THE ANNUAL COMMUNICATION.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

OTWITHSTANDING transport and other difficulties arising out of the war situation, the attendance of

delegates at the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge held last month was quite up to standard; and

though a query was voiced here and there as to the advisability of holding the Communication at a time like

the present, there is no doubt that the majority opinion of the Craft is firmly in favour of maintaining the

annual assembly of what is in essence the parliament of Masonry in the Dominion. In our view this attitude

is a sound one.

It is sometimes urged that the relative unimportance of the business now normally coming before Grand

Lodge makes the annual assembly of delegates unnecessary. This, however, we think, involves a

misconception of the function of Grand Lodge as a legislative body, and of the basic purposes of the annual

communication. It is true that the laws, governmental procedure, ceremonial arrangements, and customs and

practices of the Craft are in great measure standardised by long experience, and that radical or far-reaching

innovations in these matters are not desirable, and indeed barely conceivable, the Craft having evolved to a

stage of institutional maturity. The most that can happen now are minor amendments and detailed adaptation

to changing conditions; as for example, certain variations in charitable allocations to take into account

changes in the value of money. Such matters generally are of secondary importance.

However unimportant minor necessary variations may be, they nevertheless require legislation to make them

effective, and the only legislative body of the Craft is Grand Lodge in annual or special assembly. Since it is

obvious that the only form of annual or special assembly of a practicable type is that already provided for, it

is obvious that Grand Lodge must continue to meet. The only alternatives would be either complete

legislative stagnation, or the delegation of the legislative functions of Grand Lodge to the Board of General

Purposes. Neither of these alternatives seems desirable; and both would involve either a constitutional

change, or the ignoring of present constitutional requirements.

The Book of Constitution clearly provides that Grand Lodge itself is the only legislative body for the Craft,

Rule 5 saying, inter alia, "that Grand Lodge ALONE has the inherent power of enacting laws and regulations

for the government of the Craft, and of altering, repealing, and abrogating them." No other Masonic body

possesses this authority. The Board of General Purposes, a purely administrative body, has no legislative

powers, nor does there appear to be any provision for total or partial delegation of legislative functions to any

subordinate Masonic authority.

The calling together of the annual communication is also mandatory under our Constitution, Rule 62

providing that an annual communication of Grand Lodge SHALL be held in the month of November. There

is no provision for the suspension of communications at the discretion of either the Board of General

Purposes, or of any other Masonic authority. As long, therefore, as our existing legislation subsists, it would

be illegal to suspend, omit or postpone the annual communication. If it were considered that such a step

might become advisable in view of possible future developments, then Grand Lodge would have first to pro-

vide an appropriate legal procedure to bring it about.

We are, of course, quite aware that a serious national emergency might arise in which the Board of General

Purposes, or the Grand Master, or both, might find it necessary to take the responsibility of acting, in such

emergency conditions, on their own responsibility, and trusting to subsequent ratification by Grand Lodge.

Necessity knows no law, and inter arma silent leges. Only a national catastrophe would warrant and justify

such a step. Such a crisis, we are thankful to say, has not yet arisen; and we now have strong grounds for

confidence that it will not arise, in view of the more favourable course of the war recently in the Pacific area

of operations.

There are sound reasons, arising quite apart from the legal position, why there should be no suspension of the

annual communication. There is first the question of administrative convenience. Though important

legislative innovations, as we have already contended, are unusual, there are frequent minor adjustments

required, as the experience of the Boards from time to time shows the necessity for a re-wording, adjustment,

N

or expansion of administrative regulations embodied in the laws of Grand Lodge. Indeed, as brethren who

perused the report of the recent communication in our last issue will have noticed, there were a number of

these dealt with then. It would not be wise to allow either Board the power to alter at will those regulations

or rules that it deemed to be specially relevant to its own operations; and that being so, Grand Lodge must

deal with them or they will not be dealt with at all.

There is also the question of the election and appointment of officers, including the office of Grand Master.

By immemorial tradition the Grand Master is installed in the full Assembly of Grand Lodge. It is true that

officers could be elected and appointed, and then installed at various local gatherings, if necessity dictated;

but this would rob office, and especially the office of Grand Master, of much of its traditional glamour, and

is to be avoided if possible.

Another important aspect of the matter is psychological. The annual assembly is more than an annual

stocktaking of the condition of the Craft; it is the one time in the year when the Craft enters into full and

explicit consciousness of its corporate unity; the one time when the delegates have visibly around them

tangible evidence that we are all members of one great widely-spread organisation. Without the corrective

effect of our annual assemblies, we should probably drift into a loosely-nucleated series of local units,

without one over-riding purpose or loyalty. In such circumstances Grand Lodge would soon lose

consciousness of its corporate entity, would lose effective control over its administrative organs, and might

even in time be reduced to a nominal and shadowy existence. Altogether, the case for uninterrupted

maintenance of the annual communication seems overwhelming.

————————

WAR.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

Diu apparandum est bellum, ut vincas celerius.

Preparations for war are to be made for a long time before, that you may more quickly conquer.

—Publius Syrus.

————————

Lodge Wairarapa, No. 238, will not hold a meeting this month.

————————

A NATIONAL HOMAGE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY IN MEMORY OF THE DUKE OF KENT.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

The Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey on Wednesday, 9th September, brought together to pay

homage to our late M.W. Grand Master, H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, a vast concourse of representatives of the

nation, led by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and of the Empire, together with diplomatic envoys of

Allied Governments, Chiefs of the Armed Forces and Services, and of the many organisations, in which,

with his characteristic devotion to public welfare, he had taken an active interest.

It is said to have been the largest congregation witnessed in the historical building since the war, and a fitting

tribute to the hold he had taken of the people's affections.

The sombre note of the assembly in the solemn and hallowed setting of the Abbey, the scene of so many

historical occasions, was only relieved here and there by the lighter shade of the uniforms, the red cassocks

of the choir under their white surplices, and, in one notable exception, by the white burnous of the minister

for Saudi Arabia, while the Greek Archimandrite, in black robes and head-dress, made a conspicuous figure

as he was conducted to a seat near the High Altar, preceded by an attendant bearing a small cross.

The opening sentences of the Burial Service were sung by the choir in procession from the nave. The service

was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, Dr. de Labilliree, and concluded with the National Anthem,

followed by the playing of Chopin's Dead March, as the procession filed out to its majestic strains on the

Great Organ, and was joined by the Prime Minister, and followed by the other notabilities present.

Representing United Grand Lodge was the R.W. the Assistant Grand Master, Brig.-Gen. W. H. V. Darell,

C.M., C.M.G., D.S.O.; the Grand Secretary, V.W. Bro. Sydney A. White, M.V.O., and the Deputy G.D.C.,

W. Bro. Cecil F. Cumberlege, while among other Masonic representatives were: M.W. Bro. the Earl of

Stradbroke, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.V.O., C.B.E., Acting Grand Master, Mark Grand Lodge, also represented by

its Grand Secretary, W. Bro. Major Thos. Lumley-Smith, D.S.O.; M.W.Bro. the Earl of Donoughmore, K.P.,

P.C., Grand Master for Ireland; the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Laurie, P.G.W., Grand

Scribe N., Supreme Grand Chapter; Lord Harris, P.G.W. (representing Prov. Grand Lodge of Kent and Prov.

G. Mark Lodge Kent); Lord Methuen, Prov. Grand Master, Wiltshire; Field-Marshal Sir Claud Jacob,

G.C.B., etc., P.G.W., and many others, while an added Masonic link was provided by the presence of the

Dowager Lady Ampthill and the Countess of Malmesbury, wife of the R.W. Prov. Grand Master for Hants

and I.O.W.

One of the two hymns selected provided in the first verse a singularly appropriate tribute to the life of

"Service" of our late beloved Grand Master:

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above

Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;

The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,

That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;

The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,

The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

How well do these words summarise our cherished memories of him.

Particularly apt also were the words of one of the concluding prayers:

"Grant, O Lord, that keeping in glad remembrance those who have gone before, who have stood by us and

helped us, who have cheered us by their sympathy and strengthened us by their example, we may seize every

opportunity of life. . . ."

—"The Freemasons' Chronicle."

————————

SALVAGE COLLECTORS.

Multos si pauca rogabunt,

Postmodo de stipula grandis acervus erit.

If they shall beg a few things from a great number, by and by a great heap will be accumulated from their

gleanings. —Ovidius, Amor I. 8, 89.

————————

AFTER THREE YEARS OF WAR.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

Address by V.W. Bro. Rev. G. Calvert Barber, D.D., G.Chap.,

at the Communication of Grand Lodge of Victoria.

—————

A WAR OF SELF-PRESERVATION.

All of us, I am sure, will recall the chill of foreboding with which we heard in the very early days the

announcement that the British Government was making its dispositions on the basis that the War would last

three years. We may recall, too, how later it transpired that these dispositions appeared to have been made

rather in the assumption that the War would linger on in leisurely fashion for 30 years rather than be carried

to victory in three. The British people, proverbially slow starters, took a long time to make up their minds

that they really were facing the supreme crisis in the history of the Empire. Then, after eight months, came

"blitzkrieg" in the West, and the new tempo brought Britain a new leader who embodies in himself the

tenacity of purpose, the doggedness, the devotion and the self-sacrifice which he has called out in such

magnificent fashion in the Homeland, and which came to their supreme height in the "Battle for Britain" just

two years ago.

It is, of course, not my purpose, even if I were competent to do so, to trace the changes and chances which

the three years have brought—the tragic succession of defeats, the magnificent, even miraculous effort of

recovery. But of this we can be sure, and it becomes clear to us as we stand at the third anniversary, that even

if the three years have not brought us victory in the field, the experience which they have given has brought

home to us a clear realisation of the fact that we are fighting for our very existence as a people, and with that

has come a dogged determination either to win or go down fighting. There can be no question that we, no

matter what the motives with which we entered the War may have been—that we are fighting a battle for

sheer self-preservation. If we doubted that before, it is now quite clear. If this war is lost—and it may be

lost—then all is lost. We need to underline this. There would be no just peace. There would be no respect for

the rights of minorities. The best we could hope for would be that we might live a tolerated existence, at the

wanton mercy of incarnate force. At the worst, we would go the way of Poland and Czecho-Slovakia and

become the mere slaves of the inflated Reich—or, in our case now, the white slaves of its Asiatic counter-

part. For the three years have shown us Hitler as he really is—incapable of pity, drunk with the blood, not

only of those he has called the enemies of the Reich, but of hapless citizens of his own adopted country, he

urges the youth he has debauched in mind and soul on to a war of annihilation.

And this third year has brought to the very shores of Australia a horde of primitive people, made fanatical by

a puerile mythology, stung to madness by the venom of racial scorn with which they have too often been

treated by representatives of the white race. They thunder at our very doors with eyes blazing with lust of

conquest and of vengeance, and with spirits fired with all, the cunning and craftiness of their inherited

"Bushido" tradition. As Professor Russo reminded the "Carry-On Club" only yesterday, they, too, are

pledged to a war of extermination. I am sure that we need to see this quite clearly and to grasp this quite

firmly, in order that we may do all that we can to stab this conviction into a community in which, even yet,

there is far too much complacency and almost unbelievable self-centredness. The call to discipline and

austerity has not come a moment too soon—God grant that it has not come too late.

