Correspondence.

Stevens , P . M . 720 , and he has the best wishes for success of a large number of Masons . The third suggestion I have named is also , it would appear , on the eve of realization , general opinion being favourable to it , and probably the only question which will require discussion and consideration is , whether the

term shall be three , five , or seven years , there being three distinct propositions relative to it . In the Grand Mark Lodge three years is the term adopted , and perhaps wisely , seeing that this is hut a secondary branch of Masonry , not yet very extensively developed . My own view is that it is too short a time

for the Craft Grand Master to hold sway , and that either of the other periods named is preferable . As to my fourth question , no movement seems to be made as yet , though , should the third be adopted , this will probably follow as a natural sequel . It appears to me more important than the thirdbecause the

, members of Grand Lodge must annually vote on the question of a Grand Master for the ensuing year , whereas they have no voice whatever in the appointments to Prov . G . Masterships , which lie entirely with the Grand Master . As an alteration in this

respect will be an interference with the present prerogative of the Grand Master , I think it will be at once admitted that such a limitation in the term of headship of a province should be decided upon before the election of a successor to the present M . W . G . M ., the Earl of Zetland . For a Prov . G . M . three years ' tenure of office is sufficientllong . I can point to

y one province where the Prov . G . M . did for many years , and I presume does still , adopt this term for his Deputy , and the plan worked well . Having , in common with many others , suffered long and continuously from the misrule of an unqualified Prov . G . M ., whose successor has recently been installed ,

after an unpleasant struggle for seven years to obtain a change , I feel very strongly on this point , especially as all inquiry into the circumstances was refused . As the difficulty has occurred in one instance , it may in another , and it therefore behoves us to guard against it when a favourable opportunity , such as the present , offers itself .

Allow me further space for brief remarks on the letters of "A Prov . G . Officer , " and Bro . F . Binckes . In reply to the former , I fear that , if permission were given to read tlie rituals , they would scarcely ever be committed to memory aud rendered orally , and I question whether there would not , in that case , be a want of itnpressiveness . Such is my own ideafrom

, what I have seen in France , where the course recommended by your correspondent is adopted . There are , of course , many other reasons against such a change . I prefer some arrangements , already laid before your readers some time ago , by which competent instructors should be formally sanctioned and recognisedand by

, which also candidates for the chair of a lodge should be tested as to their knowledge of the ritual before election . I have read Bro . Bincke ' s letter with great pleasure , as therein are expressed opinions which coincide much with my own . While admiring the efforts of praiseworthand valued Masonic

many y friends who are seeking truth in their endeavours to unravel the early history of our Order , aud , far from wishing to stifle research , I have been unwilling to take part in the discussion , under a conviction that from * a variety of circumstances there are no data

available , and the more I have read of the investigations of others on this head , the more have I felt that " we are perplexed ; "—would that I could finish the quotation and add " but not in despair . " I-fancy there are many who agree with me in this view . Tours fraternally , H . H .

BE . LIVINGSTONE . TO THE EDITOR OP THE EHEEA'ASONS' MAGAZINE AND 3 IASONIC MIRSOIi . Dear Sir and Brother , —We all wish to hear reliable news of this intrepid African explorer , but , better stillwe desire to see himself . At the meeting of

, the Eoyal Geographical Society lately , Sir Eoderick Murchison read a long letter purporting to be from him ; yet , unless it is his usual style , there are passages in it which cause me to wonder if it can really be from him . Perhaps the reference to Ptolemy may he all rightalsoa little further downthe giving of

, , , the latitude several times without the longitude , yet the style towards the end reminds me somewhat too much of the preface to a begging petition , and has rather much of self-complacency about it surely to be his usual style ; then the words occur , " the defects , unavoidable in the circumstances , you will kindly

excuse . " These defects , I suppose , refer to the writing . Somehow it appears to me that in such a long letter the Doctor might have given us more information than we have got . The above reflections crossed my mind upon reading the letter carefullunder the following circumstances

y , , which show how , upon a very slight foundation , the most exaggerated stories rise and spread , viz .: I met a gentleman lately who asked me if I had heard of that new race of men , quite different from all others , lately discovered by Dr . Livingstone in Africa , who

lived in caves underground so large that rivers run through them into underground seas , and so on . Not having read the Doctor ' s letter at the time , I was asked to do so , especially , observed my friend , as it bears upon a former architectural article of yours which appeared in the Magazine , and regarding which

we differed slightly . The following is the passage in the Doctor ' s letter bearing upon this point -. — " P . S . —Always something new from Africa . A large tribe live in underground houses in Neua . Some excavations are said to be 30 miles long , and have running rills in them . A whole district can

stand a siege in them . The writings therein , I have oeen told by some of the people , are on wings of animals , and not letters . Of course , I should have gone to see them Very dark , well made , and outer .... My eyes slanting wards . " The italics are minewe find it is " rills" not

; , rivers , and there is a good deal of the " it is said " in the matter . However , the description in the " P . S . " is rather more probable than the viva voce description I got . In conclusion , I join the prayer of many thousands for the Doctor ' s welfare , if he be still in fife and thatif such be tlie casemay he be

; , , spared to come back to us in safety to personally recount all his trials and difficulties , his new knowledge and noble achievements . Yours fraternally , W . P . B .