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Article GRAND LODGE. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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Grand Lodge.
the books of the lodge , giving as their reason why the resolution had not been expunged , because a majority of the members were in favour of its being maintained . The Provincial Grand Master was then about at once to suspend the lodge , and without further delay , but he was waited upon by the J . AA 7 . of the lodge , who assured him that then a majority of the lodge
were in favour of expunging the obnoxious resolution , and he allowed time for that purpose . Accordingly at the meeting of the lodge in April the resolution was ordered to be expunged by a majority of 17 to 8 , but at a subsequent meeting a resolution was carried by a majority of 9 to 7 against rescinding the resolution , and declaring that what bad been done at a former
lodge was of no effect . On this being communicated to him he considered that the lodge was contumacious , and he accordingly suspended its operations . The Provincial Grand Master considered that had he shrunk from the responsibility of adopting this course , he should have been unworthy of the position which he had for so many years held in the Craft .
The Grand Secretary was then about to read the documents , which were very voluminous , in support of the appeal from the suspension of the Provincial Grand Master , when Bro . HAA'EKS interposed , and said lie rose to submit that as these documents were many pages in length , that the Grand Registrar , wdio had made himself master of the subject , should
briefly state the facts , instead of Grand Lodge wading through a mass of matter , some of which had no reference to the question now before them . The G . MASTER said the suggestion of Bro . Havers was well worth the consideration of Grand Lodge , for to his mind the papers contained a great deal beyond the point at issue . Let them , however , take care in adopting the suggestion of the S . G . W . ( Bro . Havers ) they did not lay themselves open to the
charge of slighting the complaints of aup one under their jurisdiction . Instead of going through such a mass of matter , he thought they might trust that the question would be fairly put by the Grand Registrar . The suggestion of Bro . Havers was then put as a motion and agreed to . The G . REGISTRAR said it was rather difficult to state to
Grand Lodge , briefly and succinctly , what the members of it Avould wish to have brought before them , as they were rather complicated , although the facts were few and vei-y simple . The St . Andrew's Lodge was the oldest iu Nova Scotia , and it was the custom to appoint from it brethren to the highest offices in the Provincial Grand Lodge . It appeared that if a
brother received office in that lodge , the usual course adopted Avas to promote him to a higher office . One brother thought , to use his own words , that he had been skipped over , and some other brother was appointed to the office he ought to have held . At that time tho office of . T . G . D . was offered to a brother of the St . Andrew ' s Lodge , and he , having communicated with
the lodge , thought that he had been slighted , and he refused to take the office . When the Provincial Grand Master found that his offer of J . G . D . was rejected , he offered it to another , Bro . Macdonald , the Master of the lodge having refused Bro . Nash , another member of the same lodge came forward and offered spontaneously to take it . Upon this the lodge thought
that appeared like an insult to Bro . Macdonald , and that he ( Bro . Nash ) had no right to takn a petty office , and they passed a vote of censure on Bro . Nash for having taken it after it had been rejected by Bro . Macdonald . That was the view taken of it by the members of the lodge , but the Provincial Grand Master and Bro . Nash placed a different colour upon the transaction . They said the offer was rejected by Bro . Macdonald , and as the Provincial Grand Master was desirous that some member of the St .
