Masonic.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 996, 3 April 1891, Page 7

Masonic.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. A.Y.G.—You have a perfect right to express your opinions. Mason. —Yes; in New South Wales. G.F. (Christchurch). —The committee framed them in order to suit all parties. You have a perfect right through your lodge to point out any objectionable clauses. FAVOURS RECEIVED. London Freemason, South African Freemason, Rivisia della Massoneria Italians, and El Siglo. NEW ZEALAND PACIFIC LODGE. The regular monthly meeting of the New Zealand Pacific Lodge, N.Z.C., was held at the Freemasons’ Hall, Wellington, on Monday, 23rd instant. The hail was well filled, the W.M., officers, and brethren of the Waterloo Lodge, N.Z.C., being present, besides numerous other visitors. There was no ritual work to do, and the report of the committee appointed to examine the draft constitutions was therefore considered. The resolution forwarded by the Grand Secretary was also put to the Lodge and carried. LEAPS AND BOUNDS. The time has arrived when it is absolutely necessary for the various Royal Arch Chapters throughout New Zealand to appoint delegates to hold a convention and consider the advisableness of forming a Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter. This step is evidently required, because if what we hear is correct, Comp Neill, of Dunedin, Provincial Grand Scribe E, is taking it upon himself to distribute offices in all directions before approaching the Chapters in reference to the vacancies which it is found necessary to fill. This is especially noticed in the Waterloo Chapter, No. 66, S.C., which has been for some considerable time treated with scant courtesy by the Provincial Grand Scribe E, and has therefore just cause to complain of being left in the dark about a good many things. Some four years ago when the late Provincial Grand Superintendent Comp Court visited Wellington he conferred the office of First Provincial Grand Principal on M. E. Comp C.P. Powles in recognition of his sterling qualities and of the zeal and assiduity he had shown in connection with the Waterloo Chapter and its affairs. M. E. Comp Powles has held the office ever since, and we therefore take it that on the death of Comp Court the office of Provincial Grand Superintendent should have been assumed by Comp Powles by virtue of the office which he held in the Provincial Grand Chapter. To our astonishment we now hear that the office of Provincial Grand Superintendent has been offered by Comp Neill to a Comp in Auckland, who has accepted the position. We should like the Provincial Grand Scribe E to tell us what authority he has for doling out honours, and whether he really thinks that the Chapters now under the S.C. will approve of his recommendations. It is also very curious that those Companions whom the Provincial

Grand Scribe E desires to honor are not members of lodges holding under the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, about the progress of which Comp Neill and another distinguished brother issued a reliable circular ‘ compiled from official sources, ’ which did not as expected annihilate the New Zealand Constitution. We hope that before very long a Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter will be established in New Zealand, and that its first duty will be to appoint a Grand Scribe E of progressive views who will be in touch with all the Chapters forming the supreme body.

A MAGNIFICENT MASONIC TEMPLE.

The corner-stone of the magnificent Masonic Temple, to be erected at the corner of Randolph and State streets, Chicago, was laid the afternoon of the 6th instant, November, 1890, with the solemn symbolism and impressive ceremonies of the Masonic Order. The presence of the sublime Princes of the Oriental Consistory and of the members of the Scottish Rite in full regalia and uniform made the display an imposing sight. Previous to the laying of the corner-stone in due form there was a procession through the business district, in which the Grand Lodge of Illinois, about 1000 Knights Templar and about 3000 members of Blue Lodges took part. The land on which the structure will be erected has a frontage on State street of 170 feet, and on Randolph of 114 feet. The amount paid for ground and leases was 1,100,000d015. It has rapidly advanced in value since its purchase and is now estimated to be worth 2,500,000d015. The structure to be erected on it is to cost not less than 2,000,000d015. It is to be fire-proof throughout and finished in marble, alabaster, and onyx, with mosaic floors. The principal entrance to the building will be through an archway opening on State street, 42 feet high and 28 feet wide. The main rotunda will occupy 3700 square feet. This court will be supplied with fourteen elevators in a semi-circle facing the entrance on State stieet. They will have facilities for lifting between 30,000 and 36,000 people per day. Instead of numbering the different stories 1,2, 3,4, &c., they will be called by names as of streets, and a visitor will ask the elevator boy to be landed on, for instance, Gurney street. As there are to be no ai-bitrary partitions in the building, lessees can have rooms from 10 by 14 to 60 by 100 feet. This order of affairs continues until the seventeenth story is reached, this and the eighteenth will be occupied by the Masonic rooms, &c.> large enough to seat 1500 people. After this the roof is reached. It is to be laid out like a garden, with plants and flowers during the summer, and a select orchestra will there discourse music. The view from this point will be the finest in Chicago. .The faces of the walls will be of brown-stone and terracotta.

CLASS LODGES FAILURES. The newly introduced theory of the so-called * class ’ lodges, which should be tolerated only amongst Masons speaking different languages, is being denounced by our trans-atlantic contemporaries as calculated to disturb Masonic harmony. The rejection of numerous worthy candidates, who, in a lodge of miscellaneous material, would have been favourably received, has been, traced to the existence of personal, or professional, rivalry among members of a class lodge which has been unworthily exercised for other than Masonic motives. From a business point of view combinations of persons, appertaining to a distinctive trade or calling, may be justified for the regulation of mutual interest, but to organise a Masonic lodge upon a similar principle in exclusiveness, constitutes an act radically antagonistic to the cardinal dogmas of the fraternity. Upon crossing the threshold of the Temple, the genuine Mason should divest himself of alb the profane world. He is no longer a doctor, a lawyer, an actor or a nothing more or less than a brother 1 , purified from worldly taint. Now, as the class lodge appeai-s based upon limitation in membership to a distinct set of individuals, which it is proposed to congregate into a special organisation, a Grand Master should ruminate upon a serious question as to whether their toleration be not inconsistent with his magistral duties.