The Masonic Mirror.

£ 2 , 000 . I ask those brethren ivho have alluded so eloquently to their oivn duties , ivhether they would like to discharge those of the Grand Secretary . Bro . Stebbing—Yes . ( Laughter and applause ) . Bro . Gregory—But not for £ 300 a year . ( Hear , hear ) . I speak as a practical man ; I have been connected from early youth with tho administration of large sums of money and the management of considerable numbers of men , ancl the result of my experience isthat if you pay men low , you ivill have bad services ; whereasif you

, , wish to keep men honest and vigilant you must pay them—at any rate—liberally . ( Hear ) . However great the claims of charity may be , they ought not to lead us to forget what is due to those ivhose faithful services we enjoy . . Nor is the fact that we have not acted liberally in the past , any ground for our acting unfairly for the future , ( Applause ) . '

A brother whose name we did not learn , said the secretaryship of great commercial companies did not present an analagous case , inasmuch as the revenues of those companies were often immensely greater than thafc of Grand Lodge . £ 500 a year would be a far more gentlemanly salary ( laughter ) , and on a future occasion they would probably find their Grand Secretary asking for that sum . Bro . Cottrell ( No . 14 ) , saicl they had been told that they ought not . to be generous before they ivere just —( hear)—still they might be just ( hear ) . The majority of the members of Grand Lodge ivere incapable of judging of the work which the Grand

Secretary had to clo , but the Board of General Purposes ivas conversant with his duties , and it ivas from them that the recommendation for an additional salary had come ( hear ); and unless they had good reasons for a contrary course , which hacl not yefc been brought forward , the recommendation of that Board ought to be adopted . Bro . AVhitmore agreed that the Board of General Purposes ought to be best able to judge as to what were the claims of the officers of Grand Loclge ; but when he found that Board introducing in 1859 a recommendation epiito opposite to that

which they introduced ou the same subject in 1858 , he thought they hacl fair grounds for doubting their judgment . ( Hear . ) He knew the Grand Secretary , ivho some years since was a Past Master of a Lodge to which ho belonged , and he had a very high respect for him ; it was only therefore from a high sense of duty that he opposed the proposition before Grand Lodge , because the only circumstance which to his mind could justify the increase did not exist , viz ., the request for an increase on the part of the Grand Secretary himself . ( Oh !) The ease of the

librarian of Lincoln ' s Inn ivas not analogous , inasmuch as although the Grand Secretary required , and no doubt possessed , that ai-orage intelligence , gentlemanly deportment and manners , ivhich constituted the chief requirements of his office , yet there was no need for that vast learning and varied ability required in such a post as that of the librarian referred to . Again , if they gave him this increase thus unasked for , they would prevent his getting it in a manner far more honourable to himself , namely , by coming up and asking for it , after he could plead , say , five years '

service as justification for asking it . ( Laughter . ) He was glad to seethe dryness ofthe discussion enlivened ( hear , and a laugh ) , but ifhediclnot succeed in making himself understood to Grand Lodge , he was thoroughly intelligible to himself . ( Renewed laughter . ) Bro . Savage said the main point seemed to be somewhat overlooked ; it ivas not what they had clone thirty or forty years back * , but—was the sum of £ 300 adequate or inadequate as the Grand Secretary ' s salary ? ( hear ) that was the question . ( Hoar

, , hear ) . He should , therefore , on this occasion support Bro . Havers , although it was sometimes his misfortune to disagree with that brother . [ Bro . Barratt— ' ' You'll never clo so any more . " ] ( Loud laughter ) . The Grand Secretary was capable of all that Bro . AVhitmore said , and more . Bro . AVhitmore—I never for a moment insinuated that there was any lack of information on the part of the Grand Secretary ( hear , hear ) , I merely spoke of the abilities required iu his office .

Bro . Savage enlarged on the advantages they enjoyed by reason of tho Grand Secretary ' s knowledge of continental languages , in addition to his mother tongue , by ivhich means he was enabled to correspond with brethren in various parts of the world ,