The General Committee Of The Boys' School.

THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

There was an unusually full attendance of members present at the regular monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Saturday last , of the General Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , and the business which came before it being of a more than ordinarily important character , excited , as will be seen from

the lengthy report we publish elsewhere , a considerable amount of discussion . The minutes of the previous meeting were conlirmed , it being understood—indeed , before the Committee adjourned , the Chairman made announcement to the effect —• that the question of the pension to be awarded to Bro . BlNCKES ,

as recommended by the Provisional Committee of Management , on his retirement from the post of Secretary , would be determined at the Quarterly General Court on the 25 th inst . There were two points , however , in the report of the Provisional Committee to which a strong opposition was manifested . The first

of these had reference to the post of medical officer , for which there were originally 35 candidates , and the Provisional Committee , having carefully considered the qualifications of the several applicants , reduced the number firstly to 15 , then to , 10 , and then to six , and ultimately selected the

one whom they considered most suitable for the office , and recommended his election . Bro . SCURRAH and others , however , appear to have considered that the Provisional Committee in selecting and recommending this one candidate for election had exceeded its powers , and a resolution

was moved to the effect that the whole of the 35 candidates should be requested to submit their testimonials to the Quarterl y Court . On a division , this resolution was rejected by 3 6 to 26 , and consequently , the recommendation of the Provisional Committee in favour of the candidate they have selected as the

most suitable will stand . For ourselves ) we think the Provisional Committee would have acted more wisely if they had been content to reduce the original 35 to some half-a-dozen , but they have . certainly not exceeded their duty in going as far as they have gone , : and it now rests with the Quarterly General Court to approve or reject their recommendation . We have since learned that a

circular letter has been addressed to the whole body of candi-; elates , in accordance with the terms as proposed in Bro . [ SCURRAH ' S resolution . The other point related to the head master—Bro . the Rev .

R - MORRIS , M . A ., LL . D . —a resolution being moved by Bro . : JOHN GLASS to the effect that the Provisional Committee should ue authorised to terminate his appointment , in accordance with j the terms of the agreement entered into with him on the 30 th ; August , 18 75 , and take t ' necessary steps to appoint another lle

1 ad master in his place in accordance with the laws of the institution . A long discussion followed upon this motion , but in i "Us ^ case , as in that of the recommendation for the post of medical officer , the action of the Provisional Committee was ¦ supported , there being 45 members who voted in favour of Bro .

^' Ass ' s resolution and 34 against it . Bro . Dr . MORRIS , therei 0 re , will retire , but as the question of awarding him a pension 0 r honorariu m will now have to be considered , in accordance with

j a resolution of this General Committee , we trust his retirement ; v " be accompanied by some suitable recognition of the services j lc "as rendered the Institution as head of its educational staff j aur "ig the last 14 years .

The Coming Boys' School Election.

THE COMING BOYS' SCHOOL ELECTION .

I t i j ^ ere a very formidable list of candidates for election into ne Royal Masonic Institution for Boys at the Quarterly General ^ 'r t , which is appointed to be held in the " hall of the Free-¦ lav ] ' ^ avern on Friday , the 25 th inst ., the 45 names which e been carried forward from last April having been increased o ? - On the other handthere is , as-compared with the Girls '

, HUM e ^ i ° - which takes place on the following clay , a greater to ! r r ° ^ vacanc ' es to be filled , the proportion of 70 candidates 40 v f . canc - being a substantial improvement on that of the ^ candidates to 9 vacancies , in the case of the Girls' School . Notice also with satisfaction that only 5 out of these 70 boys

The Coming Boys' School Election.

will be struck off the list , in accordance with the Law . 53 , which fixes the maximum age for admission at 11 years , and one of these already has upwards of 1000 votes to his credit , so that his friends , if they exert themselves , should have but little difficulty in securing for him a place among the successful .

The London contingent of applicants is 17 strong , 12 of them being brought forward from April last , and the remaining five being new cases . There are also six boys whose claims to support are partly London and partly Provincial , two of these cases belonging to the former conjointly with Kent , while in the other

four it shares the responsibility with West Lancashire , Surrey , Middlesex , and Kent and Sussex respectively . Of the old candidates , No . 9 , whose father is living , but insane , has 1815 votes in hand , the proceeds of three previous attempts at obtaining admission ; and No . 12 , whose name has also been on the list for

two years , and whose father has likewise lost his reason , has 57 8 votes to the good . No . 21 , who must succeed at this attempt or fail altogether , has 1041 votes to start with ; No . 24 , 657 votes ; No . 25 , 1125 votes ; No . 39 , 1758 votes ; and Nos . 42 , 44 , and 45 , 811 votes , 702 votes , and 34 8 votes respectively . Of the six

who are ot partly London and partly Provincial origin , two only are old candidates , namely , No . 28 ( London and Kent ) , who brings forward 18 34 votes , and No . 35 ( West Lancashire and London ) , who starts with 592 votes , the remaining four having had their names approved and placed on the list during the earlier half of the present year .

The Provinces and Districts Aboard are responsible for 47 candidates , Cumberland and Westmorland , Warwickshire , and West Yorkshire heading the roll with three each . The Cumberland and Westmorland boys—Nos . . 5 , 14 , and 66—virtually start level , the first two having only 25 votes and one vote in hand ;

and the same may be said of the Warwickshire candidates , one of whom brings forward a single vote from April ; while the West Yorkshire are all new cases . Warwickshire also has a joint interest with Worcestershire in the success of No . 38 , who , however , has only 19 votes to his credit ; while No . 61 has claims on

both East Lancashire and West Yorkshire . Seven provinces , namely , Durham , Hants and the Isle of Wight , Jersey , