ON FIRST TAKING OFFICE
For a considerable time the satisfaction of being a

member of a community one has only recently joined is

all that one needs from belonging to it, but the time

comes when one is prepared to consider taking a less

passive part in whatever forms the activity of the

undertaking.

A great part of Freemasonry consists of ritual

observance, and this is not simply formalism but

reliance upon allegory and illustration, making use of

the best means of inculcating lessons so that they will

not easily be forgotten.

The working of a degree in a Masonic lodge is like the

staging of a play: it is a dramatic performance in which

each participant has his allotted work, in which timing

is important, and sometimes lighting, in which there is

an element of surprise and in which one plays before

the critical eyes of one's friends. The performances are

carefully rehearsed, and there is a certain elation which

comes very early during the evening of a successful

working: one quickly identifies the occasions on which

the whole team is in form, and working as a trained and

competent caste to drive firmly home the lesson of the

performance. To the candidate on such an occasion, the

gift of the lodge is an experience which it would be

difficult ever to forget.

In a sense every man present takes part in the rite, just

as in an act of worship a congregation will join the

priest or holy man who leads it. But some must be

chosen to help the principal actor, and on the

effectiveness of their discharge of their duties will

depend the judgment of those who will have to choose

from among the actors those most worthy of still

further preferment.

Most Masonic rituals preface nearly every speech or

charge with the direction "W.M.", indicating that the

Worshipful Master is the speaker: in some

constitutions, indeed, the work is in fact confined

almost entirely to the Master, or to the Master with a

little help from one or two Past Masters: the lodge is

opened and closed by the full team of officers, but the

degree is worked entirely from the East. More

familiarly in New Zealand the letters "W.M." in the

ritual are taken to suggest that this is Master's work

which the Master may delegate, and much of it is in

fact entrusted to Brethren who are not Past Masters, not

even Officers of the lodge.

This we conceive to be a healthy and useful practice,

and most elderly Freemasons have watched the

progress of more than one shy young man through

initial hesitation and stumbling to confident and

capable delivery of the magnificent words of the ritual.

The ritual can take a great deal of inexpert bashing and

manhandling without losing the whole of its force and

impact. but when it is dealt with by a Brother who

appreciates its beauty and its meaning, one who has

equipped himself by perseverance to play his part

creditably and sympathetically, it seems to become

invested with added power and meaning. What in fact

is happening is that the Brother who is presenting the

words is doing so in such a way as to make us all grasp

not only their meaning but their beauty. Different men

accord emphasis to different parts of the ritual—even

after many years it is possible to learn something new

from each successive working.

Before being formally invited to accept office, or to

accept nomination for office, it is probable that the new

Brother will have been asked to undertake some small

part of the work: or he may have been asked to

accompany the Stewards to the refectory. In either case

he has been asked to act as one of the team: he has

gone one step forward from his simple membership: he

has been assigned a particular duty.

Whatever sign of confidence has been made to him,

whatever small piece of practice has been entrusted to

him, it will be a prelude to his first office.

In New Zealand we are not bound by "the line", as

lodges and particularly grand lodges sometimes are

abroad, but it is a fact that once a Brother's name

figures on the list of officers there is every chance, if he

stands regularly and does his work with conviction, that

he will proceed through the offices until in time he is

installed into the Chair of K.S. There is nothing

automatic about it, in every lodge elections or

selections are made every year. Sometimes a Brother

will fall out of line to become Chaplain, Treasurer,

Secretary or Almoner and stay some years in that

office. sometimes he will never return to the line. More

often his progress will not be interrupted, acid the

"side" offices will be filled by Brethren who have

already been through the Chair or have no aspiration to

it.

In these circumstances there rests a great

responsibility—on the Master, in prerogative lodges, on

the Standing Committee and the full membership of the

lodge in lodges which elect their officers to make sure

that every nominee from the bottom up has the

potential which will enable him in due course with

truth and a clear conscience to claim to be able and

willing to undertake the management of the work: a

worthy Freemason capable of becoming a worthy

Master.

It is much easier not to select an unsuitable man at all

than to select him, wait until he has served several

offices to the best of his ability, and then find that in all

conscience he cannot be preferred any further. This

happens very seldom, and when it does, unless the

Brother has suffered a character deterioration, it is the

fault and the responsibility of the lodge: and in

consecquence it will have to disappoint a Brother by

denying him not what is his by right, but what is almost

within his grasp and likely to become his unless there is

some very unusual circumstance, such as something

wrong with himself. It is not a joyful experience to be

dropped from the line, and it can strain the loyalty of

the unfortunate Brother.

