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ESSssSrS SATURDAY , DECEMBER 8 , 1900 .

Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

The Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge was held at Freemasons' Hall on Wednesday ) under the presidency of Bro . the Right Hon . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., Prov . G . M . of Hants and the Isle of Wight , as G . Master . There was a good attendance , and as will be seen from our report in another column ,

the business on the Agenda was promptly disposed of . The recommendations in the Report of the Board of General Purposes were adopted , and two strong candidates in Bros . Captain John Barlow and Horace Brooks Marshall were nominated for the office of Grand Treasurer in 1901-2 . » # #

The Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons for England and Wales , & c , was held at Mark Masons' Hall on Tuesday , the 4 th instant , under the presidency of the Earl of Euston , M . W . Pro Grand Master . The only incideuts that

occurred to which atteniion need be drawn were the adoption of a cordial vote of thanks to Viscount Dungarvan for his services to the Degree as Dep . G . Master during the last seven years , accompanied by a gift of thc clothing of his rank , which his lordship

Masonic Notes.

briefly b ut gracefully acknowledged ; and the nomination of Bro . Harry Manfield for the office of Grand Treasurer for the year 1901-2 .

Another important event in Mark Mason ry , which occurred at Wolverhampton on the 27 th ult , will be found recorded in our columns this week . ¦ We allude to the installation of Bro . J . F . Pepper , lately

Dep-Prov . G . M . M ., whom his Royal Hig hness the M . W . G . Mark Master has appointed Prov . G . Mark Master of Staffordshire and Shropshire , in succession to the late lamented Bro . Col . G . S . Tudor . The ceremony was performed by the Earl of Euston , M . W . Pro G . M . M ., who was assisted by the G . Secretary of the Mark and

other Grand and Prov . Grand Officers . When Bro . Pepper had been inducted into office , and his officers for the ensuing year invested ,, the brethren dined together at the Star and Garter Hotel , and the courtesies of the day exchanged between the local and visiting dignitaries of the Order .

* * * The half-yearly meeting of the Sovereign Great Priory ' of the Order of the Temple will be held at Mark Masons' Hall on Friday , the 14 th instant , at 4 . 45 for S p . m . At the conclusion of the business , a

chapter of the Great Priory of the Order of Malta will be opened under the banner of the Preceptory of St . George , when any Knight Templar who may have signified his desire will be admitted , the fee for

admission , with certificate included , being one guinea . At 7 p . m . the customary banquet will be served at the Freemasons' -Tavern , tickets for which , at one guinea each , should be applied for of the Great Vice-Chancellor not later than Monday , the ioth instant .

* » * The Report of the Council of the Order which will be submitted for the consideration of Great Priory in the course of the proceedings is in every respect a most satisfactory document . As regards the finances

of the Order it appears that the total invested capital on the General Fund now amounts to ^ 4200 and on the Benevolent Fund , . £ 2500 . It is also shown towards the end of the said Report that the Great Treasurer ' s accounts as audited to the 31 st August last , show

balances in bank of over . £ 311 on the General Fund , and over ^ 72 on the Benevolent Fund , or together , upwrards of ^ 383 . The Council also state that the United Orders are in a flourishing state , and have increased " not only in numbers , but also in influence

and prosperity , " and that Great Priory is on terms of the most amicable and fraternal character with every legitimate Body of the Temple in the world . • • The greater part of the Report , however , is taken

up with particulars of the fifth Annual Conference of the Great Priories of England and Ireland and the Chapter General of Scotland , which was held in London on Thursday , the ioth May last—the day preceding the summer half-yearly meeting of Great

Priory—under the presidency of the Earl of Euston , M . E . and Supreme G . Master . One of the important questions discussed at this conference bore upon the admission of candidates who , by the Statutes of the Order , must be Royal Arch Masons . Nothing , however , was laid down in the Statutes as to what was

intended by the term " Royal Arch , " and having regard to the importance of the question , the Conference agreed " not to offer any opinion at this time , but to consider it until next Conference" —which has been arranged to take place in Edinburgh in April , 1901—" and meanwhile to inquire what is the practice of the American Priories . "

» * » It is gratifying to learn that only six Preceptories abroad are in arrears in the payment of their dues , and of these three are in arrear for only one year . Wo also are told that a warrant has been granted for the constitution of a new Preceptory at Brisbane in the

Colony of Queensland , under the style and title of the Duke of Albany , No . 171 . Under the above circumstances those who attend the meeting of the Order at Mark Masons' Hall next week will have every reason to be pleased with the progress thaf has been made during the past half year .