A CONFLICT OF THE SPIRIT.

This conviction that we are fighting for our very lives springs out of another fact which has become clearer

during the three years of war, and that is that this is a conflict between two ways of life which are absolutely

incompatible with each other.

The system with which we are at war is Satanic. Evil stands forth unashamed, it proclaims that it is good.

"We are fighting," said the late Mr. Chamberlain with great restraint, "brute force, bad faith, injustice and

persecution." Between these and the principles in which we profess to believe there is a great gulf fixed.

True, we must confess with sadness, that we ourselves have failed to fully apply these principles. But to be

faulty does not mean that we are not to fight evil when we are challenged by it. We know now that if we

made contrary principles the basis of life that would mean the end of anything which could be called

civilisation. "We are fighting," to quote Mr. Chamberlain again, "to lay the foundation of a better

international system which will mean that war is not the lot of every succeeding generation."

We can now see quite clearly that unless the menace of Totalitarianism is destroyed that goal will never be

achieved, for that system is the worship and service of the State in arms. One has only to listen to Hitler as he

speaks of the education of the young within the Reich—"Beginning with the primer, the prayer of fear that

our patriots pray to-day 'Lord make us free' shall be changed in the mind of the smallest child to the prayer,

`Lord, do thou in future bless our arms'." The objective of education in that country is the stamping of the

conviction into every child that his own people and his race are the superior of all others, a "Herrenvolk." It

is with this evil system that we are at death-grips.

The whole civilised world has been challenged to vindicate the principles on which its civilisation is

grounded—or else to turn aside from its goal of human freedom, and from the uphill pursuit of those moral

values which make that goal attainable, and to take a way leading downwards to a pagan materialism in

which religion has no place save the religion of the sacred State, with its deified head, the Dictator—and

ethics are to be the servant of the lust for power and of ideological expediency.

It was bad enough, we thought, when this evil thing in Germany unrolled its tentacles, and, within its own

domain, began to terrorise, to oppress, to despoil, to crush out liberty with a cynical ruthlessness, a sadistic

savagery never exceeded by any barbaric race of the past. Then, while it remained a thing for home

consumption, we could and we did look on and permit our nauseated senses only such utterances as would

not exact its vengeance. But then its sphere of operation expanded. Every few months it was snatching a

living prey for its armatured frame and envenomed power. By lies, by duplicity, by the dishonour of broken

pledges, by treacherous manoeuvres and sudden thrust, after profession of friendship, Nazism had seized

within its grasp its smaller neighbours, suppressed their independence and forced them to subserve its dire

career. The hideous Gestapo—you have read the things it has done—the Gestapo was sprawling over the

world, rounding up its victims, millions were driven into enforced slavery—it is going on in France at this

moment—and the pagan swastika was hung from public crucifixes in town and country. There is no need to

paint the picture; it is furrowing its red-hot agony into our hearts as we sit here. We could do nothing other

than fight, and there is nothing else to do but to continue to fight until this evil thing is crushed and every

captive is freed. Just before America came into the war, one of her poets penned these lines—

Who prays for England now

Against the sons of Cain,

Seeks nobler peace than they who knelt

When Drake set sail for Spain.

The dungeon fires of Hitler flare

From Norway south to Rome,

And slaves, flayed bare of all save prayer,

Cry "England, England come!"

That cry still echoes from every quarter of the Continent. And they do not cry in vain. We shall never forget

the thrill of pride with which we saw that little island stand as the last fortress of freedom in the world, and

though wounded it seemed unto death, defying the beast alone—and unarmed! But now, the years have

brought other great nations to her side, lovers of freedom and justice, and all pledged by the Atlantic Charter

to fight until this scourge be purged from the earth.

THE CONFLICT IN WIDER CONTEXT.

We see now quite clearly after three years of War that our cause is righteous. But we must be on guard

against any self-righteousness in ourselves. At a recent authoritative and representative Church Conference

held in England, and presided over by one of the greatest Englishmen of this generation, the present

Archbishop of Canterbury, it was said : "This war is not to be regarded as an isolated evil detached from the

general condition of Western civilisation during the last period." I believe that to be profoundly true. What

we are seeing now is the end of that phase of the life of the race which began with the Industrial Revolution.

We have passed from an era of scarcity to one of plenty, but we have not forged the instruments with which

to deal with that profound change. We have not done so because we have neither resolutely grasped that fact,

nor do we possess in any adequate degree the spirit which can forge those necessary instruments when the

need of them is seen. The symptom of this has been the tragedy of unemployment spread through every

country in the world, than which there can be no more soul-destroying evil in human life. It is a problem

which has disappeared under a wartime economy, but it has not been solved. Unless it is solved, this evil

spirit will come back again with seven others more evil than itself.

The thrilling story of the expansion and revolution of life in the Western world during the last couple of

centuries is familiar to every one, though perhaps only a few realise how revolutionary it has been. The

development of science, the growth of man's power over nature, the invention of machinery almost

annihilating distance and multiplying comforts of every kind—this has been man's glory and his reproach,

his achievement and his problem. The amazing success of this achievement has betrayed him. It has led to a

belief that God is unnecessary for the living of life. The result has been that Man has lost his sense of

dependance upon God. Indeed, Man has made himself to be god, and there has descended upon the world the

withering blight which we call "secularism"—an attitude which is concerned solely with things upon life's

surface, with no sense of unseen spiritual realities, no awareness of ultimate and eternal destinies. Our

standard of values became reversed.

Calling ourselves Christian, we nevertheless esteemed ourselves wiser than Christ. See what we have done—

when His voice sounded over the tumult of the world's life saying "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all

these things shall be added," we said "No, that may have been right for Palestine 2000 years ago, but we

know better—this is the truth, `Seek ye first these things and the Kingdom of God shall be added'."

In consequence of this, Man's life has been almost wholly organised around "these things," his days

consumed with a fever of getting, his nights broken by the nightmare of losing. Commercial pursuits became

his supreme concern, stratifying men and nations into classes and groups on the basis of their economic

status. It encouraged ruthless competition—that is what we call it within the State; between States it simply

is War.

Gold has been our god, with greed as its high-priest and pleasure the one end to be served. Our very use of

words betrays us. This afternoon I looked up the most recent dictionary to come out of Oxford, and this is

what I found as a definition of "Wealth"—"abundance of material resources, riches," and then came the

significant note "archiac —well-being." You see what we have done; we have taken that word and emptied it

of all moral content. That is an eloquent commentary on the drift of life in the last century.

Instead of speaking about the good a man has done, we speak most about his goods. Instead of estimating a

man's place in society by the richness of his life, we place him according to the riches he has amassed. We

have taken the clear, limpid stream which rises in the heights of Man's moral nature and sets the seal of

nobility upon him, that is, his desire for a richer and fuller life, and we have turned into the turgid, foul-

smelling and poisonous town-river of avarice, the feverish desire to possess things.

This is the disease which, working through Western civilisation, has brought us to this agony. It is this which

has corrupted our conception of freedom, and held the idea of democracy up to derision. The democracy

against which the Dictators inveigh is a secularised, selfish, anarchical parody of the real thing. Instead of

being a principle of social unity it had become identified with individualism in its worst form. Instead of

being an instrument whereby freemen might be subject to the will of God, it became a justification for the

selfishness of men and nations. When freedom has come to mean simple liberty to do what one likes

regardless of others, and pacifism meant, for many, no more than a petulant demand for non-interference in

pursuit of that end, we had fallen far from those conceptions of liberty as a cause worth dying for and as a

true foundation for ordered life. It has been our materialism which has betrayed us. It is upon this that the

judgment of God is falling to-day.

THE ACHIEVING OF WORLD BROTHERHOOD.

It was this that became clear when the War descended upon us. We need to be reminded of this now that the

War has become a matter of sheer self-preservation. We need to be reminded of it, too, because this becomes

a most personal matter for each of us. We are faced with this paradox—to win the war we must have a

victory on the field. We must see quite clearly that, out of the turmoil and tumult, the agony and suffering,

we are being called to forge under the guidance of God, new and worthier instruments for the fulfilment of

His purpose.

As I have said, during the last 150 years the world has been woven into a neighbourhood. We have tried to

live in it in a spirit of sectional and selfish strife of which armed hostilities are only a dramatic and tragic

manifestation. War is not the rude clash of weapons, that is but the symptom. War is the fundamental clash

of men's wills. It is the task of this generation to make this neighbourhood into a brotherhood. Nazism, and

its allied systems, are nothing but a desperate attempt to prevent this by force. It is an attempt to seize and

maintain internal privilege by tyranny, and to gain new external privileges by force. We agree that it is an

evil system with which we are at death-grips, and it must be destroyed else all that we hold dear will be

destroyed off the earth for centuries.

But if the sole outcome of this conflict were simply the destruction of Nazi governments, that would be, in

the long run, a tragic futility and would involve us all in continuing distress and disaster. No, despite Hitler

and Mussolini, the day of Internationalism has dawned, and though such internationals as we have already

seen have been but a mockery and a sham, yet the light grows steadily clearer, and if we are true to it, this

present conflict does not presage the return of night, but the dawning of a fuller day. It will be our task after

victory to establish a firm and durable foundation on which the nations can live in the totally different world

which confronts us, with a sense of security and, therefore, in peaceful reciprocity with one another.

That will mean many things. It is not in my province to be suggesting "blue-prints" of that day, but it will

demand of us all a spirit of sacrifice, the nature of which we are beginning to see and face in these days with

their necessary call for austerity. The spirit of sacrifice to which we are being called as we enter the fourth

year of War under the stern whip of necessity, is the spirit which must live on as the freely willed and

consistently maintained attitude of us all, if we are really going to win the peace. If we wish to be rid of war,

we must deal drastically with the causes of war. That will mean many things, but it cannot be achieved

without a new spirit in Man.

What is the first principle of the establishment of this? A hundred different answers may be given, each true

as far as it goes. But the final answer is not with the politician, nor the militarist, nor the pacifist, nor the

economist. The fundamental answer is to be found in the Sacred Volume, the "greatest light in Freemasonry"

which points out to us the whole duty of Man. This is its insistent word—"the work of righteousness shall be

peace." The final word is with that voice who said: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness

and all these things shall be added." The Kingdom of God is not peace at any price, it is righteousness at all

costs, and that righteousness can only come as we each are obedient to His will. Please do not think that I say

these things simply because I am a professional parson, or your Chaplain. I say this because it is the

foundation upon which Freemasonry rests. I say this because I have the right to say it from this dais. It was

this we each were taught when we entered the Craft.

This week the Prime Minister has been speaking of the slogan frequently heard in Britain, "It all depends on

me." I felt I should like to tell him that that slogan has an ending, "And I depend on God." It is as personal as

that. The righteousness which the world needs is not that of the other fellow, it is yours and mine. When we

one by one are seeking only to know and do His will, then we can be sure that from Him will come all the

resources we need for the endurance in the conflict, and all the wisdom and grace for the building of a world

where His will "shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

I pray that that may be the motive and inspiration of us all as we enter the fourth year of war.