What he is given or denied is of course the highest gift

the lodge can confer upon him: a new collar and jewel,

the style of Worshipful, authority to rule and direct his

lodge. If he can see no further he is not a fit and proper

person to occupy the Master's Chair. It is the

opportunity for service which is important. Most

Masters see this very clearly: the development

sometimes of a perfectly ordinary and undistinguished

Freemason into a notable and outstanding servant of the

Craft and much more effective citizen can often be seen

to begin at the point when he is installed as Master: this

is the point at which his real attitude towards the Craft

most often stands revealed.

It is a great tribute not only to the selection techniques

and the safeguards the Craft provides against hasty or

unworthy admissions that so many men stand up to this

test. We have many lodges, and very few of them ever

seem to have bad or unworthy Masters. Some Masters.

certainly, a year or so after going through the Chair,

begin to drop away: sometimes their interest has not

really been caught; sometimes their imagination is not

equal to repetition without experiencing boredom;

sometimes advancing years or other preoccupations are

the cause. It is a pity when a man cuts himself

altogether adrift from the practice of Freemasonry at

this stage of his career, but something may usually be

found to have been salvaged. The observance may be

infrequent, but the man who can call himself Worship-

ful Brother has usually acquired standards of

responsibility and of fair dealing beyond those to which

he might otherwise have attained, and it is most

unlikely that these will ever leave him.

—————————————————————

CHANGE OF ADDRESS
Journals bearing the following addresses have been

returned to this office marked, "Gone, No Address".

Should any Lodge Secretary or Brother know the

present address of any of these Brethren, we would be

pleased to receive their advice.

M. J. Andrew, 42 Grampian Rd., Christchurch 5.

A. T. Barry, Mt Brigs, Feilding.

R. A. Bassett, P.O. Box 83, Howick.

C. J. R. Bishop, Box 809, Christchurch.

Jelin Begbie, 6 Browning St., Tokoroa.

R. M. Drummond, 155 Peel St., Westport.

J. F. Hinchcliff, 386 Hardy St., Nelson.

I. J. Greener, 5 Mokoia Drive, Tihi-o-tonga, Rotorua.

T. M. Jamieson, Newberry, R.D., Palmerston North.

S. T. Morris, 16 McKenzie Rd., Rotorua.

P. R. Shaw, 11 Stirling St., Wellington 2.

V. G. M. Penny, Box 12, Middlemarch.

B. C. Willson, Box 7153, Wellington South.

Geoffrey L. Kay, No. 2 R.D., Parawera, Te Awamutu.

R. T. Mitchell, No. 1, R.D. Wyndham.

W. E. Ruff, 39 Cornwall Park Ave.. Epsom, Auckland.

E. Fleming, 207 Riverside Drive, Lower Hutt.

G. A. Lindsay, 18 Melrose Pl., Tokoroa.

R. McGregor. 22 Lydia Ave., Northcote.

W. Morrow, Box 44, Ranfurly.

P. H. Tomlins, c/o Box 489, Hastings.

J. C. Bishop, 104a Hackthorne Rd., Christchurch 2.

H. K. Johnson, 6 Massey Ave., Lower Hutt.

Natural History In Our Ritual
By R.E. Comp. G. W. SOAL, G.Lec.

ADDRESS TO ASHLEY R.A. CHAPTER, RANGIORA

I suppose all of us, at some time or other, have

experienced that peculiar phenomenon of "arrested

attention" which makes a particular phrase stand out,

perhaps above its merit, so that the mind, for the time

being at least, fails to grasp the surrounding context.

All else is blurred and indistinct, like the rest of an

abstract painting round one small but sharply defined

and recognisable feature. Fortunately for us, the full

meaning of a ritual passage is usually restored in a

subsequent hearing; but sometimes the mental picture

induced by the phrase remains so vividly in the mind

that it can only be exorcised by4nalysis and study—a

process that in itself may be rewarding.

One such phrase for me is in the lecture of the

Excellent Degree, where it is explained that the colours

of the veils typically represent the elements, the second
veil being "purple of the sea as tinged by the blood of

murex". When

I first heard this I knew nothing of murex, but the

poetic imagery of the phrase arrested my attention to

the partial loss of its context, as I have described. Even

later, when I found that murex was a species of shell-

fish, I still found it puzzling and almost paradoxical.

