The School Elections.

THE SCHOOL ELECTIONS .

'T'HE half-yearly elections to the two Educational * Institutions take place next week . On Thursday sixteen children will be selected for the Girls School , from a list of thirty-three candidates , and the following

day seventeen lads ( provided a proposal to increase the number from fifteen , to fill extraordinary vacancies , is agreed to ) will be elected to the Boys School , also from thirty-three applicants .

Hasty Admissions.

HASTY ADMISSIONS .

REFERRING to our recent remarks under this heading , the " Mallet , " in " Glasgow Evening News , " remarks that we take to book Scotland in general , and Dramatic Lodge ( 571 ) in particular , for

allowing the admission of twelve candidates at one meeting , and then continues : " Our contemporary does not seem to admit the possibility of differences in Constitutions . It points out that in England not more

than five gentlemen can be admitted at one time , and , in . contemplating the admission of a greater number , the editor can hardly repress a shudder of disapproval .

Where is the trouble , where is the occasion for shock which my contemporary seems to have got on learning the act of the Dramatic Lodge ? The Scottish Constitution does not restrict the number of candidates

to be admitted at one meeting , and , so far as decorum is concerned , having been present when the ceremony of initiation was performed , I can vouch that the impressiveness of the ceremony could not have been

greater under any circumstances of limitation . Indeed , the limitation rule in England is not an unmixed blessing , as the ceremonies in English Lodges have on occasion to suffer either by frequent repetition at the

same meeting , or by curtailment , and sometimes by both . I can assure my contemporary that Scotland rigidly adheres to the required limit of time between degrees , and that there is nothing in our system

detrimental to the best interests of Freemasonry . Having admitted that it has nothing to say against the twelve gentlemen , its object for raising the voice of protest is difficult to understand , and seems altogether gratuitous . "

We thought we explained our position when we said the principle of the thing under notice was so opposed to " English ideas " of Masonic decorum as to cause a shudder of disapproval , and we hardly see that

the fact of Masonry differing in different Constitutions wholly removes the ground for criticism—from an English Mason ' s point of view . We fully recognise the possibility of variety of opinion in different parts of

the world , , and have no cause for actual complaint if our Scottish Brethren do not regard Masonry in every particular in the same light as we do in England , but this does not mean that we are precluded from pointing out divergencies in working or management which we

Hasty Admissions.

deem detrimental to the Craft as a whole . No doubt there are practices authorised in England that other Constitutions would deem as much outside Masonic decorum as we do this principle of "rushing "

Candidates as practiced in Scotland j but however much we may differ on minor matters we think it is generally admitted—outside the fold of the Grand Lodge of Scotland—that it is a mistake to make Masonry as

cheap and as easy of acquisition as it has been , and presumably still is , through its Lodges . In acknowledging that what is done is in accord with the

regulations of the Craft in Scotland we can only say with Shakespeare , 'tis true : 'tis true , 'tis pity ; And pity 'tis , 'tis true .

Our contemporary makes further reference to the subject in this week ' s column , in the following terms : " We must , as Freemasons , look at this question of hasty admission squarely and fairly . In my comments

last week I sought to protect our Lodges in- their reception , of candidates in whatever number they were presented . They were breaking no law / nor were they

encroaching on any landmark ; but apart from that we should protect our Constitution from reproach in other Jurisdictions . I refer to the residential law which holds p-ood in the States . There a man must be resident at

least twelve months in a state before he can be accepted as a candidate for Freemasonry . In Scotland we have no residential law , with the result that when Americans come to this country for a holiday they are

on occasions made full-fledged Masons ere they return to the place , mayhap , where they have been refused admission . A case came under my notice recently

where a gentleman of good social standing , and who would have been a credit to the Order or to any Lodge , was denied admission to the Craft in the state of New

York , because he had been resident only eleven months . He recognised it as a rule in the Craft and submitted . But when he came to this country he . found that men inferior in social standing were

admitted before they were a week in the Jurisdiction . He must , naturally , think that he was harshly dealt with , or that the system here is very loosely conducted . Then , again , those who , after a month ' s residence in

Scotland , go back to their own country , or adopted country , carrying with them a Master Mason ' s diploma from the Scottish Constitution , thus spread in these other Constitutions contempt of the practice of

Masonry in Scotland , and the feeling is apt to extend to our Brethren of this country who have occasion to travel . These considerations certainly lead to the seeming necessity for reform , and the need of Grand

Lodge introducing a law making residence in the country or province for a specified time , say . three months , a necessary qualification for proposal in any

Lodge m Scotland . True , our Constitution enacts ( rule 160 ) that the fullest inquiry shall be made into the character of all applicants ; but , unfortunately , this is in great measure ignored in practice . "