—"The Victorian Craftsman."

————————

AN APPRECIATION.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

In almost every town or district there is some man, perhaps prominent in business, perhaps a professional

man, to whom the public look for a lead in local or general matters of interest to the community; whose

words and opinions are looked on as authoritative; whose influence is dominant.

Such a man was the late W. Bro. W. Malcolm Thomson, of Hawera. It would be difficult to find a better

informed man, one who kept himself well abreast of the times in his profession, in general scientific

knowledge, and especially in all matters pertaining to education.

Initiated in Lodge Hawera, No. 34, in 1912, he at once took a keen interest in the Craft, and in due course,

despite the exacting calls of a general practice, and for a time a responsible hospital appointment, he went

through the junior offices and was installed as Master of Hawera Lodge. Freemasonry had for him a strong

appeal, and he often expressed his respect and admiration for the principles and teaching of the Craft.

For nearly fourteen years he was a member of the Taranaki Education Board, where his opinions and advice

were greatly valued. He was Chairman of the Primary School Committee in Hawera, and there, as on the

Board of Governors of the Hawera Technical High School, of which he also became chairman, his earnest

and conscientious work earned for him the respect and affectionate esteem of his colleagues.

Dr. Thomson attained eminence as a horticulturist, and his garden was an unfailing source of pleasure to

him. He had the satisfaction of raising a seedling daffodil acceptable to the authorities of Kew, England, and

named it "Hawera." He was a delightful travelling companion, for every tree, shrub, and weed had some

story for him, and his knowledge was always passed on with simplicity and humour.

It was a constant source of wonder to his friends how he could maintain his interest in so many activities.

He was a lover of books, and familiar with the Classics. His taste in literature may be gauged by the fact that

one of his favourite authors was John Galt, a Scotch novelist contemporary of Sir Walter Scott.

To those who knew him best, the words of an American orator fitly apply:

"Speech cannot contain our love, there was, there is no gentler, stronger, manlier man."

————————

Enthusiasm, like dynamite, can remove obstacles; it can also make a road impassable.—Cecily Hallack.

————————

THE SPIRIT OF ENGLAND.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

By R.W. Bro. T. H. Bath, P.D.G.M. Dep. (Hon. J.G.W. Scot.)

———

The Spirit of England is the Hope of the World. By that "Spirit" I mean the steadfast, dogged defiant resist-

ance to attacks on personal freedoms; Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religious

Belief, Freedom of the Press. I know that I ought to speak rather of the British spirit because it is a plant that

has been nourished in other lands sprung from Britain. But the word "England" has been so hallowed by

much that is best in our English speech that I like to use it still, and I know you will understand that it is not

meant in any insular or narrow sense.

It would be wrong for me to do so. There are other peoples who have cherished the same spirit through bitter

trials of fire and blood. I need only refer to a century of struggle in Poland and Greece; to mention the heart-

rending trials through which Norwegians and Dutch, and Czechs, and Greeks are now passing because they

will not bow their necks tamely to the yoke of the conqueror. For England and for them there are great but

simple words that still have a heartfelt meaning—Freedom, Justice, Truth; consciousness of rights as men

and women; the supreme call of personal independence allied with a reasonable measure of humanity and

tolerance for others.

It was England that was the home of these treasured hopes; it was England that gave the inspiration for the

struggles of patriots in other lands. It was the liberties acquired through centuries of effort in England that

they wished to win for their own people; it was our English poets that often encouraged them with the

inspiration of their verse; it was English volunteers and money that helped them; it was England that gave

them refuge as exiles when their hopes were stricken low.

I know what the cynic and fanatic will say. They will use the catchword "imperialism," or talk about slums,

or sweating, or unemployment. It is true these things have existed; I fear they will continue to exist. That will

be by reason mainly of our universal failings and frailties, and the cynic and fanatic often bear a larger share

of guilt than those they condemn. As we are all humanly imperfect, no progress has ever been made that is

not the outcome of a process of trial and error; through struggles, reverses, and backslidings in men's

gropings and strivings. If one were only concerned with the sins that have been committed in England, the

record might be made to look black. There would be crimes and cruelties; injustices, oppressions and

persecutions committed by every class, but it is the glory of England and of English history that they have

been fought one by one, and the seeds of victory nourished with the blood of martyrs, religious and political.

Remember what Latimer said to his fellow-victim as the flames of fire curled around them at the stake:—

"Play the man, Master Ridley, by God's grace we will this day light a candle for England that I trust

will never be put out."

It was never put out, and that is why, although a Jew has never been President of the United States of

America, nor a member of its Supreme Court Bench, a Jew became Prime Minister of England, and a poor

Jewish boy not only rose to be Chief Justice of England, but also the King's representative as Viceroy of

India.

Yes, you can count up all the black marks against England, but the credit balance is great and glorious; never

more glorious nor more deserving of our glowing pride than within the last two and a half years. England,

like St. Paul, has "fought with beasts at Ephesus."

From whence does this spirit spring; this present comforting assurance that the land of hope and glory will be

our stay until the end. It is not the growth of a few years, or even a century; it is rooted in the enduring

tradition of more than a thousand years. If you can have such a tradition of struggling and yearning for

freedom of speech and thought, freedom of belief, freedom from despotic rule and a readiness to refrain from

exerting despotic pressure on others, then that country will be the temple where Liberty will establish her

shrine. The possession of such a tradition is necessary for the winning and enjoyment of liberal institutions.

Byron expressed that tradition in these words :-

"For Freedom's battle once begun,

Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son,

Though baffled oft, is ever won."

I care not how many blueprints the slaves of systems may devise for an ideal world, they cannot find any

path on the way to realise them unless the traditions of a people have schooled their hearts and minds in the

alphabet of freedom through the legacy of effort in the generations before.

There is a pregnant example of this truth. One hundred and fifty years ago the revolutionaries of France had

their blueprints of a perfect society. They would dethrone God and worship the Goddess of Reason; they

would bring in an entirely new calendar; they would have new names and divisions for the months and

seasons; they would banish gold from France; they would have no titles, or ranks, or distinctions amongst all

who were to be called citizens. Within twenty years these aims were only a memory, and the revolutionary

leaders who had survived the recreation of cutting off each other's heads with the guillotine were the

marquises, counts, and chevaliers of a new royal empire.

They would have built more firmly and truly had they given heed to the words of one of the liberal

philosophers of pre-Revolution years, who, although he hoped and worked for the end of despotic rule in

France, wanted the people to take the English way. He wrote:—

"It is not by the wax and parchment of lawyers that the independence of men can be preserved. Such

things are the mere externals; the outward show of liberty; they are as its dress and paraphernalia; its

holiday suit in times of peace and quiet. But when the evil days set in, when the invasions of

despotism have begun, freedom will be retained and widened, not by those who can show the oldest

deeds and largest charters but rather by those who have been most steadfast in habits of independence;

most accustomed to think and act for themselves."

He had wisdom and vision. It was by centuries of struggle that England secured a firm basis for Freedom

because her people had inured themselves to independent ways of thought.

Setting aside the more prosaic instruction imparted as history, I have found it more engrossing to study the

growth of the spirit of England through the joy of reading our representative literature. I cannot find for you

the year in which it began. I can trace something of its source in those old Norse sagas that tell of the

doughty deeds of our ancient ancestors. They were not superhuman, but they were supermen at least. Those

sagas glorified their great prowess with spear, and battle-axe and sword, and there was talk of much fighting

and boasting. But there is a good deal also in these early epics of our forefathers about their domestic lives;

the all-round quality of their wives, and sisters, and daughters who made their dress and cheered them on,

and there is interwoven a relation of freedom and comradeship within the clan.

In time these ancestors, the Saxons and Angles, descended on England. The five hundred years of benevolent

despotism of the Romans left monuments in the shape of towns and roads and baths and walls, but very little

stimulus in the lives of the Britons they left behind, when the Roman legions hastened back to Rome, in

defence of the empire.

We can start to call these marauding cousins—the Jutes, and Angles, and Saxons—the embryo English. They

swept through England like a pack of wolves. They were fierce and cruel. They slew the men, ravished the

women, and burnt the towns, for they hated towns and cities. Only the Scotch and Welsh, in their mountain

fastnesses, stayed their march. The English came as pirates and robbers, but they found it was a goodly land

and stayed behind as settlers. But the fighting spirit remained; they split up into a number of petty Kingdoms,

and fought among themselves. The names of those Kingdoms survive in English counties. Settlers have to

learn to be peaceable and the early Christian missionaries had a mellowing and humanising influence for

they were nearer to the simple gospel of Jesus himself. They had also a primitive basis of democracy in their

folk moots (folk meetings) and witanagemoot (witan meeting). They had lands and farms and livestock,

homes, and household possessions, and an ordered life. This was something to loot, and attracted another set

of robber cousins, the Danes, who ravaged the Anglo-Saxons in much the same way that the Anglo-Saxons

ravaged the Britons. Sometimes they fought the Danes; sometimes they bought them off, and the buying

accounts for the Danegell, a land tax used for this purpose. A king called Alfred welded the English together

and fought the Danes. You have heard of him in the story of the burnt cakes, and there is much significance

in that story because I am confident that Alfred's spouse could bake cakes and she would have scolded him,

too, for burning them! Englishwomen of those days had their say in the household. They were not chattels, or

there would not be an England now. Slaves do not breed freemen. It was under Alfred that the English

consolidated and became a nation. Florence of Wercester, a chronicler who lived a hundred years after

Alfred, described him thus:—

"Alfred, King of the Saxons, Son of the most pious Ethelwulf. The famous; the victorious. The careful

provider for the widow, the helpless, the orphan, and the poor. The most skilled of the Saxon poets.

Most loved by his own nation. Courteous to all. Endowed with prudence, fortitude, justice, and

temperance. Watchful and devout in the service of God."

I think Mr. Florence may be regarded as erring on the side of superlatives, and I like much better something

said by Alfred himself to this effect:—

"No man may do aught of good unless God work with him; yet no man ought to be idle and not do

something in proportion to the powers that God gives him."

It is generally agreed that Alfred was Great, but I like him because of that modesty. He united his people,

made them more civilised, governed with ability, justice, and clemency; what is more to the point in my

topic, he united the people in a nation and gave greater scope to the spirit of England.

A number of Anglo-Saxon Kings followed Alfred. There were good kings and bad kings; strong kings and

weak kings. They had a very religious king called Edward the Confessor and he made a very weak and poor

bargain with a ruffling gentleman across the Channel—William Duke of Normandy. That bargain brought on

the English the calamity of the Norman Conquest. It fastened on them the ruthless despotism of feudalism.

The English were brought under stern subjection, but we live because the spirit of England survived. They

might have made them villeins, but could not really enslave them. Abject slaves do not impose their

language on the conquerors, but that is what the English did. It is true that the Normans introduced many of

their own words, but in spite of their position in the saddle we know that in our present day the words which

express the most familiar aspects of nature, those that describe our persons, or express the most intimate

relations of family and associations are Anglo-Saxon words. Think of the words in the speeches of Winston

Churchill that inspire us as for instance:—

"I can offer you nothing but toil, and sweat, and blood."

