The Boys' School Election.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL ELECTION .

FOLLOWING our usual custom of reviewing the lists of candidates for the several elections , we once again have to devote our attention to the Boys' School list , and indoing so we can but offer our congratulations to those who are interested at the increased chances of success which all enjoy , as compared with the last election , in

consequence of the number of vacancies being considerably greater , without a corresponding increase in the number of cnndidates . The October election will take place on Monday , the 15 th , and on that occasion sixty-three candidates will compete for twenty vacancies . The number of

applicants is given in the ballot paper as sixty-four , but they have been reduced by the withdrawal of No . 42 , George John Simmons , so that now there are but

sixtythree eligible to compete . Of this number forty-one are brought forward from previous elections—ranging in number from six downwards—and twenty-two now appear for the first time .

There are five cases of " last application , " viz ., Nos . 1 , 2 , 9 , 13 , and 45 . No . 1 , Charles Percy Liversidge , who now comes forward for the seventh time , is not much better off than when we last had his case under consideration . He then had 655 votes to the good—he can now muster 814 ,

or an increase of 159 , a number which will avail him nothing , if it is any criterion of what is in store for him next month . The widowed mother has this lad and eight

other children to provide for , and , as we remarked last March , her son would , to all appearances , be a worthy subject for admission without election , were the funds of the Iastitution in a fit state to allow of it . The father was a

member of the Sir Watkin Lodge , No . 1477 ( North Wales and Salop ) . No . 2 , William Bryant Stanford , also a seventh application case , stands a much better chance of being elected . He comes forward with a total of 2 , 153 votes to his credit , 280 of which were polled at the last

election . He is one of three fatherless children , and provided his friends support him at the next election as well as they did at the last , is almost certain of being among the twenty successful ; we hope that he may , as it would be very unfortunate for the votes already recorded on his

behalf to be wasted . No . 9 , Frank William Bell , comes forward for the last time , with five votes to his credit , as the result of his friends' (?) exertions at three previous elections . We have already referred to the cruelty of brethren raising hopes in the mind of a widow by promising

to support the candidature of her child for one or other of the Schools , and then leaving her to shift for herself . This case is a striking example of this most un-Masonic behaviour . If only the brethren who recommended the case had supported it , the lad would be better off than he is at

present . If , on the other hand , the brethren have since found that their recommendation was made in error , they should have taken steps for the case to be withdrawn from the list . We are aware that , in making these remarks , we are running the risk of being called to account , as it may be

the intention of the father ' s Province to carry . the case before it is too late ; but if that is really the state of affairs ( and we doubt it ) , we are of opinion that it would have been better to have kept the case back until the time of action actually arrived , than to have crowded the last three ballot papers with it , and at the same time creating a feel-

The Boys' School Election.

ing against the lad , as frequent failures must do . No . 13 , Eichard Alfred Sykes , a fourth and last application , comes forward with 1 , 680 votes to his account , a very creditable advance on his last total , which stood , previous to the election in April , at 329 votes . He is an orphan child ,

father and mother being dead . His father was a member of the Province of Cheshire , which district will , we have little doubt , secure the lad ' s admission to the School on the 15 th October . No . 45 , Thomas Percy Westlake , the other

last application case , is also a first application . The lad is one of two children dependent on a widowed mother , the husband of whom was a member of North and East Yorkshire , having been initiated in Old Globe , No . 200 , and afterwards joining Humber , No . 57 .

Parentless children come forward in five cases beyond the one already referred to , viz ,, Nos . 8 , 25 , 33 , 34 and 38 . No . 8 , Augustine William Wyatt , has already been before the brethren at four elections , and has now 2423 votes to his credit , a total which leaves very little doubt of his

success next month . He is one of four children still dependent on friends , and has a sister in the Girls' School . No . 25 , Thomas Edwin Pawsey , third application , has 277 votes in hand . He is one of a family of five dependent children , who have lost both father and mother . The

votes standing to his credit are the result of the last election , so that it cannot be said the lad is without friends ; let us hope they will be successful , so as , ultimately , to secure his election . No . 33 , Prank Alexander Herring , is the lad to whose case we directed special attention on the

occasion of the last election . His candidature was brought before the members at the Quarterly Court , and its rejection moved , after considerable discussion . The proposition , however , was negatived by twenty-eight votes to twentyfour , and the lad ' s eligibility thus confirmed . We cannot ,

however , endorse the decision of the brethren , nor do we consider the conclusion they came to a wise one ; they allow a lad whose personal property is ample for all modest requirements to be elected into our School to the exclusion of really destitute children . Surely it cannot he the

general body of subscribers desire to provide for children who are already in a comparatively independent position ? The lad is one of three so-called dependents , but as each member of this family has something between £ 500 and £ 600 in his own right—if we may accept the records of

the Probate Office as correct—we cannot see but that they are capable of depending on their own incomes . 460 votes were polled for this lad in April last . No . 34 , Harry Bobert Graves , is likewise a second application case , and brings forward five votes . He is one of five parentless

children , the father of whom was a member of the Masonic Province of Lincoln . No . 38 , William Ernest Habgood , another second application case , has a sister in the Girls ' School , and is himself the only child of the family now dependent . His father was a member of a Devonshire Lodge . The lad has 25 votes to his credit .

Ten dependent children in each case form the families of which Nos . 21 and 51 are members , and , strange to say , in the two instances both parents are still living . As usual ,

we are without any particulars of the special circumstances , which it may be assumed exist , to render these two lads eligible for election . We can but repeat our oft-expressed advice to the subscribers to demand that Fome more explicit particulars be in future published in such cases . As we remarked in April last , when referring to these two