New Zealand Masonry.

NEW ZEALAND MASONRY .

In the article which appeared in our columns on this subject a fortnight since , we brought our remarks to a conclusion with the promise that we would deal with the series of seven questions propounded by Bro . ELIOT WARBURTON in the New Zealand Craftsman for August last , and answered in its own peculiar fashion by our contemporary . But before we proceed to fulfil this promise , there is one passage in the tirade against English

hreemasoniy with which it favoured its readers in its July number which is far too beautiful to be passed over in silence . Thus our contemporary having proved to its own entire satisfaction the perfect legitimacy of its protege , the self-styled Grand Lodge of New Zealand , is pleased to remark that " the mere fact of the Grand Lodge of England withholding formal recognition cannot affect our legitimacy any more than

the denial by a mother of the legitimacy of her offspring born in wedlock can affect that child ' s welfare in society . Just as the mother's inhuman denial may for a time degrade her child in the eyes of the world , so may our Grand Lodge be temporarily prejudiced by the unnatural conduct of our mother Grand Lodge . " This is undoubtedly a most awe-inspiring passage and we trust has sufficiently impressed the adherents of the irregular New Zealand

Consntution with a becoming sense of their own dignity , and the ill-usage they have received from their unnatural Mother Grand Lodge . Unfortunately ,, like many another awe-inspiring passage we have met with in the course ^ our reading , it is entirely wanting in the important element of truth . This so-called Grand Lodge of New Zealand is no more the off-spring of the I 'nited Grand Lodge of England than the counterfeit florins or half-crowns

which it is the pleasure of certain ingenuous persons to palm off on unsuspecting publicans , omnibus conductors , or other tradesmen or public servants , are true coin of the realm , as issued from the Mint . They have about them all the appearance of the latter—the Queen's effigy with her titles inscribed around it ; the Royal coat-of-arms , crown , & c , even to the milling round the edges , which to the uninstructed eye is genuine . Yet are these coins but

spurious metal inclosed in thin coatings of silver just to make-believe they are true . So with this self-styled Grand Lodge of New Zealand , it has all the appearance of a Grand Lodge which has been legitimately organised , it has its Book of Constitutions—which is . not improbably that of the Grand Lodge of England in its main features—its organisation in lodges and District or Provincial lodges , with a Grand Lodge or supreme authority ,

a » . d its ritual—you cannot deprive those who secede from your Soci ty of the knowledge they acquired as members . The ceremony of constituting it may have been in accordance with the best known precedents ; and , lastly , it may be recognised as a Grand Body by Grand Lodges , about the regularity of whose constitution there is not , nor ever has been , even the slightest suspicion . But for all this , it is not a genuine Grand Lodge . Those

who c nstitute its members , with the exception of such as have been made Masons in its lodges , areseceders from the Grand Lodges of EngLnd , Ireland , and Scotland . Before they seceded , they were very proud of their connection , and would have denounced in unmeasured terms any who had dared question the perfect legality of Freemasonry as then established in the Colony of New Zealand . But since they have seceded , an entire change

has come over the spirit of their opinions , and what in the good old days was worthy of all respect and admiration is now so poor that none of them will do it reverence . Its lot is outspoken rudeness and vulgar menace , while , as for the grand body which has been established by these seceders , it has already become a very paragon of Masonry , and its members are competent to teach you everything pertaining to the Craft , from the best way of riding the goat ,

to compiling treatises on Masonic jurisprudence and determining once and for ever what are , and what are not , the ancient landmarks of the Order . But , after all , it is the seven questions propounded by Bro . ELIOT WARBi'RTONin the August number of our rude contemporary and the answers vouchsafed by it , which more immediately concern us in this present article . Well , here are the questions as transcribed from our contemporary ' s pages :

i . Wh y do you call a summons against the brethren who have left their Grand Lodge without paying their dues or surrendering their charter ' A Heresy Hunt ? ' 2 . Would you apply the same terms to proceedings under the N . Z . C . against a defaulter ? 3 . Why is the District Grand Lodge of Auckland a ' self-constituted Court ? ' 4 . How is it that the N . Z . G . L . was legally constituted when it was formed by only 32 lodges out of 150 ?

5- What European Grand Lodges recognise the N . Z . C ? 6 . What American Grand Lodges refuse to recognise it ? 7 . Why do not adherents ° f the N . Z . C . who hold certificates from British lodges visit lodges under ihe E . C . ? " These are the seven questions on which Bro . WARBURTON was desirous of being "kindly enlightened , " and the following is the

illumination vouchsafed by our contemporary . As regards 1—the non-pay"ntnt of dues and the non-return of the charter—says the New Zealand Craftsman— " It is based on false premises . It is not true that any of the bruhren vhohavereceived these circulars left their lodges without payingtheir dues . The right to retain the charter is a canon of Masonic law upon which all

New Zealand Masonry.