Or

"Never in our history did so many owe so much to so few."

and then remember that the words that thrill us are Anglo-Saxon words.

A poet has expressed our debt when he wrote:—

"Now gather all our Saxon bards, let harps and hearts be strung,

To celebrate the triumphs, of our own good Saxon tongue.

For farther far than hosts that march with battle flags unfurled,

It goes with Freedom, Thought, and Truth to rouse and rule the world."

Nevertheless for about four centuries, it was not a Merrie England for the poor, oppressed English, for they

were given little chance to assert themselves or speak openly the thoughts of freedom they had known in

their Saxon Kingdom. But during those four centuries lots of things happened. The barons wrested Magna

Charta from King John, and it became the basis of wider application. It is well that it should be safeguarded

in the United States during the destructive attacks on Great Britain because it is one of the pillars of their

liberties, too. Simon de Montfort secured from Henry VII the first Parliament that was convened in 1265,

and that also is one of the foundations of our democratic British Constitution of to-day; also of the

Dominions, too. But let us speak with due humility. The Icelanders are first cousins of our ancestors and they

have cherished a Parliament for over a thousand years.

I must tell you that if you read an account of the life of the common people of England in that century there

was much that was oppressive, coarse, and cruel. But even then they were shaping their destiny of freedom.

Many laws were passed which protected their interest in that and the next century. There were laws against

short weight of bread, and fraudulent measures for corn and barley, against debasement of the coinage, and

adulteration. One account I have read was of a baker who was convicted of baking short weight bread. The

fraudulent loaves were hung around his neck like a string of beads. He was drawn in a cart through the City,

while the populace pelted him with whatever missiles came handy.

A century later the poet Geoffrey Chaucer came on the scene. He loved the easy life and the glamour of the

Royal Court, but had the spirit and humanity to admire the worthy men in the humbler walks of life around

him. Read Cowden Clarke's prose rendering of The Canterbury Tales and admire the fine personalities of

The Worthy Knight. His Son, the Esquire; the Poor Parson; and the Ploughman, and you will make the

acquaintance of types of good men who were making their influence felt for a free upstanding people.

There was another poet in Chaucer's time, William Langland. He was not welcomed at Court, but he had

much more courage, for he was a poet of the people. His great poem, "The Vision of Piers Ploughman"—

dealt with the social grievances of the common throng, and attacked the wickedness and luxury of the higher

clergy. I can recommend you to read a romance "Long Will" that gives an interesting light on those times.

Soon it was a great day for England and the growth of freedom when William Caxton brought over his

printing press and issued books in the English tongue. The Wars of the Roses cleared away a good many of

the descendants of Norman feudal lords, and things began to move. Men with Anglo-Saxon names began to

forge to the front. William Tyndale was one of them. He made the first great English translation of the Bible.

He made a visit to the Continent to get in touch with reformers there. He was seized by the Emperor Charles

V, tried for heresy, strangled, and burnt at the stake. They could not strangle his spirit. The Bible is the book

of freemen who know themselves with conscience, but is hated by despots. A recent Nazi writer classed it

with tobacco and whisky as three poisons to be hated by good German Nazis.

A few years later Tyndale's Bible was ordered to be kept in the porchway of churches so that the people

might have an opportunity to read it. Many great writers have taken it as a model of language and style and

free expression. The year when Tyndale was put to death, 1536, was not so long before Shakespeare's birth.

So we come to the great reign of Elizabeth, when the English language came to its first great flowering of

splendour to express great literature, great deeds, great national aspirations. Look at the names—

Shakespeare, Bacon, Green, Fletcher, Marlowe, Johnson, Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher—all Anglo-Saxon

names. Elizabeth was not too confident about her nobles; they were given to conspiring, and although much

of an autocrat herself, she cultivated a pride of nationhood in her people. The spirit of England was there,

and all—nobles and commoners alike, Roman Catholics and Protestants—proved they were a united nation

with a great pride in England when the threat of aggression from abroad, the Spanish Armada, appeared on

the horizon. Queen Elizabeth was as courageous as any of them when the time of crisis came.

Of course I could spend half an hour in harrowing your feelings with an account of the savage penal punish-

ments, the vices, the coarseness of those times, but the credit balance of freedom was growing, and the spirit

of England was mounting. Fifty years later it beheaded a king, Charles I, not so much because he wanted to

be an autocrat as that he made war against his people. Only another 40 years were to pass before another one,

James III, who had objectionable ideas about his kingship, was deposed and sent into exile. After that the

English people grew tired of troublesome kings whose heads grew too big for their crowns, and they put

down the constitutional limits of kingship in a law, the famous Bill of Rights. Parliament was now supreme,

but there were many poor Parliaments. It is one thing to be given democratic rights; it is a very different

thing to know how to use them aright. They are often sadly abused and side-tracked. At all events the

English people thought it was better to have a bad Parliament than a good despot. They could mend the one,

but might not be able to get rid of the other when they wanted. It was a bad Parliament that fastened the

oppressive corn laws on England, heavily taxing their daily bread. However, the spirit of England got rid of

that oppression in time. They had a poet, Ebenezer Elliott, who wrote for them. He did not rank very high as

a poet but some of his verses are in the hymn book, at least they are in mine. Here is one:—

"When wilt Thou save the people

O God of mercy, when,

The people, Lord, the people

Not thrones and crowns, but men,

Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they;

Let them not pass, like weeds away;

Their heritage a sunless day;

God save the people."

Round about this time the people of England began to realise that some of these evils were due to excess

power wielded by certain classes in Parliament, the landlords and industrialists. The spirit of England, then

found expression in the Chartist Movement, which asked mainly that the base of democratic government

should be broadened. The Chartists asked for a Charter of six reforms. To-day we regard all these six points

as commonplace and out of date, but almost a century ago they were thought to be revolutionary and the

advocates were threatened and imprisoned on account of their views. They had their poet, too, Gerald

Massey, who wrote some very good verse. You can sense the hopeful, robust spirit of England in these

lines:—

"High hopes that burned like stars sublime

Go down in the Heaven of Freedom;

And true hearts perish in the time

We bitterliest need them:

But never sit we down and say

There's nothing left but sorrow,

For where the vanguard camps to-day

The rear shall rest to-morrow."

Speaking of literature as a mirror of the rising spirit of England, I can only make passing reference to the

great influence of the novels of Charles Dickens, or those fine poems of Tom Hood, the "Song of the Shirt"

and "The Bridge of Sighs." Think, too, of all those of whom I have made no mention, Milton, Wordsworth,

Shelley, Byron, Blake, and many of the best of our prose writers.

Time will not permit me to speak of other marks of the rise of the spirit, but there are some of them in the

relation of England to America which are worth relating. George III was one of our Hanoverian kings who

knew nothing of the spirit of England. He pushed the dispute with the American Colonies to the point of war

and ended by losing them. It is not as often recalled that great Parliamentary leaders, like Pitt and Burke and

Walpole openly opposed the war in Parliament and outside, and that is the kind of act no one dare do in

Australia to-day.

To do his fighting, George III had to hire Hessian Mercenary troops from the principality of Hesse in

Germany, and it is one of the legacies of that hiring that one of the most destructive pests to the wheat crops

of America is the hessian fly, whose progenitors were taken over to America by the Hessian soldiers in the

forage for their horses.

The Northern and Southern States of America fought a sanguinary Civil War over the issue of allowing

slavery in the Union. This compares with the action of England in 1807 in preventing British ships carrying

slaves as an article of commerce, while in 1838 the British Parliament voted £20,000,000 to free 800,000

negro slaves in British territories. The first occasion on which unemployed relief was voted in England was

to the cotton operatives of Lancashire, who preferred to starve rather than work on cotton from the Southern

slave States.

Some of you may have heard of the Monroe doctrine. That was a statement issued by President Monroe in

1823, that his country would not brook any new interference by European Powers with territory in North and

South America. The threat had come from France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, who formed what they

termed a "Holy Alliance," setting out that they regarded representative government as a menace to the divine

right of kings and absolute monarchy, and they would unite to resist its introduction in Europe or in

territories in other parts of the world which they patronised. It is not so well known that the attitude of the

United States was first prompted by the Prime Minister of England, George Canning, who gave such an

assurance of British support as encouraged President Monroe to issue his warning.

It is recorded of the reign of Queen Victoria, in one of the diplomatic quarrels that occurred between Britain

and America, when her Minister placed before her a somewhat bellicose note for her signature, she told him

plainly she would never put her name to a document that might bring war with the United States. There have

been differences of opinion since then, but they have been settled by arbitration, and redress has been made

by one or other when in the wrong.

One other point on which critics have often attacked England. We can say that for 100 years, up to 1914,

Great Britain was mistress of the seas, and during the whole of that century there was complete freedom of

the seas. The ships of all nations could travel the highways of all the oceans, and go about their lawful

occasions without fear and without hindrance. German ships, American ships, Italian ships, Norwegian

ships, Japanese ships, could travel between the ports of Great Britain, to and fro to British territories, without

any fear that the British Navy or law would interfere. But other countries, the United States for instance,

began to impose restrictions on other nations' ships engaging in the coastwise trade. Australia was one of the

countries that followed suit, even legislating against the shipping of our Homeland. Many maritime

nations—Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, Norway—voted heavy subsidies to their national

shipping, but England retained and maintained her old tradition of the freedom of the seas, until only a few

years ago, when she gave some assistance to her tramp shipping as a matter of urgent necessity to preserve it.

How often you have heard expressions that the spirit of England has faded out; that she was falling into

decay; that the character of her people was going down. Not after 1940. It is true that her people do not like

war; that they dislike being heavily taxed for war; that they will do much to avoid being drawn into it. The

English are not strong haters; they are not cruel and vindictive; rather are they easy-going, tolerant and

humane. But when they decide for war, they are dogged, defiant, and long-enduring. There were plenty of

people who thought that it was better to abandon Poland than go to war, but when the actual attack came

from Germany, the spirit of England was ready for the task.

In contrast to this, remember that when Germany attacked Poland in the West, Russia made war on Poland in

the East and in her rear. That is the difference between the spirit of England and what you find in some

quarters elsewhere. In the "West Australian" of 26th May there was this cable : "The British United Press

correspondent in Ankara says that approximately 100,000 Poles from Siberian prisons will join the Polish

forces in the Middle East, 30,000 will be going to Persia from Russia within a month. Another 100,000 will

join the Polish army in Russia."

What were these 230,000 Poles doing in Soviet prisons in Siberia? The answer is that their only offence was

in fighting for the defence of their freedom. When you know that many of their wives and children are still in

those Russian prisons in Siberia, I think you will agree that they are very forgiving and that these Polish

legions are more regardful of the opportunity to continue in the fight for Freedom than to display a natural

resentment of the treachery of Soviet Russia.