When one considers the immensity of the sea, even of

an enclosed part of it like the Eastern Mediterranean, in

comparison with the little murex, the imagination

boggles at the thought of the countless millions of

murex needed to tinge that sea a purple colour. Yet, and

this is part of the paradox, though cool

reason seemed to prove it impossible, the picture

remained and I felt obliged to find out what- I could

about this little shellfish that tinged the sea purple.

The murex, or rock-shells, form a small, branch of the

great family of gastropods, the most numerous of all

kinds of molluscs, including snails, whelks and

periwinkles. Like most grastropods, the murex shell is

in one piece, spirally wound, and is asymetrical, i.e.,

the opposite sides of the body are not similar. These

lop-sided shellfish are usually more or less spirally

ribbed, the ribs in some being prolonged into long

spines or frills. Many gastropods have eyes at the tips

of the tentacles, but in murex they are midway along

them. They are carnivorous, killing and eating their

prey (usually other shellfish) by boring through the

shell with their rasp-like tongues. Some murex species

are said to be among the most beautiful of all

gastropods, but the two Mediterranean species we are

now concerned with (M. brandaris and M. trunculus)

"have no special beauty to attract the eye, yet they have

a history full of interest". Both have rather irregular,

craggy spiral shells, the larger, brandaris, having long

spines on its ribs. It may grow to a maximum length of

4 in., while trunculus, up to 31/4 in. long, has brown

bands and very short spines. Both, in ancient times,

were very plentiful in the sea near Tyre where they

were gathered to provide the famed Tyrian Purple with

which the robes of Roman Emperors were dyed.

Incidentally, a dye can also be extracted from the native

British dog whelk, and some authorities state that a

close relative of the dog whelk (purpura haemostoma)

was used in conjunction with the two murex for the

imperial purple, while others do not mention it. From

murex a dark blue colour was obtained, and from

purpura a tint approaching scarlet. Of course, any artist

knows that purple can be made by mixing blue and red,

but I like to think that the use of the pigments from

murex and purpura is a literal confirmation of the ritual

wording that purple is the union of blue and scarlet.

As each mollusc yielded but a drop or two of colouring

matter, the process of pounding the shells and

preparing the dye was long and tedious, and this was

the cause of the extravagant price of the Tyrian purple

wool and cloth. It is of incidental interest to note that

the dye came from the shell and not the blood, so that

our ritual phrase is a figure of speech rather than

scientific fact.

The ancient Phoenician city of Tyre was of course the

city-state of King Hiram, the friend and ally of King

Solomon; and the home also of that other Hiram whom

we call Hiram Abif, who was the son of the widow of

Naphthali, described in my Bible dictionary as an

"architect-artisan-artist and worker in bronze, who was

skilful in dyeing and weaving the purple material

Solomon desired for the veil of his Temple". Truly a

man of many parts.

Built first upon the mainland, halfway between Beirut

and Tel Aviv and later for safety's sake extended to two

small islands a quarter-mile off shore, ancient Tyre was

for a long period one of the busiest and most

prosperous seaports in the Near East, and the riches

brought to it by the far-famed purple are mentioned by

Strabo, the Greek historian, centuries later. The secret

of the famous dye has long been lost, and was probably

already lost when Strabo wrote, about the beginning of

the Christian era. Tyre no longer exports the blue and

purple wares referred to in Ezekiel, though in quite

recent times the rock-hewn crushing basin filled with

the breccia of broken murex shells could still be traced

upon the Tyrian shores.

For 700 and more years from the time of Solomon and

Hiram, Tyre enjoyed its pre-eminence as a trading port

and "the island of the Princes of the Sun". Its success

was Red was obtained from the ground dried roots of

various species of madder native to the Levant. These

dyes were in ancient times and for centuries later

marketed in powder form, but are today almost entirely

replaced by synthetics.

The hangings of the Temple were of finest twined

linen, as are actually or symbolically those of our

chapters. Linen is, of course, made from flax, the oldest

known textile fibre. Flax (linum) has been grown in the

Nile valley from ancient times and Egypt is credited

with producing the finest linen, but the hot, low areas

of Palestine, such as the Jordan Plain near Jericho

where Rahab dried flax "in order" on

her roof top, grew it under conditions similar to those

in Egypt, and the Hebrews developed great skill at the

linen looms, even exporting linen to Egypt for loin

cloths. The flax stalks were pulled, separated from the

seed capsules, bundled, retted, exposed to the sun and

covered with water for 10 days to bleach and soften. A

wooden mallet was used to separate the fibres from the

woody part, and they were then drawn into thread with

a comb. This process has remained virtually unchanged

for thousands of years and even in machine-made linen

today the principle is the same. Excavations have

unearthed parts of looms that were used about 4000

B.C. Linen was durable enough for the sails of Tyrian

ships, soft enough for bedding and fine enough for

priestly vestments. It was used for embalming the

Egyptian dead, and we all know that when Peter looked

into the empty tomb on Easter morning he saw the

linen clothes lying. The white veil, we are told, is, from

its colour, emblematic of purity and innocence, but

there seems to be a connection between linen itself and

the virtue of purity for mixtures of wool and linen were

forbidden for priestly vestments. (Lev.)

