Grand Lodge.

Grand Secretary , in pursuance of tho last report of tho . Board of General Purposes , in AA'hich appeared the following paragraph : — "The Board have had their attention directed to the present duties of the officers in the Grand Secretary ' s department ; aud they are of opinion that the salary of the Grand Secretary is inadequateand is not a sufficient

, remuneration for a gentleman who , owing to the increase of work , is compelled to devote the whole of his time to the duties of the office ; and they recommend to Grand Lodge that the salary ofthe Grand Secretary be raised to £ 400 per annum . The Board further recommend that the salary of the second clerk ( Bro . Buss ) he raised to £ 150 per annum , and that such increase of salaries shall take place from the 1 st January , 1859 . "

That this recommendation , however founded in justice , ivould be allowed to pass unchallenged or Avithout protest , we did not expect , but ive were not prepared for the strong expressions of opinion on Thursday last— -which ive feel ivere directed , not against the man so much as against those who , ri ghtly or wrongly , were supposed to have been the authors ofthe paragraph above quoted . Tho increase

to the salary of the Grand Secretary ivas formall y moved b y the President of the Board of General Purposes ; leaving ifc to Bro . Joseph Smith , G . Pursuivant , the proposer of the increased salary in tbe Board of General Purposes , to state the grounds upon which he founded his proposition . This Bro . Smith did , by stating that Bro . Clarke was no party to the motion—that he had never spoken to him

, or , so far as he knew , to any other person on the subject ; but that he ( Bro . Smith ) had originated it from a feeling that a gentleman ivho devoted the whole of his time to the duties of his office—not onl y his whole time in office hours , but frequently five or six hours in the evening after quitting the office—was but inadequatel y remunerated at £ 300 a year . In support of his motion , he urged that tivo years

since a committee of the . Board of General Purposes had taken into consideration tho duties of the ; officers , when it had been unanimousl y resolved to recommend that the Grand Secretary ' s salary should bo £ 400 per annum ; that of the Assistant Grand Secretary £ 300 ; and a proportionate addition made to the allowance of the other officers . Two brethren were afterwards added to the Committee , and a division

of opinion took place which led to the Board of General Purposes recommending that no alteration be for fche present made in tho salaries of the officers . He knew that it mi ght be answered that tlie late Grand Secretary never had more than , £ 100 a year , and that for a long period he only received £ 300 . But , they must recollect , that Very Worshipful brother did not devote the whole of his time to the

business of the office , whilst Bro . Clarke did so , and was at all times accessible to the brethren whenever they wanted to see him . He based the resolution on the justice of his position , and trusted it would be unanimously supported—the more especially as Grand Lodge had overruled the former decision of the Board of General Purposes and increased tlie salary of the Assistant Grand Secretary ; that of the junior clerk in tho office having been also increased .