Installation Of Comp. E. W. Parker As Grand Superintendent Of The Punjab.

Comp . Capt . J . F . D . Fordyce ... ... ... Dist . G . Swd . Br . „ A . R . Smith ... ... ... ... Dist . G . Std . Br . „ Lieut . T . J . Gordon-Carry ... ... Dist . G . D . C . „ Major R . J . Pike ... ... ... Dist . A . G . D . C . „ C Cursetjee ... ... ... ... Dist . G . Org . „ E . Farrance ... ... ... ... Dist . A . G . S . E .

The M . E . the GRAND SUPERINTENDENT then addressed the District Grand Chapter to the following effect : " Most Excellent Comps . Castellari and Menzies , and Companions—I have to thank you for the manner of my installation to-night as Grand Superintendent of this district . My appointment to this office now places me at the head of the Fraternity in

the District in a full and complete sense . The Holy Royal Arch Degree is the final step on the Masonic ladder , and represents the completion of one ' s * education . Therefore , to rule over the Royal Arch means to rule over those Masons who have attained to the greatest , perfection in the science . This is no small honour , and I

feel more diffidence in accepting so high an office than I did in accepting the chief office in Craft Masonry . I can only say I will endeavour to do my best . " Addressing Comp . Menzies , the Grand Superintendent said" Comp . Menzies , the office of Second Grand Principal devolves under our by-laws upon the Deputy District Grand Master , provided he holds or has

passed the P . Z . 's chair in this Degree . When I got my warrant you had not so qualified , and I accordingly selected Comp . Castellari , a companion who perhaps is better qualified for the highest office in Grand Chapter than any other companion in the district , including myself , to be my principal supporter and adviser . You have since taken the P . Z ' s chair of Chapter

Punjab , and on hearing you had done so Comp . Castellari at once offered to resign the high office offered to him in your favour . In doing this , Comp . Castellari has only exemplified the excellence of my orig inal selection of himself . He has thus shown a spirit of self-abnegation for the general good which we should all strive to possess and exercise . He felt

that the Deputy District Grand Master would be the best person to hold the Second Principalship also , in order that in the unity of counsel the Government of the Fraternity might gain strength , and that undivided authority was the most useful . He knew that the bylaw on the subject had been framed with this object , and he himself

voluntarily and without solicitation gave way . You , Comp . Menzies , thus became Second Principal instead of Third , and I know your worth so well that I feel gratified and honoured to have you associated with me in this high office . Your assistance and advice will help us to discharge the responsibilities with efficiency . We shall , however , both share the advice and

support of Comp . Castellari as Third Principal , and I think that alone will re-assure us in accepting our offices . ( Comp . Colonel Oswald Menzies was then invested with the insignia of his office as Dist . G . H . ) Comp . Castellari , in investing you as Third Principal , I need not again draw attention to the example you have set by the way in which you gave up your right to

the Second Principal's chair . We shall hope to see you soon take that place in the ordinary course when you take it by right of another high office . " Comp . Capt . R . F . Castellari was also invested with the insignia of his office as D . G . J . The other officers present were also invested , the GRAND

SUPERINTENDENT making a few suitable remarks in each case . " In conclusion" added the Grand Superintendent " we must all regret the loss to ourselves of those companions who have been called to join the Grand Chapter above ; for themselves , we can only believe that their sphere of usefulness has been extended beyond the realms of human knowledge . "

The Report of the proceedings of the Committee of General Purposes was read , the statement of accounts , which showed a balance of upwards of 1137 rupees in the Agra Bank , being very satisfactory . On motion made by Comp . C . BROWN , acting D . G . D . C , seconded by Comp . D . A . SPANKIE , acting Dist . A . G . D . C , this Report , with the recommendations it contained , was accepted .

On the motion of Comp . Col . O . MENZIES , D . G . H ., seconded by Comp . Captain CASTELLARI , D . G . J ., Comp . Dr . B . L . GHOSE , was re-elected Dist . G . Treasurer for the ensuing year . Comp . Col . Menzies having been nominated by the G . Superintendent as a member of the Committee of General Purposes , and Comps . C Brown

and P . C . Mukerjee having been elected on the same Committee by Dist . G . Chapter , a number of letters of apology for non-attendance were read and ordered to be recorded on the minutes , and the remaining business having been dispatched , District G . Chapter was closed with the usual formalities .

Behold This Ruin.

BEHOLD THIS RUIN .

" There is a very modern school of Masonic thought , that thinks a great deal of itself , and deserves to be thought of , which propagates the idea that Freemasonry in its essentials as we have it to-day was born in the year 1717 , at the formation of the ' Moderns ' Grand Lodge of England in the Apple Tree Tavern , London . This school assumes to be ' par excellence '

the scholarly , the authentic school in Masonry . It has some of the most prominent and thoughtful writers in Freemasonry as its sponsors and advocates . We highly esteem these brethren , but , with all deference to their erudition and their critical ability , we submit that they err themselves , and are the parents of greater errors in others . Unintentionally they disparage the

Craft , and misrepresent radical facts . They remind us of the views of an old Philadelphian , one Lewis Evans , who in 1749 published a map of Pennsylvania , New York , and Delaware , a copy of which , in 1832 , was presented

to the American Philosophical Society . One of the favourite theories of this Mr . Evans' was , that ' this earth was made at the Creation from the ruins of another . ' We know what that necessarily implies — there was no continuity of existence ; there was no life on the old

