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pomp and ceremony , the meeting for this purpose being held in the Exhibition or Town Hall , as mig ht hereafter be decided , and the Grand Officers having been appointed and invested , and Grand Lodge having been closed , the brethren were to separate till the evening , when a banquet would be held , and Bro . Sir . W . J . CLARKE would receive the congratulations of his distinguished visitors , as well as of the officers and members of his own Grand

Lodge . Such is the programme for this eventful meeting , so far , at least , as it had been arranged in the early days of February , and we dare say when the full accounts of what passed reach us , it will be found that the ceremony attending the inauguration of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria was as magnificent a success as that of its sister United Grand Lodge of New South Wales .

* " . v . * WE learn from our contemporary , the New Zealand Masonic New Zealand Journal for February , that steps are already being taken with Grand Lodge . & view tQ establishing ia United Grand Lodge for the Colony of New Zealand . Bro . T . G . DE RENZY , W . M . of the Lodge of Otago ,

No . 844 , Dunedin , has addressed a circular letter to the Masters , Officers , and brethren in the District of Otago and Southland , inviting them to make out a proxy in favour of one of a number of brethren , whose names he includes , to attend a meeting , to be held in the Masonic Hall , Dunedin , on 29 th March , that is , to-day ( Friday ) , for the purpose of considering the advisability of establishing a New Zealand Grand Lodge . At the same

time Bro . DE RENZY forwarded to each lodge a bundle of forms for distribution among the members , that they might severally fill them in as they think proper , and return them , so that the originators of the scheme might be in a position to judge of the extent to which the proposal for an independent Grand Lodge is regarded , favourably or otherwise , by the Masonic community at large . A number of suggestions and a draft Constitution , by

Bro . GEORGE GoRD 0 N , have also been put into circulation , so that in the course of the next two or three months we may look to hear whether our New Zealand brethren are as bent on having a Constitution of their own as our contemporary , who writes hopefully about the result of these steps , seems inclined to think . It must be remembered there are five District Grand Lodges

and a group of lodges not organised as a District under the Grand Lodge of England , without reckoning the Irish and Scotch Provincial and District Grand Lodges ; and it may not be so easy a task to amalgamate these various bodies as it has proved in South Australia , New South Wales , and Victoria , in each of which , though there were three or four Constitutions , there was only one local authority presiding over each .

Old K.T. Certificate.

OLD K . T . CERTIFICATE .

Bro . Crcssle , M . B ., Prov . G . Sec . of Down , has kindly sent me a facsimile of the following K . T . Certificate of 1789 . It is in Latin and English , parallel columns , and bears the seais of the Craft lodge , chapter , and K . T . Our Brother ( of Newry ) has a large collection of such curios , and is always glad to add to his store . W . J . HUGHAN .

( Copy ) The Light Shineth in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not . M . I . T . T To all Enlightened Free and Accepted M . Masons by the Seventy Two the Salutation of Peace Love and Harmony These are to Cerlify to all Men who have Knowledge of the Truth that our worthy

Brother Randle Peyton member of our HIGH KNIGHTS TEMPLARS of Ireland , held in BOYLE , has jrone through the several Degrees of Entered Apprentice , Fellow Craft , Master , and Past Master , and having behaved judiciously and performed all his works with Diligence and Integrity amongst us . a ROYAL CHAPTER was held in a full Body to initiate him in the Sublime Degree of Excellent , Super Excellent , and after a severe Examination in the ROYAL ARCH his great Zeal to promote Charity , Secrecy and

Hrotherly Love having merited him the highest rank in MASONRY : a General CONCLAVE was to that Effect assembled , and having sustained the Amazing Trials with Fortitude and true Valour , he was unanimously raised to the most Sublime Degree of HIGH KNIGHT TEMPLAR . AS such we recommend him in all the Sublime Lodges and Brethren wo understand the Angles and Squares

of III . by III . Blessed be the names of those who shall be in any wise useful to him , may they be recorded in the Book of the CELESTIAL GRAND LODGE . In Testimony of the aforesaid we have delivered him this Certificate under our Hands and the Seal of our GRAND LODGE OF HIGH KNIGHTS TEMPLARS held in BOYLE ; and that it may not be of use to any one else but under the said beloved Brother Randle Peyton he has signed his Name adjacent to the Seal .