Andrew ' s Lodge should take it , he asked Bro . Nash , and he stepped forward and expressed his willingness to take it . Now , he ( the Grand Registrar ) believed that the view taken by the Provincial Grand Master and the Provincial Grand Secretary Avas the correct one , and for this reason , beesmsa Bvo . Nasb had held a higher office than the one he had then taken . Bro . Nash wrote to the lodge requiring it to rescind the
resolution , and on their refusing to do so , he wrote to the Provincial Grand Secretary to come to him and to ask the Provincial Grand Master to compel the lodge to rescind the resolution . He also found from the papers that it was the custom in the province to consider that no resolution was finally passed unless it Avas approved of by the Provincial Grand Master at his annual
visitation . If that was so , he believed that the Provincial Grand Master had greatly overstepped his duties , as resolutions , passed by a lodge required no confirmation from the Provincial Grand Master , The Provincial Grand Master called upon the St . Andrew's Lodge to rescind the resolutions , aud accordingly the members met and passed a resolution to that effect , but a-
subsequent lodge refused to sanction it and said it was of noavail . Upon that the Provincial Grand Master took upon himself to suspend tho lodge for not carrying out the decision of the lodge passed some time before . It seemed to him ( the Grand Registrar ) that he was bound to call the attention of Grand Ladge to the very words in which the Provincial Grand
Master took upon himself the responsibility of suspending St-Andrew's Lodge . " I am directed to notify that your lodge is suspended . from this date , until a decision from the Grand Lodge of England is obtained , as you refuse to expunge the vote of censure upon Bro . Nash , Avhich resolution the Provincial Grand Master considers un-Masonie . " The character of the second charge against tho lodge , that it is
contumacious , and it seemed to him that the conduct of some of the members was utterly subversive of all order . The Provincial Grand Master based his suspension of the lodge on two points . One of them was that they would not expunge a resolution which he thought ought not to have been passed . On this point he thought the Provincial Grand Master was wrong , for the lodge had the right to censure any of their members , and if it
was not directed against the Provincial Grand Master or his authority he had no right to interfere . He thought if that Grand Lodge had selected from any lodge a member who was appointed as Provincial Senior Grand Deacon , and he chose to refuse the office , the lodge to which he belonged would overstep the bounds if they censured that brother for not accepting
honours from the Grand Lodge , and they ought rather to be happy to receive that mark of honour , and not dictate to the Provincial Grand Master . If lie ( Bro . M'Intyre ) was a Provincial Grand Master , he should appoint tho man who was best qualified to fill the office , and would not be dictated to as to whom he should appoint , and he regretted that the law did not
enable tho Provincial Grand Master to censure the lodge for passing such a resolution . As to the other point he thought the Provincial Grand Master was wrong in not summoning tho lodge to explain what they had done , and if they could to give their reasons , and if they could to excuse themselves for their conduct . Although the St . Andrew ' s
Lodge had so far forgotten the respect that was due to the Provincial Grand Master , as lie had overstepped his duty , he should move— " That the appeal of the St . Andrew ' s Lodge be allowed and the suspension removed . " Bro . Cox , S . G . D ., seconded the motion . Bro . HAA ' ERS said he had listened with great attention to the very lucid observations of the Grand Registrar , instead of wading through a mass of papers , as he knew it was the in-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Grand Lodge.
the books of the lodge , giving as their reason why the resolution had not been expunged , because a majority of the members were in favour of its being maintained . The Provincial Grand Master was then about at once to suspend the lodge , and without further delay , but he was waited upon by the J . AA 7 . of the lodge , who assured him that then a majority of the lodge
were in favour of expunging the obnoxious resolution , and he allowed time for that purpose . Accordingly at the meeting of the lodge in April the resolution was ordered to be expunged by a majority of 17 to 8 , but at a subsequent meeting a resolution was carried by a majority of 9 to 7 against rescinding the resolution , and declaring that what bad been done at a former
lodge was of no effect . On this being communicated to him he considered that the lodge was contumacious , and he accordingly suspended its operations . The Provincial Grand Master considered that had he shrunk from the responsibility of adopting this course , he should have been unworthy of the position which he had for so many years held in the Craft .
The Grand Secretary was then about to read the documents , which were very voluminous , in support of the appeal from the suspension of the Provincial Grand Master , when Bro . HAA'EKS interposed , and said lie rose to submit that as these documents were many pages in length , that the Grand Registrar , wdio had made himself master of the subject , should
briefly state the facts , instead of Grand Lodge wading through a mass of matter , some of which had no reference to the question now before them . The G . MASTER said the suggestion of Bro . Havers was well worth the consideration of Grand Lodge , for to his mind the papers contained a great deal beyond the point at issue . Let them , however , take care in adopting the suggestion of the S . G . W . ( Bro . Havers ) they did not lay themselves open to the
charge of slighting the complaints of aup one under their jurisdiction . Instead of going through such a mass of matter , he thought they might trust that the question would be fairly put by the Grand Registrar . The suggestion of Bro . Havers was then put as a motion and agreed to . The G . REGISTRAR said it was rather difficult to state to
Grand Lodge , briefly and succinctly , what the members of it Avould wish to have brought before them , as they were rather complicated , although the facts were few and vei-y simple . The St . Andrew's Lodge was the oldest iu Nova Scotia , and it was the custom to appoint from it brethren to the highest offices in the Provincial Grand Lodge . It appeared that if a
brother received office in that lodge , the usual course adopted Avas to promote him to a higher office . One brother thought , to use his own words , that he had been skipped over , and some other brother was appointed to the office he ought to have held . At that time tho office of . T . G . D . was offered to a brother of the St . Andrew ' s Lodge , and he , having communicated with
the lodge , thought that he had been slighted , and he refused to take the office . When the Provincial Grand Master found that his offer of J . G . D . was rejected , he offered it to another , Bro . Macdonald , the Master of the lodge having refused Bro . Nash , another member of the same lodge came forward and offered spontaneously to take it . Upon this the lodge thought
that appeared like an insult to Bro . Macdonald , and that he ( Bro . Nash ) had no right to takn a petty office , and they passed a vote of censure on Bro . Nash for having taken it after it had been rejected by Bro . Macdonald . That was the view taken of it by the members of the lodge , but the Provincial Grand Master and Bro . Nash placed a different colour upon the transaction . They said the offer was rejected by Bro . Macdonald , and as the Provincial Grand Master was desirous that some member of the St .
