In urgent cases where the standard initiation process under Rule 159 would cause serious hardship to a prospective candidate, two Lodge members may submit a written request to the Master, including the candidate's name, age, profession, residence, and reasons for urgency. If the Master deems the urgency valid, he requires the candidate and his proposers to complete the necessary application form and submit it to the Lodge Secretary at least fourteen days before the relevant meeting. The Master must specify the urgency and hardship in the summons for the meeting and present these details in open Lodge prior to the ballot. The candidate, if elected, will be initiated thereafter. This procedure is applicable in various jurisdictions, including Bedfordshire, Essex, and Hong Kong, among others. The amended Rule 160 reiterates these procedures, ensuring that the process remains consistent until further direction from the Board of General Purposes.
December 4th, 2025
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In cases where the length of the procedure under Rule 159 would impose serious hardship upon a prospective candidate, any two members of a Lodge may send in writing to the Master, the name, age, profession or occupation (if any), and place of abode of the candidate, and the circumstances which in their opinion render it desirable that such candidate, who must be personally known to them, should be initiated as a matter of urgency. If in the opinion of the Master the urgency be real, and that hardship upon the candidate would be serious, he shall require the candidate and his proposer and seconder respectively to furnish the appropriate particulars to the Secretary of the Lodge on the printed form of application mentioned in Rule 159, not less than fourteen days previously to the regular or emergency meeting of the Lodge at which the proposal is to be submitted, and the ballot taken, and the candidate, if elected, is to be thereupon initiated. A statement by the Master of the cause of the urgency and the nature of the hardship shall in every case be specified in the summons (issued in accordance with Rule 164) for the regular or emergency meeting at which the proposal is to be submitted. The Master, previously to the ballot being taken, shall state in open Lodge the cause of the urgency and the nature of the hardship, and such matters shall be recorded in the Lodge minutes. *Until the Board of General Purposes has given a direction in relation to any particular area, the current Rule (above) will continue to apply. Rule 160 (Amended): In cases where the length of the procedure under Rule 159 would impose serious hardship upon a prospective candidate, any two members of a Lodge may send in writing to the Master, the name, age, profession or occupation (if any), and place of abode of the candidate, and the circumstances which in their opinion render it desirable that such candidate, who must be personally known to them, should be initiated as a matter of urgency. If in the opinion of the Master the urgency be real, and that hardship upon the candidate would be serious, he shall require the candidate and his proposer and seconder respectively to furnish the appropriate particulars to the Secretary of the Lodge in accordance with Rule 159, not less than fourteen days previously to the regular or emergency meeting of the Lodge at which the proposal is to be submitted, and the ballot taken, and the candidate, if elected, is to be thereupon initiated. A statement by the Master of the cause of the urgency and the nature of the hardship shall in every case be specified in the summons (issued in accordance with Rule 164) for the regular or emergency meeting at which the proposal is to be submitted. The Master, previously to the ballot being taken, shall state in open Lodge the cause of the urgency and the nature of the hardship, and such matters shall be recorded in the Lodge minutes. *The above and amended Rule has been applied to the following area(s): Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cumberland and Westmorland, Cyprus, Derbyshire, Dorset, Eastern Archipelago, Essex, Gloucestershire, Guernsey and Alderney, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Hong Kong and the Far East, Isle of Man, Jersey, Leicestershire and Rutland, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, South Wales, Suffolk, Warwickshire, West Wales and Wiltshire.