The Next Charity Festival.

THE NEXT CHARITY FESTIVAL .

THE Eoyal Masonic Institution for Girls has been fortunate enough to secure the services of the new Provincial Grand Master of Buckinghamshire , the Rt . Hon . the Lord Carrington , as Chairman for the one hundred and third Anniversary Festival of the Institution , and the 12 th of May has been fixed for the celebration , which , let us hope , will prove so far successful as to allow of the work of the Chanty being continued for the year without anxiety on the part of those responsible for its inner working .

linfortunately there is at present a comparatively small Board of Stewards , and although the brethren of the Chairman's Province may be relied on for enthusiastic support of his presidency , theirs is but

a small district , numbering only twelve Lodges , from which of course it is not possible to secure anything like the total contributed—for instance , by the Kentish brethren , when their Provincial chief

presided at the Festival of the Benevolent Institution in February last . Let us hope , however , that other districts of England will come forward and loyally support the Buckinghamshire Masons in the good

work , so that from One source and another the coming Festival may be productive of a substantial amount of contributions , amply sufficient for the requirements of the vear .

We think it would be well to make a feature of enlisting the sympathy of old Colonial Masons in the coming celebration . There must be a very large

number of influential Craftsmen around us who , directly or indirectly , have been associated with Lord Carrington in his term of office as Governor of New South Wales , and some others who knew the President of the year as Grand Master of Freemasons in

tnat colony , borne ot them would doubtless like to show their appreciation of liis Lordship ' s labours in the antipodes if an opportunity presented itself for them to do so . Here is the omoortunitv : let those

associated with the colonies vie with the Masons of Lord Carrington * s home Province and enter into friendly rivalry with each other as to who shall do the most in securing success for this earlv Masonic

work of Lord Carrington on his return home . In the one case it will be an expression of gratitude for favours received , in the other for favours to come , for Lord Carrington is as yet virtually unknown in the Masonic district over which he will in future rule .

It is quite unnecessary for us to tell our readers that the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls is in need of subscriptions , or that it well deserves the sympathetic support of the English Craft . So much

uas oeen reported of late in regard to the progress of this Charity that the whole country must be aware of the additional accommodation provided , and the consequent increased calls on the resources . The new Alexandra Hall has been completed , and its full benefits are now available for the pupils , who must

The Next Charity Festival.

already feel the advantage of the accommodation and comfort it provides , but these additions can hardly be described as self supporting , and a small additional outlay must be expected in

connection with the improvements , so that the Craft must not close their pockets in ansAver to the appeals of to-day , or of the future , because they did much on

behalf of the Institution in the past . The Freemasons of England have a splendid Charity to point to in the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , and we doubt not they will faithfully perform their share of

the work of maintaining it so far as lies in their power . This they can do at the present by giving in their names or their contributions as supporters of the coming Festival , which once more wc hope will prove

a great success , and a pleasing compliment to its Chairman—Lord Carrington , as a mark of appreciation of his services in the far off corner of Greater Britain from which he has just returned .

Next Week's Elections.

NEXT WEEK'S ELECTIONS .

THE ballot papers for the two elections for the Educational Institutions , to be held next week , give evidence of very different prospects for the respective

candidatea . In the ono case , that of the Girls , there are but 25 applicants with 19 vacancies , while in the case of the Boys there are no less than 45 approved candidates , with 28 to be admitted , a gross total of 70 candidates for

47 vacancies . There is thus a very good proportion of prizes to bo secured for the children seeking the scholarships provided by the Craft , and wo congratulate the friends of the

several candidates on the prospect before them , which goes far to prove that the charitable funds of the Order are , if not actually able to cope with the whole of the distress in its midst , at least in a position to provide for a largo proportion of those put forward for the benefits of the two Schools .

In the case of the Girls' School , with 19 to he elected from a list of 25 , there is naturally a strong feeling that all should be admitted without ballot rather than so few as 6 should be left over for the next election . Of course it would be very gratifying if the Craft could admit all these

children without an election , but any increase at the present time would be injudicious , besides which ifc is creating a bad precedent to extend the number of children on the funds of the Institution , simply because there happens to bo just now a large number of vacancies , with ,

so to speak , a light list of applicants . We cannot advise the admission of all the candidates without going to a poll , but we think a compromise might be agreeable to the supporters of the Charity . Let the nineteen highest on the poll be admitted in the ordinary course , and the other

six as vacancies arise , as they naturally will during the next few weeks , we should then have a clear sheet to commence with for the October election , and the Institution would have the gratification of knowing it had once again taken under its care every approved candidate on its books . Surely this is a grand result to point to , and when it can be achieved without seriously interfering with the routine of