The Boys' School Quarterly Court,

THE BOYS' SCHOOL QUARTERLY COURT ,

There was a very full attendance of Governors and Subscribers at the Quarterly General Court of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys on Friday , the 25 th ult ., and , considering the excited state of feeling which has prevailed for many months

past among the supporters of the School in connection with the changes which are being made , and are likely to be made , in the personnel of its administration , the proceedings , thanks to the tact and judgment exhibited by the Chairman , Bro . EDWARD

TERRY , Grand Treasurer , passed off more quietly than might have been expected . It is true there were every now and then considerable manifestations of impatience on the part of a section

of those present when statements were made by this or that brother which in their opinion were objectionable ; but having made due allowance for the excitement which some of the

resolutions to be dealt with was calculated to raise , we are fain to admit that the business of the Court was completed with reasonable dispatch and vvith less turbulence than we have seen at other Courts and Committee meetings of this Institution .

After a preliminary difference of opinion as to what was done at the General Committee on the 5 th ult ., in reference to the retirement of the Head Master , the Court addressed itself to the duty of electing a Medical Officer , and when Bro . EVE , P . G .

Treasurer , had full y explained what the Provisional Management Committee had done in the matter , and sundry brethren had failed to excite any enthusiasm for a proposal that the Court should spend several days in doing over again what it was contended the

Provisional Management Committee had done irregularly , it was moved , seconded , and ^ unanimously resolved that the vacant office be conferred on Mr . PORTER , the nominee of the said Provisional Committee . Then came the tug of war over

the recommendation of the same Committee , to the effect that Bro . BlNCKES , on his retirement from the office of Secretary , after upwards of 28 years' service , should receive for life a pension of £ 350 per annum . To . this

resolution , which was moved on behalf of the Committee by Bro . EVE , a most strenuous opposition was offered , and , as will be seen from our full report elsewhere , more than one amendment was put and defeated . At length the Chairman ,

interposing with the remark that he would submit no further amendments to the Court , put the main question , which , after a division , was declared to be carried by 220 votes to 213 , or a bare majority of seven votes . The other business was then dealt with , and the Court adjourned .

As ^ the question of Bro . BINCKES ' pension will come up again in January next , when the proceedings of the recent Court are put for confirmation , it is unnecessary we should say much ° n the subject just now . We must point out , however , firstly ,

chat the largeness of the minority which voted against the pension -s not surprising if we bear in mind that it included not only those who objected to the particular recommendation , but like-Wise all who were opposed to any pension at all being granted ,

« s well as those who considered £ 200 , £ 250 , or any lesser sum than £ 350 sufficient . As to the opposition itself , we object to it ° n two grounds principally . In the first place , the recommenda-• ° n of a Committee , which was appointed with full powers to do

? to recommend what the members , in the exercise of their judgment , considered just or expedient in the interests of the ns titution , and in which the bod y that appointed it expressed £ ntire confidence , deserved abetter fate than to be carried by a d

fe majority of some half-dozen voices . In the next place , it Videnced a considerable malignity of feeling towards Bro . . ^ KES , whose services , even if the sins of omission and ' eom'ssion charged against him had been really formidable , deserve

ar greater amount of consideration than they have received or em ever likel y to receive from a section of the governors and "Dscribers .

The Boys' School Election.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL ELECTION .

The autumn School elections are now over . The polls have declared what boys and girls shall be admitted into the two Institutions after the Christmas holidays , and what names must be removed from the lists : while the hopes and fears of those

among the unsuccessful candidates who are still eligible for admission will remain at rest for , at all events , a further six months . The contest on both days was keen , especially in the case of the Girls' School , for which the proportion between the vacancies to be filled and the candidates to be chosen from was

the less favourable . The Boys' election , however , necessitated a good deal of hard work on the part of the friends and supporters of the children—hard work which was cheerfully borne —• and in the case of some of the higher unsuccessful candidates we fear the disappointment of the managers when the numbers were made known must have been very great . ' - ¦

For the Boys' election , which took place at the Quarterly General Court on the 25 th ult , the number of candidates was 70 , the number of last cases being io , and the number to be elected was 16 . A London boy , who brought forward 1758 votes from his previous attempt in April , headed the list with 319 8 votes ,

the Suffolk youngster , who started with 1888 votes from the two preceding elections , being a good second with 3143 votes . Nos . 3 and 4 , the former of whom hails from Gloucestershire , but brought forward no votes , while the latter was a first case with claims on the Provinces of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire ,

obtained 3063 and 3051 votes respectively , one of the three West Yorkshire lads being close at the heels of the latter with 3050 votes , and the Kent boy sixth with 3046 votes , of which 1720 votes were the result of four previous attempts . The boy from Northumberland , though having only 176 votes in hand ,

received so large a measure of support that he secured the seventh place with a total of 3030 votes , while a second West Yorkshire case stood next with 3028 votes . One of the two West Lancashire boys was ninth with 3012 votes , and he was followed immediately by one hailing from London and Surrey with 2943 votes ,

and then by one of the two candidates with claims on London and Kent , who increased his previous total of 18 34 votes to 2758 votes . A purely London candidate stood 12 th with 2747 votes , of which 702 votes were brought forward from April , and then came the lad from the Isle of Man , who had fared

indifferently at his two previous trials , but made up for his ill-luck then by polling 2731 votes . The boy from Cornwall , with 1386 votes to the good from four previous elections , was placed 14 th with 2661 votes , the boy from Hertfordshire , who started with 1614 votes to his credit , was next in order with 2623 votes , and a third

purely London candidate , whose name would otherwise have been struck off the list , completed the tale of 16 to be elected , by securing 2601 votes , 1014 of which already stood to his credit from the two last elections . Thus , the " Successful" list is made

up of three out of 17 purely London candidates , two out of six of partly London and partly Provincial origin , and 11 out of 47 purely Provincial , and we are pleased to see that six out of the 10 reported as last cases are in this section of the Returns .

As regards the " Unsuccessful" list , of whom the four hi ghest polled upwards of 2150 votes , and the next 12 upwards of 1000 , but less than 2000 votes , there are , happily , only four lads whose chances of admission are gone entirely . To judge , however , from the figures recorded against the highest in this list , there must

have been a considerable amount of miscalculation on the part of the managers . At least , it is only in this way that we can account for three London candidates heading the array , the first of whom , with 1125 votes in hand , only increased his score to 2591 votes , and the next , with a start of 811 votes , to 2374 votes ,

while the third , who had 1815 votes to the" good , only succeeded in polling a further 511 votes . We could have wished also that a greater , effort had been made in behalf of the boy J ONES , seeing that it was his last chance and that he had the advantage of 592 votes in hand . The Durham and West Yorkshire candidate raised his total to 1990 , and then followed the two Jersey cases .