Behold This Ruin.

globe transferred to and perpetuated on the new : it was a case of chaos reformed . The dust and ashes of the old were simply the dead material into which the Great Architect of the Universe spoke material life . Is our Freemasonry , as related to the pre-1717 Freemasonry , comparable to this ? Is our Freemasonry , in its essential principles , and in all

of its forms , an eighteenth century novelty ? We do not believe it ; we cannot believe it ; the evidence of pre-1717 lodge records forbids it . i \ number of lodges were in active life for many years both before and after theyeari ?!? . They were no ' ruins ' nor ' corpses . ' Nor may one dogmatise with certainty concerning the non-existence of ' Degrees' before 1717

or of ' General Supervisors , or * Grand Masters , or of ' Grand Lod ges . ' Brethren who are hasty in their conclusions , and so ready to make positive assertions founded upon negative evidence , may , and we think will , in the course of time , after the discovery of ancient facts now lost to history , have to withdraw their sweeping assertions . Our Fraternity is , and always has

been , a secret one . It does not even now spread everything on its minutes , and anciently it was far more particular in this and kindred respects . Besides , the most of the records of the aforetime are lost ; but they may be recovered . During the past 20 years very many original Masonic records have been recovered . We have faith that others yet to be discovered will

authenticate , more positively than any we now have do , the absolute continuity of Masonry , and demonstrate that the Grand Lodge of 1717 was born of legitimate parentage , and reproduces the parents' lineaments and qualities . Life existed , activity existed ; yet it was more or less local , not general . But the Freemasonry was radically the same . As long as it has

been known as Freemasonry it has been a brotherhood , a fraternity , including Apprentices , Fellows , and Masters , actual builders and speculative builders , as now . Of course it found its origin in the operative art ; but who can fix the time when speculative Masons—that is , non-operatives as distinguished from builders—composed no part of the Craft ? Some one

has said , ' those who go fraud-hunting bring home plenty of conceit and vain-glory in their game-bags , but seldom a feather of truth . ' It is not either wise or witty to say that the Craft of to-day is a bastard , ' filius nullius . ' Far from this , it is the parent itself , gifted with perennial life . Indeed , more—Freemasonry is a Masonic corporation , not deriving its entity from the

State , but existing by inherent power and authority . Ask Edinburgh Lodge ( Mary ' s Chapel ) , No . 1 , possessing its minutes back to the year 1599 , whether it is a bastard , whether it began in 1717 . No one can assuredly say when this lodge did not exist . Changes , of course , in ritual , in Constitutions , in administration have occurred in Masonry during the past 300 years , but it

is the same Masonry . Everything entrusted to human administration is subject to modification , but Freemasonry since it has been known has changed far less than religion , than politics , than social customs . Practically it is a unit , through all its extended career . We should , therefore , not state and emphasise what we do not know , nor dogmatise concerning

the cloudy past . If there be doubt , give the Masonic past the benefit of that doubt . Do not argue the modern character of the principles and practices of the Freemasonry of to-day . Has the scalpel revealed the fountain of life , the springs of motion , the essence of will , the mathematics of

consciousness , the laws of the understanding ? No more has the pen of the " authentic' modern Masonic historian revealed the 'Mystery of Freemasonry ' as it was practised 300 years ago , or demonstrated that our Craft is a modern Institution , with borrowed authority , if that authority is not an invention of to-day ! " —Keystone .

The Union Of Australian Grand Lodges.

THE UNION OF AUSTRALIAN GRAND LODGES .

The report of the Committee appointed " To arrange a basis of union among the various bodies heretofore governing the fraternity of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in the Colony of New South Wales , " together with the proposed "Articles of Union , " is now before us . From the preamble of the latter we learn that the rites and tenets of pure and ancient

Freemasonry were first practised and taught in Australia by the Lodge of Social and Military Virtues , No . 227 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Ireland , in or about the year 1816 ; and were further perpetuated by the establishment of other lodges under the Constitutions of England , Scotland , and Ireland , and extended by the formation of the Provincial ( now District )

Grand Lodge of England , in 1839 ; ° f the Provincial ( now District ) Grand Lodge of Scotland , in the year 1858 . That in the year 1877 tho present Grand Lodge of New South Wales was formed , and that there are now under the English Constitution 80 lodges ; under the Scotch / 55 ; and under that of New South Wales , 51 . That expediency ant j

the interests of the Craft require that perfect unity should be secured and maintained throughout that Colony , and therefore it is demanded that there shall be from henceforth perfect uniformity of obligation , of discip lin- *** and working of lodges . It is therefore declared and agreed , that from an after St . John ' s Day , the 24 th June , 1888 , all the aforesaid bodies of

Masons shall constitute one Grand Lodge , under the style of " The Unite Grand Lodge of New South Wales . " That the leaders of the Craft in that Colony shall meet together on a day to be named , at a place indicate , to elect some distinguished brother as Grand Master ; and that a ^ ° mittee shall be appointed to define and determine all questi

of precedence , rank , and appointments of all Grand Lo g Officers , with the understanding that all past ranks and appoint "*" shall be confirmed and retained . In all . other essential particu > the lines on which our own Constitution was establis

appear to have been followed and adopted . The Committee conclude ^ report with the record of heartfelt pleasure at the brotherly feeling p . . ^ ing and evident desire for unity , as also of the dominant conciliatory V ...