Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS ' Masonic Benevolence in iS 8 j a Consecration of the Dalhousie Chapter , No . 860 * Consecration of St . Eilian Mark Lodge ,

No . 360 , at Amlwch J Free Craftsmen of Edinburgh 3 CORRESPONDENCEA Correction 5 Reviews 5 REPORTS ur MASONIC M EETINGSCraft Masonry fi Instruction 9 Royal Arch 9

Proposed Provincial Grand Lodge for the Isle of Man 9 Masonic Benevolence in Lancashire 9 Board of Benevolence 9 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls g

Emulation Lodge of Improvement of Gloucestershire 9 One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Lodge of Industry , No . 4 S 9 The Theatres 10 Masonic and General Tidings 11 f Lodge Meetings for Next Week 12

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THOSE who have had the opportunity of reading our Summary of the year 1885 will have gathered from the opinions therein expressed that the Craft enters upon the new year under most auspicious circumstances . We pointed out last week that Freemasonry had done more during the past year in the way of consolidation than in that of extension , and it follows , as a matter

of course , that it will be in a better position to face any trials that may await it during the period of 12 months just entered upon . This is most gratifying . We do not anticipate there will be any severe trials in store for us ; but there is fair reason for believing that there is plenty of hard work awaiting us , which it will tax all our energy and resources to carry out satisfactorily ;

nor are the limes just now , either commercially or politically , as bright and encouraging as we could wish . Yet the work before us is of no ordinary character . It will not be the easiest thing in the world to satisfy the pressing requirements of our three Institutions . The Benevolent Institution will have as many candidates as last year , and whatever may chance to be the

number of vacancies to be declared at the appointed time , there will be needed close on £ 17 , 000 for annuities and cost of management . The Girls ' School , too , has been under the necessity of incurring an extra expenditure of £ 5700 in the purchase of land , and the Boys' School will need a round ^ 3000 to make good the moneys already expended on the New Hall and

Preparatory School Buildings . It is , perhaps , unfortunate that all this additional outlay should have been incurred at or about the same time j but we do not see how the mishap could have been prevented . In any circumstances , the needs of our three Charities for the coming year will be unprecedently heavy , and if they are to be maintained at their present standard ,

there is no doubt that unusual exertions must be put forth by the brethren , in order to enable the several Executive Committees to accomplish that indispensable condition of good management , which is commonly known as " making both ends meet . " We know of nothing else in the way of any pressing emergency which may await us in the coming twelvemonth ; but ,

apart from what is as yet unforeseen , it will be allowed that the provision out of voluntary contributions of over ^ 40 , 000 for the requirements of our Institutions is a matter which must cause a large amount of anxiety , and we can only express a hope that the requisite funds may be forthcoming . For ourselves , we have no serious misgivings that the obligations which have

been undertaken by the brethren of this country will be fulfilled , and with probably a small margin over ; but we should be shirking a manifest duty if we do not place the whole of the pictme before our readers at once , so that any assistance they may propose to offer may be regulated with a view to the benefit not so much of this or that Institution as of the three taken

together . However , as we have remarked already , we enter upon the year 1886 under very favourable conditions as regards the interior condition of the Craft , and though , if matters do not go smoothly in the political and commercial worlds , we cannot expect to escape wholly from the general

depression that must follow , we must take care that our means are sufficiently well organised to provide what is indispensable . If we cannot go beyond the point we have already reached , let us endeavour to avoid a retrograde movement . Whatever happens , our necessitous brethren and the widows and families of deceased brethren must be provided for adequately .

* * * OUR good Brother SJ'E TH objects to our interpretation of Rule 141 ( Constitutions , 1 SS 4 ) , and maintains that " neither the I . P . M ., nor the P . M ., nor any other Past Master can claim" the Chair " as a right" in the event of the " outgoing Master being present , but unwilling to

perform the installation ceremony . " We assume that "I . P . M . meant that the W . M . did not intend to occupy the Chair , during tbe ceremony being worked by a P . M . Of course , so long as the Master occupies the Chair , he can call any one to his side , to assist

him in the " work , that he feels inclined to ask , and no one else then has a right to object , or to claim the Chair . If , however , the W . M . is present in the lodge , but not in the chair , and not intending to occupy it , the only brother who has the right to take the chair is the I . P . M . ; or failing him , the senior P . M . present , and willing so to do . We take it ,

