No . 2528 , in 1 S 94 , of which , if our memory serves us aright , the late Karl of Lathom , Pro ( i . M ., and

Prov . G . Master of West Lancashire , was the lirst YV . Master , and others , which may havc escaped our notice . Now we hear there is a scheme afoot for founding a lodge for the benefit of brethren hailing from or connected with the County of Devon .

Bro . WELLSMAN , C . C , is exerting all his great energies in order to ensure the success of the project . A warrant , we are told , has already been applied for , and liro . the Earl of IIALSIIURY , Lord High Chancellor , is designated as the lirst W . Master ,

while Lord CllURSTON , of Churston Ferrers , will be one of the ofiicers , and not improbably Bro . GEORGE LAMBERT , M . P . Bro . WELLSMAN , who is the S . W . designate , is hopeful of

success , many brethren having already expressed a desire to join , while there is every likelihood of an exceptionally large number of candidates for initiation . Messrs . SPIERS and POND '

Holborn Viaduct Hotel has been selected for the lodge ( juarters . We trust the scheme for establishing a Devonian Lodge in London will be carried to a successful issue .

Masonry In New South Wales.

MASONRY IN NEW SOUTH WALES .

If we may judge from the reports we have read in the Australasian Masonic newspapers that have lately reached us—•1 summary of one of which was published in our columns on l'ie 1 Sth ult . —the course of Masonry in the Colony of New

"•¦ outh Wales lias not been for some time past a particularly smooth one . The trouble appears to have originated in the " ¦ •fusal of the President of the Board of General Purposes to a'Io \ v certain resolutions moved bv one of the members of that

b 0 ( l y , to be put , and , on the mover , at the March meeting of the J ° ard , endeavouring to propose dissent from such ruling , ' - 'daring the meeting closed . Thereupon a petition , signed by lc Grajul Registrar and 16 other members of the Board , was

Masonry In New South Wales.

forwarded to the Grand Master , with a request that he would be pleased to summon a special meeting of Grand Lodge for the purpose of taking into consideration the action of the President in ruling the member ' s motions out of order . The Grand

Master declined to accede to the request of the petitioners ; but as he considered the question whether the President ' s Reports of the Board's proceedings should be submitted to the Board previous to being presented to Grand Lodge was well

worthy of being considered , he announced his intention of referring the subject to Grand Lodge at its next regular meeting in June . At the regular meeting of the Board of General Purposes in April , after the minutes of the previous Board had been

confirmed , a motion for adjournment was carried in spite of an appeal by the Grand Treasurer that the Board would , first of all , authorise payment of certain accounts which had been passed by its own Finance Committee . A second petition was then

forwarded to the Grand Master , inviting him to reconsider his previous decision , and summon a special meeting , but the most Worshipful received this as an attempt at coercing him , and declined . At the May meeting of the Board the consideration

of a message from thc Grand Master with reference to a petition from 28 brethren for a warrant for a new lodge was postponed by a large majority of votes , and all the other business on the agenda paper having been similarl y treated , an attempt was

made to renew the motions which had been ruled out of order ; but the President remained firm to his previous rulino-. and ultimately closed the meeting . At the Grand Lodge in June the Grand Master submitted for the consideration of the

brethren two questions , in ( he first of which he invited them to say whether the President of the Board of General Purposes was right in ruling out of order certain motions proposed to be brought forward by one of its members , while in the second he

he asked them to say if they desired a change from the practice hitherto in force "by which the President of the Board of General Purposes prepares the reports of the Board in the shape of almost literal transcripts of its minutes . " Grand

Lodge , in reply to the first question , declined b y 16 7 to 134 votes that the ruling of the President was ri ght , on which the Grand Master , having regard to thc largeness of the minority , recommended that Grand Lodge should answer affirmativel y the

second question with a view to enabling the Board to reconsider the matter . This was accordingly done , all but unanimousl y , and the Grand Lodge proceeded to deal with the remaining business .

We offer no opinion upon the question ori ginally at issue . It is immaterial whether the President of the Board of General Purposes was-right or wrong in deciding that certain motions were out of order . A reference to Grand Lodge such as was

ultimately made would have settled the matter in a regular manner , but the course adopted by the majority of the Board both in postponing payment of accounts which its own Committee had passed , and then in refusing to entertain the Grand

Master s message , was undignified and un-Masonic , and , having regard to thc fact that Grand Lodge , though only by a moderate majority , has justified the President in his ruling , we trust the matter will be dealt with in a becoming spirit , and without animus in either direction .