Given in a most Holy Place of the Last of the Universe where Silence , Peace and Concord Reign , on the twenty eight Day of the twelfth month at . High Noon , in the year of Masonry 57 S 9 and of Grace 1789 . I Signed ] Wm . Peyton E . G . M . Patt McDanogh S . W . Hugh Sweeny J . W . and T . Randle Peyton . [ K . T . SEAL . ]

Grand Lodge Of New South Wales.

GRAND LODGE OF NEW SOUTH WALES .

I entirely agree with the "leader" in the Freemason of March 23 rd , relative to the formation of the Grand Lodge of New South Wales . Without in any way deviating from my advocacy from the first , I still say that any lodge may refuse to join a new Grand Lodge , and preserve its connection with the parent Grand Lodge , as before . Beyond question the right exists so to do , and all such who have thus acted have been supported by the parent , if a British Grand Lodge .

But there are other considerations besides the merely technical or legal points involved , and , to my mind , the formation of the Grand Lodge of New South Wales is one in which Masonic feeling and hearty co-operation for the sake of unity and harmony , should be conspicuously displayed rather than a microscopic criticism as to the exact details of the methods employed in its inauguration .

My friend , Bro . George Robinson , and the few brethren who think with him , have apparently some fair objections to urge against the preliminary arrangements , and , whatever may be said to the contrary , they can still continue legally under our Grand Lodge ; but there is a still better way . Let him and their friends sink their grievances ( however serious and important they may be ) , and decide in the true spirit of Masonic Brotherhood

to cast in his lot with the new Grand Lodge . To continue as a lodge now , apart from the Grand Lodge of New South Wales , would mean isolation and a continual source of irritation . Now , Bro . Robinson , do what is better ! You will then feel that come what may you have set an example which will live in the history of the Colony as a deed to be gratefully remembered . w _ j HUGHAN >

Masonic Facts Versus Fictions.

MASONIC FACTS versus FICTIONS .

BY H . SADLER . Before reverting to the important question of " secession " or " no secession , " which certainly is , as Bro . Lane says , a " debateable subject , " there are one or two points in his last article to which I beg to direct his attention .

I may remind him that as he has thought proper to attack the theory propounded in " Masonic Facts and Fictions , " I consider myself fully justified in calling for the evidence on which he bases the apparently formidable array of so-called " Masonic Facts" which form the substance of his opposition to that theory , This was the main purpose of my former contribution , which he politely refers to as " strictures , " and as he persists in

perpetuating the stigma implied in the term " seceders , on an important section of our Order , he is , in my opinion , morally bound either to substantiate the accusation , or , in common fairness , to refrain from so stigmatising ic . I would also call his attention to the fact that he is not strictly accurate in stating that I "assert" that the Irish Masons obtained their knowledge of the English ceremonies "by the simple process of visiting . " The words

used by me were "it is quite possible for a knowledge of certain differences to have been obtained . " I assure Bro . Lane that I have not in my own estimation arrived at such perfection as a Masonic historian as to feel justified in "jumping at conclusions" when at a loss for direct evidence , or of making unfounded assertions with impunity , as , however , he reiterates this statement , and then asks for " evidence in proof of" the " assertion , "

he will , perhaps , permit me to suggest that an expression of opinion cannot fairly be construed into a positive " assertion . " I shall therefore be much obliged if he will quote my words accurately in future . However much I may regret that I have not succeeded in making a " convert" of my worthy opponent , I assure him that I have no desire to accuse him of being

unusually " obtuse , " nor do I wish to insinuate that his notion of "common sense" is at all crude , " I may say , in effect , that my " common sense " view of the subject differs from his own ; still , as he has chosen to apply these epithets to himself , I shall not discuss the appropriateness , or otherwise , of the selection , being of opinion that a little self-abasement will do no harm to any of us .

