United Grand Lodge.

UNITED GRAND LODGE .

The programme of business to be transacted at the September Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge is seldom a lengthy or important one , and that arranged for Wednesday next is no exception to the rule . Notice of motion , however , has been given by the PRO GRAND MASTER that an Address of

Congratulation be presented to his Royal Highness the GRAND MASTER on the auspicious occasion of the marriage of his eldest daughter with the Duke of FIFE , K . T ., Provincial Grand Master of Banffshire , and if there is any hesitation about adopting the motion , it will be on the ground of its being unaccompanied by

any proposal for presenting the young lady herself with a gift in recognition of so happy an event . The Report of the Board of General Purposes contains the announcement that the manufacturer of the Charity Jewel , which brethren who have served as Stewards to two or more of the three Masonic

Institutions are permitted to wear , in accordance with the conditions prescribed at page 144 of the Book of Constitutions , has arranged to reduce the price from £ 2 ios . to £ 2 per jewel , the material and workmanship remaining the same as under the higher price ; It would have been better , perhaps ,

if the Board , having resolved on dealing with this matter , had gone a step further and recommended that Grand Lodge should present duly qualified brethren with the jewels and bars to which they are entitled , but manufactured from less costly material . The fact of the decoration beinp- the gfift of Grand Lodsre would

enhance its merit , notwithstanding that the change from gold to silver gilt , or silver , or even to bronze , would diminish its value intrinsically . As regards the new lodges for which the M . W . G . Master has granted warrants since the June communication , they are more numerous than usual , two of them being for the London

district , ten for the Provinces , and three for South Africa . Of the ten Provincial warrants , four are for lodges in West Lancashire and two in East Lancashire , one for a lodge in West Yorks , and the remaining three for a lodge in each of the home counties of Surrey , Essex , and Hertfordshire .

The Estimated Cost Of A Grand Lodge For New Zealand.

THE ESTIMATED COST OF A GRAND LODGE FOR NEW ZEALAND .

It has been said that figures can be made to prove anything and everything , and to judge from the manner in which some of our New Zealand brethren have been compiling their statements of the estimated cost of a United Grand Lod ^ e for New

Zealand , we begin to think there must be a slight grain of truth in the assertion . Their idea appears to have been to add together the expenses of the nine District and Provincial Grand Lodges now existing in the Colony , and then , on the assumption that under the change which they are desirous of seeing inaugurated , the United Grand Lodge with four Provincial Grand Lodges will be able to do all the work done by the nine disestablished district and Provincial Grand Lodges , they proceed to show by a r ule-of-three sum that an immense saving will be effected if their project for establishing a Grand Lodge is carried .

Moreover , as there will be no longer any fees to remit to the Home wand Lodges , the total thus remitted will also be saved , and every one will be happy . Now , this looks feasible enough on paper . If nj ne District and Provincial Grand Lodges cost on an av

erage £ 945 per annum , then one Grand Lodge and four Proadrr Gran - r s es wil 1 cost £ 5 2 5- Add £ 20 a year for the ' C lti ° nal dignity which necessarily pertains to a Grand Lodge , ?•, " \ total cost will amount to £ 545 . Hence the saving accomif th b y ^ ' ge W'U be at the rate of £ 400 per annum , while abb . % ° ^ tion of remittances home , amounting annually to mkThl °° ' ^ into account , it will be at the still more foreno h ra *" ° ^ •£ 9 00 P er annum - This , we repeat , looks well thus r ° paper ' and if we had the faintest hope that the saving mom t ^ k W ° be effected > we should not hesitate for a their advising the brethren in this colony to follow up a'id n ^ t eSen i " pl & nS W ' th a 11 the eneT SY which they are capable , the pr / ' . f r a . y circumstances , to rest until they had gained F lnt tor which some of them are striving so eagerly . We

The Estimated Cost Of A Grand Lodge For New Zealand.

venture to think , however , that , in practice , the saving , if indeed any at all is effected , will be on a very much smaller scale . We will assume that for the present , at all events , no capital will be sunk in the erection of suitable headquarters for the new and more important United Grand Lodge of New Zealand , but

offices will have to be found somewhere for the executive officers , and we presume that , even if they are found in one of the Masonic Halls already built , something in the nature of a rent will have to be paid . Then the new Grand Secretary will be an important official . He will be in correspondence with

the whole of the ' 50 lodges , and it will be necessary that the brother who is appointed to the office should give the whole of his time to the performance of his duties . But you cannot employ a man under such conditions without paying him an adequate remuneration . We beiieve that the salary of

the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria has been fixed at £ 500 a year , and as the duties of a Grand Secretary of New Zealand are likely to be more rather than less arduous , and as the cost of living , so far as we know , is about the same in the two Colonies , it will be difficult

to find a really competent brother for the post at a lower salary than £ 500 . Then , sooner or later , he will need some clerical assistance , or , it may be , a staff of clerks to do the office work , while he travels about the Colony , looking up the various lodges , and seeing that they do their work

properly , compile their returns , and remit their dues . As regards printing , postage , stationery , and other items of expenditure , these will not be very materially , if at all , affected by the proposed change . There will still remain the same number of lodges to correspond with , though the number of officials who

will carry on the correspondence with them will be reduced . In fact , as far as we can form anything like an idea upon such a question , it strikes us as being more than probable that though , if a Grand Lodge of New Zealand were established forthwith , a small saving might at first be made ,

it would not be very long before the cost of administering the affairs of the new body was as great as , if not greater than , it is now . The expenditure is small now , because the lodges are

distributed into a number of small groups and the amount devoted to salaries is insignificant . But a Grand Lodge being , as we have said , a more dignified body , is likely to prove more costly , while the four Prov . Grand Secretaries who will act in connection

with the proposed four Provincial Grand Lodges will assist in swelling rather than diminishing the outlay . Some day , perhaps , it may be an advantage to our New Zealand brethren to have a Grand Lodge of their own , but we feel confident that the advantage , whatever it may happen to be , will not be in the direction of economy .

Masonic Statistics, New Zealand.

MASONIC STATISTICS , NEW ZEALAND .

So much has been written during the last 12 or 18 months about New Zealand , the cost of maintaining the District and Provincial Grand Lodges in that Colony , and above all , about the large sums which are remitted to the parent Grand Lodges , that it is possible our readers may be indisposed to hear more on the

same subject . However , the Committee which is taking steps to break off the connection with the old country and set up an establishment of its own , which shall be warranted to prove both super-excellent in itself and far and away superior to anything the Masonic fogeydom of the United Kingdom can

produce , has considerately remitted to us a variety of statistics relating to the numerical and financial condition of the Craft in this distant colony , and it has occurred to us that the results of our examination of these statistics may prove instructive . There are , it seems—or there were at the date these statements were

compiled—148 lodges in New Zealand , of which 85 are under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England ; 48 under that of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , and 15 under that of the Grand Lodge of Ireland . Of these all but six English lodges

are grouped together into nine districts or provinces , of which five are English , three Scotch , and one Irish . The English District Grand Lodges are Auckland , 19 lodges ; VVellington , 19 lodges ; Canterbury , 20 lodges ; Otago and Southland , 14