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Masons In Municipal Life.

Masons in Municipal Life .

IT is uttering a commonplace to observe that , all the world over ,, the men who are not least distinguished for their zeal in die good work of the Brotherhood will be found not the least active in all that pertains to good government in civic , municipal , and in all public life . The metropolis is slowly but surely emerging from the somewhat archaic

arrangements on which its government has been based , and the formation of the Borough Councils has had the intended effect of bringing the much advocated desideratum in government— "fresh blood "—into municipal work ; The old vestries have gone the way of the old Board of Works . Their inception and history may have

an obscure interest in the day when " some traveller from New Zealand shall , in the midst of a vast solitude , take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St . Paul ' s , " but , at present , one ' s concern at their disappearance and of the familiar headline , " vestry scandals , "

is not mingled with any deep sense of regret . Glancing over the names of the councillors , one has good reason for hope that with fresh blood there will be a fresh code of

manners , with an entire absence of that subterranean method of business which was connived at by virtuous vestrymen in some—let us hope rare—instances . For example , we observe among the newly-elected Councillors for the Borough of Paddington the names of Bro . Sir GEORGE D . HARRIS , P . G . Deacon , and of Bro .

Lieut .-Gen . J . WIMBURX LAURIE , M . P ., Prov . Grand Master for the Western Division of South Wales . Bro . Sir GEORGE HARRIS has for a long time exercised his administrative capacity in the Royal Arch as President of the General Committee of Grand Chapter , and R . W . Bro . Lieut .-Gen .

f . LACK -K , in addition to his duties as Prov . Grand Master , not infrequently presides over Grand Lodge . Amongst the Mayors , also , are Bro . the EARL OE OXSLOW , G . C . M . G ., Past Grand Warden , chosen for Westminster , and Bro . Dr . GOODING , P . G . Deacon , elected for Greenwich .

These are but a small percentage of the many eminent and excellent men—men of integrity and of business ability , with many zealous Masons among them—who have been elected for London . It is a regrettable fact that a larger number of voters did not go to the poll , but this

is explained by the fact—which even time is not likely to alter—that there is not the same feeling in the metropolis as in the provinces . The county of London is , for one thing , without a strong local press . Some of us are apt to take our view of things , so to speak , through a telescope , and in

making our survey of the universe , and revelling in our wide held of vision we are prone to overlook matters which lie nearer home .

There is also the fact , as one . of our best known magistrates has remarked , that a large percentage of the inhabitants of the metropolis are , to all intents and purposes , a nomadic race , with a corresponding indifference to local affairs not found in the provinces . In the metropolis many of the citizens know nothing

of their neighbour next door , and not seldom their interest in local affairs is limited to a faint grumble at an increase of rates , whereas , in the provinces , it is part of the business of life to know , and be known ; folk do not remove their household goods from one division to another in the light-hearted way in which Londoners remove

from one district to another , from the centre away to the suburbs and from the suburbs back to the centre ; there is a strong local press , which , as in provincial towns is less concerned with Parliamentary and Imperial matters than with the virtues and misdeeds of Councillor This or Vestryman That , with the result that our provincials have

a local education which is denied to the inhabitants of the metropolis . We have , of course , local papers , but whether the fault be in the supply or the demand , they are ill-edited and , therefore , ill-read .

We are far from assuming that because all the virtues are inculcated in the great principles of Masonry , that , therefore , there is no virtue outside the Fraternity ; but we do conceive that , other things being equal , and that , making allowance for what is termed the personal equation , there is every reason for believing that there is much in the lessons

learned in Freemasonry which aids the unit in his conception of , and affection for , good and orderly government , tending to assist him in the counsels of those who desire that all work shall be well done , and that every stone of the structure and superstructure of government , shall be well and truly

laid . It is for this reason that , in noting the number of Masons who have been elected to assist in the government of the metropolis , and in complimenting . Bro . Frank Green on his occupancy of the Mayoralty of the city , that we feel justilied in the rellection that the activity of good Masons throughout the country is a state of affairs in which we may

feel proper pride , and a matter of congratulation which may be tendered alike not only to these good men and true , but to the corporation and the councils who have need of their services , whilst it is but one indication of the public spirit which animates our Fraternity . THE EDITOR .