In June, 1940, England faced alone the menace of destruction by the mighty air fleet of Germany. In other

fields she had the aid of armed forces from the British Commonwealth of Nations and some of the British

Colonies to meet the aggression of the Axis Powers. Those Axis Powers had many years of preparation; we

had not. The combined populations of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, is about

70 million people; that of Germany with the annexed countries outright is 100 millions; in the countries

overrun and brought under subjection there were 60 millions, and in Italy 42 millions. The Axis Powers had

access to nearly the whole of the armament-making resources and the forced labour of Europe at their

command. Soviet Russia and Germany were acknowledged friends; they had a mutual treaty of amity; in the

words of Molotov, the Russian Premier, Germany and Russia were "bound together with a chain of gold."

Arising out of this the added deadly handicap for England was that Russia was providing Germany with

munitions, food and minerals needed for turning into Axis armaments. That went on right up to June, 1941,

and you can glory in the spirit of England that moved Churchill to send a warning to Stalin a fortnight before

Germany attacked Russia.

It is in the light of England's heroic stand against all this weight of brutal attack that you must remember

Dunkirk when the odd flotilla of tugs, pleasure steamers, barges, motor boats, and yachts went across the

Straits of Dover and rescued their Army from the grasp of the German hordes. It is in that light that you must

cherish pride in the result of the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic, and remember the great deeds

of the airmen, the boys of the Navy, nurses, A.R.P. workers, and the merchant seamen. The spirit of England

was as high as it was in the days of the threat of the Spanish Armada. It was in those days that Shakespeare

wrote:—

"This England never did, nor never shall

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror

But when it first did help to wound itself."

I do not think there are many Quislings in England to-day who want to help her to wound herself, except

perhaps in an excess of defiant rashness. The poet who wrote those lines poured out in them his own

passionate love of England; the same spirit that animated Winston Churchill when he declared they would

fight the enemy on the ocean, in the air, on the beaches, in the fields, and fight them with bottles rather than

submit. Churchill speaks what Shakespeare wrote:—

"Come the three corners of the world in arms

And we shall shock them: nought shall make us rue

If England to herself do rest but true."

A poet in a much quieter and more peaceable time when the brutalities of the present day were not dreamed

of, had not forgotten the great inspiration of this spirit, when Swinburne wrote:—

"All our past proclaims our future, Shakespeare's voice and Nelson's hand,

Milton's faith and Wordsworth's trust in this our chosen chainless land,

Bear us witness; come the world against her, England yet shall stand.

No man ever spake as he that bade our England be but true,

Keep but faith with England fast and firm, and none should bid her rue;

None may speak as he; but all may know the sign that Shakespeare knew."

The spirit of England has stood fast and firm during the last two years. There are many millions of people in

Great Britain to-day who cannot express themselves with the same poetic grace as Shakespeare or Milton or

Wordsworth of Swinburne. But they have it in their minds and hearts, and they mean the same thing when

they say:—

"England can take it,"

or sing

"There'll always be an England,"

or when the London grocer put up the sign over his gaping window, shattered by a Nazi bomb:

"Our new entrance, officially opened by Adolf Hitler."

This is not poetry, but it gives one a great glow, just the same. These millions of people are not models of

virtue. Among them are drunkards and gamblers; husbands who beat their wives, and wives who deceive

their husbands; some parents who neglect their children; some who blaspheme or use foul language; some

who are greedy and grasping; some who are not too scrupulous; most of them with one sin or another. But

the great trial of this crisis aroused the latent tradition of a thousand years, and united them in a vivid glow of

endurance, courage, and bold defiance. There have been more deaths and maimings among the civil

population of Great Britain than the numbers of British soldiers who have fallen on the field of battle. I think

it is well tc remind you, too, that there are other peoples of Europe who are enduring death and almost

incredible tortures and cruelties, because they, too, are animated with the same spirit of freedom.

I think it is likely when peace comes, and the great exaltation of spirit is passed, there will be many who will

backslide into the old sins, neglects, indifference, and human frailties. I would to God we could sustain the

unity of purpose, the willingness of sacrifice, the flame of spirit that the war has brought. Maybe you can

understand my fervency when I say that for 30 years I have worked for friendship and co-operation which in

practice has never caused a tear or a drop of blood to be shed. Really, it would be so easy, so much of a fine

triumph, to build a great peace. Whatever the future brings, I am sure of this, the spirit of England is a firm

rock against which the angry waves of oppression beat in vain. Truly to us, to the Norwegians, the Dutch, the

French, the Poles, the Czechs, it is the wistful hope of the world.

—"West Australian Craftsman."

————————

WHAT DO WE BUILD?

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

A CHRISTMAS ADDRESS.

———

By Sydney Cannington, Grand Lecturer, Nelson and

Marlborough—Christmas, 1942.

———

Brethren,—It was my privilege to prepare an address for the last Christmas meeting on "Masonry's

Contribution to Peace and Goodwill" and particularly to point out that an even harder struggle faces the

present generation than merely winning the war and that is the need to work for the attaining of a just and

lasting peace and it is with somewhat similar thoughts that I address you this evening.

The year that has passed has been a trying one; the "scales of war" almost appearing to be weighed against

us; rays of hope have often been dispelled by clouds of darkness and despair; death has brought grief and

sorrow to many homes and peace with freedom and happiness seems still far distant. Yet those who mourn

are comforted with the hope that their sacrifice is not in vain; our young men and women are still willing to

give their all in the faith that out of this chaos will be built a better world that those who follow in their

footsteps may live in justness and harmony both with their God and their fellowmen, and people generally

are awakening to the realisation that war cannot be won by the sacrifices of others or faith in the

righteousness of our cause but by hard work and sacrifice by all.

And though we usher in another Christmas with sadness and sorrow may it also be with humiliation and

determination to so build our faith and character that we will be enabled to do our part in the hard work and

sacrifice necessary to ensure that right will prevail and a just and lasting peace be attained.

Let us remind ourselves as to what Christmas really means. Is it but the anniversary of the birth of Mary's

child in a manger? Does it suggest the teachings of our childhood—the meek and mild Jesus? Or does it

stand for something greater than these? Personally I prefer to think of Christmas as the anniversary of He

who with righteous anger drove the money-changers out of the temple; who healed the sick; fed the hungry

and gave hope of Eternity. A man of strong character and determination; human, just and unafraid to express

His views and finally willing to sacrifice His life and suffer all the agonies of cruxifixion in the cause of

humanity.

But, Brethren, this by no means covers the value of Christmas to us Freemasons. It must be remembered that

no Lodge under our Constitution can be tyled without the Bible on the altar; that we acknowledge God as the

Supreme Being and Father of Mankind and that we have declared that in all cases of difficulty and danger we

turn to Him for comfort and support. The birth of Christ signifies that God became reality in the form of His

Son and that He appeared to a race that had eyes to see and spoke to men that had ears to hear. It is this

reality of God that we should understand and appreciate.

We acknowledge that the world is reality and fact, that it is a world in which men live and love, sin and

suffer, hope and die but although acknowledging the reality of the world we so often overlook the reality of

T.G.A. who created this world and the reality of simple faith and character.

I feel at this Christmas time that we as Freemasons have a challenge to our faith and that unless our faith is

real and strong enough in character to oppose that which is unhuman then Freemasonry itself must fail,

To put it simply and plainly, Freemasonry rests upon faith in God the Master Builder of the Universe and

faith in the immortality of the soul. We must acknowledge that our faith in T.G.A.O.T.U. must mean our

belief that we are here in this world to do something, build something and become something and what we

build or become should express the reality of our faith.

In a sense T.G.A. has completed nothing, not because He has not the poWer or will but because He offers

man a share in creation. God provides the sea, the minerals, the trees, and man builds the ships that carry

goodwill between nations or assists in destruction or bloody warfare. He provides the sun, the wind and the

rain and man plows and sows and reaps. He provides the riches of the earth which man shares with or grasps

from his fellow man. His will is the Brotherhood of Man, whereas man creates hate, strife, hunger,

lawlessness and murder. He built a world of flowers, trees and grass; rivers, seas and lakes; mountains and

sunshine for eternity, whereas man's efforts are mainly mundane and of a destructable nature. Civilisation

comes and goes; man accumulates and spends, but death so often terminates his puny efforts. And still the

breezes blow, the sun shines and the rain falls and God offers man the means to enable him to build for

eternity.

If we can only acknowledge the reality of God instead of thinking of Him as something nebulous; if we are

sincere in our expressed faith of Freemasonry and fully realise that man does not live by bread alone but by

faith, hope and love; if we can say with the old Egyptians, "The soul to Heaven and the Body to earth"; if we

can agree with the poet:—

"The crest and crowning of all good,

Life's final star, is Brotherhood;

For it will bring again to Earth

Her long lost Poesy and Mirth;

Will send new light on every Face,

A Kingly power upon the Race."

then we will have a definite foundation to build on. And failing the consummation of Brotherhood we can

only agree :—

"And till it comes we men are slaves

And travel downward to the dust of graves."

We should realise that Masonry is no dead pile of stones and unmeaning timber. It is a living thing. Joseph

Fort Newton states:

"Masonry unites all high interests and brings to their service a vast world-wide fraternity of free and

devout men, built upon a foundation of spiritual truth and moral idealism, whose mission is to make

men friends, to refine and exalt their lives, to deepen their faith and purify their dream, to turn them

from the semblance of life to homage for truth, beauty, righteousness and character. More than an

Institution, more than a tradition, more than a society, Masonry is one of the forms of the Divine Life

upon earth."

The value of Freemasonry does not rely on its expressed faith as a creed or religion but on the combined

faith of the individuals. We acknowledge that the strength of a chain is the strength of the weakest link and

the same applies to the Institution of Freemasonry. If we have any discordant elements in our Lodges, if we

take up a defeatest attitude regarding the value of our Order, if our works are frustrated by unbelief and

insincerity then we can only come to the conclusion that we have no understanding of the reality of faith and

that our Institution is of no value to the community.

It may, be said that because Freemasonry as an Institution takes no part in politics that its value to the

community is negligible, whereas actually the value of Freemasonry to the community is enhanced by the

Institution being non-political. It is an Institution where all men, irrespective of class and party, may in

quietness meditate on the highest politics—the Brotherhood of Man—and where men may in security

develop his own personality and fit himself to take his place in the wider fields of humanity.

As an Institution we must ensure that our own house is in order, that due care is taken to admit to

membership only those who are considered suitable to fulfil the obligations and having admitted such to

membership that they are duly instructed in the high teachings of our Art so that they in their turn may be

willing to, and be better prepared, to take their part in the building of a better humanity.

What I wish to emphasise is that the Institution of Freemasonry is not the all important but is the means of

building man's faith and character so that the individual becomes a temple in himself—a temple founded on

truth which is of God.

The individual as distinct from the Institution becomes the Builder and the Sharer in Creation and what he

builds reflects his faith and character.

At the 1941 Communication the M.W. Grand Master spoke most convincingly on the value and necessity of

freedom, and I feel it is not only the essence, of happiness and peace in this life, but the security of Eternity.

As our Grand Master exhorts, "Let us keep the ideal of freedom in our minds and thoughts, first of all to

create an atmosphere in which freedom can live, and secondly to assist all men of goodwill in the formation

of a solid basis of public opinion."