Amicable relations between Tyre and Israel did not

long outlive Solomon and Hiram. After the division of

Solomon's empire between his son Rehoboam as King

of Judah and Jeroboam as King of Israel there was

frequent friction between Tyre and the latter, and this

continued for hundreds of years. From Amos (about

140 years after Solomon) onwards, most of the

prophets united in denouncing Tyre for its materialism

and profligacy, Joel, some 400 years later still

including in his censure its trade in Jewish slaves with

the Grecians. About 200 years after Solomon, Isaiah

foretold the miserable overthrow of what was formerly

a "joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days . . .

the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose

traffickers are the honourable of the earth", and

Ezekiel, who described its former wealth and

fascination in colours as vivid as its own brilliant dyes,

lamented its former glory and prophesied its

irrecoverable fall when all of Tyre "shall fall into the

midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin". Thus it was,

but Tyre, as a town of some importance, did linger on

into the Christian era, fell to the Arabs in 623 A.D.,

was captured and made for a time a stronghold by the

Crusaders, only to fall again to the Arabs in 1291.

But I must leave this digression into political history,

with its moral of the corrupting effects of too great

wealth, and return to natural history in which my study

of murex led me. In Tyre, as in other parts of the

ancient world, dyes were obtained from other sources

than shellfish. Of the two other colours we are most

concerned with, blue dye was made from the plant

Indigofera tinctoria. It is a fairly common shrub in

Eastern lands, a legume with leaves, flowers and pods

very like the common vetch, and the dye was obtained

by steeping and crushing freshly cut plants in water and

precipitating and drying the extract founded upon its

sea-going ships and sailors, its sure commercial

acumen, and the manufacture of a few highly-prized

products—dyes, glassware and metalwork. It

established trading colonies in Sicily, Sardinia, Spain

and Africa (including Carthage, later to be the great

rival of Rome), and even sent fleets to trade as far as

India and Britain.

Never a strong military state, it yet resisted many sieges

by invading nations, including the Assyrians under

Sargon and later under his son Sennacherib, and one of

12 years by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar.

When its hinterland fell to the conquerors, Tyre with its

shrewd business sense, negotiated terms with them,

yielding sovereignty but retaining its trading privileges.

Eventually it fell to the superior generalship and

engineering skill of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.

and thereafter, though it was a long time dying, never

regained its former glory. Alexander, building a mole

from mainland to island, took the fortress by direct

assault. The mole accelerated the accumulation of

drifting sands, the port gradually silted up, and the

glory of Tyre was no more.

—————————————————

Freemasons In The Space Age
How many times over recent years have we heard the

now well known sequence from Cape Kennedy Space

Centre?

Power sequence transfer complete. All systems go.

Guidance is internal. Twelve, 11, 10, 9. Ignition

sequence starts. Six, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero. All engines

running. Lift off. We have a lift off. Tower cleared,

Pitch and roll at proper heading. We are down range.

Later travelling at 25,000 m.p.h. to hurl out of earth

orbit and maybe toward another voyage to the moon.

A little over 11 years ago the National Aeronautic and

Space Administration, known to the world as N.A.S.A,,

at the 1,000-acre Manned Space Centre in Houston,

Texas, chose seven astronauts for operation Gemini.

This was to provide Eb2ientists and engineers with

information required to land man on the moon, so space

and the planets surrounding us could no longer be

ignored.

The goal became a reality when Apollo XI on 20 July

1969 landed two men, including a Freemason, on the

face of this pock-marked lunar surface. Man had

broken his bonds and had landed on another world

nearly a quarter of a million miles from his mother

earth and loved ones. Never before had man travelled

so far, so fast. Never before had so many millions

listened and watched, their imaginations stretched as

they spoke across the emptiness of space.

