Confusion Becoming Worse And Worse Confounded.

CONFUSION BECOMING WORSE AND WORSE CONFOUNDED .

It is difficult for any one who is not called upon to read the Masonic periodical literature , which is now so lavishly published in the United States , and the annual reports of Proceedings and on Foreign Correspondence which are regu ' arly issued by the various American Grand Lodges , to form anything like a just idea of the confusion which inevitably attends any and

every attempt to reconcile the laws of Freemasonry as they are differently promulgated in the different States and Territories of the Union . In the jurisdictions of the older Grand Lodges which derive their Masonry more or less immediately from the original fountain head , the laws , as they are to be found in the different Books of Constitutions are reasonable and proper ,

and such as befit a self-respecting Order or Society of men . But under the Grand Lodges of later creation , and especially among those which have been established during the last 20 or 30 years , it is difficult to find an object or a subject of which the Grand Lodge statute and unwritten laws do not directly or indirectly take cognizance . There is hardly a lodge member in

some of these . jurisdictions . who , whether—so to speak—he moves to the rig ht or to the left , upwards or downwards , in a circle or triangularly , who does not at some period in his movement find himself confronted bya law , written or

unwritten , which makes it clear to his anxious mind that in the direction he has taken , or would have taken if he had been left to his own devices , he has been or would have been guilty of an infinite number , of high crimes and misdemeanour . Non-affiliates , that is Masons who for reasons of their

own see fit to hold aloof from our lodges , are almost as rigorously dealt with as those who are subscribing members , while even the unfortunate non-Mason , provided only he is of the masculine gender , is either the subject or the object of almost as many legal provisions as ever were included in the Laws of the XII . Tables or the Justinian or Napoleonic Code . Why this should be so

sorely puzzles us , for as a business man the American is not given to overburden himself with a multitude of small details , and as a Mason we might have expected that he . would have framed his laws on the principle of simplicity rather than of complexity . This , however , is very far from being the case , and a glance at the pages of any Masonic periodical , or better still , over

the pages of some report on Foreign Correspondence , will show that no person is so unimportant , no subject so trivial , but that Masonry is capable of involving him or it in the meshes of its laws ; or if that is not immediately possible , of enacting a law which shall in some way or other affect him or it more or less directly . Here are just a few

cases taken at random from the Masonic Gleanings in the Voice of Masonry for the present month , which will serve to illustrate our meaning . In Kngland , for instance , the impression prevails that the question whether a brother pays his annual lodge subscription or not is one thai concerns , as a rule , only himself and the lodge of which he is a member ; but in North

Dakota the Grand Lodge has recently passed a resolution to the effect "That all visiting resident Masons shall furnish to the Master of the particular lodge under whose jurisdiction such sojourning Mason is holden , once each year documentary evidence to the Master of such lodge , that he has paid his dues to , or is in good standing in the lodge from which he hails .

And it is hereby made the duty of the Worshipful Master of each particular lodge within this Grand Jurisdiction to see that such evidence is furnished to him as above required . " To apply the law , as we understand it , a member of Fidelity , No . 3 ,. which meets at Freemasons' Hall , resides ( say ) in Teddington , and under this law he must every year produce to the

W . M . of the Sir Charles Bright Lodge , No . 1793 , which is held in Teddington , the receipt showing that he has paid his subscription to the Lodge of Fidelity , No . 3 ; -and if he does not do so , the W . M . of No . 17 . 93 must enforce the law . Again Bro . THOMAS J . WILDER , who presents the reports . on Correspondence in connection with the same jurisdiction , lays it

down 'I that a petitioner for affiliation has the right to withdraw his petition atany time before it goes to ballot , but a petitioner for the Degrees has not that right . " In another case , Bro . THOMAS M . REED , of the Grand Lodge of Washington , is enabled to see a difference between " a saloon-keeper , who is not a member of the Fraternity , and one who is a non-affiliated

member , " and while he denies the right of the former " to petition for the Degrees he concedes the right of the latter to petition for affiliation . " Only"ii he does petition , " Bro . REED considers " it is then the duty of the lodge to act wisely , and be true to Masonry by exercising the power of

self-protection . " In other words a saloon keeper , who is a Mason but nonaffiliate , has undoubtedly the right to petition to join a lodge , but it is the duly of the lodge to reject him . In another case we have the Grand Lodgeof North Dakota enactingaby-lawto the effect thatno petition "for the mysteries of Masonry shall be received , " unless the petitioner has been resident in the

Confusion Becoming Worse And Worse Confounded.