Andrew ' s Lodge should take it , he asked Bro . Nash , and he stepped forward and expressed his willingness to take it . Now , he ( the Grand Registrar ) believed that the view taken by the Provincial Grand Master and the Provincial Grand Secretary Avas the correct one , and for this reason , beesmsa Bvo . Nasb had held a higher office than the one he had then taken . Bro . Nash wrote to the lodge requiring it to rescind the
resolution , and on their refusing to do so , he wrote to the Provincial Grand Secretary to come to him and to ask the Provincial Grand Master to compel the lodge to rescind the resolution . He also found from the papers that it was the custom in the province to consider that no resolution was finally passed unless it Avas approved of by the Provincial Grand Master at his annual
visitation . If that was so , he believed that the Provincial Grand Master had greatly overstepped his duties , as resolutions , passed by a lodge required no confirmation from the Provincial Grand Master , The Provincial Grand Master called upon the St . Andrew's Lodge to rescind the resolutions , aud accordingly the members met and passed a resolution to that effect , but a-
subsequent lodge refused to sanction it and said it was of noavail . Upon that the Provincial Grand Master took upon himself to suspend tho lodge for not carrying out the decision of the lodge passed some time before . It seemed to him ( the Grand Registrar ) that he was bound to call the attention of Grand Ladge to the very words in which the Provincial Grand
Master took upon himself the responsibility of suspending St-Andrew's Lodge . " I am directed to notify that your lodge is suspended . from this date , until a decision from the Grand Lodge of England is obtained , as you refuse to expunge the vote of censure upon Bro . Nash , Avhich resolution the Provincial Grand Master considers un-Masonie . " The character of the second charge against tho lodge , that it is
contumacious , and it seemed to him that the conduct of some of the members was utterly subversive of all order . The Provincial Grand Master based his suspension of the lodge on two points . One of them was that they would not expunge a resolution which he thought ought not to have been passed . On this point he thought the Provincial Grand Master was wrong , for the lodge had the right to censure any of their members , and if it
was not directed against the Provincial Grand Master or his authority he had no right to interfere . He thought if that Grand Lodge had selected from any lodge a member who was appointed as Provincial Senior Grand Deacon , and he chose to refuse the office , the lodge to which he belonged would overstep the bounds if they censured that brother for not accepting
honours from the Grand Lodge , and they ought rather to be happy to receive that mark of honour , and not dictate to the Provincial Grand Master . If lie ( Bro . M'Intyre ) was a Provincial Grand Master , he should appoint tho man who was best qualified to fill the office , and would not be dictated to as to whom he should appoint , and he regretted that the law did not
enable tho Provincial Grand Master to censure the lodge for passing such a resolution . As to the other point he thought the Provincial Grand Master was wrong in not summoning tho lodge to explain what they had done , and if they could to give their reasons , and if they could to excuse themselves for their conduct . Although the St . Andrew ' s
Lodge had so far forgotten the respect that was due to the Provincial Grand Master , as lie had overstepped his duty , he should move— " That the appeal of the St . Andrew ' s Lodge be allowed and the suspension removed . " Bro . Cox , S . G . D ., seconded the motion . Bro . HAA ' ERS said he had listened with great attention to the very lucid observations of the Grand Registrar , instead of wading through a mass of papers , as he knew it was the in-