Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 505 United Grand Lodgi of Kngland 506 Consecration of the Bramston IJeaeh Lodge , No . 2 ior , at Godalming 506 Provincial Grand Lodire of llamnshire and

the Isle of Wight 506 Provincial Grand Lodjje of Srailbrdshire ... 507 Provincial Grand Lodge of Somersetshire 508 Installation of the District Grand Master of Jamaica 50 S Bro . Lane Masonic Records < oo

CORRESPONDENCEThe Bro . Binckes' Testimonial 511 Addresses to Her Majesty the Queen 511 The Shanklin Masonic Exhibition 511 Notes and Queries 511 Masonic Picnic of the Prince Arthur Lodge , No . J 570 JM

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 512 Instruction 512 Royal Arch 512 Rosicrncian Society 512

booth Africa 513 A New Masonic Hall for Bolton 513 Masonic Centenary Celebration at Portsmouth 313 Grand livening Concert at Shanklin , Isle of Wight 514 Freemasonry in Hants and the Isle of

Wight 514 Who Cares ? 514 The Masonic Exhibition at Shanklin 514 Bro . Henry Irving as the Host in America 514 The Craft Abroad S'S Masonic and General Tidings 516 Lodge Meetings for Next Week iii .

Ar00101

No long time hence and we shall be again busily engaged in the active duties of Freemasonry . The holidays will have come to an end , and we trust the brethren will find themselves both refreshed after the labours of the past season and thoroughly invigorated for those of the one we are about entering upon . In fact , September may be looked upon as , in one

sense , the beginning of the Masonic year . The meetings of our lodges correspond more regularly with the regular sequence of the months than they would do if we reckoned our year from January . But what chiefly favours this view is the fact that our series of annual Festivals does not terminate till towards the end of June or beginning of Jul }' , and that , the

summer holidays having intervened , the Secretaries of our Institutions recommence in due form those earnest appeals to the Craft for help , without which the necessary moneys would not be forthcoming , and the maintenance of those Charities would be impossible—at least on the present extended scale . We are , therefore , virtually on the eve of anew campaign , if not of a

new year , and may reasonably devote the few remaining moments of our leisuretotakingstock of the circumstances in whichweenterupon it . Generally , we think the position is satisfactory , both in London and the provinces . We judge so , at least , from the reports submitted at the meetings of those Provincial Grand Lodges which have been held during the past few months ,

as well as from the known condition of things in the Metropolitan area , and when labour is resumed we believe this judgment will be confirmed . We suppose it would be difficult to satisfy the energetic Secretaries of our Charities that , all things considered , their prospects for the year 188 7 are about as gratifying as they could be . They may , or they may not , be able to

point to as numerous an array of Stewards as usual at this early date ; but one of the three has already enlisted the services of a Chairman , who is a Provincial Grand Master , and we may perhaps hear of a second having achieved a like measure of success at an earJy date . At all events , it seems as if the prospects in this particular field of Masonic labour were on a level

with what they have been usually . If we cannot congratulate ourselves on their being any better , we may console ourselves with the belief that they are not appreciably worse . As for the usual lodge work , we imagine that will follow the usual course . We may find a little falling off here and there ;

but this is , ordinarily , far more than counterbalanced by the greater interest displayed in other quarters . The vitality of Masonry is an assured fact , which circumstances have little or no influence upon , and we doubt not the new season we are now looking forward to will demonstrate this satisfactorily .

# * # WE gather much interesting andjnstructive information from the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Iowa at its annual communication for the current year . The communication was the 43 rd since the establishment of this Grand Body , and was held at the Grand Opera House in the city of Des

Moines on the 1 st June last , and two following days , under the presidency of Bro . CHARLES T . GRANGER , M . W . G . M . There was a numerous attendance of Grand Officers , both Present and Past , of the representatives of other Grand Lodges in alliance with that of Iowa , and of the representatives of the daughter lodges . The bulk of the proceedings are , of course ,

of local interest ; but it is satisfactory to know that the Craft in this jurisdiction is in a highly prosperous condition . Thus the library has been enriched during the past year by the addition of a considerable number of volumes and medals , Bro . T . S . PARVIN , Grand Secretary , who is also Grand Librarian , continuing to employ his energies , as heretofore , in

acquiring the materials for extending a knowledge of Masonic literature among the Craft in this jurisdiction . The reports as to lodges and membership are also gratifying . According to the roll , there are . 16 9 lodges ; but

53 of these are extinct , or have made no returns , so that the number in active working condition is 418 , with an aggregate membership of nearly 22 , 000 . Financially , too , Iowa is in a fortunate state . The Grand Treasurer ' s report , as regards the General Fund , shows a total of receipts amounting to