Ten men among the men who had travelled in space

have Masonic backgrounds, of some of these men, a

pen portrait in miniature. The men we associate with

being responsible for these feats. The men w ho

required skill, courage and endurance.

The first astronaut to be acknowledged is Brother

Gordon Cooper, who was the second man to make an

orbital flight. He was awarded the N.A.S.A.

Exceptional Service Medal. He joined Lodge

Carbondale, No. 82, in his home state of Colorado,

when he went to Texas he joined the Clear Lake Lodge,

No. 1270, as well as Indian River Chapter, No. 27 and

also the Chapter at the Air Force base at Patrick in

Florida.

Of his 22-orbit mission he carried two tow flags—one

of these flags was presented to his mother lodge and

the other was exhibited during the New York World's

Fair.

The late Brother Virgil Grisson, known to his friends as

"Gus", unfortunately lost his life with two other

astronauts during a simulated count-down at Cape

Kennedy during January 1967. He was one of the

"original seven" and commander of a three-orbit

mission of March 1965. He was known for his wit, but

possessed great courage and ability. He was a member

of Mitchell Lodge, No. 228, in Indiana. Cape Canaveral

Chapter, No. 366, and a member of Knights Templar.

Brother Donn Eisle was selected as an astronaut in

October 1963. He joined a lodge in his home town of

Columbus, Ohio, No. 732, Luther B. Turner. When he

went to Texas he joined the Cape Canaveral Chapter,

No. 366. I believe he has been chosen to be crew

member with Commander Alan Shepherd of Apollo

XIV during 1971.

Made a Master Mason on sight by the Grand Master of

Florida Bro. Walter Schirra occupied the command

pilot seat of the history making Gemini VI which made

a space rendezvous with Gemini VII. He is a member

of the Canaveral Lodge, No. 339, and a member of the

same Chapter as the late Bro. Grisson. He carried

several Masonic items with him on his later Apollo VII

flight, among them were two 12 x 15 in. flags, one of

these was presented to the Scottish Rite Museum in

Washington.

The Freemason who paved the way for future moon

flights, Brother Thomas Stafford, the Commander of

Apollo X which orbited the moon during May 1969,

was also crew member with Bro. Schirra in the Gemini

VI flight. He is a member of the Western Star Lodge,

No. 138, in his home town of Weatherford in the State

of Oklahoma and commander of Apollo XIII that

nearly met disaster.

Last, but certainly not the least important is Brother

Edwin Aldrin the man who, with two others left Cape

Kennedy Pad 39A in the giant 363 test Saturn 5 on the

197-hour journey to the moon and back, the man who

helped to guide Neil Armstrong over the boulder-filled

craters to a gentle sitdown in the dust of the Sea of

Tranquility. The $24 billion project had worked for

these men of courage. He has been a Freemason for

some years, and as late as October 1969 was awarded

the Knight Templar Cross of Honour. Some say that he

left some items of Masonic character on the moon.

This was the bold onset of a programme of Space

Flight that will extend through to the many generations

of man. Many men, and no doubt Freemasons, will

follow the trail that these and other astronauts have

blazed. We are looking forward to the days when we

will be manning great space stations in earth orbit,

exploring the surface of the moon, and in the more

distant future, blazing new trails out to the mysterious

solar system.

—J. A. T. CRAIGIE, P.M., Lodge Karioi, No. 165.

Stained Glass Was Product of

Gothic Architecture
In these days of speed, when what we have clocked up

on the day's run seems to matter more than what we

have seen, do we ever consider what we may have

missed. To the tourist, be he the day tourist or the

tourist from overseas, the cathedrals and churches of

England are more often than not included in the list of

things to be seen. It is not until one reads the following

extracts of a long article which some time ago appeared

in The Victorian Craftsman under the name of Bro.

Oliver Hoyem—that it is realised what can be missed

when visiting a cathedral. The history of stained glass

must be a fascinating one; an art, however, much too

slow and exacting for the majority in this age of getting

nowhere at high speed.

A rainbow can make one breathless with emotion. A

rose window has made men incoherent with

enthusiasm. Colour, the essence of both, is the joyous

gift of God to his children, the stained-glass windows

of the soul; a cathedral without stained glass would be

depressing as a world without colour.

The making of stained-glass windows belongs wholly

to the Christian era. The art was particularly identified

with the Middle Ages and it practically began with

Gothic architecture. The demand for gorgeous windows

was, in fact, one reason for the development of Gothic

architecture. To get away from the narrow lancet

windows necessitated by the massive walls of the

Romanesque style the operative masons transferred the

thrust of the stone vaulting to buttresses outside the

walls. Thus relieved the walls could be opened up for

large windows through which a flood of light bathed

the interior in a radiant glow.

