FREEMASONRY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 113, 14 May 1914, Page 3

FREEMASONRY

OFFICERS f*OR THE NEW YEAR CENTRALISATION SCHEME NEGATIVED (»T TELEGRAPH SPECIAL TO THE POST.} CKRISTCrTURCH, This Day. At the Annual Communication of the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand some 280 representatives of lodges and officers and members of Grand Lodge were present. M.W. Bro. Maurice Thompson, ' the Grand Master for the last two years, occupied the throne. M.W. Bros. Nicol and Binns- were the only Past Grand Masters present. BEPORTS OF BOARDS. The reports of the Board- of Benevolence and the Annuity Board, the material features of which have already been published, were adopted, and the new regulation submitted by the Annuity Board granting to any lodge which, within any period of five years contributes £400 to the W. and O. and A.M. fund the right to nominate the recipient of an annuity, was adopted 'after debate. The balance-sheet for the year, also published already, was adopted. Several clauses of the report of the Board of General Purposes were remitted to the incoming board for consideration. ELECTION OF GRAND OFFICERS. R.W. Bro. John Joseph Dougall, of Christchurch, was unanimously elected Grand Master, and the other officers for the year were elected in accordance with the scheme of' distribution proposed by the Board of General Purposes. M.W. Bro. Malcolm Nicol, who has filled the office of Grand Secretary for the last fourteen years, was, after warm eulogiums upon the excellence of his ad* ministration of the affairs of Grand Lodge, granted six months 1 leave of absence to enable him to undertake a trip to England for the benefit of his health. CENTRALISATION REJECTED. The whole afternoon sitting was devoted to the consideration of the question whether the motion passed last year at the Communication held in Auckland in favour of permanently establishing the Grand Lodge office in one of the four cities — and, as the matter crystallised, Wellington was the only centre considered — should be confirmed and steps be taken to give effect to it, or whether, on the other hand, it should be reversed. The debate took place upon a motion to rescind the resolution passed in Auckland, the mover of which based his attack upon the slight consideration given to the matter last year, and upon arguments that, equally upon geographical, financial, and administrative grounds, and general consideration for the welfare of the craft in the Dominion, centralisation was undesirable. After long and exhaustive discussion the motion to rescind was put to the vote and carried by a huge majority. / The motion from Kawatiri (Westport) in favour of fixing the Beat of the central office in Wellington from 1916 was put without debate and negatived with equal emphasis. INSTALLATION OF GRAND MASTER. The hall was crowded to excess at the evening session, when R.W. Bro. Dougall was installed as Grand Master. M.W. Bro. Thompson acted as Installing Grand' Master, and the ceremony 1 was brilliantly performed, with ' excellent musical accessories. On his installation, the Grand Master announced the appointment, under his prerogative powers, of the following GrandOfficers : — Deputy Grand "Master, M.W. Bro. Ernest P. i Lee, of Oamaru. Provincial Grand Masters — Auckland, M.W. Bro. 0. Nicholson ; Wellington, R.W. Bro. T. A. Peterkin ; Otago, R.W. Bro. J. J. Clark; Southland, R,W. Bro. W. Timpany; Hawkes Bay, R.W. Bro. H. L. Harston; Taranaki, R.W. Bro. R. W. Sargent; Nelson and Marlborough, R. W. Bro. W. E. Redman ; West Coast, R.W. Bro. J. H. Harkness. Canterbury district is ruled by M.W. Bro R. C. Binns in the capacity of Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge. Senior Grand Warden, R.W. Bro. Joseph Catchpole, Auckland. Junior Grand Warden, R.W. Bro. Herbert H. Seaton, Wellington. These various officers were duly invested, as also were the elected officers returned earlier in the day. GRAND MASTER'S ADDRESS. In his address the newly-installed Grand Master said that for the first time in the history of the Grand Lodge it was in complete amity with all the world, through the execution during the year of the long-delayed agreement of recognition with the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The progress of the Grand Lodge during the last twelve months had been satisfactory, and showed a steady increase in membership and finance. The increase in the funds, while not quite equal to some of the preceding years, was still substantial, and gave tangible evidence that the brethren fully realised the importance of maintaining the annuity fund in a condition sufficient to meet all reasonable demands. A point worthy of consideration was whether the time had not arrived for reviewing the size of the provincial districts. The present lodges were divided unequally into eight districts. In the larger districts the tasks of the Provincial Grand Masters were becoming herculean, and no business man could effectively carry out the duties of the office in any of the larger districts without seriously affecting his own material advantage. Several of the districts could be subdivided with advantage. He trusted that at the next Communication some scheme of subdivision would be submitted. Speaking in regard to Freemasonry in general, the Grand Master" proceeded : -— Since the inauguration of constitutional Freemasonry 200 years ago the craft has steadily maintained an unbroken record of dauntless perseverance in disseminating Masonry truths and preserving Masonic ideals No secular institution on the face of the earth haa preserved its original objects so immutably as lias' Freemasonry. The aims and principles, ideals, discipline, and procedure of to-day are as they were centuries ago. Freemasonry has been and still is the pioneer of the highest type of civilisation. Equality and fraternity are its watchwords. Within the doors of the lodge, prince and. peasant meet on a common level. Merit, and merit alone, is the passport to its privileges. Distinctions of social rank are abolished. It seeks to ameliorate the condition of the humble and lowly ; it impresses upon the mighty the ,duty and obligation of the brotherhood of man. It fosters liberty and justice; it demands virture, respect, and honourable conduct from its votaries. Its influence is felt in every quarter of the globe, and that influence is invariably directed in the preservation of law, order, and sound government. Throughout the ages it has never varied in its ideals. It deals not in politics, and it in no way trenches on religion, but ib ever strives to mitigate or destroy international and internal animosities and to bring the peoples of the earth into closer and more harmonious communion with each other. It is a world-power whose object is peace and goodwill among men. It seeks not individual aggrandisement, but endeavours to sow the seeds of faith, hope, and charity, brotherly love, relief, and truth : to spread tho mantle , of universal benignity and guide men to-

wards a nobler conception of the duty that man owes to man. Freemasonry labours to elevate the mind, lighten the eoul, and institute an era of brotherly toleration. A great social unrest is agitating the minds of men throughout the world, and never has the beneficial and ameliorating influence of Masonic principle been more needed than is the case at the present time. The evolution of humanity is proceeding more and more rapidly. Men are striving for a liigher plane of existence and for greater equality of opportunity. Human aspiration is pulsating witlf new life and new ideas, and in the consequent struggle, many hard things are being said and done. Would that all men could yiew the social movement of the day with the disciplined equanimity of the Freemason! Would that Freemasonry could plant its faith in the fatherly guidance of the Most High, its hope of the ultimate regeneration of mankind, and its sanctifying charity of speech, of thought, and of action in every human breast !» Then, indeed, would the doors of the millennium open, and men realise the Masonic ideal that this grea.t world of ours is one hugs cosmopolity founded on the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man."