Qualifications Of Candidates For The Schools.

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR THE SCHOOLS .

\ X / E notice a growing tendency on the part of the * ? Educational Institutions to introduce a mass oi

outside information into their ballot papers , for the half-yearly elections , which we consider neither useful , interesting , or ornamental , and we fail to find any good reason that can be given for its appearance .

We refer to the particulars as to the candidates having " a Brother in Christ ' s Hospital , " " a Sister in the Commercial Travellers' School , " " a Brother in the Commercial Travellers' School , " " a Brother in the

British Orphan Asylum , " " a Brother elected to the Earlswood Asylum for Idiots , " and so forth , and would ask those who are responsible for their appearance to say what purpose is served by their publication ? For

many years we complained of the lack of information contained on the ballot papers , in regard to the position of the different candidates , but we cannot recognise the details here referred to as supplying the

want we so often pointed out . What is required are particulars as to a boy or girl ' s prospects—whether , for instance , he or she is entitled to a decent fortune oh reaching the age of twenty-one , as was the case

with a candidate whose position we exposed some years back , with the result that he was excluded from the Boys School , although elected by a large number of votes at the poll—and not details as to his or her brother ' s or sister ' s admission to another Charitable

Institution . To show the uselessness of the particulars we now criticise we ask our readers to try and decide for themselves whether they think they are inserted for

the purpose of ' securing additional sympathy , or the exact reverse ? It is a poor rule , they say , that will not work both ways , but in such a matter as this , a double service or object can hardly be desirable , and

without appearing too dense we must admit that we are unable to make up our mind as to the particular purpose of the details we mention , and if others are equally undecided we think it must be conceded that

the information is undesirable . We may be wrong , but it seems to us rather to lessen a candidate ' s chance to know that one or more other members of the family

are already provided for , and yet probably these details are inserted in the hope of enlisting additional sympathy , on behalf of a widowed mother , or a particular candidate .

If the School elections were anything of an open competition , then the publication of these particulars might be more severely criticised , either favourably or otherwise , but in these days of county and other

associations for the gathering and careful manipulation of votes , it is well known that children are chosen for election even before their names appear on the School lists of candidates , and for all practical purposes it would answer best , in the majority of cases , to simply

Qualifications Of Candidates For The Schools.

give the child ' s name , followed by the words , " Selected nominee of the Province of . "

Very little outside help is expected now-a-days for the different candidates , and we question if sufficient unpledged votes could be collected on any election morning to give a candidate a chance of admission ,

even if every such vote was polled on his or her behalf . This was different years ago . Even within our time we can call to mind elections which have been fought and won within the precincts of the polling Hall on the . day

of election . In those days voters came up with their proxies to see what was going on , and to endeavour to give their votes to the most deserving case , or , perhaps , the most persistent beggar ; and by dint of

great activity , hard appealing , and a liberal issue of I . O . Us . it waspossible to sometimes run a candidate ; but not so to-day , when nearly every voter belongs to

one or another " Combination , ' and his votes are appropriated by a Committee long before they are issued from the Institution . .

On this basis , then , it may be admitted that information on the ballot papers is less necessary now than it was years back , but that there is still room for improvement we strongly urge , although , as we have

said all through these remarks , it is not supplied in the particulars to which we have specially referred , and which should certainly be omitted in the future , if for no other reason than that they are most misleading , because necessarily very incomplete .

Masonry Standing Still.

MASONRY STANDING STILL .

THERE is nothing so revolutionary as standing stillj remarked the Mayor of Hull , on the occasion of a complimentary banquet arranged in his honour by the Humber Lodge , on the 16 th inst ., and therefore we have good-outside authority for laying an indictment

against Grand Lodge , which seems to steadfastly set its face against everything in the way of progress in connection with our Order , and in all matters

concerning English Freemasonry seems determined to stand still , thereby * causing discontent in our midst , and acting—as we learn , on such good authorityin a revolutionary manner .

It is all very well to argue that * Freemasonry cannot change , that it is the same to-day as it was ages back , and that it must remain the same in the future as it is to-day . That principle is admissible in

regard to the foundation on which the Craft exists , but to declare that it must be carried on year after year on exactly the same lines in regard to all minor

details is not only absurd , but wholly opposed to the spirit of thc age , which points to progress and improvement on every hand .

A very dangerous argument has arisen , and is widely extending in Freemasonry , that he who urges reform or change is guilty of treason , but this mistaken idea has not prevented us on many occasions in the