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CONTENTS . PAGE L EADERSProposed Removal of the Boys' School ... ... ... ... 475 In the Master ' s Absence ... ... ... ... ... 476 United Grand Lodge of England ... ... ... ... ... 476 Grand Ledge of Mark Master Masons ... ... ... ... 477 The Family of Grand Lodges ... ... ... ... ... 477 Shanklin Pier Carnival ... ... ... ... ... ... 477 Provincial Grand Lodge of Dorset ... ... ... ... ... 470

Removal of the Boys'School ... ... ... ... ... 473 M ASONIC N OTESQuarterly Communication of United Grand Lodge ... ... ... 4 S 1 Quarterly Communication of Grand Mark Ledge ... ... ... 4 S 1 Commemoration of her Majesty ' s Goth Reign ... ... ... •4 S 1 Miss Davies ' s Pension ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 1 Death of Bro . H . Brcoks Marshall ... ... ... ... 4 S 1 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 2 Reception of Bro . R . W . Skekleton , D . G . M ., by British Lodge , No . 3 .-54 ( E . G . ) ,

Capetown ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 2 Phoenix Lodge , No . iS 5 o , Simonstowrn ... ... ... ... 4 S 2 Masonic Church Service at Inveresk ... ... ... ... 4 S 3 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 3 Our Poitrait Gallery ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 3 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 4 Mark Masonry ... _ ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 4 Lodges and Chapter of Instruction ... ... ... ... 4 S 4 Obituary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 4 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 6

Proposed Removal Of The Boys' School.

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

In the course of next week the Governors and Subscribers of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys will receive , with their veiling papers for the October Election , a pamphlet containing tin' reasons which have actuated the Board of Management in lheir determination to remove the School to a healthier and more

commodious site than that which it presently occupies at Wood Green . In the meantime , however , we arc enabled , through the courtesy of Bro . McLEOD , the Secretary of the Institution , to

lay these reasons before our readers , who , when they have carefully perused them , will , we thinlc , arrive at thc conclusion ( 1 ) that the removal of the Institution , if not an absolute necessity ,

is 111 every respect most desirable ; and ( 2 ) that thc Board has no ! exhibited any undue haste in determining upon this step , 'he PHILBRICK Committee of Investigation , which was appointed

iu 18 S 8 to inquire thoroughly info the system upon which the •School was then being conducted , reported to the Quarterly General Court , held on the 26 th April , 188 9 , that as " the

ma . 111 building was designed to accommodate loo boys , and the necessary staff of masters and attendants , " and as at the time of their report " about 200 boys" were being "housed , fed , and "istructed therein , " " in certain respects the accommodation is

'" 'hcient and unsatisfactory . " " Most of the class-rooms in use , " 11 proceeded to point out , were "dark and cheerless in daytime , " an , l " only adapted for one-half to two-thirds of the numbers , lll ^ ht in them . " Half thc bath-room originally provided

' •"I , in the course of the " alterations made since first con-¦ ri | ' ted , " been " removed , and no substitute provided , " and , ' : i result , the bathing accommodation then remaining , ' "four times too small according : to thc original

S 1 . " - Then "the building used as an infirmary does not 1 "nit of effectual isolation in infectious or contagious case's , * ' '' an outbreak of illness occurred , are its capabilities - ' 1 'iatc . " Again the playground for the main School " was

1 "iioiinccd to be too small " for "the present number of pupils , > . ss they have daily access to a more extensive recreation t > Jiinri ^ wlri | c tlie field which was made to serve this purpose ' •" , |( 'clared to be "totally unlit , owing to its being situated on , ' 1 ' ' But , worst of all , though the prejudicial consequences

fr-.- / > a ' ^ "d well-being of the boys thus arising were t | } ' pointed out 16 years ago by Dr . BARRY , and tl ^ ' opportunity of rectifying the evil has been open to ' ,, "Orili ( . s since the requisition of Kent House in 18 77 , 110

Proposed Removal Of The Boys' School.

step appears to have been taken in the matter . " The Junior School was declared to bc in a still worse plight , having only an asphalted playground inadequate in size" and so " enclosed and shut in with fences" that " free access of light and air" was

hindered during the greater part of thc year . Such are the main " structural" and other defects to which the Board of Management refer in the third paragraph of their present statement , and though much has been done to make them good under thc

present regime , it has been done only by thc adoption of temporary expedients , such as " the conversion of the large assembly hall into a schoolroom , " the renting of a house in thc neighbourhood as a sanatorium , " involving considerable

expense , " the hiring of a field of 12 acres for-football practice " but its distance from the School is a serious drawback , nor can it be obtained for cricket . " In 1890 the Quarterly Court sanctioned an expenditure of £ 6500 with a view to remedying

the defects spoken of by the Committee of Management and to provide a swimming bath , but thc Board of Management realised that whatever was done in the way of an extension of the building , had of necessity the effect of curtailing the

playground space , and so thc Board was content to adopt the temporary expedients referred to . In 1 S 91 , the question of removing the School to another locality was mentioned by the Pro Grand Master in his principal speech as Chairman at the

Festival at Brighton in that year , and in the April following the delivery of that speech the Quarterly Court was authorised to entertain negotiations for the sale of the Wood Green property with a view to the removal of thc School . " Since then the

Board has given the subject all thc attention it was in its power to give , but it was felt that further steps were necessary , and accordingly at thc Quarterly Court in April last the Board was given full powers " to sell the present site , buy a new one , and

erect a School thereon , " but , as the Chairman of the Board—Bro . RICHARD EVE—was careful to point out at thc time , no final step would be taken without bringing it to thc notice of thc Quarterly Court and obtaining from that body its full

consent and approval . Thus , then , stands the case as put forward by the Board of Management . The present site has not only been declared to be unhealthy and undesirable from its being surrounded by small tenements , but insufficient to allow

of the necessary extension of the present buildings and the possession of the necessary playgrounds . Thc Board has been enabled to tide over its many difficulties by thc adoption of a number of makeshifts , but even with the aid of these , it is

unable to find accommodation within the premises for thc 270 boys on the establishment , and there are 19 receiving grants in aid instead of the full benefits to which they are entitled , while it has only been possible to provide for illness by renting a

sanatorium , and for outdoor recreation , by hiring a field at a distance from the School , which cannot be used in the summer , or , at all events for cricket , which is the principal summer game . The more commodious premises , the swimming bath , the

sanatorium , the playing fields , all these can be obtained , not only for the School at its present strength , but for a larger number of boys , should an extension of the School become necessary ,

by removing it to another locality . We are told that by adopting this course , there will be " a saving in the cost per head and an extension of the Educational curriculum . " If the

School remains where it is , there will be no saving , no extension of the curriculum , but only the conversion of temporary into permanent expedients , with all the atten-