The Late Pupils' Assistance Fund.

THE LATE PUPILS' ASSISTANCE FUND .

OUR readers will , no doubt , have seen in our last week ' s issue the letter from our Rev . Brother C . J . Martyn , Honorary Treasurer , and Bro . Dick Radclyffe , Honorary Secretary , of the late Pupils' Assistance Fund , in which those brethren announce the distribution of the moneys contributed to ihat "Fund , and the final disposition of the

balance remaining unclaimed in the hands of the former . The announcement , in itself very simple , was merely to the effect that the said balance , amounting to £ 143 5 s Id , had been paid to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys . The moneys which had been previously paid over to one or other

of our Charities , in accordance with the expressed wishes of the donors , amounted to some—in round figures— £ 35 , so that it takes a very little arithmetic to show that the late Pupils' Assistance Fund has been the means of placing in the coffers of our Institutions moneys which amount in the aggregate to close on £ 180 .

It will bo remembered that a few months ago it became our duty to announce that this Assistance Fund , wbicb bad been -ushered into the world under such brilliant auspices , was closed , and that the Executive , viz ., the Hon Treasurer and Secretary , would only wait the pleasure of tho

subscribers in order to return , or appropriate as they misfit desire , the amounts of their several subscriptions . This has now been done , and the fund , therefore , is at length defunct , after benefiting our Institutions , as we have said , to the extent of about £ 180 . Thus an opportunity

presents itself for offering a few remarks on what was admitted by very many brethren to be a " good plan , a very good plan , " and has certainly been the means of doing some amount of good for our Charities , as well as of extending the benefits conferred by our Schools on meritorious pupils

who are leaving . We need not trouble ourselves to repeat tbe history of the project , how it , or rather the idea , was originated by the Earl of Rosslyn , a Past Grand Master Mason of Scotland ; how from being only an idea , it speedily assumed a tangible form and substance , in

the shape of an honorary committee and executive , with a strong body of distinguished brethren as patrons , and a large amount of support promised ; and how at length , owing to the strength of the opposition it encountered , or it may be its own inherent weakness , it was finally

abandoned . These are matters of history with which our readers are , or should be , acquainted . Nor need we dwell long on the fact that from the very beginning the fund had our support , and that its collapse—into the causes of which we do not desire or pretend to enter—was to us ,

of course , a disappointment . "What we do wisb to draw attention to is , the undoubted fact that the scheme for the establishment of a Pupil ' s Assistance Fund has been after all the means of rendering very important assistance to onr retiring pupils—assistance , which—at least to the extent

now authorised—it is likely might not for sonio considerable time to come , perhaps , have been rendered them . In fact , to a certain extent , the wind was taken out of the sails of the promoters of the Fund by the Committees of the two Schools when the latter authorised

The Late Pupils' Assistance Fund.

the award , in the case of unusually deserving pupils , of assistance to the amount of £ 40 , instead of , as previously , to that of £ 20 . When ifc became generally known that the Committees of tho Schools had themselves doubled the maximum of the srrant that was authorised to be made to

deserving pupils on leaving , tho Masonic public very naturally felt that tbe object for which the Fund was sought to be established had been achieved to a certain extent , and the principal objection which had been raised to having nfoitrth Charity was commensurately strengthened . At all events ,

the good it was able indirectly , instead of directly , to secure for the pupils of our Schools weakened , if did not ontirely remove , its claims to the support of the Craft . Thus , during the remainder of its existence , the Assistance Fund gave few , if any , signs of life , and it is now deceased ,

after having , however , at the very last moment , given a final proof of its usefulness by placing £ 180 in the treasuries of our throe Institutions . Thus a fund , which never had an organization beyond what was honorary , and which , in a certain sense , may be said to have had no

being whatever , has done good work notwithstanding for the very people it was designed to serve . Under these circumstances we must not let this last flicker of life die away on the part of the Pupils' Assistance Fund without congratulating those who took tho leading part in attempting

its promotion on the indirect success of their efforts . Had it not been for them , it is very doubtful if , as we have suggested already , this alteration in the grant to ex-pupils from £ 20 to £ 40 would have been made , and it is certain that our Institutions would never have received the £ 180 ,

the balance of which has just been paid to the Boys' School , For this we must thank the Earl of Rosslyn in the first instance , for having suggested the idea , and Bro . the Rev . C , J , Martyn for having , in his capacity of Honorary Treasnrer ,

done so much to promote it . Lastly , Bro . Dick Radclyffe deserves his due measure of praise for the services he rendered as Hon . Secretary . It cannot be gainsaid that he worked hard to secure success . He canvassed amonsr the

Craftsmen , and consumed no end of midnight oil in endeavouring to set the Fund on its legs . He has his reward in the knowledge of what has been done by the Schools towards the object for wbicb he has laboured so

zealously , but not on that account must we withhold the praise he is so fairly entitled to for his zeal and energy to help the orphan boys and girls of those who were once his fellow Craftsmen .

The School Elections.

THE SCHOOL ELECTIONS .

THE half yearly election days of the two Masonic Schools are fast approaching , and it behoves all who are interested in one or other of the candidates to strain every nerve during the next few days on behalf of their respective cases if they desire success to attend their efforts .

The Girls' School election takes place on Saturday the 8 th prox . The ballot paper for that contest bears the names of twenty-four candidates , of whom , however , but fifteen have to be elected . It will thus be seen that a small proportion only of the candidates will have to be turned away ; a

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