So wholeheartedly did the cathedral builders grasp

their opportunity of fitting these window spaces with

jewelled creations that men have never been able to

surpass them in beauty. Some contend that parts of the

art have been lost for ever. So perfectly were the

windows wrought that they have withstood the tests of

time, the fury of the Puritan, and the sinister energies of

19th century restorers.

Stained-glass windows are designed by churches of

practically every communion. Nobody contends that

they savour of popery, although that is the common

objection to wall paintings in churches. Masonic lodges

in the United States have adopted stained-glass

windows to increase the beauty of their lodge rooms,

but one must go to the cathedral for the true setting.

Stained-glass windows were indeed a divine inspiration

of the masons and builders of the Middle Ages.

Before the Gothic Era

What drear places, how lacking in joyousness, were the

interiors of the temples erected to God before the

Gothic era. Many ancient people worshipped outside

the temples in courtyards. Colonnaded areas were

reserved for the assemblies. Only the elect entered the

sanctum sanctorum. Man's natural love of colour led

him to lavish pigmentation upon the stone exteriors.

The gilt on Solomon's Temple is said to have reflected

the sunlight in a glorious flash of colour. The beauty of

the Parthenon lay in its exterior. The interiors of the

temples, usually more cells for the storage of some

shrine or figure, were secondary to the exterior in

expressive beauty. Not so with the Gothic.

Before the Gothic era, windows had not developed

much beyond the smoke-holes of the first mud huts. In

practically all the ancient temples the light for the

interior came only from the doorways. The Egyptian,

the Assyrian, the Indian, and the Chinese architectures

were alike in this respect. Some provided other

openings for light and air. The classic Greek and

Roman temples were generally without windows.

Lincoln's Memorial in Washington illustrates the

classic method of lighting the interior.

Ecclesiastical Jewel

Glass was used in windows in the Byzantine and Ro-

manesque churches, but the possibilities of stained

glass were not realised until the Middle Ages when

Gothic provided an appropriate setting for this

ecclesiastical jewel. Then the northern countries made

it a feature of their cathedrals; the glaring sunlight of

Italy and other countries made it advisable to dim the

interior light. Thin slabs of white alabaster were often

preferred to the brilliant glass.

Stained-glass windows must serve a variety of

purposes. First, they must provided lighting for the

interior. Then the colours must be so blended that a

fitting emotional reaction is produced. Finally, they

must tell a story of religion in a religious as well as in

an artistic manner. In all their purposes they must be

subordinated to the architecture itself.

Middle Ages Secrets

Interior lighting in a Gothic cathedral is produced by a

series of windows, the largest of which are the rose

windows, the clerestory windows, the apse windows,

and the outer aisle windows. "Let there be light" was

the cry of the operative masons who created Gothic

architecture.

The blending colours seem to be as much a matter of

intuition as of scientific knowledge. Years of

experience taught the workers of the Middle Ages

secrets that still evade modern glass-workers. However,

certain fundamental principles have been recognised.

For instance, a good window must have at least twenty-

five per cent of blue glass. Blues, reds and violets must

predominate in the higher w indows. Yellows and

greens can properly be stressed in the lower windows.

Blues must predominate because of their greater

radiating power. It is this luminous colour which gives

value to all others. There may be one red, two yellows,

two or three purples, and two or three greens, but there

are infinite shades of blue, and these blues are placed

with a very delicate observation of the effects they

should produce on other tones, and other tones on

them. Only when one grasps the vital importance of the

blue in a stained-glass window can one appreciate the

despair of modern glass-makers at reproducing the

unfathomable vibrant blue in the background of 12th

century windows. Tradition accounts for the failure to

imitate it with the popular fancy that Abbot Suger of

the Saint Denis School of Glassmakers ground down

sapphires to obtain his magic colour.

Faith in Religion

In telling the story of Christianity, the glassmaker of

the Middle Ages gave the windows a symbolic

treatment in such, infinite detail that one can only

marvel at the patience of the builders. Such work

required faith in religion. A pagan touch would have

manifested itself as distinctly then as it does today in

much glasswork produced by workmen who obviously

are not sympathetic towards the religious symbolisms

and church-spirit which they are paid to transfer to

glass.

