The Approaching Election Of The Boys' School.

THE APPROACHING ELECTION OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

LAST week ,. in speaking of the coming Election of the Eoyal Masonic Institution for Girls , we were able to make the pleasing announcement that during the next month sixteen daughters of Freemasons would be admitted

to a participation in the benefits of that noble Institution ; this week , when we review the coming contest for admission to the Boys' School , we are enabled to give even more gratifying particulars , and to publish details which will be

welcomed both by those who support the Institution , and those who are seeking a participation in its benefits . At the Election , which is fixed for the 11 th October , thirty-two boys "will be selected , from a list of forty-four candidates , or

in other words nearly three-fourths of those who have been approved aa worthy of education and maintenance in the School will secure the coveted right of admission . These

figures might be quoted as evidence that the Boys' School is now in a position to keep pace with the calls made upon it , were it not that it is the rule not to make a formal

application on behalf of a child until there is a good chance of securing its early election . So much is now done in the way of organization of voting power that nearly every district is in a position to accurately estimate what it is

possible for it to accomplish , and brethren very wisely refrain from nominating candidates whom they know will be left uncared for election after election . This system is a great improvement on that we have frequently condemned in the

past , when brethren , on being appealed to by the friends of a deceased Mason , rashly made promises of help and considered tbey had done their share when tbey had secured a child's admission to the roll of eligible candidates

for one or other of the Educational Institutions , thereby raising false hopes in the minds of those left in distress , and ultimately bringing discredit on Freemasonry and its principles . In days gone by—we hope never to

returnit was not unusual to see four or five candidates , and sometimes even more , put forward from a Province which , unaided by outside help , was not in a position to make even one case secure . Brethren were in the habit of voting for

any one they chose , without any attempt at combination , and , as a result , children took part in election after election , sometimes accumulating a few hundred votes , and at others never getting beyond ten or a dozen , until the rule limiting

the age of admission precluded them from appearing at the poll again . All tbe labour undertaken on their behalf , and all the expense incurred was thus thrown away , but . what was far worse , the hopes of the widow , raised perhaps years

before , and revived each half-year by those who were so read y to promise , were crushed , and the help she had been led to believe was forthcoming from Freemasonry was rudel y denied her . Of conrse such cases occur now—ancl

always will occur , so long as admission to the Institution * s the result of voting—as it is easy to promise to use one ' s influence in securing a child's election ; but sufficient has been done to prove that the best system is that which

Makes sure of nearly every case put forward , and which raises hopes in the mind of the distressed only when there is a reasonable prospect of those hopes being speedily realised

. This is really the reason which gives us the , comparativel y speaking , small number of forty-four candidates competing for thirty-two vacancies ; we sincerely "wish we could think otherwise , but it is not possible for us

The Approaching Election Of The Boys' School.

to imagine that these forty-four lads represent the whole of those in need of that help which the Freemasons of England so liberally dispense through the medium of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys . Of the forty-four children

to whom we have referred above , two now appear on the balloting paper for the fifth , one for the fourth , three for the third , and ten for the second time , while the remaining twenty-eight will make their first application ^ next month's election .

No less than seven of the candidates now make " their last application , their age being such as to preclude them from again appealing to the supporters of the School . "Four of these are old candidates , and three new , the former being

headed by No . 2 , Albert Taylor , an East Lancashire lad , who after four applications has only 50 votes to his credit . He is one of five dependent children of a late P . M . of the Tranquillity Lodge , No . 274 , who was initiated in the early

part of 1870 . As we have no knowledge of the candidate ' s position beyond that given in the sheet issued from the Institution , we are unable to pass any opinion on this case , further than to say that the brethren of the Province

in which the father was initiated may be relied on to support any deserving case , if it lies in their power so to do . No . 3 , Percy Gibbs , has received even less support than young Taylor , for he has but 13 votes as the result of three

contests . He also is in the hands of brethren who are proverbial for the thoroughnesss with which they carry out their Masonic obligations , his father having been initiated in the Royal Gloucester Lodge , No . 130 , in the Province of

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight . This lad and two other children are now dependent on their mother , who was left a widow upwards of two years since . No . 4 , Joseph Thomas Andrews , is a London case , tbe father having been

initiated in the Upton Lodge , No , 1227 , in which we knew him as a Past Master . There are four children dependent on the mother , who has secured 333 votes on behalf of this

lad at the last two elections . This case may be cited as evidence of the loss London Masons suffer from want of that organization which is all but universal throughout the

Provinces . If this lad ' s father had belonged to a Pro

vmcial Lodge , we believe his case would have been taken in hand officially , and if he had not been elected ere this , there would at least have been little fear as to the result of next month ' s election ; as it is , we can only await the

declaration of the poll with a feeling that London will m all probability lose the benefits to which we consider it entitled as regards this lad . No . 10 , Maurice Bibby Jones , is a West Lancashire case ; the father , who "was initiated

in the United States , having joined two Lodges in that Province . The lad and two other children are now dependent on their widowed mother , tbe present being the second application on behalf of this child ; in April last no

votes were recorded on his behalf , a coincidence which , taken in conjunction with the tactics usual in West Lancashire , where organization may be said to be complete , augurs well for the child ' s ultimate success . No . 36 ,

Harry Newton , is another East Lancashire case , which district therefore has two last applications to decide next month , in addition to two other cases . Young Xewton is one of five dependent on a mother ; his father was initiated

in the Blair Lodge , No . 815 , in 1866 , and subsequently served the office of Worshipful Master therein . No . 38 , Henry Renneson , one of five children dependent on a widowed mother , is accredited to West Yorkshire , his

father having been admitted to Masonic light in the Alfred