State for one year and ¦ " under the jurisdiction of the lodge to which the peti : ii . n is presented " for six months . In this benighted country , the law allows a man to be married in a parish church provided he has been resident in the parish for three weeks , but in Masonic matters in North Dakota they manage things differently . Grand Lodge , first of all , creates a

jurisdiction which , in the nature of things , cannot exUt , and then requires a man to reside within it for six months before he can be made a Mason therein . In Colorado the Grand Lodge has at length recognised the irregular Grand Lodge of New Zealand , merely because in its opinion " no valid reason for further delay now exists . " Here , however , the Voice of Masonry quietly

steps in , and suggests that "what should have been said is , that no valid reason exists for recognition , " it being our contemporary ' s opinion that " all that does exist is solely an assumption for a Grand Lodge . " The one dictum among the many we have recently come across in this and other Mason ic periodicals is from Bro . ZIEGLER , of the Grand Lodge of Washington , who ,

t . ie Voice tells us , " dissents from the idea that boundary lines of states limit a Mason ' s right to choose a lodge for affiliation . He believes in the doctrine that every Mason possesses the inherent right to affiliate with any lodge he chooses , regardless of location . " However , we will not weary our readers with further specimens of Amfrican Grand Lodge resolutions ,

Grand Master ' s rulings , or the opinions of Masonic Committees on Correspondence , or their minds will become as confused , as the American code of Masonic law will be ten years hence , when every one of the later Grand Lodges has compiled a few volumes of jurisprudence on its own account , which are either at variance with each other or with ordinary common sense .

Provincial Grand Lodge Of Derbyshire.

PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF DERBYSHIRE .

The annual meeting of the above Provincial Grand Lodge was held at the Masonic Hall , Derby , when , in the unavoidable absence of the Provincial Grand Master , Bro . the Duke of Devonshire , the chair was taken by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master , Bro . H . C . Okeover , P . J . G . W . Kngland .

Thtre was an exceedingly numerous and influential gathering , every lodge in the province being more or less represented , the brethren present numbering close upon 300 . The preliminary business having been transacted , the Worshipful Masters o the various lodges presented their annual written reports , which were regarded as eminently satisfactory .

The reports of the Masonic Hall Committee , the Audit Committee , and the Charity Committee were received and adopted , and from the last of tlv se it appears that during the past year upwards of ^ " 1000 had been subscribed by the brethren of the province to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys and kindred Institutions . The Deputy Prov . ' Grand Master appointed and invested his officers in the following order :

Bro . Dr . E . J . H . Hoskyns , 2 425 ... ... Prov . b . G . W . „ N . J . Hughes Hallett , 222 4 ... ... Prov . J . G . W . „ Rev . Ii . S . Shuttleworth , 681 ... •" } Prov . G . Chaps . .. Rev . W . B . Stamper , 1052 ... ... ) r

„ W . J . Piper , 802 ... ... ... Prov . G . Treas . „ J . T . Windle , 681 ... ... ... Prov . G . Reg . „ William Naylor , 2 53 ... ... ... Prov . G . Sec . „ J . Cutting , 2 53 ... ... - Prov . A . G . Sec . „ Luther Russell , 1085 ... ... ... Prov . S . G . D . .. Arthur Fox , 353 ••••••- ? J -i- GjD : . .

„ Dr . Fentem , 212 9 ... ... •••Prov . G . S . of W . „ W . H . Wright , 1085 Prov . G . D . C . „ A . Andrew , 625 ... ... •••Prov . A . G . D . C . „ A . Eaton , 802 ... ... •••Prov . G . S . B . „ F . L . Shaw , 2 373 ... ... •"jProv . G . Std . Brs . „ J . T . Shadlow , 1028 ... ... .-J .. O R . Franklin . 108 = ; ... ... - Prov . G . Org .

„ F . Wharton , 506 ... ... ... Prov . G . Purst . „ W . Davenport , 625 ... ... ... Prov . A . G . Purst . „ G . Toft , 731 •••- - ] „ J . T . Beck , 731 „ E . Partridge , 10 S 5 ... ... •" i-Prov . G . Stwds . „ H . Offiler , 108 s ... ••••••I „ G . S . Bragge , 1739 ...

„ J . C . Hyde , 1952 ... ... -J „ Thomas Day ... ... •••Prov . G . Tyler . Before closing the lodge , the DEPUTY P ROV . GRAND MASTER offered a few remarks , in the course of which he said it was apparent from the reports they had just heard that Freemasonry in Derbyshire was in a most satisfactory condition , and , what was more , it was a decidedly progressive Institution . Apologising for the absence of the Duke of Devonshire , he said that