MASONIC GATHERING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 282, 28 November 1929, Page 24

MASONIC GATHERING.

GRAND MASTER INSTALLED. IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. FAREWELL TO HIS EXCELLENCY. Much of the business done by the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand in the continuance of the legislative session of its annual communication to-day was of purely domestic concern, but there were some points of general interest.

One important decision of the Grand Lodge was that the present peripatetic system of administration under which the grand secretary's office is placed for two years in one centre—at present at Dunedin —should remain unaltered. A proposal by- the board of general purposes to extend the period of stay to three years was rejected without a division.

A surplus of £275 above the amount required for the purpose of the presentation to Sir Charles Fergusson was reported. At his own request this amount had been applied to the widows and orphans and aged Masons' fund. In further recognition of the services of Sir Charles to the Craft, the Grand Lodge voted a sum of £150 from its general funds to assist Lodge Fergusson St. James, at Dailly, Ayrshire, in which he was made a Mason, in restoring or refurnishing its lodge room, which was destroyed by fire some time ago. Further subscriptions to the West Coast earthquake relief fund .were reported, bringing the total to £1059.

The ceremonial of installation of Mr. J. «J. Clark as Grand Master of New Zealand took place in the evening in the main Town Hall, and was attended by a crowded gathering of Auckland city and district Freemasons. With the ornate procedure usual on such occasions, the Grand Master was obligated, invested and enthroned, and obeisance shown to hiqj by the large assemblage of his brethren, from Past' Grand Masters downwards to the general ranks. Sir Charles Fergusson presided and performed the principal ceremony.

New Principal Officers. Next in order came the investiture and induction of the Deputy Grand Master of the year, for which office the head of the Craft chose D. W. E. Redman, a veteran Past Provincial Grand Master, of Spring Creek, Blenheim.

Then followed the appointment and investiture of Provincial Grand Masters, viz., Auckland district, Mr. 0. Nicholson, Past G.M.; Wellington, Mr. E. J. Guinees; Otago, Mr. J. H. Moir; Southland, Mr. A. Derhie; Ruapehu, Mr. A. J. Graham; Hawke's Bay, Mr. J. Morling; West Coast, Mr. E. Dacre Dunn; Nelson and Marlborough, Mr. W. J. Girling; Taranaki, Mr. G. W. Rogers. Canterbury has a Provincial Grand Lodge with a Provincial Grand Master of its own election, Mr. J. W. Du Feu. For the office of Senior Grand Warden the selection fell upon Mr. C. E. Dutton, Auckland, and that of Junior Grand Warden was given to Mr. F. F. Allen, of Chrietchurch. . Both were invested and inducted. Other appointments in the gift of the Grand Master, which involved separate ceremonies, were as follow:—Grand Lecturers, the Rev. A. M. Niblock (Auckland) and Mr. 0. C. Mazengarb (Wellington); assistant Provincial Grand Masters, Col. S. S. Allen (Samoa); the Rev. A. L. Harvie (Auckland), Mr. H. H. Edwards (Nelson and Marlborough), and Mr. F. Symes (Ruapehu). Elective officers selected by the Grand Lodge at the morning sitting were also invested.

Address by Grand Master. In his address after the installation, the Grand Master dwelt upon the' evidence of "material progress shown by the reports of the boards of the Grand Lodge, but urged that the real results of Masonic success were to be sought for in the degree to which Freemasons rendered themselves more extensively serviceable to their fellow creatures. Stripped of its ethical influence, Freemasonry would Jose its charm,' and be but "ae sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." It should endeavour to weave its teaching into the every-day life of the community, by bringing together men of every rank and creed, so that they could talk and not fight, discuss and not dispute, and each learn the viewpoint of the other. "Our hope for humanity," he said, "is in the fellowship of man with man. Our teaching makes an appeal, not for tolerance, but for fraternity; not for uniformity, but for unity of spirit. The brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God should be a real, vital part of our lives, and enable us to lift our Dominion to a higher and nobler field of life and action."

Presentation to 'His Excellency. The Town Hall was crowded to its full capacity during the installation ceremony, to which was added the official farewell of the Freemasons of New Zealand to his Excellency Sir Charles Fergusson,, their Grand Master of the last four years. • This farewell took the form of the presentation of an illuminated address contained in a casket in a design characteristic of New Zealand. The drawer in which the address is deposited is In New Zealand woods, and surmounted by a slab of greenstone, above which corns the casket, in New Zealand woods', inlaid with gold and greenstone, the whole decorated with Maori devices. A further presentation was' an inscribed jewel of a Past Grand Master.

The Pro. Grand Master, Mr. E. W. G-. H. Watts, in making the presentation, said that in his four years of office his Excellency added dignity and lustre to the Grand Mastership. Freemasonry in New Zealand had reached a higher plane from his connection with it.

His Excellency, in his acknowledgment of the presentation, said the address exaggerated the work he had done and drew a veil over manifold omissions and deficiencies. His four years of office had been very happy years to which he would always look back with grateful memory. He had tried to emphasise the conviction that the forms and ceremonies of Freemasonry were but as dry bones unless quickened by a realisation of their spiritual meaning and inspiration. "To-night I take leave of your," said his Excellency, "and in a few weeks' time I shall be leaving the country. . . . Let us make this a time to realise our faith, to look on it as a-summons to leave behind us bad and worthless ways, to tighten our hold on what is good and strong, and to go forward with faith and confidence in Him who has helped and guided us in the. past."