Councils Back Away from Registration of Employees on Legal Advice

Four local authorities - three county councils and one borough council - have withdrawn the requirement for employees to register masonic membership.
    In each case this was on the advice of the legal officers on the councils. The legal officers warned that maintaining the policy would heave the local authority open to a successful challenge of discrimination under human rights legislation.
    Grand Lodge expressed surprise that only seven of the 33 county councils had some form of compulsory or voluntary registration. The others had taken no action at all.
    On the registration of police officers and civilian support staff, the Association of Police Authorities has revealed that only Staffordshire, Bedfordshire, South Yorkshire, Gwent and South Wales support a compulsory, publicly available register.
    The majority believes that if a compulsory register is introduced, access should only be available via a chief constable. Those police chiefs who have disclosed their responses to the Home Secretary's discussion document on registers of freemasons, have refused another voluntary poll.
    They have also said that if the Home Secretary wants the information, he should legislate for it, but in doing so, should bear in mind the human rights legislation.
    The Home Secretary's discussion document said that, on compulsory registration, the government could use either new primary legislation or existing secondary legislation.
    When challenged by Grand Lodge on secondary legislation, the Home Office responded by admitting that no such law existed.
    Meanwhile, Grand Lodge is challenging a decision by the General Medical Council that its freemason members should be registered "in the interests of transparency."
    Within the prison service, a poll of masonic membership has produced only a 25% return. Martin Narey, Director General of the Prison Service, has ordered prison governors to re-circulate the poll to "ensure a better result."
    Mr Narey has threatened that, if a more substantial result is not achieved, he will require lists of those who have not responded.
    Grand Lodge is in contact with Mr Narey, and points out that as a voluntary poll, no action can be taken under the Human Rights Act.
    In another move, the Lake District National Park has voted by 13-11 to a resolution that officers and employees should voluntarily register masonic membership.

Essex Police Reject Offer of Life-Saving Machines in "Perception" Row

Essex police have refused a gift of four life-saving heart machines valued at £10,000 because they were offered by local freemasons.
    The defribillators, which enable on-the-spot treatment for emergency heart conditions, are valued at £2,500 each and would have been part of the equipment used by police emergency response vehicles.
    Ken Harvey, Provincial Grand Secretary for Essex, said: "The offer still stands. The police told us they could not be accepted in the current climate about freemasonry."
    A spokesman for Essex police said: "We were offered them, but in view of current public and parliamentary concern over freemasonry, it was not appropriate to accept them.
    "The offer was conditional on public acknowledgement in the form of a photographic facility and press release. That is why we have turned them down."
    The Home Secretary has been asking police authorities for voluntary registers of freemasons following calls from the Home Office Select Committee inquiring into freemasonry.
    Essex freemasons have not pursued the matter as they were awaiting the decision of the local county council about registering local government employees who were masons.
    However, Essex County Council has decided, on advice from its own legal officers, not to pursue a register because of fears it would contravene the new human rights law.
    Southampton University has also turned down a bursary for a disabled student from local masons. Southampton University Lodge No. 7022 was left a legacy by a former undergraduate, W Bro Stan Lebern, himself disabled.
    Lodge secretary Fred Elvin said: "We invested the legacy and with the interest had offered the university the bursary, which they refused.
    "Our founders were all members or former students at the university when the lodge was consecrated in 1950. In the past we have met at the university and held ladies nights there."

New Pro & Assistant Grand Master Invested

The Grand Master, HRH The Duke of Kent, invested MWBro The Most Honourable The Marquess of Northampton as Pro Grand Master and RWBro David Williamson as Assistant Grand Master, at the Grand Lodge meeting on March 14.

Summonses by e-mail

Grand Lodge has agreed that lodge summonses may be sent by e-mail to members where this has been requested, but all other members must receive a printed copy.
    The Board of General Purposes says that transmission of a summons by e-mail "should be sufficient compliance with the requirements of the Book of Constitutions."
    Any request for an e-mail form of the summons must be made in writing and on an annual basis. At least one printed copy of the summons must be retained in the lodge records.
    Grand Lodge adds: "In addition, any summons required to be sent to the relevant masonic authority, must be sent in printed form unless electronic transmission has been requested."

