United Grand Lodge.

they increased the number of Deacons and gave a Deputy Director of Ceremonies that would satisfy the provincial brethren . A Brother wanted to know when this arrangement was to take effect . He bad heard it stated that it was to take effect at and after Grand Festival of 1 S 82 . As an old member of a Provincial Grand Lodge , he desired lo know whether this would also apply to Provincial Grand Lodges .

Bro . Sir J 13 . MONCKTON said Provincial Grand Lodges met at different dates each year . In any province affected by this recommendation after the confirmation of the minutes of the present meeting in September , the Provincial Grand Lodge could make the additional appointments . Some of the Provincial Grand Lodges met in August , some in September , and some in October .

. . Bro . MCINTYRE said the Provincial Grand Master fixed the date of the meeting of his Grand Lodge . Therefore , if his Grand Lodge met after the present minutes were confirmed he could make the appointments . The motion was carried . The next recommendation in the report of the Board of General Purposes

was—The Board have to report further that their Premises Committee have laid before them a statement that an opportunity occurs of acquiring a Freehold Stable and premises in New Yard adjoining the property of Grand Lodge ; that £ 1000 has been asked for these premises , which ' the Committee consider far in excess of its value , but , after careot tne in wouia

ful consideration , are of opinion that tor the sum i , ooo premises question be a useful acquisition to Grand Lodge , and the Board agreeing with the Premises Committee in their opinion recommend Grand ' Lodge to authorise the purchase of the said freehold premises ( containing some 450 feet superficial ) at a price not exceeding £ ° - . . .

Bro . Sir John B . MONCKTON in introducing the recommendation as a motion , said a year ago the Board in a similar matter acted to the best of their discretion for the benefit of Grand Lodge . While however their intentions were not impeached , the strict and literal interpretation oLtheir powers was impeached , and the matter was referred to a Committee , which subsequently reported that they had not acted within their powers . The Board therefore were now slow to take the step they did before , and therefore they

came to Grand Lodge for authority , and had to publish to the world the amount of money they were to pay for a piece of land . What the consequences might be he did not know , but he did not think it would be always satisfactory to Grand Lodge . He then explained the size and position ' of the land it was proposed to purchase , and the price it had been valued at by their own surveyor , £ 600 , and concluded by making his motion . Lieut .-Col . CREATON , Grand Treasurer , seconded the motion .

Bro . MCINTYRE , while having the greatest confidence that trie Board would not lay out one farthing of the money of Grand Lodge which was not to thcadvantageof Grand Lodge , and which Grand Lodge wouldnotapprove , would like to add "or such other sum as may appear necessary to the Board of General Purposes . "

The Rev . C . W . ARNOLD , P . G . C , seconded the proposed addition . Bro . S . RAWSON thought if this were passed the owner of the property would never accept ^[ 600 . Bro . H . D . SANDEMAN was of opinion that the orig inal motion should stand as it was . If the purchase at the proposed price fell through , let the Board of General Purposes again report . ( Cries of "No , no . " )

Bro . MCINTYRE objected lo this course . If they had to come to Grand Lodge again the vendois would put a much higher price upon their property , because they would think Grand Lodge was bound to give in . Bro . J . M . CLABON thought theyhad better leave out all the words after _ £ 6 oo , and leave it to the Board to give such sum as they thought proper . ( Hear , hear . ) Bro . MCINTYRE said he would withdraw his amendment in favour of Bro .

Clabon s . After some further discussion the motion was carried in the form that the Board of General Purposes were lo purchase the premises in question at the best price they could obtain for Grand Lodge . The next business was the following :

The Board of General Purposes , to whom it was on the 2 nd day of March last referred to investigate the appeal involved in the following motion , proposed to Grand Lodge by Bro . Tudor Trevor , and to report thereon to the next meeting of Grand Lodge : —

" That in consideration of the very exceptional circumstances of his application for pecuniary assistance , and that he has been much embarrassed by the unmasonic litigation which ensued in defiance of the principles of the Craft , and especially of No . 0 of Antient Charges and Regulations , consequent on the part he took in the exclusion from his Lodge , No . 1511 , of an offending brother ( which exclusion was approved by the Provincial Grand Master ) , this Grand Lodge is pleased as a Special Case to direct the

grant of £ 150 from the Fund of General Purposes , to Bro . Tudor Trevor , P . M ., & c , in aid cf his costs in defending the action ' Bro . Voigt versus Bros . Carr , baking , and Trevor , ' tried at Leeds in August last , anel in respect of which costs Bro . Trevor affirms that he has already paid , £ ' iGy 4 s . 1 id ., and that he has been greatly impoverished thereby , " beg to report thereon as follows : —