I am sorry to find that I have unwittingly made use of a phrase which appears to have somewhat puzzled Bro . Lane . By " Masonic intercourse" I mean intercourse or conversation between Masons on subjects appertaining to Masonry . Take my own case for example , although I have never attended a lodge out

of this country , by conversing with Masons of different nationalities , I have acquired a slight knowledge of the mode of practising the rites of Masonry in several parts of the world ; I cannot , therefore , see any difficulty in the way of Masons in the same tnvn finding out each other ' s peculiarites by a similar process .

There is another point in my reply which , probably owing to my inexperience as a writer , appears to have been quite misunderstood . I allude to the question of " motive , " which , I say , " is of the utmost importance in determining the value of doubtful or unathenticated statements . " I certainly thought that this was an axiom beyond dispute , and I was really under the impression that I had made it sufficiently clear that I referred to

Preston and Dermott only ; yet Bro . Lane expresses his " regret that Bro . Sadler should question the motives of the writers on this subject whose opinions and facts do not harmonise with his own theory , " thereby intimating that I question the motives of the writers of the present day . Now , to the best of my belief , Bro . Lane is the fourth writer on this subject to whom I have replied since the appearance of " Masonic Facts and

Fictions , and if he can point to any portion of my replies in which appears the slightest allusion to " motives" on the part of my opponents , I shall be much obliged to him . My impression is that , as a general rule , I find quite enough to do to deal with their assertions and mis-statements , without concerning myself in the smallest degree about their " motives , " being quite content to leave these to the judgment of impartial readers .

To the same tribunal will I refer the decision as to who evinces a disposition " to beg the whole question" —whether it is Bro . Lane , with his array of " Masonic Facts , " which , so far as they affect the question at issue , have no existence , except in his own prolific imagination , and which he now completely disposes of by " avowing" his " conviction that very many of the 74 members who constituted the 'Ancient' Grand Lodge in 175 1 were

seceders from the ' Moderns , ' " or whether it is the writer who in the opinion of many has been able to adduce sufficient evidence , not only to support his own expressions of opinion , but to establish the theory which he has propounded , although , unfortunately , not enough to satisfy Bro . Lane and the very select circle whose views he represents . If Bro . Lane wants the whole of my evidence I must refer him to the

pages of " Masonic Facts and Fictions , " as I have no intention of reprinting the book in the columns of the Freemason ; not even for his edification . I will , however , to avoid giving him unnecessary trouble , quote a few passages which to my thinking have some slight bearing on the subject . I will first deal with the episode on page S 7 , which Bro . Lane considers such

conclusive evidence of secession and to which he clings with the tenacity ol a drowning man clinging to a plank—his only plank ; but in order to enable others to form an opinion as to whether 1 am justified in describing the record as exaggeration or " brag " on the part of Dermott and his colleagues , I will present the whole of it as it stands in the book :

" The Grand Secretary desired to know whether there was any other books or Manuscripts more than had been delivered to him by the Worshipful Mr . James Hagarty , the presiding officer , upon the 2 nd of February , 1752 , and Mr . John Morgan , late Grand Secretary . To which several of the Brethren answer'd that they did not know of any .

" Others , viz ., Brothers Samuel Quay , James Hagan , John Doughty , John Smith , Richard Price , John Bandy , and others said that they knew Mr . Morgan had a Roll ot parchment of prodigious length , which contained some Historical matters relative to the Ancient Cralt , which Parchment they did suppose he had taken abroad with him . It was further said that many Manuscripts were lost amongst the lodges latsly Modernized ,

where a vestige of tne Ancient Craft was not suffered to be revived or practized , and that it was for this reason so many of them withdrew from lodges ( under the Modern sanction ) to support the true Ancient System . / , they found the freemasons from Ireland and Scotland had been initiated in the very same manner as themselves , which confirm'd their system < X Practice as right and Just . Without which none could be deem'd legal though possessed of all the books and papers on Earth . "

In my last communication I asked Bro . Lnne to explain several inconsistencies which do not , to my thinking , coincide with the theory of " secession , " but he appears to have entirely overlooked them . I will now as <