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^ ffin ^ MHK ILLUSTRATED .

1900.

1900 .

'PHE Old Year is now rapidl y drawing to its close , and it I may not be amiss to pass under review , very briellv , the progress—and the circumstances affecting that progress—of the great body to which we belong . The increase in the number of lodges is not proportionate

with that of last year , and for this , the far reaching influences and many claims of the South African war may be , in some measure , responsible . Yet the progress made has been bv no means contemptible . Taking for our guidance the " Freemasons' Pocket Book and Calendar , " it would seem that

whilst as stated in the issue for rooo , there warn 2 , 34 8 lodges , there are now 2 , 371 , after deducting the 22 lodges which formed the Grand Lodge of New Zealand , recently constituted , showing that , without counting those under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand , there is an

increase of 23 lodges . In Royal Arch Masonrv 13 new-Chapters have been added since the total given in the 1900 edition of the "Calendar , " the number having been increased from 8 3 6 to 8 49 .

It is with Masonrv as with individuals . If we are able , at the close of the year , to view some events and the progress of our affairs with feelings of satisfaction , the efflux of time brings with it memories of those who no longer cheer us with their presence , and each year is marked by the passing

awav of friends and acquaintances , and of many whose good work is known to us , although they may not have come our wav in the broad walks of life . Even in the , as yet , brief career of "THE MASONIC ILLUSTRATED , " we have had sad occasion to record the death of many good brothers , and

elsewhere in this number allusion is made to the recent decease of Bros , the late Sir ARTHUR SULLIVAN , Sir ALFRED BEVAN , and HENRY RUSSELL . It would serve 110 useful purpose to recount the names of those who have fallen out of our ranks during the twelve months which are past , of whom it may truly be said , without indulging

in the language of hyperbole , that many of them have left us the recollection of excellent example , whilst the eddying circles of their happy benevolence have not vet died awav . Some of them have at least inscribed a sentence or two in the pages of history , and of others it is not less true that they have left a gap which is not quickly closed up ,

and whilst their passing over to the country which we shall all have to visit has at least brought forth the tribute of many a sigh of regret , there is nothing morbid in making use of the reflections which the passing hence of some brother may call forth in the mind .

It is the aim and purpose of every good Mason to see to it that his house is built on the sure foundation of faith in the Architect of the Universe and in showing forth the fruit of good works , and although we hope that it is in all of us to do something to aid the happiness to each and all at the great Christmas festival , we shall find in our deeper

reflections no little aid to that good work which shall enable us to help in erecting an edilice of that kind that they do not labour in vain who build it . In brief , it is an ill-will which cannot bear to look upon and sympathise with the sorrows of others , or which banishes

all thought of the past or the future in the cares of the present , and it is correlatively true that it is a poor philosophy which is not fortified against a loss , however keen , which time will assuage , and who can find for themselves no consolation . " 'Tis well to die if there be gods , and sad to

live if there be none " was not the least of the sayings of MARCUS AURELIUS , and soothed and sustained by an unfaltering trust , there is yet much good work to be done , wherein we can be laudably emulative ol the good examples of the brothers who have gone before us .

In alluding to the possible effect that the war has had upon the progress of our great Order , we have had occasion more than once—and some more detailed references of the kind will be found in this issue—to refer to the brighter aspect of the influence which the Fraternity has had on the war . There have been many illuminating incidents wherein

the bond of Brotherhood has been recognised , and there are some of us who , even amidst jeering references to the milenniuin , are wont to look forward with an imaginative eye to the time—however far ahead that time may be—when every citizen of all countries will so far regard the world as

his parish that good feeling may be world-wide rather than insular in its character . Meanwhile we may fairly affirm that the spirit which animates our ever-extending Organisation has done not a little in that direction , and has afforded more than one hint that even the loftiest altitudes of the idealist are not inaccessible .

With this brief review of the year which is passing , and full of good hopes for the future , we hope that each reader will accept from us the grip of good-fellowship and our heartiest wishes for a happy Christmas and the best of New Years . THE EDITOR .