Masonic authorities are agreed , except those of England , Ireland , and Scotland . With these Grand Lodges it is a case of ' orthodoxy is our doxy , heterodoxy is other folk ' s doxy , ' and the attempt to coerce us into abandoning our own belief and accepting that of the Mother Grind Lodge is appropriately described as a Heresy Hunt . " It may be safely affirmed of this answer that it could only have been addressed by a journal

possessing more than the average fund of assurance to persons—among whom we do not include Bro . WARBURTON—possessing less than the average amount of knowledge and reasoning power . The authorities of the District Grand Lodge of Auckland know perfectly well what lodges have paid their dues and what have not paid them ; and in the former case , for what individual members of those lodges and up to what date . If the affairs of the three

extinct Englsh lodges , whose members are affected by this demand for unpaid dues by the D . G . Lodge authorities , have been conducted in anything like a business fashion , it will be possible for the members who have paid theri lodge subscriptions—which include the said dues—up to the date of their secession to produce their receipts as evidence of the payment ; and if the lodge Secretaries have remitted the dues they have received from the said

members to the District G . Secretary , it will be possible for the former to produce the receipts given by the iatter ; or , if no receipts have been furnished , to offer reasonably trustworthy evidence that the moneys were remitted to the proper officer of District G . Lodge . The District Grand Lodge authorities affirm that the members of certain seceded lodges and others have not paid their dues ; the New Zealand Craftsman boldly

declares that the dues have been paid—or , to be precise , that " it is not true that any of the brethren who have received these circulars left their lodges without paying their dues , " and there should be little or no difficulty in determining which of these two assertions is correct . As regards the non-return of the warrant , we will not concern ourselves to dispute yh . e bold assertions of our contemporary that " the right to retain the warcant is a

Canon of Masonic law upon which all Masonic authorities are agreed , except those of England , Ireland , and Scotland . " It does not matter to Masons under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England what , the Masonic law on warrants or any other subject may be in the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , or Pennsylvania , or North Dakota . The point with us , in respect of English lodges which have become extinct , is

as to what the law is on the subject of the return or retention of the warrants under which they were allowed to meet as Masons . Our contemporary admits that the law of England is against the retention ot warrants by lodges which have become extinct , and as it is the lodges which by their secession from the English Constitution have made themselves extinct as regard , that Constitution from which our Grand Lodge authorities

have demanded the surrender of their warrants , we arc spared the trouble of carrying the question further . The answer to No . 2 needs no notice , but to No . 3 , in which Bro . WARBURTON is desirious of knowing why the District Grand Lodge of Auckland is a " self-constituted court , " our contemporary makes answer " Because it assumes to have authority where it is not entitled to exercise any , and any sentence passed by it will be inoperative . "

A more ridiculous answer could not have been invented . Bro . G . S . GRAHAM ' patent of appointment as District Grand Master of Auckland bears date the 30 th March , 1877 , and from the day of his installation—which must have been shortly after his patent reached the colony—till now has never ceased to exercise the authority with which he was then invested , while his District Grand Lodge , which was constituted by him on the day of

his installation , has likewise exercised continuously the functions pertaining to it . And yet our contemporary has the hardihood to affirm that this chief has no longer a locus standi in his District and that his District Grand Lodge is self-constituted . Let the New Zealand Craftsman go one step further , and assert that since the selfconstituted Grand Lodge of New Zealand has appeared on the scene to the

destruction of all Masonic decency , the Grand Lodge of England has no right to require that its officers shall be obeyed and its laws respected , and the climax of stupendous folly will have been reached . To question No . 4 the New Zealand Craftsman replies that " the Grand Lodge of New Zealand was formed not by 32 , but by 90 , lodges ; the fact of some of these having recanted does not alter the position in the slightest . " This amazing

answer reminds us of a certain case recorded in the annals of Freemasonry , in which a number of brethren of a certain rank conspired togethet to obtain certain information by fair means or by foul . At the critical moment , when the conspiracy was on the eve of being carried into execution , the majority of these brethren recanted , but the minority , being men of a more determined and atrocious character , resolved on carrying to a conclusion their

impious design . Now , let us admit , for the sake of argument , and at . the same time to oblige our N . Z . contemporary , that the number of lodges which orginally proposed to establish the irregular Grand Lodge of New Zealand was 90 , still it remains a fact that it was only the 32 , who were of a more determined and atrocious character than the rest , that

persisted in that impious design to which the so-called Grand Lodge of New Zealand is indebted for its existence . Our contemporary's vision may be so limited that it is unable to see any difference between 32 and 90 , but we , with a clearer insight into the laws of arithmetic , declare the difference to be 58 .

Wc pass unnoticed the answers to questions 5 and 6 , because the point at issue is not alfected by the number of Grand Lodges , European or American , which have or have not recognised the so-called Grand Lodge of New Zealand ; but the answer to No . 7—why do not adherents of the New Zealand Constitution holding certificates from British Grand Lodges