In speaking of stained glass it is essential to know that

there are two opposite ways of arriving at the same

result. Glass-staining and glass-painting are two quite

different things. One method is to build up a mosaic

with pieces of coloured glass, each separate tint cut out

of a separate piece of "pot-metal". The other method is

to paint the design upon white or coloured glass. The

two processes are usually grouped under one title

because from the very early days the two were used

together. The very first windows were in all probability

mosaics of unpainted glass.

The schools of glassmaking of the 13th century were

the schools of Saint Denis, Chartres and Paris. The

Saint Denis craftsmen of Abbot Suger influenced the

windows in Poitiers, Angers, Le Mans and Vendome,

in France, and the Tree of Jesse window in York

Minster, in England. Rouen was an active centre for

glassmaking in the 14th century, making windows for

Exeter and Gloucester Cathedrals, and Merton College,

Oxford. Next to Troyes, Rouen contained the richest

collection of coloured glass in France. Other schools of

glass-making developed around other famous

cathedrals. Many years were required to work out all

the designs. Many rich patrons were required but many

were found only too delighted to patronise such a

beautiful form.

Toiled like a Jeweller

The artist of the Middle Ages toiled like a jeweller

setting diamonds and rulties to increase the splendour

of the coloured glass he used. His rose windows were a

delirium of coloured light, a cluster of jewels. Close

inspection reveals many crudities in design, but to

change them would produce a less brilliant effect. The

colourist sacrificed detail of drawing to colour. As long

as he got harmony it mattered little whether a green

camel or a pink lion looked like a dog or a monkey.

The generally accepted ideal today, after centuries of

experiment, is not a pretty picture made transparent but

a window made beautiful.

Among the more famous rose windows of Europe are

those of Notre Dame, Chartres and Lincoln. The rose

windows are really Romanesque in origin, with this

exception—the typically Gothic window is pointed.

But in this case, as in a few others, the absolute

architectural consistency which would have resulted

from the pointed arch alone was sacrificed to retain the

beauty of the rose.

The east window in Gloucester Cathedral is said to be

the largest in the world.

The Editor,

The "Craftsman". Dear Sir,

Although it is unlikely that your journal would be read

by many of those directly concerned with the subject of

this communication, I feel that the matter is one that

deserves attention by all who have the welfare of the

Craft at heart and that something should be done by

Lodges and particularly by Lodge Secretaries.

While using my machine to address envelopes for

notices for four lodges, I have found that almost 40

percent of the addresses are those of members who now

reside beyond the length of their cable tow.

Except perhaps at installations or when an old friend is

being admitted or being installed the Lodges seldom

see their long departed members. My own Lodge urges

departing members to join a Lodge in their new locality

and we notify the Lodge concerned of the arrival of our

member, but it is a long time since we were notified of

the arrival of a Mason in our area. Both of these

practices should be more widely adopted for there is

undoubtedly a vast number of unattached brethren and

of Masons who seldom, if ever, return to attend their

own Lodge. Some few have affiliated with Lodges in

their new districts and retained membership of their

former Lodge, but the great majority of those who

move away from our district and continue to pay dues

to us do not affiliate and their only connection with

Masonry is that they are continuing to pay dues. Since

we commenced to show "Suggested Voluntary

Donation to Benevolent Fund, $4" as part of the total,

most members have made this optional payment.

I am wondering if you, or some other capable writer,

would prepare an appeal to these non-attending

members to revive their interest in the Craft. Perhaps

reprints of the article could be made available to Lodge

secretaries for inclusion with the notices of distant

members.

Perhaps some Lodges may be quite happy to continue

to receive the dues of departed members whose only

call on Lodge funds is the cost of Grand Lodge dues,

notices and postage, but if the Lodge's by-laws

prescribe a low Country Members' fee the amount of

Grand Lodge dues, the levies for charitable purposes

and the standing charges may make the country

members a liability on the Lodge's funds. In such cases

the country members' low rate should be abolished or

only prevail in the case of dual membership. Lodges

are now so numerous and so close together that only in

rare cases is there justification for a country member's

fee. Joining fees should be a very small sum and

continued efforts should be made to restore the active

interest of departed members.

Yours fraternally,

W. P. WYLDE.

What about urging those Lodges which have a Post

Office box to show it in their advertisements so that

notices can be addressed to the Secretary, so-and-so

Lodge, P.O. Box , and thus save the cost of a new

addressograph plate with each change of secretary.

—W.P.W.