» * Hardly a week passes but the sad duty devolves upon us of chronicling the death of some prominent member of our Society . The other day it was Bro , C . H . Driver , Past G . Supt . of Works . Last week

we reported the funeral in St . Paul ' s Cathedral of Bro . Sir Arthur Sullivan , Past G . Organist , deceased on the 22 nd ult . This week it is the death of Bro . Sir Francis G . M . Boileau , Bart ., who died at his seat of Kclteringham Park , Norfolk , on Sundav , in his 71 st

Masonic Notes.

. year , which we have to record , and which will be so sincerely mourned by all English Masons , but especially by our Norfolk brethren , with whom , for nearly 30 years , he had been so closely in touch , and by whom he was so highly respected . Our late brother was appointed S . G . Deacon in Grand Lodge and Principal

G . Sojourner in Supreme Grand Chapter in 1897 . The following year , on the installation of Bro . Hamon Le Strange as Prov . G . M . of Norfolk , vice Lord Suffield , Sir Francis was appointed Dep . P . G . M ., and the same year he was installed Grand Superintendent , in place of Lord Suffield . Even in the

short time that has since elapsed our late distinguished brother discharged his duties with infinite credit to himself and to the great advantage of Norfolk Masonry . We offer our most respectful sympathy to the family who are mourning and the Province which has lost so able and kindly a member .

» * Since the foregoing Note was written we have received information that the Earl of Donoughmore died at his town residence on Tuesday from the effects of a paralytic stroke a few days previously . His lord , ship was appointed S . G . Warden of Grand Lodge and

Grand Scribe N . in Grand Chapter in 18 76 , and was Dep . G . Master of Grand Mark Lodge from 18 7 8 to 1880 . His lordship , who was only 52 years of age , is succeeded by his son , Viscount Suirdale , now on service in Hong Kong , to whom , and to his widowed mother and his two sisters , we offer our most respectful sympathy . # #

* We must reserve such further remarks as we desire to make on the subject of " Confirmation of Minutes " till we are less busily engaged . In the meantime we hope Bro . Prince will disabuse his mind of the notion that we do not respect the opinions he is fully entitled

to hold . We commenced one of our last week ' s Notes on the subject with the expression , " With all deference to Bro . E . Prince , P . M ., & c , " and the words " it is absurd , " which are very commonly used in the demonstration of propositions , were not intended to convey anything : offensive . We agree with him and

also , it seems , wilh Bro . Hughan that an authoritative definition of the sense in which the word " confirmation " is used is desirable . We do not go so far as to say that such a definition is necessary . As Bro , Hughan tells us in his note elsewhere , Grand Lodge

itself has several times non-confirmed minutes that have been correctly recorded . " We do not agree with him that this is a " misfortune , " but it is a fact , and a very material fact , in favour of the opinion we have expressed that the " confirmation" and " verification " of minutes are not one and the same thing .

* * # Here is a case in point in evidence of Bro . Hughan ' s statement that Grand Lodge has non-confirmed minutes of its proceedings at a previous meeting . Some 20 or 25 years ago , the late Bro . James Stevens , P . M ., brought forward in Grand Lodge a motion in

favour of uniformity of ritual , and it was passed . At its next quarterly meeting , however , that portion of the minutes relating to the motion was non-confirmed . Again , in March , 1897 , the late Earl of Lathom , Pro Grand Master , on behalf of the M . W . Grand Master , moved— " That the sum of one thousand guineas be

voted to the Indian Famine Relief Fund , " and the motion , according to our report , " was carried unanimously , amidst loud and general applause . " Thereupon Bro . W . H . Bailey , the then Grand Treasurer , rose and said : " Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master , I shall have the greatest pleasure in paying the amount at once , and not wait for the confirmation of the grant

at the next Grand Lodge in June ; " and we are given to understand that this announcement was received with " renewed cheering . " May we take the liberty of suggesting—albeit inferentially—that there would have been no need for Bro . Bailey to make any such statement if " confirmation " meant nothing else than " verification . " a *

There is one part of Bro . Prince's further letter , which we published last week , that has amused us not a little . We allude to the sentence in the second paragraph beginning "Of course , if , upon reading the minutes a dispute were to arise as to who was actually elected Master which the brethren present were unable to settle . " It is not every day we read

of a staid P . M . of wide experience humorously suggesting that the brethren present at a lodge election meeting might be unable to remember whom they had elected Master . Lodges are generally held before not after dinner , or Bro . Prince might have gone further , and suggested that the brethren did not remember having attended any meeting at all . What about the minutes then ?