Tasmania.

brethren who voted for the minute you have sent me , and the names ofthe five who voted against . I shall then lose no time in haying the necessary documents made out . "I beg to state however , that I have not the power to legalise the proceedings of the Lodge which took p lace during the period of suspension . To give them effect , they must be done over again , if required , so soon as the Lodis at workSuch meeting or meetings of the Brethrenas were

ge . , held at tlie request of the Grand Lodge , or my own , with a view to the settlement of differences , are , upon that request , legal , and form part of the records of No . 781 ; hut beyond this , all business transactions , from the time of suspension sustained by Grand Lodge , is in itself wrong . You will , I am sure , therefore perceive that I cannot make right what both the Constitution and the Grand Lodge pronounce wrong . When the necessary documents are completed , I shall be happy to visit Hobart Town . "

To this Bro . Toby replied on the following day , stating that he had no record of the brethren voting against the resolution—four of them having immediately retired from tlie room on being placed in a minority ; and praying that as the Loclge had been suspended en masse , so mig ht it be restored to its functions en masse . Although this communication was dated on the 12 th of June , no reply was

received until the Sth of August , a period of nearly two months , and then only on the receipt of a " refresher "—as our legal brethren would Say—from Bro . Toby , calling his attention to the length of time ivhich had intervened since he wrote to him ; and here it would seem that Bro Ewing , looking at the importance of the question under considerationhad placed himself in the wrong , did we not boar

, in mind that he was in a measure forced to be cautious , owing to the position in which he was placed , and the eagerness with which every word and act was seized upon by some of the brethren to his prejudice . In the letter of August 5 th , Bro . Ewing stated that he had come to the conclusion , " that it would be unwarrantable ancl unmasonic , " to

restore the loclge en masse , and "that each member must himself renew his allegiance ere he can hope for the benefit of release . " Here there can be no doubt that the Provincial Grand Master was right , as Bro . Wilkinson with one or two others had placed themselves in distinct opposition to his authority , aud declared , that rather than p lace themselves under the control of the Provincial Grancl Lodge ,

they would retire altogether from Preemasonry . With the letter of the 5 th of August was also sent a form of petition , for the Brethren who wished to be restored to their Masonic functions to sign . This Bro . Toby immediately did , ancl proceeded to obtain the signatures of other brothers , determining however not to present it until he received information of the Grand Lodge of England having confirmed

the decision come to in March . This information appears to have reached the colony on the 19 th of October ; ancl on the same day the petition was forwarded to Bro . Ewing—Bro . Toby remarking that many of the brethren had had no opportunity of signing it , owing to their absence from the colony . On the 26 th , Bro . Ewing acknowledged the receipt of the petition ,