1 . At the request , and for the belter convenience of Bro . Tudor Trevor , who represented his inability to appear in London on the ordinary days of meeting , the Board held a special meeting on a day selected by him , for the purpose of considering the reference on the 6 th day of May inst ., at which were present the following members : —

Bros . Sir John B . Monckton , President ; hrank Green , Vice-President ; Sir Albert W . Woods , Garter ; Henry C . Lcvander , Robert F . Gould , Frank Richardson , Lieut .-Col . Hugh S . Somcrvillc Burncy , Frederick A . Philbrick , O . C . ; John A . Ruckcr , Thomas Fenn , Peter De Lande Long , John Messent , Charles W . Thompson , Charles Atkins , Lieut .-Col . Francis C , Wcmyss , Alfred Meadows , M . D . ; Fchvard B . Grabham , Henry Bishop , and John G . Stevens .

2 . Bro . Tudor Trevor , Bro . Voigt , and also the W . Master of the Alexandra Lodge , No . 1311 , Hornsea , all received an intimation of the meeting , and all availed themselves of the opportunity of being present . 3 . Bro . Tudor Trevor and Bro . Voigt were heard at length , and the W ' . Master of the Alexandra Lodge was also heard in reply to several questions it was thought necessary to put to him .

4 . After a careful investigation of the matter referred , the following resolutions were unanimously agreed to : — 1 . — "That the principle of Grand Lodge devoting any portion of its funds towards defraying the cost of legal proceedings , not incurred by its authority or that of the Board pf General Purposes ( as its executive Board ) , would be an innovation constituting a very inconvenient precedent , and leading to most undesirable results . " '

2 . — " That there does not appear to be any sufficient ground or reason why the case now under investigation should be specially excepted from the operation of the principle laid down in the preceding resolution . " 5 . And the above resolutions are [ recommended by the Board for the adoption of Grand Lodge accordingly .

United Grand Lodge.

Bro . MONCKTON , in bringing this before Grand Lod ge , said the matter was so thoroughly gone into at last Quarterl y Communication , that he did not propose to go into it again at any great length . The Board not very frequently receiving special references of this kind were more than ordinarily anxious to deal with it in a way that the result—whatever that result mio-ht be—should commend itself to the Grand Lodge as the honest result ol a

careful deliberation of the Board . They ascertained that the brother who made the application could not , by reason of his engagements , attend the ordinary meetings of the Board between March and June , and although his presence was not a matter absolutel y necessary to guide the Board with regard to their regular meetings , and they might come with a report derived from written documents , they thought they would give the brother the

opportunity of being heard , f hey , therefore , cordially fell in with a suggestion that they should meet on a day and at an hour when the brother could attend , , They did so meet on the 6 th of May . The Board of General Purposes consisted of five or six and twenty members , with a quorum of seven , and out of those the brethren who attended were nineteen , the names of whom were given in the agenda paper that Grand Lodge might know who they were .

Bro . Trevor attended , and so did Bro . Voi gt and the W . M . of the Alexandra Lodge . The reference to the Board ' was in the ordinary nature of a Masonic complaint , in which the Board had specific powers to call for persons and papers , as they should in the House of Commons . Both parties were heard at considerable length , and at the end of it every brother was asked to give his opinion separately . The result was the recommendation before Grand Lodge , and the opinion was unanimous . Speakinn- for himself

he must say he approached the question not without prejudice—he freel y owned his bias was in favour of Bro . Tudor Trevor—but after the investio-ation he thoroughly agreed with the resolution of the Board ; and , putting aside any amount of sympathy he had for Bro . Trevor , he could say , honestly and conscientiously , that the recommendation was the just and equitable result of the investigation they held . He now moved that Grand Lodge a ° ree to this recommendation .

