The Approaching Festival Of The Girls' School.

THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE GIRLS' SCHOOL .

It is about time we again drew attention to the circumstances connected with the 102 nd Anniversary Festival of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , which will be held at Freemasons ' Tavern , on Tuesday , the 20 th May next , under the presidency of Bro . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT , Bart ., Prov . Grand Master of

Middlesex . As the training and management at the Institution are admitted by all to be of the highest character , there is no reason why we should say more in relation to these matters than that they furnish the best of all reasons why the support that is needed for its maintenance should always be forthcoming . The chief

cause of our anxiety at the present time will be found in the fact that if the strength of the Board of Stewards is a criterion —and we do not know of any better criterion to go by—there is at present but little chance of the donations and subscriptions amounting to anything like £ 10 , 000 . Our latest inquiries show that the brethren who have volunteered their services as

Stewards are 182 in number . There still remain rather more than five weeks to the day appointed for the Festival , and we are not without hope that , in the course of this interval , the list may be considerably strengthened , nor should we be greatly surprised if , on the appointed day , the Board mustered some

220 members . But we can hardly expect that the average of about £ 42 per list which Bro . TERRY succeeded in obtaining will be surpassed on this occasion ; and , therefore , taking the Board as it is now constituted , and allowing for a reasonable increase between now and the 20 th May , we shall be surprised

if _ the total which it will be Bro . HEDGES ' S duty to announce will be much in . excess of £ yooo . Such a Return will be a great advance on last year , when there were only 156 Stewards and the total was a fraction within £ 5355 ; but it is very far short of what is required for the current requirements of the

Chanty . In the first place , when the cost of the Centenary Memorial Scheme has been defrayed , and the ordinary expenses of the last two years provided for out of the Centenary and last year ' s receipts , there will remain in hand very little beyond the permanent income on which to rel y for meeting the

disbursements of the current year . Again , 20 additional children were placed on the establishment in April , 1889 , and this necessitates an addition to the year ' s expenditure of about £ 800 . Therefore ,

the sum actually required to cover the entire cost of the Institution cannot be less than about £ 11 , 000 , and as there is no knowing when a serious contingency may arise , necessitating a still heavier outlay , we think the least the Craft should do at the

anniversary celebrations is to contribute from £ 11 , 000 to £ 12 , 000 , so that ( 1 ) the year ' s expenses may be defrayed , and ( 2 ) a small addition be made annually to the invested funds , and the permanent income slowl y but surely increased . There is , however , as we have said , no chance of this year ' s Board of Stewards

obtaining at the very outside much more than £ 9000 , and considering that those brethren who give their services at the last moment will have had no time for canvassing , it would not surprise us if the total were considerably less . But our readers must not labour under the impression that the £ ¦*; 1 , 600 obtained at

the Centenary Festival two years ago is inexhaustible . On the contrary , it is practically exhausted already , the Memorial Scheme and the expenses of ventilating , etc ., etc ., etc ., having absorbed £ 35 , , while the balance , together with the proceeds

of last year ' s Festival , has provided the cost of maintenance for the last two years . It is just possible , therefore , that the governing body may have some difficulty this year in making both ends meet , unless , indeed , the coming Festival should prove more productive than we have grounds for expecting .

There is one weak point in the constitution of the Board of Stewards which there is still time to remedy . From what we hear the Chairman ' s Province of Middlesex is very feebly represented , there being only some 15 lodges who have sent up Stewards out of the 39 lodges on the provincial roll . Moreover ,

The Approaching Festival Of The Girls' School.

though there are some excellent men among those who have volunteered their services , we do not see included in the list such important officials as the Deputy Prov . Grand Master and

the Prov . Grand Secretary , who , if they can spare the time , should certainly be among the first to support their chief on such an occasion as this , and especially as it is the first time that the Province of Middlesex has been honoured with the role of

" Chairman's Province . " It is natural that the presence of these important officers on the list should attract others to follow their example , while their absence is pretty certain to exercise a discouraging influence on the brethren in the province , who naturally ask themselves why they should

undertake a duty which is avoided by their superiors . There may , of course , be good ancl sufficient reasons why these lights of Middlesex may not be able to give forth any of their splendour in

support of their chief . In any circumstances , however , we trust the bulk of the Middlesex lodges , and more of its chapters also , will be represented , and to very good purpose , at the celebration of the Anniversary on the 20 th May next .

The Boys' School Pension Indemnity Fund.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL PENSION INDEMNITY FUND .

At length we seem to be within easy distance of having the arrangements proposed in connection with Bro . BlNCKES' retirement from the office of Secretary brought to a satisfactory conclusion . At the meeting of the General Committee , on Saturday last , certain recommendations made by the Provisional

Management Committee were submitted and adopted . The result will be that on the 30 th June next Bro . F . BlNCKES will vacate the post he will then have held for upwards of 29 years , and will receive from the Provisional Committee a sum of £ 2500 in lieu of the pension it was originally proposed to grant him . The

payment will be made in the first instance out of the Indemnity Fund , and in the extremely probable event of the sum raised in respect of the said fund being short of the full amount required , the balance will be borrowed from the funds of the Institution , ancl recouped out of the further moneys subscribed towards

the Indemnity Fund . It has also been determined that the necessary arrangements shall be undertaken with a view to the election of a new Secretary , who , we presume , will be ready to enter upon his duties immediately after Bro . BINCKES ' S retirement . Thus , the most important step in the

re-organisation of the Institution is in a fair way of being effected . A new Matron and new Medical Officer were appointed in the autumn of last year , and after Christmas the new Head Master and an entirely new staff of under masters and governesses entered upon their duties , while on the ist July next there will

be a new Secretary , so that by that date the recommendations of the Investigation Committee that there should be an entire change in the administration , and a complete breaking off from the ways and traditions of the past , will have been carried out . But the greatest of all the changes is that which will be effected last of

all . We have written so often and so strongly of the important services rendered by Bro . BlNCKES to the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys that we shall run no risk of being misunderstood when we congratulate both him and the Institution on the forthcoming settlement of the difficulties which have been pending

for so long a time . The determination of the Provisional Committee that Bro . BlNCKES should retire on a pension was arrived at in the month of September last . Therefore , ever since then he has been somewhat in the position of a minister who has been called upon to resign , and was only holding office till a

successor was appointed . He could preside in his office , but he must have felt during the whole of this long period that he could hardly advise or suggest anything of importance ; while the Provisional

Committee , with an honorary Secretaryof its own , musthave hardly felt at liberty to consult one whose advice would be worth following only during the period he remained at his post . Now , at all events , this state of uncertainty will be speedily brought to a