Ar00102

nearly 31 , 143 dollars , with disbursements to the extent of 17 , 29 6 dollars , the balance of cash in hand being slightly in excess of 13 , 934 dollars . On the Charity Fund account there is a balance to the good of 1520 dollars , while the Grand Librarian's account is pretty nearly level as between the appropriations and disbursements for books and periodicals , Src . ; but , as

regards the building expense , there is a balance due 10 Grand Secretary and against the account of nearly 444 dollars . As regards the Grand Master s address , it contained ample references to the events of the past year , one subject to which Bro . GRANGER referred at great length being of interest to the brethren in jurisdictions outside Iowa . In fine , the proceedings fully

deserve the highest commendations of the Craft generally , and we heartily congratulate our Iowa brethren on the position in which , by their energy and zeal , the Fraternity of M t < ons is placed within tiieir bjrders . We may mention as an incident of the communication that 1 J < O . WILLIAM P . ALLEJN is the Grand Master for the current year , and that the distinguished veteran Bro . T . S . PARVI . V remains Grand Secretary .

# * WE have mentioned in the preceding paragraph that there was one subject to which the Grand Master , liio . C- T . GRANGER , referred at considerable length in his annual address , and which will receive , or , at all events , which deserves , attention from the brethren of other jurisdictions . It arose

out of the case of a resident of Dcs Moines , who , during a visit to his old home in Ireland , was made a Mason , and on his return to Des Moines sought admission to Capital Lodge , in that city , but , in accordance with the instruction of the GRAND MASTER , given in strict obedience to the law of Iowa on the subject , was refused , until he had been healed . But Bro .

GRANGER , though he found himself constrained to carry out the prescriptions of the law in this particular instance , boldly expresses it as his opinion that the law itself is at lault , and that the resident of Des Moines , who had been made a . Mason in Ireland , was entitled 10 all the rights and privileges of a member of the Fraternity , and was eligible to be received into an Iowa

lodge . " The Order , " says Bro . GRANGER , " is universal , Grand Lodge jurisdictions are independent , and lodges are the gateways of admission . Is it not true ^ as a Masonic canon , that a Mason , legally to , in one of these independent jurisdictions , is such the wide wuild over ? Can we sav no in harmony with our teaching that ' Masonry

unites men of every country ' , sect , and opinion . '" Bro . GRANGLR thtu points out that in England , Scotland , and Ireland sojourners may be made Masons , and he seriously questions the justice , but quite apart from any differences there may be between the laws ot these countries and the laws tit Iowa on the subject , of requiring that any one who , in total ignorance of

all Masonic law , has been accepted as a member in one jurisdieliuii , should be healed—that is , re-obligated—in the jurisdiction in which lie happens to be a resident . Without going more deeply into the question , it appears to us that Grand Master GRANGER ' S recommendation that it should be a law of the Grand Lodge of Iowa , " that Masons made under the laws of any

jurisdictions are Masons in Iowa , " is in accordance with the requirements ot reason and common sense . We are glad also to find that Bro . GRANGER had the courage to grapple boldly with the subject . It certainly is not every Grand Master in the United States who would have ful . owed his example .

* IT will be seen from the Agenda Paper which appears in another part of our columns that the business to be transacted at the Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge is chiefly of a formal character , and will occupy the brethren but a short time to dispose of . It may , however , be deemed

worthy of notice that of the fifteen warrants for new lodges which have been granted by his Royal Highness the GRAND MASTER since the June Communication , ten are lor lodges to be held in the Colonies , and that of these ten as many as six are for lodges to meet in the colony of new South Wales . This circumstance should have some weight with those Grand

Lodges in the United States and elsewhere which are m such a desperate hurry to recognise every newly-established Grand Lodge , no matter how questionable may be its claims to recognition . Thrrc is , for instance , a socalled Grand Lodge of New South Wales , which has been recognised by many Grand Lodges , yet it is undoubtedly an organisation established by

a smail minority of the brethren located in that colony . And as warrants are not granted except on petition made in accordance with the prescriptions of the law , it is evident from the fact of six fresh warrants having been granted in the course of the last three months that our brethren in

New South Wales , instead of being anxious to determine their cuiineL'titm with the United Grand Lodge of England , are desirous of extending it , This is an unobtrusive , but important , fact , which must n . u be 1 . ) . t ' : ; . il if by foreign Grand Lodges in their estimate of the pur i ' . iji ; maniple ! !> y ih < so-called Grand Lodge of New South Wales .