Approaching Girls' School Election.

APPROACHING GIRLS' SCHOOL ELECTION .

The Spring half-yearly election of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls will take place at Freemasons' Tavern , on Saturday , the 26 th inst ., the poll opening immediately the general

business of the Quarterly Court is concluded , and closing precisely at 3 p . m . There are 21 vacancies to be filled , and these will be competed for by 43 candidates , of whom 31 remain over from the last October election and the other 12 are new

candidates . The metropolis furnishes 12 applicants , of whom the girl standing No . 2 on the list has 1779 votes to her credit from three previous attempts , and if her case is well managed , should stand an excellent chance of being elected . Nos . 7 and 11 have

215 votes and 152 votes respectively in hand from the three previous elections , while No . 14 brings forward 3285 votes , No . I 5 ) 499 votes , and No . 16 , 801 votes from the two elections of last year . Nos . 21 , 24 , and 30 were candidates for the first time

in October last , and scored 171 votes , 869 votes , and 377 votes respectively , while Nos . 35 , 37 , and 39 are new candidates . Of the foregoing 12 girls , Nos . 16 and 24 , are " last" cases and must be successful on this occasion or lose all chance of bem *? elected .

The remaining 31 children hail from the Provinces and Districts abroad , the Province of Devonshire furnishing No . 18 , with 2220 votes to her credit , who has a proportionately good chance of being successful , and Nos . 20 . 22 , ancl 3 8 ( new case ) . W . Yorkshire

sends three candidates , namely , Nos . 19 , 23 , ancl 43 ( new case ) . Durham , Lincolnshire , Norfolk , and Staffordshire send each of them two ; No . 3 , with 709 votes in hand , and No . 9 , with 750 votes being from Durham ; No . 5 , with in votes , and No . 26 , with

314 votes from Lincolnshire ; No . 4 , with 1126 votes , and No . 41 ( new case ) from Norfolk ; and Nos . 27 and 32 ( newcase ) from Staffordshire . The others are distributed as follows : No . 42 ( new case ) , Cornwall ; No . 31 , with 1023 votes , Derbyshire ;

No . 36 ( new case ) , Dorsetshire ; No . i , with 2735 votes from four previous elections , Kent ; No . 29 , with 1713 votes in hand , East Lancashire ; No . 34 , South Wales , East Division ; No . 35 , South Wales , West Division ; No . 12 , with IKIO votes to her

credit , Warwickshire ; No . 25 , with 3136 votes in hand , Wiltshire ; No . 28 , with 1173 votes , North and East Yorkshire ; No . 6 , with 813 votes , Malta ; No . 8 , with 107 votes , New Brunswick ; No . 17 , with 306 7 votes from last year ' s election , Turkey ;

No . 10 , with 723 votes , from Essex and Kent ; No . 13 , with 228 7 votes to her credit , from New Brunswick , Suffolk , and Kent ; and No . 40 ( new case ) from the Punjab and Somersetshire . Of these Nos . io , 12 , 29 , 33 , and 43 are "last" cases , making the

total number of those who will have their names struck off the list of unsuccessful this time seven . Of the whole 43 cases one has both parents living , and two have lost both parents , while the rest are fatherless . In 10 cases the father was a supporter of ,

or had acted as Festival Steward for one or more of our Institutions , while in several he was a Past Master , and in some few instances had had Provincial honours conferred upon him . In one case ( No . 17 ) the father was a subscribing member 31 years ,

vyhile in that of No . 19 he has subscribed 26 years and is still living . We have no special interest in the success of one child over another . We know they are all worthy of admission or their names would not have been placed on the list ; but we do

most sincerely trust that every effort will be made to win success for those children—Nos . 10 , 12 , 16 , 24 , 29 , 33 , and 43—who , if they fail at the approaching contest , will be excluded from all

further chance of being admitted . They have been accepted as candidates , and no effort should be spared in order to win them places among the successful .

The Boys' School Indemnity Fund.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL INDEMNITY FUND .

Every one must very greatly regret that the necessity should have arisen for issuing the circular address to lodges and brethren which appeared in our columns last week . That circular shows that , while in the early part of the year every one was in raptures

over the scheme propounded by a " distinguished brother" and so relieving the authorities of that School from the necessity of retiring him on a pension , only a very small number of our lodges have given a practical turn to their rapture by subscribing their proposed quotas . The idea involved in the scheme was to raise

within a period of six months a capital sum of £ 2500 by contributions of £ 2 ios . per lodge . Three months have elapsed since the proposal was made public , and two months since the Quarterly General Court determined , amid loud acclamations , that it should

be acted upon . Yet the result thus far is the receipt of subscriptions amounting to a little over - £ 400 , and if we assume that as much more has been promised or in course of being raised , we shall still be only one-third part of our way on the road to

completing the scheme . Under these circumstances , it of course becomes the dut y of the Provisional Management Committee to issue such an appeal as we published last week , ancl we trust that in the course of the next three months a more energetic ancl at

the same time a more successful attempt will be made to accumulate the necessary amount . As regards the statements contained in that appeal of Bro . PHILBRICK on behalf of himself and the Provisional Committee , it is quite enough for us to point out that

they are quite unanswerable . Thus , if the required sum is raised in the manner proposed , "it will secure the great object of enabling the management to start with an entire change of the administration , and to break completely away from the past , "

while , at the same time , " it will preclude all question of devoting subscriptions given for the School to retiring allowances and pensions . " This latter reason is indeed the most important . It

is pretty generally admitted that it would be an eternal disgrace to the whole body of the English Craft if a man who has achieved so much as Bro . BlNCKES has done for one of our three

cherished Institutions were called upon or allowed to vacate an office which he has filled so successfully for upwards of 28 years without something in the way of a pension , or the equivalent of a pension . He has given to the Boys' School the best of his

ability and energy during the best years of his life , and to what purpose he has given them is shown by the fact that during his Secretaryship the School has increased in numbers from 70 to 263 . It is the duty ' ot the Governors and Subscribers of the

Institution to see that the comforts of such an officer during the declining years of his life are becomingly provided for , and there are , so far as we can see , but two ways of doing this , namely , either ( 1 ) by raising this proposed Indemnity Fund of - £ 2500 by

voluntary contribution among the lodges ancl brethren in the manner already proposed ; or ( 2 ) , by voting Bro . BlNCKES a pension of , say , £ 250 out of the funds of the Institution . Hence we most cordially support the appeal of the Provisional

Management Committee that the lodges and brethren will set speedil y to work to raise the further - £ 2100 which is required to complete the £ 2500 . By doing this they will maks it clear that they recognise the important services which Bro . BlNCKES has rendered

to the Boys' School , and enable him to retire from his post with credit and a proper provision for the rest of his days ; and at the same time they will render it unnecessary for the Governors and Subscribers to appropriate for his retiring pension any of

the moneys contributed towards the support of the School . We trust , therefore , that this earnest appeal from Bro . PHILBRICK , which appeared in our last week's issue , will have the desired

effect of completing the £ 2500 and enabling the Committee to carry out those changes in the administration of the Institution which they consider necessary for its welfare .