This then becomes the work of the individual Mason—to strive for the freedom of Mankind. President

Roosevelt designates four freedoms—"Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and

fear," and it is the duty of all men of goodwill to subscribe to the fulfilment of the quest of freedom. It will

require personal sacrifice of not only material but in many cases of our preconceived ideals and prejudices.

Let us do our part both as members of our Glorious Institution and as individuals to imbue the spirit of

Masonry that we may the better be enabled to work in the interests of humanity in the building of a better

and happier world.

At this time of strife and suffering when Lodges have been suppressed throughout many countries, the

material ornaments burnt and destroyed, our altars trampled under foot and our temples desecrated, may we

have faith and courage to believe and let us take heart in the fact that Masonry does not depend on the mere

material, that our Lodges may be completely destroyed, our Institution disbanded, but Freemasonry is built

for and will live to Eternity. Its foundations are not the shifting sands of man's material ambitions for power

and wealth but the solid foundations of faith and character. Our structure is not built of political or religious

qualms and prejudices nor timber from the forest of the bloody bayonets of war, it is built of the Brotherhood

and Freedom of Man and its Ornament is that Great Light that shines from Above.

Therefore, Brethren, even if we suffer further trials and tribulations let us have faith to say with Browning:—

"If I stoop

Into a dark, tremendous sea of cloud,

It is but for a time; I press God's Lamp

Close to my breast; its splendour, soon or late

Will pierce the gloom."

And so at this Christmas time we look to the future with the hope that Freemasonry may rise from the ruins

of war and oppression bearing in her uplifted hand the Lamp of Learning and assist in building a happier

world where justice, equality and freedom will reign; where Social Services will not consist of secondhand

charity but of Social Justice; where the fires of persecution, war, famine and pestilence will die and in their

place will be kindled an ever-blazing fire of peace, love and brotherhood spreading its glow not only over

men or one Nation and Faith but over men of all Nations irrespective of colour, caste and creed.

To this end may we individually and collectively build for the common good of mankind remembering that

we work not with our own strength alone but from the plans and with the material supplied by T.G.A. and in

the strength of the Great Brotherhood of Man.

Edwin Markham writes these inspired words:—

"We men on earth have here the stuff

Of Paradise. We have enough!

We need no other things to build

The stars into the unfilled.

No other ivory for the doors,

No other marble for the floors.

No other cedar for the beam

And dome of man's immortal dream.

Here on the paths of every day,

Here on the common human way,

Is all the busy gods would take

To build a Heaven, to mould and make

New Edens. Ours the stuff sublime

To build Eternity in time."

And so acknowledge the reality of T.G.A. in Whom we as Freemasons profess; acknowledging the

perfection of the material supplied by Him; acknowledging the practical ideals of the Great Brotherhood of

Man and the fact that Man himself has the freewill to build or destroy happiness and peace on earth—let us

as individuals ask ourselves:—

"What hast thou wrought for right and truth

For God and man

From the golden hours of bright-eyed youth

To life's mid span?"

And may the answer be worthy of our obligations.

So mote it be.

————————

EARLY PERSECUTIONS OF JEWS.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

Back in the early days of the Hitler regime, we were all aghast at the purges and the persecutions inside of

Germany. But, instead of doing anything about it, we smugly said this was not the nature of the German

people, but merely the working of a temporary government that obviously could not last.

This was particularly true before the war. To the everlasting shame of decent people everywhere, there was

little real protest, in November, 1938, when Hitler's organised thugs murdered and tortured thousands of

Jews within Germany. These "spontaneous" uprisings against the Jewish people were accepted with a shrug

and again we contented ourselves with the thought that the Germans were civilised people and would take

care of the situation themselves.

Now we know this was a myth and a fiction, one that Hitler was happy to have accepted by the world

because it gave him time to organise for the big game, that of persecuting entire nations. It is too late to do

anything about that now, except prosecute the war to the full extent of our abilities, but, lest we make the

same mistake in the future, we might look back at the record a few years and see just what kind of people we

are fighting.

The persecution of the Jews in Germany is no new thing. The weekly edition of the "London Times" as far

back as November 19, 1880, carried a two-column dispatch from Berlin telling of recent outrages against the

Jewish race. These outrages were not confined to any one section, but were general throughout the country.

One priest frequented the public houses and dance halls, haranguing the working people assembled in such

places in a typical Nazi fashion. The familiar theme that the Jews were at the root of all economic and social

evils to be found in Germany found eager listeners, and generally these meetings ended in riots. That, too,

has a familiar ring.

It is true that decent people protested these outbursts, and the Crown Prince, later the hated Kaiser of World

War I, stated that "the present persecution of the Jews is a shame and disgrace to Germany." Nevertheless,

the conservative press of the time did little to expose the situation and two well-known conservative

newspapers even went so far as to sympathise with this "Teutonic" viewpoint.

It was well known at the time that one of Jewish blood had no chance whatever for a career in the select and

aristocratic ranks of the German army. Petitions circulated throughout the empire requested Prince Bismarck,

who then controlled the destinies of Germany, to stop or, at least, seriously curtail Jewish emigration, to

exclude Jews from offices of authority, particularly from entering legal or judicial careers, to ban them

completely from the field of education, and to gather statistics about Jews then living in Germany, apparently

with the object of being better able to curtail their activities.

Obviously, the stage for a Hitler had been set for a long time in Germany. Hitler merely had the qualities that

could draw these rabble elements together and give them purpose and force. It is not a pleasant thing to think

about, but the facts cannot be overlooked. In dealing with Germany after this war, the United Nations will be

forced to take these things into consideration. They must strip the power from such groups and make certain

they can never again control the destinies of the German people. To do less is to lay the foundations for

future misery and bloodshed.—M.B. in "The New Age."

————————

NOTABLE CRYPTIC MEETING.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

What is believed to have been the largest and most successful gathering of Cryptic Masons yet held in New

Zealand met at the Masonic Temple, Auckland, on 4th December to confer the degrees of Royal, Select and

Super Excellent Master upon Most Ex. Comp. Sir Cyril Newall. A Council of Select Masters under the

Charter of the Ara Council. No. 53, was opened with the following officers:— T.I.M., V. Ill. Comp. E.

McDonald; D.M., Ill. Comp. Dr. T. G. Shortt; P.C.W., Rt. Ill. Comp. F. Kirton; Recorder, Comp. A. L.

Nugent; Asst. Recorder, Comp. C. J. Wilson; Treas., Ill. Comp. E. M. J. Litt; Chap., Rt. M. Comp. B. L.

Catt; C. of G., Comp. H. R. A. Vialoux; C. of C., Comp. A. Williamson; D. of C., Rt. Ill. Comp. A. Burns,

Jr.; Org., Comp. J. J. B. Blakemore; Stew., Comp. W. J. Taylor; Fac., Comp. J. Macgregor; Sent., Comp. G.

W. A. Clark.

Rangitoto and Akarana Councils were represented by their T.I.Ms., Rt. Ill. Comp. F. W. Herbert and Ill:

Comp. H. W. Bullock, and a number of members, and the Ponsonby Kilwinning Council, No. 394, S.C., by

T. I. Master G. F. Garland and other officers.

A representative attendance of Grand Council Officers, headed by the Grand Supt., Rt. Ill. Comp. James

Armstead, was received, bringing the total attendance to nearly 120.

The Royal Masters Degree was worked by the officers already mentioned with the exception that Ill. Comp.

J. A. Leary, who is well known for his rendering of that important part, took the office of P.C.W. The

Lecture was given by Rt. Ill. Comp. G. H. Harle, and the final address by Ill. Comp. Short.

The O.B. in the S.M. Degree was administered by Rt. Ill. Comp. Burns, the Ss. were communicated by Rt.

Ill. Comp. Herbert, the Lecture was given by Rt. Ill. Comp. Armstead, the W.Ts. were explained by Rt. Ill.

Comp. H. O. Searle, and the final address was given by Ill. Comp. Short.

V. Ill. Comp. John Dawson opened a Council of S.E.Ms. with Comp. H. G. K. Adamson as K.T., Comps. R.

J. Eyles and L. G. Ansell as Heralds and Comp. W. Keefe as Trumpeter.

Ill. Comp. Litt acted as King, the Guards were led by Comps. J. Macgregor and W. G. Phelps and the

invaders were led by Comp. W. Bennett.

Addresses were given as follows : Sq., Rt. Ill. Comp. A. C. Hallett; Tri., Comp. A. Addison; Cir., V. Ill.

Comp. J. E. Wade. The Ss. were communicated by Comp. Nugent and the Lecture was given by Comp. C.

Mason.

The Most Excellent having become Grand Master of the Royal and Select Masters by virtue of his

possession of the necessary degrees and holding the office of First Grand Principal, was installed into the

office of Grand Master by Rt. Ill. Comp. Burns, and proclaimed and saluted.

In the refectory, after the Loyal Toast had been honoured, Rt. Ill. Comp. Armstead proposed the health of the

Most Ill. Grand Master.

After re-affirming our loyalty to the King the G.Supt. expressed the pleasure of the Auckland Cryptic

Masons in having had the honour of admitting His Excellency, who had made a special trip from Wellington

to be present, to those degrees.

The Grand Master expressed his appreciation of the tribute paid to His Majesty, and proceeded to give some

very interesting personal reminiscences of the King and Queen. He thanked the companions for the

opportunity, and congratulated them on the manner in which the work had been done.

The companions were then privileged to hear a very interesting address on war affairs, including references

to His Excellency's personal associations with the General Officers now commanding the forces in Africa.

The honouring of the toast of "Our Absent and Fallen Companions" was a fitting close to a memorable

meeting.

————————

FREEMASONRY AND THE ANCIENT BARDIC MYSTERIES.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

By W. Bro. A. Langdon Coburn, 30 deg.

———

If we retrace our steps through history to that half-forgotten past beyond its dawn, we find in the legends and

myths of nearly all the ancient nations the tradition of a Golden Age of Purity, when the Gods walked with

men and all was peace and happiness, with the simplicity and perfect faith of childhood.

In our own volume of the Sacred Law we find the story of the Garden of Eden which tells of man in his

purity, and of his search for knowledge and its results; but a very important factor in the problem, which is

sometimes overlooked, is that although man may have eaten of the fruit of "The Tree of Knowledge of Good

and Evil," it is not necessary for him, in consequence of this eating, "to choose always the Evil rather than

the Good."

The human will being free there is often the inclination in an unwakened state for it to choose to go against

the Divine Law of all creation, as a naughty child rebels against the authority of its loving parents, but with

advancing age and riper wisdom it may come to see the folly of its earlier years, and to know that the only

true freedom is in conformity with the law.

Meanwhile, children must be guarded against their acts of folly, and the masses of mankind, who are often

little wiser than children and equally rebellious and self-willed, must also be protected and helped to see the

Great Realities as they truly are.

It is for this reason that saviours and inspired teachers of mankind have appeared in the world from time to

time, and it is from them that the mysteries have sprung.

It is they who have known that great mystery of all mysteries, the human soul: whence it came, that which it

must accomplish in its arduous journey through this mortal life, and whither it must return.