Reverence for Life . . . does not allow the scholar to

live for his science alone, even if he is very useful to

the community in so doing. It does not permit the artist

to exist only for his art, even if he gives inspiration to

many by its means. It refuses to let the business man

imagine that he fulfills all legitimate demands in the

course of his business activities. It demands from all

that they should sacrifice a portion of their own lives

for others. —Albert Schweitzer

AUCKLAND

IN MEMORIAM

W. BRO. W. M. DUNCAN, P.G.D.

A well known and devoted Freemason in the person of

W. Bro. William Duncan, P.G.D., passed on to higher

service on 10 December 1970. He was a son of the late

V.W. Bro. David Duncan, P.G. Treasurer, who was

First Grand Principal of the Supreme Grand Royal

Arch Chapter of New Zealand at the time of his death

in 1940, and was initiated in Lodge Ararangi, No. 297,

on 27 May 1935. He was installed as Master in 1944,

elected as a Grand Steward in 1954 and as Senior
Grand Deacon in 1959.

Rt. Ex. Comp. Duncan was exalted in the Ara R.A.

Chapter, No. 53, in 1936, and installed as First

Principal In 1947. He was elected G.Swd. Bearer in

1959, and G. Treasurer in 1967. He received the Ark

Mariner and Red Cross of Babylon degrees in 1936,

and the chair ranks of M.E.C. in 1947 and Commander

Noah in 1950. He took the Cryptic degrees in Ara

Council at its third meeting on 23 September 1936 and

was installed as its T.I.M. in 1952.

Ill. Bro. Duncan received the Rose Croix degree in

Auckland Chapter, No. 266, in 1938, and was M.W.S.

in 1952.

He was Recorder of that Chapter for several years up to

the time of his death. He was promoted to the 30th

degree in 1955, and to the 31st, a rank which his father

also held, in 1964.

Bro. Frater Duncan was installed as a Knight Templar

in Southern Cross Preceptory in 1939, and was

installed as Preceptor in 1946. He was a Founder of the

Preceptory of Burns in 1946. He was elected District G.

Bearer of the Vexillum Belli in the old District of New

Zealand in 1953, and in the District of New Zealand

North as D.G. Chancellor in 1956, and D.G. Mareschal

in 1959, and was commissioned as D.G. Constable in

1964, and D.G. Sub-Prior in 1970. In the Great Priory

of Scotland he was honoured with the rank of Honorary

Grand Provost in 1965.

Ill. Bro. Duncan was admitted to the Order of Knight

Templar Priests in Auckland Tabernacle, No. 12, in

1945, and was installed as High Priest in 1959, and

promoted to the rank of P. Grand V. Pillar in the Grand

College of England in 1962.

He was admitted to the Order of the Red Cross of

Constantine in the Auckland Conclave, No. 187, in

1948, was installed as M.P.S. in 1958, and appointed to

the rank of P.G. Examiner in the Grand Imperial

Conclave of England in 1966.

The very large gathering at his funeral service in St.

David's Presbyterian Church included many Grand

Lodge Officers and other brethren of the various

Masonic Orders to which he has belonged.—A.B.

g g g

HAWKE'S BAY

BEDFORD LODGE, No. 25, UNIQUE

CEREMONY

At the December regular meeting of the Lodge, a

unique initiation ceremony was carried out. Wor. Bro.

D. Wilson (a long standing member of Grand Lodge)

obligated his grandson, Bro. Michael Wilson, so we

now have three generations of the one family in the

Lodge at the same time. Most of the work was carried

out by Past Masters of the Lodge, except that the

candidate's father, Bro. Bill Wilson, acted as I.G. and

the final charge was given by R. Wor. Bro. S. I. Jones

(P.G.J.W.) and an old friend of the family.

It was the largest gathering of the Brethren in the

Lodge for many years (with the exception of

Installations) and visitors attended from Woodville to

Napier, with a large number of Brethren from the

Services Lodge of Hawke's Bay of which Bro. Bill

Wilson is now a member. Needless to say, proceedings

in the refectory were of a very friendly nature, as Wor.

Bro. Davey Wilson is one of the most friendly and

highly thought of Brethren in the Lodge.

In proposing the toast to the candidate, Wor. Bre. D.

Hyde spoke of the very high standing of the Wilson

family in and outside the Lodge, and deplored the fact

that not more of the candidate's youth and calibre were

coming forward to join the Craft. As a Past G.M. (Most

Wor. Bro. Redwood) remarked in Rawhiti Lodge

(Dannevirke) not long ago, "next to the Church,

Freemasonry is the greatest institution in the world".

Long, long, may it remain so.—E.C.E.

g g g