HIGHEST OFFICE IN FREEMASONRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19238, 27 November 1930, Page 16

HIGHEST OFFICE IN FREEMASONRY.

INSTALLATION of GOVERNOR-GENERAL. The Civic Theatre was utilised for the evening session of the annual Communication of the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand, the chief business of which was the installation of Lord Bledisloe as Grand Master, and the induction of Mr Janies IT. Harkness as Pro Grand Master and Mr Odin 11. Moller, of Dunedin, as Deputy Grand Master. The attendance of visiting and local Freemasons was very large and included the Provincial Grand Lodge of Canterbury and representatives of the Provincial and District Grand Lodges of sister institutions. Mr J. J. Clark, the retiring Grand Master, and Mr J. J. Dougall, Past Grand Master, officiated as Installing Grand Masters. Past Grand Masters who also took part in the principal ceremonials were Messrs T. Ross, S. C. Bingham and E. W. G. 11. Watts. Provincial Grand Masters for the various Masonic districts were appointed b\' the new Grand Master and invested. All were re-appointed with the exception of Mr F. S. Wood, West Coast District, Mr H. 11. Edwards, Nelson and Marlborough, and Mr F. Symes, Ruapehu. Grand Wardens for the year were appointed, invested and inducted, viz.:— Senior Grand Warden, Mr J. IT. Colebourne, of Hastings; Junior Grand Warden, Mr W. G. Mason, of Auckland. The officers elected at the morning sitting were also invested. The proceedings were brightened with appropriate music by a capable orchestra and choir. Grand Master’s Address. In his address to the assemblage after installation, Lord Bledisloe said that the invitation that he should accept the highest Masonic office in New Zealand had been so cordial and pressing that it appeared to him that refusal would have been not merely ungracious and ungrateful, but also a violation of the Royal motto, “Ich dien” (“I serve”). ITe had also been assured that the brethren of the Dominion would be willing to provide him with a most experienced, popular, and energetic Pro Grand Master in Mr Harkness, to exonerate him from personally conducting many of the more important tasks normally undertaken by the Grand Master. If in these matters he sought friendly indulgence, it was due to no lack of Masonic zeal, but simply to the limits of human strength, and the belief that in these day*s when we were faced with grave industrial and economic problems such surplus physical energy as he might possess should be devoted preponderantly to their attempted solution. The welfare of the Craft and all connected with it would ever be his constant concern and an object very near to his heart. “I rejoice,” said his Excellency, “that Freemasonry, with all its salutary influence upon the community at large, is such a live and vigorous growth in this country. . . . Let it be patent to the uninitiated that a typical Freemason is one who, edified by our ritual and fortified by our tenets, intuitively and invariably radiates charity in his domestic and vocational environment, and who is ever raising a shapely ethical superstructure on a firm foundation of upright character—a man who indeed to quote Wordsworth’s description of ‘the happy warrior’ Whose high endeavour is an inward light, Which makes, the path before him always bright .... Who, not content that former worth stand fast Looks forward, persevering to the last, From well to better, daily self-sur-passed. New Ethical Architecture. “If, as I- would fain believe, we in this country, as elsewhere in the world, are on the eve of a great revival of these forces which make for the permanent uplifting of mankind and a more secure anchorage for human life and conduct than has obtained since the great upheaval occasioned by the war—a revival foreshadowing for the human race a more confident happiness, rooted in purity and integrity of life, but nevertheless full of the ‘joie de vivre’ which is in no way repugnant to the highest ideals of human attainment, and to which modern conditions, properly directed, can so generously contribute, may we not make our Masonic temple the nucleus of such a renaissance, the acknowledged treasurehouse of the best plans of a new ethical architecture? At least that is the ambition and the objective to which, on assuming for the time being this high and responsible position, I am bold enough to aspire on behalf of the Craft of this fair Dominion. Concluding, his Excellency said ‘Allow me to express the earnest hope that Freemasonry may be an ever increasing power for good throughout the country, during the period for which I shall have the honour and pnvilege of acting as your Grand Master, and- that if, as we all believe, righteousness exalteth a nation, such exaltation will characterise the future history of New Zealand, and that our Craft may be a potent influence in the process."