The Candidates For The Girls' School.

THE CANDIDATES FOR THE GIRLS ' SCHOOL .

WE have already referred to the approaching Election for the Eoyal Masonic Institution for Girls , the number of candidates who will go to the poll , and the number who will be elected : but so far

we have not followed our usual course of singling out a few of the cases which appear to be especially worthy of consideration , and we therefore recur to the subject on the present occasion . The election will take place

on baturday , the 27 th inst ., when sixty-three candidates will compete for nine vacancies . This very wide disproportion of vacancies to the number of candidates , following so closely on the grand result of the Centenary Festival , has called forth strong

expressions oi disappointment m many quarters , and it would certainly be hard to justify the action of the Committee in not declaring extra vacancies were we not convinced that such a course will be adopted at no verv distant date . Wo can AVA II nndfivstanrl thni

it is next to impossible suddenly to extend the scope of such a charity as the Eoyal Masonic Institution for Girls , and on this account we would ask those who are strongest in thp . ir o-x-nrp . sKirYns

of disapproval to wait a little longer , when we think they will experience the full benefit of the Centenary success . No doubt there are many who will say they paid their money months

ago , and are anxious to see some good done with it , and in answer we refer them to the enlargements and alterations at the Institution , which were particularly set out as the object of the Centenary appeal . As soon as the various works which were then decided upon have been comnleted we shall find that , stans

will _ be taken to extend the work of the Charity . Unttt then it will be wise to wait patiently . In advising our readers to await the course of events it must not be understood that WP . denart from thp . lino

we took up a fortnight since , when we urged the desirability of spending some of the Centenary surplus in the creation of a limited number of " assistance " grants . We still think it would be better to set aside a portion of the funds of the Institution , for the

purpose of helping a large number of candidates at their own homes , than to vote more money for the enlargement and extension of the existing School , with the object of there maintaining a much smaller number of children than could be " assisted " outside .

It would appear that the Craft is quite unable to keep up a supply of money sufficient to help all who are considered worthy of being helped , and the question is , whether it is best to help a few lavishly , or to assist the many sparingly . We are of opinion that the Craft already does enough in the way of total maintenance , so far as the Educational Institutions are concerned , and it is about time that steps were taken to find out how much of the benevolence which is wrung from the Craft is backed up

The Candidates For The Girls' School.

by similar generosity on the part of those who are helped . We are quite sure that very many who are now reaping the full benefits of the Masonic Institutions are quite as capable of assisting in the maintenance of their children as are those who

at present find all the money for that purpose , but of course if the friends are not asked to help they can hardly be expected to offer so to do ; besides which the laws do not make any provision for such outbursts of , we were going to say generosity , but the correct term to apply is honesty . Is it possible to believe that of the hundreds who are helped by the two

Educational Institutions there is never one to whom a stroke of good luck comes ? And yet we seldom hear of a child- being withdrawn from the Schools from such a cause ; neither do we think either of the

Secretaries is often called upon to give a receipt lor a donation from those whose children are being maintained in the Schools , and there must be many whose circumstances so far improve as to allow of their giving something . But it may be asked , how does all this affect the subject touched upon at the commencement of our present remarks ? In this way , —

there are sixty-three candidates , and only nine vacancies . Now , our argument is , that that there would be more vacancies if only the really necessitous

children were retained in the Schools , or if some plan were adopted of enforcing help from those parents whose position has so far improved as to enable them to pay a part of the expense of educating and maintaining their own children .

On the present list of sixty-three candidates there are four last applicants . No . 3 , Nora Geach , has already made two attempts , and goes to the poll with 470 votes recorded on her behalf . She is one of two

cmidren dependent on ner motner , tne widow oi a Brother made in the Devon Lodge , No . 1138 , Devonshire , and to which he subscribed for 14 £ years . No . 4 , Sarah Bissett , has also stood two previous elections , and her brought forward total is 394 . She is one of five children left to the care of a widowed mother . Her father was initiated in the Temperance in the East Lodge , No . 898 , London , in August 1876 , and subscribed thereto until the time of his death .

which occurred between the years 1881 and 1882 , the exact time not being known , as our deceased brother was " lost at sea . " This is a case which calls for more than passing notice . It is one we venture to think no subscriber to the Institution would desire to see passed over , and yet what are the ultimate chances of success ? The girls' friends will have to

work hard—how hard only those who have managed an election can say—to secure one of the nine vacancies , and if they fail , what is the result ? Nothing more can be done . Surely it must cause a pang to

many of those who subscribe liberally to learn that there is even the possibility of ultimate failure for such a case . We fervently hope good luck is in store for the family . No . 11 , Ethel Lilian Julia Wells , comes forward for the second time , with only 77 votes