MASONIC.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 897, 10 May 1889, Page 7

MASONIC.

Having re-opened the Masonic column in he Mail, under the supervision of a Master in the Craft, toe shall he glad to receive from Secretaries of Lodges, and brethren genet ally, short reports of Lodge meetings and Masonic 'vents of all kinds likely to be of interest to nembers of the craft. All correspondence for this column to be addressed to the Masonic Editor, New Zealand Mail. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. E.N.G. There are over 2000 lodges under the Grand Lodge of England. E.M. (Reeftou). —It is to be regretted. W.B. (Wanganui).—Many thanks. FAVOURS RECEIVED. London Freemason, Masonic Star, Masonic Chronicle and Official Bulletin, Sydney Freemason, Victorian Freemason, South Australian Freemason and Die Bauhtitte (Leipsic). OUR WORK. When a Freemason’s Lodge is fully at work, If a Cowan should dare to draw near, _ He would meet with a welcome he fain would regret, And then promptly retire in fear. Though our actions are harmless, we secretly try All our plans and designs to pursue ; A Master to guide, and instruct us, and prove All the workers united and true. Truth, Charity, Justice, are models that we Try to copy and mould by our skill Great Hiram’s designs are our well spring of life, And our duty we strive to fulfil. After labour, with wisdom to guide us we stroll, Through rectitude’s path, to the road That leads to the Temple where Friendship and Love. Peace and Concord take up their abode. A MASONIC AFFLICTION. We translate from the Official Bulletin of the United Grand Lusitanian Orient, (Portugal) The city of Oporto has been .afflicted by one of those calamities, rending the heart of every Mason. A frightful conflagration consumed, with astounding rapidity, the Theatre Baquet on March 21st, at half an hour past midnight. According to the reports in the Oporto newspapers, the number of victims surpassed that of one hundred, although it cannot be determined with precision, despite the pains taken to ascertain the facts, as the oorpsei were discovered to be so mutilated by the rains and so burned by fire as to preclude possibility of recognition even as to sex * * * It was the occasion of a benefit to Bro. •. Firmins da Rosa, of the Lodge Cavalheiro3 de Paz y Concordia. He had the misfortune to lose in this disastrous catastrophe five members of his family, while the proceeds of the entertainment were destroyed in the box office. His lodge immediately opened a subscription for relief of the artist producing over 2500 francs. Still the brother is not the only victim for. whom we are to mourn. ■ BB.Correa de Carvalho and Pinto Ferriera there succumbed with their wives, leaving ten small orphans, the most aged boing of eleven years and the youngest of only four months. The children have been adopted by the Lodge Indepen' doncla, Orient or Oporto, to which the deceased brethren belonged. A GOOD ENOUGH KORAN. In 1539 a very interesting incident occurred in St. John’s Lodge, No. 1, of New York, when Mahmoud Junah, the first lieutenant af a frigate sent to America by the Imaum of Muccab on a mission of peace, and a Mohammedan, was made a Mason. It being impossible at the time for the Lodge to procure a copy of ‘ The Koran,’ in which the candidate was taught to place his religious faith, a difficulty which might have been insuperable appeared. Upon explaining it to the candidate, he asked if the book which was used in the Lodge taught them to believe in the existence of a ‘Great I AM. On being assured that it did, ho said, ‘ That is a good enough Koran for me,’ and he was accordingly received and initiated in the Lodge. M4SONIC INFLUENCE. Freemasonry exorcises a remarkable degree of influence over the minds of its members. And tends tq educate and develop human nature in magnanimity, generosity and large" mindedness, and to stimulate the practice of many virtues. It cannot do everythingi

however ; and there is no reason to expec that it will be able to transform a naturally mean, hard and sordid nature into a full* fomed, symmetrical manhood. Among Masons as in the world outside, a class may be found who are naturally inclined to take low, narrow views of men and measures. Their minds are full of suspicions and prejudices ; they run in narrow grooves; they cherish petty resentments ; they can see only one side of a case and act only on personal feeling. Such a class do not best reprecent Freemasonry.