The important and indispensable qualification of a voucher is, therefore, that he shall be competent.

The Master of a lodge has no right to accept, without further inquiry, the avouchment of a young and inexperienced, or even of an old, if ignorant, Mason.
Lawful information, which is the remaining ground for an avouchment, may be derived either from the declaration of another Brother, or from having met the party vouched for in a lodge on some previous occasion.
If the information is derived from another Brother, who states that he has examined the party, then all that has already been said of the competency of the one giving the information is equally applicable.

The Brother, giving the original information, must be competent to make a rigid examination.

Again, the person giving the information, the one receiving it, and the one of whom it is given, should be all present at the time; for otherwise there would be no certainty of identity.

Information, therefore, given by letter or through a third party, is highly irregular.
The information must also be positive, not founded on belief or opinion, but derived from a legitimate source.