Bro . FRANK GREEN seconded . Bro . TUDOR TREVOR acknowledged the kind allusion made to him by the President of the Board of General Purposes . To go again into the matter , he believed he had ri ght on his side , and he hoped it would not be considered unbecoming of him to meet this report of the Board of General Purposes with an amendment " That it be not received . " On

the last occasion , he said , he had been before the Board of General Purposes , and so he had , and it now became necessary for him to open out two or three more chapters of this most unfortunate case . He had been tiying to get this case heard b y the Masonic authorities for three years , but had been unable to do so . Therefore the onl y course left open to him was to bring the matter forward in Grand Lod ge . He sent a memorial to the

Board of General Purposes in May , 1 S 79 . If the Board had granted his application then it was quite probable the trial would not have taken place . The Board simply said that they found no precedent for a grant towards defraying the expenses of legal proceedings . If no such precedent existed they might have made one . He appealed to Grand Lodge as a final Court of Appeal . On the last occasion if the questions had gone to a division he

would have secured many votes . As he was leaving the Hall a brother told him he should have voted for him . On the 13 th of January , 1 S 79 , when he sei } t forward his memorial for an enquiry he was in the unfortunate position of living in Westmoreland , where he did not belong to a lodge . His own lodge was in Bath ; the cause of complaint arose in Yorkshire . He could not appeal to the Grand Master of the province in which he was living because

he was not a member of a lodge of the province , and so the Grand Secretary told him he must refer the complaint to the Prov . Grand Master of N . and Ii . Yorkshire . He did so , and that Provincial Grand Master said he would not interfere . Then he sent the memorial to the Grand Master , asking him to appoint a place , and he sent the gracious reply that he was unable to interfere . In Maj-, 1 S 79 , he submitted his complaint to the Board of General

Purposes . ( Bro . Tudor Trcvcr here read his memorial amidst considerable impatience on the part of the brethren . ) He proceeded to show that he was forced to go on with his action , and submitted that as it was the result of not beingablc to get redress in a Masonic body , Grand Lodgeshould pay hiscosts . He had simply discharged his duty , and the editor of the Freemason openly so stated .

A Brother rose lo order . What ri ght had Bro . Trevor lo refer to anything the Fditor of the Freemason or any other paper said ? The brother was delaying Grand Lodge unnecessarily . They were anxious to get away , but did not wantto go before they had beard Bro . Trevor . ( Hear , hear . ) Bro . TUDOR TREVOR said he did not want to take up the time of Grand Lodge unnecessarily , but the matter had been hanging over a long time , and

he wanted to relieve his mind of the subject , because it was almost impossible he could rest content with the resolution that was submitted by the Board of General Purposes , though he had every confidence in every member of that Board . It appeared to him , however , that they had sheltered themselves under the protecting regis of prcccelent , and so got rid of a very disagreeable affair . If it would suit the convenience of Grand Lodge , he would now move the resolution he had on the paper —•

"lhat in consideration of the very exceptional circumstances of his application for pecuniary assistance , and that he has been much embarrassed by the unmasonic litigation which ensued in defiance of the principles of the Craft , and especially of No . Oof Antient Charges and Regulations , consequent on the part he took in the exclusion from his lodge , No . 1511 , of an offending brother ( which exclusion was approved by the Provincial Grand Master

) , this Grand Lodge is pleased as a Special Case to direct the grant ° f £ ' ° from the Fund of General Purposes to Bro . Tudor Trevor , P . M ., & c , in aid of his costs in delending the action ' Bro . Voigt versus Bros . Carr , baking , and Trevor , ' tried at Leeds in August last , and in respect of which costs Bro . Trevor affirms that he has already paid £ iCxj 4 s . 1 id ., and that he has been greatly impoverished thereby . " The motion having been seconded ,

Bro . J AMES MASON , P . G . S . B ., opposed it . They all sympathised with a brother Mason in distress , and he , for one , sympathised with Bro . Trevor . But sympathy was not to extinguish their notions of right . This was the first time an application of this kind had been made in Grand Lodge during his experience of upwards of thirty years , and he hoped it would be the

last . Ijro . 1 revor had mistaken his course . What were they to think of those grand princi ples of brotherl y love , upon which Masons prided themselves with propriety , if matters of this kind were not settled where they ought to be settled — in the private lodges , or by the brothers themselves from kindliness of heart ? After having read what passed in

Grand Lod ge on the last occasion he thought there was an absence of this princi ple . The matter never ought to be brought into the Courts of Law . The brother urged on the case in the Courts of Law ; he sought for the decision of a Court of Law , and he got it . As he was not content with it he appealed to Grand Lodge . It was utterly inconsistent with the