Grand Lodge.

with the Prov . Grand Masters , but he felt bound to preserve the rights and privileges of his successors . He would remind them that Provincial Grand Masters had the right of delegating then- powers to their deputies , so that if the privilege was conferred npon the

provinces , the number who had the rig ht of exercising it would be so extensive that there could be no inducement for the Grand Master ever to confer honour on country brethren , as the Prov . Grand Masters in their own area would have power far more extensive than the

Grand Master himself . An amendment was moved to the resolution , but on a shoAv of hands it was affirmed —¦ only two hands being held up against it . That we approve of this decision we need not say , having already full y expressed our opinion that the

power was one to be confined to the M . W . Grand Master alone ; and were it to be made otherwise , it woiil & be rendering office so cheap as to detract from its value , and leave the simple blue a greater distinction than the j > urple . The M . W . Grand Master might , had he been so disposed , have illustrated his argument by

showing that the conferring of honorary rank , through which the doubt as to the powers of the Prov . Grand Masters had been raised , was the act of a D . Prov . Grand Master ( a Past Grand Warden of England who never attended to his duties ) , and that in a province ,

too , where the general complaint is that the honours are not equally distributed , it being a practice only to change the Grand Officers once in five or seven years , and , in many instances , only in case of death .

That the District or Colonial Grand Lodges should have fuller powers than Provincial Grand Lodges , in consequence of their greater distance from head quarters , we fully admit—yet we doubt whether the power of granting honorary offices is one ; but in some districts it is exerted to a very heavy extent , Ave haA-ing now

before us a report of a District Grand Lodge of Bengal , in which no less than live such distinctions were granted . We fully admit that if the power is wanted anywhere it is in India , where the stations lie so distant one from the other ; but the poAver should be legally obtained from

the Supreme Grand Lodge before it is exercised . This question settled , the President of the Board of General Purposes brought forward that relative to the Grand Lodge property ; he stated that the Board had noAV several plans for altering the property so as to more

fully adapt it to the purposes of the Craft , but it AA-as impossible they could come to any decision prior to the expiration of the lease of the Tavern in June next . He moved , therefore , that Messrs . Elkington and Co . be accepted as yearly tenants on the expiration of their lease ,

" provided they agree to pay the same rent as at present , all sewers rates and land tax , and to be subject to their tenancy being determined by six months' notice , at any of the usual quarter days , and subject to all the covenants of their present lease . " The motion was carried without observation ; and Ave are not disposed now to further refer to the subject ,

having so recently alluded to it , beyond observing that we propose to lay our plan of utilising the property before the Craft at no distant day . The report of the Colonial Board having been received , Bro . Henry G . Warren brought forward the

motion , of which he had given notice , to omit in clause 1 , page 50 , of the Booh of Constitutions , " Of the other Provincial Grand Officers , " all the words after " therein , " line 3 . As every brother who reads this may not have the last edition of the Boole of Constitutions at hand , we copy the clause , italicising the words which Bro . Warren proposed to omit : —

" These ( the other Prov . Grand Officers ) must all be resident within the province , and subscribing members to some lodge therein ; "bid the M . W . Grand Master may grant a dispensation for non-residence . A fee of two guineas for Grand Wardens , and one guinea for any subordinate officer , shall be paid to the General Fund of Charity for such dispensation . "

Bro . Warren , disclaiming all intention of interfering with the privileges of the M . W . Grand Master , based his argument for the repeal of the law on the ground that it was inoperative , and that no law should be maintained on a statute-book which could

not be enforced . It Avas notorious that the M . W . Grand Master objected to granting such dispensations ; in some provinces the Prov . Grand Master granted them ; whilst in others the offices were g " iA en without even the form of dispensation , and they could scarcely enter any lodge withoutmeetingwithabrotherwearingtheprovincial

purple Avho had neither obtained the legal dispensation , or paid the fees to the Eund of Benevolence . Such a state of things he thought unfair to the other brethren , and , if the law could not be enforced , that it ought to be repealed . The Grand Eegistrar agreed with Bro . Warren that a law which could not be enforced was a

blot on the statute book ; but he looked upon this as a most salutary law , and its having been evaded was no reason for its repeal ; but the offenders ought to be brought before the Board of General Purposes , whose business it Avas to maintain their laws . Bro . Warren having stated that there Avas no means of putting the

law in motion but by some brother turning common informer , the motion having nearly fallen through for Avant of a seconder , and one or two brethren having expressed their opinions on the law , Bro . Warren withdrew his motion ; upon AA'hich the Grand Master said he could not allow the opportunity to pass without

expressing his thanks to Bro . Warren for having brought the subject for \ A * ard . He had long felt there was a great abuse of the law , and that it ought to be enlorced . He had studiously kept from granting these dispensations , and he had not done so in more than in one or tAvo

instances since he had been Grand Master , feeling that even if he did so Avhere he had good reasons , he mi ght offend in refusing others , Avhere no such reason existed . He believed that some of the Prov . Grand Masters had granted dispensations to too great an extent , and he doubted Avhether they should have done so at all . He felt the infraction of the law ought not to be alloAved