It is, however, only those who have earned the right thereto by a regular initiation who are privileged to

partake of the knowledge of the mysteries, and, firstly, in the hour of danger, they must unreservedly put

their trust in God.

The inspired teachers of mankind have been those men of perfect wisdom who have been wholly dedicated

to the service of the Most High, but besides being wise they have also been discreet, well knowing that only

by an ordered unfoldment may the soul come to know itself, and we can imagine them saying, as did

Socrates: "Does it happen, then, to be an easy thing to know oneself, and was it some trifler who inscribed

those words on the temple at Pytho; or is self-knowledge a difficult thing and not for all?"

The answer to this question, although Socrates does not give it, is that self-knowledge is a difficult thing, and

yet it is for all who resolutely endure.

This knowledge, as the founders of all mysteries have realised, cannot be communicated unless there is an

ardent effort to understand on the part of the candidate. The mysteries may not be imparted exclusively by

any external rite or ceremony. The inner must reflect the outer, the symbol must be made alive, deep must

answer unto deep.

Therefore the saviours and teachers of men have instituted mysteries. They have veiled in allegory and

illustrated by symbols those truths which, by the very nature of them, must remain hidden from the profane.

Even as the unity of God is the simplest conception which the mind of man can grasp, so also is it the most

profound.

Likewise with the soul. The story of its origin, purpose and destiny is so simple that a child can understand it

and delight in its marvellous beauty, and yet the full realisation of all that is implied is achieved only by

those who have attained the end of the journey.

The traditional home of the mysteries is said by some authorities to have been in Ancient Egypt, and

certainly the profundity of the teachings emanating from this source gives excellent grounds for this belief.

Osiris is slain and descends into the underworld of darkness, is dismembered, and cut into pieces, even as the

soul figuratively descends into generation, is split up, and appears to become diversified by attachment to

multiplicity. Yet it is written that he shall rise again in the morning of to-morrow.

In the Ancient Egyptian mysteries the candidate represented Osiris, and he was slain and raised again from a

figurative death that he might attain to life immortal.

The Greek philosopher, Porphyry, gives us an illuminating thought on the mystery of death.

"The soul is bound to the body by a conversion to the corporeal passions; and again liberated by becoming

impassive to body.

"That which Nature binds, Nature also dissolves; and that which the soul binds, the soul likewise dissolves.

Nature, indeed, bound body to the soul, but the soul binds herself to body. Nature, therefore, liberates the

body from the soul, but the soul liberates herself from the body.

"Hence there is a twofold death; the one, indeed, universally known in which the body is liberated from the

soul, but the other, peculiar to philosophers, in which the soul is liberated from the body. Nor does the one

entirely follow the other."

Herein is revealed the great mystery of death and life, showing that those who are not initiated are as if

already dead, and that those who have passed through their last and greatest trial are alive for evermore.

In one form of the Grecian mysteries, Dionysius is said to be torn to pieces by the Titans, but after three

years to be born anew.

In the Eleusinian mysteries there is also the descent of the soul personified by Persephone, who is lured into

generation by the beauties of transiency to be carried off by Pluto, King of the Underworld; but she is

rescued by her mother, Demeter, and returns to her celestial kingdom.

Let us also with special reverence consider the Christian Mystery. Of the birth in purity of Christ, the perfect

Arch-type, of how even in childhood Jesus was the Teacher of the wise, for His Soul was not enmeshed in

matter, being ever in the abode of His Father, for did He not say, "I and My Father are One."

Furthermore, after a life of perfect conformity with the Divine Law, that all might see the way and follow it,

He was slain upon the Cross and buried in a tomb.

Then there came an Angel and rolled away the stone from the tomb and He arose from the dead and

appeared to those who knew and loved Him, and finally He ascended into Heaven.

Herein is the most perfect mystery enacted.

There is an endeavour often made to trace the historical relationship of the various mysteries and to discover

their origin by means of facts or documentary evidence, even as empiric evolutionists endeavour to trace the

origin of man through his body, and an ancestry of apes back to a beginning in slime; but the mysteries are

not merely their outward form any more than man is exclusively his body.

The soul of the mysteries, like the soul of man, was never born, being immortal in the mind of God.

With this spiritual ancestry in mind, let us come to the subject of this paper, the ancient Bardic mysteries,

considered specially in relation to our own Masonic mysteries, and let us begin with the opening hymn, or

Gorsedd prayer of the B'ardic Assembly:

Bestow, O God, Thy refuge;

And in refuge, strength;

And in strength, reason;

And in reason, light;

And in light, truth;

And in truth, justice;

And in justice, love;

And in love, the love of all things;

And in the love of all things, the love of God,

And in the love of God, all blessedness.

The ancient Bardic meetings were held within a circle of stones "in the face of the sun and the eye of light."

The stones were so placed that a man could stand between each two of them, except that the two stones of

the circle which most directly confronted the eastern sun should be sufficiently apart to allow at least ample

space for three men between them, thus forming a porch or entrance.

At a distance of three times three fathoms was placed a standing stone to mark the east, to the north of it was

yet another so placed as to face the eye of the rising sun the longest summer's day, and to the south of it

another to mark the rising sun on the shortest winter's day. The sightings were taken from the centre of the

circle. The stones were called sacred stones or stones of testimony, and the central one was called the stone

of compact or preparation.

The circle itself was called the circle of sacred refuge, and symbolised the sun. It was also said to represent

the Garden of Eden.

This, then, is the lodge of our Bardic mystery.

Of the ceremony itself we are able to reconstruct an outline from the mystical poems of Taliesin, who is one

of the chief sources of information on this subject.

Taliesin has been called the "Chief Bard of the West" He lived in the sixth century, most probably between

520 and 570 A.D.

He was said to have been thoroughly versed in the Bardic mysteries, being himself a thrice-born hierophant,

and the disciple of Catwg the Wise.

He gives in one of his poems a marvellous account of his early life, or how he was found in a coracle, or boat

of hide, in a weir on May Eve and adopted by foster-parents; of how even as a child he was the composer of

Bardic odes; of how, becoming the Chief Bard of Elfin he rescued his patron from great danger by his Bardic

skill. All these things, and many more which are related, may be taken as an allegory of his entrance into the

mysteries.

His name signifies Radiant Browed, and he tells us that the country of his origin is the Region of the Summer

Stars.

The three degrees of the Bardic mysteries, like the three degrees of Craft Masonry, are closely associated

with birth, life, and death, and they represent the pilgrimage of the soul through the intricate windings of this

mortal life.

As a preliminary to the degree of birth we have, as it were, a mythological history of the soul's parentage.

Tegid Voel, the father, and Ceridwen, the mother, of gods and men had three children: a son called "The

Raven of the Sea," or by some "The Son of Serenity," and a daughter named "The Sacred Token of Life,"

and these typify purified and regenerate humanity; but the third child was a son named "Utter Darkness,"

who was most hideous to behold, and he represents the condition of the non-initiated.

(To be continued.)

————————

W. BRO. H. J. RYDE, P.A.G.D.C.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

At the regular meeting of Lodge Whakatane, No. 198, in December, W. Bro. H. J. Ryde was elected an

honorary member, in recognition of long and eminent service to the Craft and this Lodge. W. Bro. Ryde was

a foundation member of 198 when it was formed in 1914, having then already served 14 years in the Craft

and holding rank of S.W. Since then he has occupied the Master's chair on two separate years, and served as

Secretary and then D.C. for 15 years, and holds the rank of Past Assistant G.D.C. He has been all through a

constant attender at regular and instruction meetings. W. Bro. Ryde's kindly nature and cheerful disposition

have endeared him to all the brethren, and his long Masonic experience combined with sound judgment have

assisted greatly in guiding the Lodge.

It was felt that this was just such a case as the framers of the Constitution had contemplated for honorary

membership, and it has given the brethren much pleasure to be able to express in this way their great esteem

for our worshipful brother.

————————

THE U.S.A. TO ENGLAND.

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

O Englishmen!—in tongue and creed

In blood and tongue our brothers!

We too are heirs of Runnymede,

And Shakespeare's fame and Cromwell's deed

Are not alone our mother's.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892).

To Englishmen.

————————

REVIEW OF PROCEEDINGS OF FOREIGN GRAND LODGES.

(Published by the Authority of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand.)

–⸱––÷––÷––⸱–

OKLAHOMA — 1942.

407 Lodges, 43,963 members, a gain of 140.

69th Annual Communication (former Indian Territory) held at Muskogee, 10th, 11th and 12th February,

M.W. Bro. Wm. H. Powell, G.M., presiding. Eighteen P.G.Ms. were present.

Grand Lodge laid the corner stones of six public buildings and two lodge rooms during the year.

Twelve aged brethren were honoured with Fifty Year buttons.

There were 88 adults and 71 children in the Masonic Homes and 59 adults and 25 children on monthly

allowances, the amount expended totalling 58,919 dollars.

One new Lodge was chartered.

Recognition was extended to the Gran Logia.

Simbolica de Nicaragua, the National Grand Lodge of Egypt, Gran Logia del Pacific and Gran Lodia del

Estado de Nuevo Leon, both of Mexico, and La Soberana Logia Madre de Columbia "Hospitalidad

Granadina."

The Grand Lodge of Uruguay was seeking to hold a Pan-American Masonic Congress, but Oklahoma

suggested that Uruguay seek fraternal relations with them, when they would be in a better position to discuss

the request.

As an economy measure it was resolved to omit from the Proceedings all addresses other than that of the

G.M. and also the Correspondence Report—which had been prepared.

Grand Master : M.W. Bro. Edward D. Avery, Tulsa.

Grand Secretary: M.W. Bro. Claude A. Sturgen, Guthrie.

Grand Representative of N.Z.: W. Bro. Arthur E. Miller, Woodward.

Grand Representative at N.Z.: R.W. Bro. Archibald J. Graham, P.Prov.G.M., Palmerston North.

NOVA SCOTIA — 1942.

84 Lodges, 8171 members, a loss of 11.

77th Annual Communication held at Halifax 10th June, M.W. Bro. Geoffrey Stevens, G.M., presiding. Six

P.G.Ms., five P.D.G.Ms., and five P.G.Ws. were present.

The Communication opened with Divine Service in the lodge room, the sermon being given by the Grand

Chaplain.

It had been decided to meet elsewhere, but the G.M., on account of changed conditions of transportation,

changed the venue to Halifax.

The Committee on Charity paid 834 dollars to 26 applicants, of which 111 dollars were subsequently

returned.

There were 31 guests in the Freemasons' Home, maintained at an expense of 18,202 dollars.

Fourteen 50-year jewels were awarded during the year.

M.W. Bro. R. V. Harris, Grand Historian reported the completion of the history of another 26 Chapters

(making 67) of his story of the Craft in the Maritime Provinces.

The usual lists of Officers, P.Ms., and members of the Lodges fills 101 pages.

Grand Master: M.W. Bro. Geoffrey Stevens, Dartmouth.

Grand Secretary: R.W. Bro. James C. Jones, Halifax.

Grand Representative of N.Z.: R.W. Bro. D. A. Thompson, P.D.G.M., Halifax.

Grand Representative at N.Z.: R.W. Bro. Clifford Thompson, Prov.G.M., Christchurch.