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that the Grand Lodge assumes that when the W . M . is present , he is able and willing to discharge all the duties of his office ( though unfortunately it is but an assumption in numerous instances ) . Hence should the W . M . be present , yet not be competent to instal his successor , or not desirous of doing so , and hence not be in the chair , such action would be equivalent to his absence as respects his control of the then lodge business and ceremonies . Surely to be Ruler in the lodge means to be Chairman ,

and therefore to cease to be Chairman , by leaving the chair , of necessity should be treated as if the W . M , were absent personally from the lodge ; when the law provides for the occupancy of the Chair by the ( . P . M . or Senior P . M ., as a matter of right , though that right might be waived . At least this is our view of the point raised , and we consider it is based on the Ex-Grand Registrar's decision respecting the privileges of the W . M . and his predecessors in the Chair .

* # * IT appears to be a sin , or something very closely akin to it , that a young English Prince , who has expressed a wish to become a member of our Society , should prefer being initiated into our mysteries in as quiet and unostentations a way as possible . Otherwise , it is difficult to account for the angry—and we are compelled to add , in some instances , the

stupidtwaddle which has been published by some of our American contemporaries as to the alleged irregularity of Prince ALBERT VICTOR ' S initiation into our Order in the earlier half of last year . We can hardly imagine they would have had the Royal Alpha Lodge , in which the event took place , hire St . Paul's Cathedral , or the Tower , or the Houses of Parliament , for the occasion . Yet they seem to think that because the initiation was not

carried out in a room as big as one of these buildings , and as capable as they are of accommodating a few thousands of brethren , it was carried out irregularly , and that Prince ALBERT VICTOR OF WALES is not a duly made Mason . Bro . J OHN'W . SIMONDS , for instance , a Past Grand Master of New York , and the Masonic editor of the New York Dispatch refuses "to admit his initiation as regular . " The Portland Masonic

Journal "says amen to this ; " while as regards the International Masonic Review , of Detroit , Michigan , its editor tells us that " a sort of chill comes comes over our Masonic corpus ( sic !) to learn that any one person is entitled to a more grand , select , aristocratic making than this fellow . " We should feel some sympathy with our contemporary's " corpos " if it were of a more refined quality . As it is we content ourselves with

pointing out that this kind of vulgar comment is humiliating to the journals which make them or permit them to be made . They show , too , that our contemporaries , whatever else they may have gained from their connection with Freemasonry , have not , as yet at all events , made acquaintance with that courtesy and kindliness of spirit which is presumed to have a place among the attributes of our Craft . The Prince ' s initiation was perfectly regular , none but members of the Royal Alpha being present , because

the lodge , being a small one , has the good sense to meet in a small room , and consequently there was no accommodation for visitors . But even if the room had been as big as a continent , we fail to see why a young Prince may not be introducad into our Society as ceremoniously , yet with as little formality , as plain unsophisticated Mr , A B C , or Mr . X Y Z . The next time any of our American Masonic contemporaries discover a mare ' s nest , we trust it will have about it a slight amount of reputability .

* # * THE Committee to whom was entrusted the question of the portraits for the Corinthian Hall , Masonic Temple , Philadelphia , one of the grandest , and probably the finest of its kind in the world , reported that they had secured a full length painting of Bro . STEPHEN GIRARD , the well known Masonic and sreneral ohilanthronist of the oast , whose trood deeds will alwavs

oroclaim his worth in the state of Pennsylvania . The portrait is one of four now placed in position , the remainder being those of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN , GEORGE WASHINGTON , and the Marquis DE LA FAYETTE . These portraits are objects of just pride to our brethren in the " Keystone " state , as also another in the same Hall of "Bro . GEORGE WASHINGTON , as a Mason , " who has been well described as " the Father of his Country . "

* # * THE " Masonic Record of Western India" is just to hand for November , 1 S 85 . There are several items of interest therein worth noting . The Grand Lodge of Scotland has tendered to the Scottish Masons in South Australia its thanks for thc courteous manner tlie translation was made from the older to the new regime , and has consented to their Warrants being retained " as mementoes of the Grand Lodge from which they sprung , and as

a fraternal recollection of the advantages both obtained . " 1 he prosperity of the Craft in South Australia is so marked that a movement is on foot for the publication of a Masonic Journal . The failure of the " Rough Ashlar " evidently does not deter the brethren from again seeking light through local channels , as well as by reading the Freemason , which seeks to be the organ of the Craft universal ; and so we wish their project every success .