Ministry of Defence Ruling Was Against Freedom of Expression Says Leading Lawyer

Michael Beloff QC, the human rights lawyer retained by Grand Lodge, has successfully argued that the planned ban on freemasons in the armed services was unfair discrimination.
    As reported in Issue 15, as soon as a judicial review of the proposed Defence Council Instruction (DCI) against freemasons was lodged in the High Court, the ministry gave in.
    Within an hour of the papers being lodged with the court, the Treasury Solicitor, acting for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), faxed Grand Lodge's solicitors, informing them that the DCI had been withdrawn.
    The papers have been kept "live" in the court, pending proof that the DCI had been withdrawn, that the withdrawal notice had been issued on the same scale as the original DCI, and that Grand Lodge costs are paid.
    Wing Commander Peter Harborne, a Buckinghamshire mason, had petitioned the court with the full support of Grand Lodge.
    Mr Beloff argued that the DCI was unfair discrimination, disproportionate and illegal under the Human Rights Act 1998.
    He argued that, despite the DCI reference to 'societies of a secretive nature, such as freemasons' it was clearly aimed solely at masons.
    This was made clear in a parliamentary answer from the Minister of State for the Armed Forces to a question, stating that the DCI did not apply to the Loyal Orange Order.
    Mr Beloff said that, as a result, the bar on freemasons in the armed forces 'promoting' or 'encouraging' membership among their colleagues was an infringement of their rights to freedom of expression.
    Moreover, the ban on meetings on MoD property - which presumably included residential property - which had not been extended to the Orange Order, Rotary, Buffaloes, etc was an infringement of the right of lawful assembly.
    Further, the DCI, being founded on an alleged 'public perception' for which no evidence had been produced was, in terms of the Act, a disproportionate response.
    Therefore, as at least two Articles of the Human Rights Act had been broken, the DCI was illegal.

NHS Crisis Will Place Further Demands on the New Masonic Samaritan Fund

Further demands will be made on the New Masonic Samaritan Fund (NMSF), not least because of the crisis in the National Health Service (NHS), president RW Bro N Lloyd-Edwards has warned.
    Reviewing the first decade of the fund, he told the December Quarterly Communications of Grand Lodge that in the past 12 months the NMSF had approved 554 cases at a cost of just under £3m, an increase of 64% and 113% respectively on the first year.
    He added: "Of this expenditure nearly half is on the ladies and children of freemasons. Some of this increase is the result of a greater awareness among the Craft, but is mainly due to the well-publicised problems of the NHS."
    The fund was set up to provide support for sick and infirm masons, their wives, widows, children and dependants unable to receive NHS treatment without undue delay and hardship, and who were unable to pay for private treatment.
    He drew particular attention to the increase in the demand for more expensive treatments. Orthopaedics was up by 4%, heart surgery by 6%. In its ten years, the NMSF had helped about 4,000 applicants at an overall cost of £17m, of which the Craft could be proud.
    Rt W Bro Lloyd-Edwards said the fund wanted to widen its scope "as and when the financial situation allows." Demands on the fund would continue to rise because "the NHS faces an intractable problem."
    The NMSF expects the number of applicants will continue to rise, albeit at a slower rate, and the annual overall expenditure on patient costs could rise to £5m by 2010. He warned: "This poses a significant but not insurmountable challenge."
    Like its sister charities, the NMSF will need to increase its investment income to help bridge the expected shortfall in income as masonic membership falls and the age profile of masons increases.
    However, there should be some help from the Royal Masonic Hospital Charity, still under the control of the Receiver and Manager. Following last year's High Court ruling, the fund has received £800,000 from legacies, which has been used exclusively to pay for medical treatment.
    The president added: "This was particularly welcome as we have no festival this year nor next. It will be necessary, therefore, for the fund to explore alternative ways by which funds might be available to enable the scope of its work to be widened to meet the known demand."