MICHIGAN, 1942.

513 Lodges, 111,409 members, a gain of 620.

98th Annual Communication held at Saginaut, 26th and 27th May, M.W. Bro. Dewey H. Hesse, G.M.,

presiding. Twenty P.G.Ms. were present.

The sum of 3,764 dollars was spent in the maintenance of nineteen orphan families with fifty children. There

were 65 women and 95 men in the Masonic Home, and 100 patients were cared for in the hospital during the

year, the average stay per patient being 99.35 days. There were 56 cases receiving outside relief to the

amount of 1074 dollars per month.

Consideration was given to various proposals to increase G.L. dues. A levy of 20 cents per member was

made to increase the fund available for the Masonic Home to cover the increased cost of living (stated to be

30%), repairs, etc. A "Masonic War Fund" was established to support or establish Welfare Centres or other

activities for the benefit of Masons in the service of the country and its Allies and their dependants and

relatives, and the armed forces thereof. A proposal by the G.M. to increase the G.L. dues from 1 dollar to 1

dollar 50 cents per member per annum was defeated.

One new Lodge was chartered (No. 567).

No Correspondence Review is included.

Grand Master: M.W. Bro. One E. Brown, Marquette.

Grand Secretary: R.W. Bro. F. Homer Newton, P.G.M., Grand Rapids.

Grand Representative of N.Z.: W. Bro. Victor A. Poo, Cedar Springs.

Grand Representative at N.Z.: R.W. Bro. J. A. Nash, Prov. G.M., Palmerston North.

FLORIDA — 1942.

221 Lodges, 20,282 members, a gain of 180.

113th Annual Communication held at Jacksonville 21st, 22nd and 23rd April, M.W. Bro. Ernest Campbell,

G.M., presiding. Eight P.G.Ms. were present.

Fifty-year Certificates were issued to ten brethren. One Lodge surrendered its Charter during the year. There

were 13 women, 10 men, 20 girls, and 10 boys in the Masonic Home, 15 non-residents and 5 in College, etc.

The sum of 6,135 dollars was disbursed in emergency relief to 58 cases.

The Grand Orator, W. Bro. W. Kemper Jennings, delivered an eloquent address entitled "What are we

fighting for," dealing with the American way of life and government.

The Committee on Actual Past Master Degree reported having conferred that degree upon various named

brethren, "who had been regularly elected and installed as Worshipful Masters of their Particular Lodges."

Grand Master: M.W. Bro. George T. Taylor, Tampa.

Grand Secretary: R.W. Bro. Geo. W. Huff, Jacksonville.

Grand Representative of N.Z.: W. Bro. R. J. Hancock, Palatka.

Grand Representative at N.Z.: M.W. Bro. James H. Harkness, P.G.M., Westport.

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SUPREME GRAND ROYAL ARCH CHAPTER OF NEW ZEALAND.

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The Supreme Committee of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of New Zealand met on Tuesday, 8th

December.

The Chairman extended a welcome to M.E. Comp. W. H. Sandford, Pro Grand Z., who had travelled from

Raetihi to attend the meeting.

The First Grand Principal advised that he had paid official visits to the Southland, Otago, Canterbury and

Auckland Districts, and the Pro Grand Z. to the North Auckland District.

The Balance Sheet for year ended 1st December last was approved and adopted for submission to Grand

Chapter in 1944.

Annual Report of Supreme Committee: It was decided to forward a precis of Supreme Committee's Report to

each Chapter with a request that it be read in Open Chapter.

Finance: The Income and Expenditure Account shows an excess of Income of £53 18s. 5d. The Accumulated

Fund stands at £1499 18s. 4d., Jubilee Memorial, £1780 6s. 8d.; Scholarship Council, £350 11s. 2d.;

Representation Fund, £1158 15s. 8d.

Membership: The membership of Grand Chapter is now 4316, being a gain of 56 for the year.

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NORTH CANTERBURY NOTES.

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The Ashley Chapter staged a wonderful show at its Installation of Principals and Investiture of Officers. In

the absence of Grand Supt. George Blackmore owing to an accident putting him out of action, R.E. Comp.

Alf. Jones did the job and was assisted by R.E. Comps. J. A. Stables, Dr. A. Stenhouse, J. N. Carson and

V.E. Comps. Gribble, Seward, S. Richards, and F. N. Kerr, and it was right up to standard. There was a

record crowd and the usual sumptuous supper and pretty decorations. E. Comp. Ray Monk, Z., thanked

everybody for their assistance and attendance. M.E. Comp. E. Wright represented District Grand Chapter and

had several officers with him.

St. Augustine Chapter, No. 1, had a splendid night at the Installation of E. Comp. Grover as Z. and the rest of

his officers. R.E. Comp. Alf. Jones, P.G.Supt., assisted by a super team of officers, put on a special

exhibition of efficiency. The presence of His Excellency M.E. Comp. Sir Cyril Newall, G.Z., was greatly

appreciated, and he was given a rousing reception.

The city and suburban Chapters joined in with St. Augustine and there was an excellent attendance. A special

feature was the feeling of friendship in the refectory and his Excellency met all the companions present, and

all hope that he will visit us again in the near future.

The Southern Cross Installation was, as usual, very good. R.W. Bro. C. S. Thompson had his new team of

officers out and they did a good job of work.

Bro. Johnson was installed Master and has a good team of assistants.

The refectory proceedings, in charge of W. Bro. Monk, senr., were right up to No. 6 standard.

Ashley is getting on well and the Master, W. Bro. McIntyre, is getting better and will soon be in the chair

again.

Sincere sympathy is extended by the North Group to W. Bro. G. Harlow in the sad loss he has suffered.

If anyone is ill, please ring W. Bro. Theo. Seward and he will call and see you.

Tawera still has some work and the prospects of much more and the members are pleased to see visitors.

The annual dinner at Mairati went off well, and there was a real good crowd and plenty of entertainment.

Kaikoura Installation will be early in February and sister Lodges north and south are asked to make an effort

to attend and give Kaikoura a real good boost, good train and bus services can land you at the door, so don't

worry about petrol.

Amuri is getting ready for a busy new year—a lot of the members are in the Army and a lot very busy

keeping the farms going.

Acacia Lodge is starting its new year with two candidates, and W. Bro. Winter has his team in good shape

and welcomes visitors, and they will get a "good welcome."

Cheviot as usual had a grand party and a great crowd to enjoy it. W. Bro. Hill has had a very good year and

has had great assistance from his brethren.

The North Group send best wishes for the New Year to all groups in New Zealand.

Brethren who went to the North Island for Annual Communication are praising the wonderful reception and

welcome they got, everything being O.K.

The North Group congratulates R.W. Bro. Charles Curtis on his advancement to Grand Warden.

We send special greetings to our neighbours in Mid-Canterbury. W. Bros. Bathurst and Billens are getting

ready for next year's group meetings, and if there is no petrol—steam will be used—the groups are getting

bigger and brighter each year and are looking forward to another re-union with the Nelson-Marlborough

Group.

W. Bro. Jack Veale is back with us again—looking well.

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TARANAKI NOTES.

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"May no Freemason wish for more liberty than constitutes happiness, nor freedom than tends to the public

good and may peace, plenty, charity and unanimity be established throughout the world," is the seasonal

wish of W. Bro. H. G. Wilson, Master of Mt. Egmont Lodge, No. 670, E.C. S.M.I.B.

The excitement of the Grand Lodge Communication has passed and gone but there remains a very happy

memory of fraternal associations. Despite the difficulties and draw-backs incidental to the gathering on

account of the times, the Communication must be voted a very successful one. The Wellington brethren did

wonders and the visitors and their ladies were well pleased. The thanks of visiting brethren were well

expressed by the D.G.M., R.W. Bro. E. C. Smith, of Gore.

There is a dearth of Masonic news this month. The Lodges all appear to be busy with ritual work, and, of

course, there is not the travelling now as in the old days. The lists on the lodge notices of "Brethren on

Active Service" is steadily growing. We sigh for the time when the need shall cease.

A brother of Patea Lodge was passed to the Second Degree in Lodge Raukawa, No. 224, Wellington, on 2nd

December.

Quite a number of lodge notices provide for the absence of candidates and indicate alternative work, as for

instance "to raise Bro. A., and if he is unable to attend, to initiate Bro. B." This uncertainty should have the

effect of keeping the officers of the Lodge right up to the mark.

The Vicars of two Taranaki parishes are candidates for F.M.

Some Lodges feature the Christmas meeting and will no doubt continue the good custom.

As these notes were being written word has been received that W. Bro. W. McInnes, P.G.Sd.B., has passed

away after a long illness borne with great courage and fortitude. A fuller reference will be made in the next

issue.

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ORDER OF THE SECRET MONITOR.

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The annual meeting of the District Grand Conclave of New Zealand took place at Wellington on Thursday,

26th November, the chair being occupied by the District Grand Supreme Ruler (Colonel G. Barclay) and

there being a representative gathering of members. The following officers were appointed for the year 1942-

43: Chancellor, C. W. Taylor; Counsellor, H. W. Hagen; Guide, K. L. Freeman; Chap., V. G. H. Rickard;

Reg., F. Kirton; D. of C., E. T. Saunders; Visitors, J. E. Wade and S. C. K. Smith; Sw.B., E. Rackley; Std.B.,

J. A. Messenger; Bow-Bearer, P. Mitford Burgess; Guarder, E. J. Guiness; Steward, S. V. Wilson.

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ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND.

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The following officers were appointed for the ensuing year at the annual meeting of the Provincial Grand

Lodge of the Royal Order of Scotland, which was held at the Masonic Temple, Wellington, on the 26th

November:—Prov. Grand Master, Col. G. Barclay; Depute P.G.M., W. H. Hewitt; G.S.W., Major H. Jolly;

G.J.W., Dr. A. T. Begg; Sec., J. R. Dreaver; Treas., J. A. Sparrow; Chap., J. W. Darby; Sw.B., E. McDonald;

Depute Sw.B., G. J. Reed; Banner-B.. C. E. Cumpsty; Depute Ban.B., J. C. Christoffell; Mareschal, J. Olds;

Depute Mareschal, A. W. Jones; Introducer and Examiner, V. C. H. Rickard; Depute Examiner, A. W.

Oxley; Warder of the Tower, A. Digby Smith; Director of Music, G. H. C. Green; Guarder, W. B. Hardy;

Depute Guarder, A. L. Waterhouse; Stewards, W. J. Simmonds, W. A. Harlow, M. Ashton, J. Armstead;

Committee, A. R. Harrison, R. S. Jack, V. R. Anderson, F. J. Williams; Auditor, A. W. Oxley.

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ROSE CROIX INSTALLATION.

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Wellesley Rose Croix Chapter, No. 303, held its Installation meeting on 10th December. E. and P. Bro.

Audry Basil Croker was enthroned M.W.S. by V. Ill. Bro. Herbert G. Teagle, 33°, Grand Inspector-General

for this Division, assisted by many other Ill. Brethren. The newly-installed .M.W.S. addressed the gathering

on historical events respecting personalities associated with this degree, his remark's proving interesting and

instructive.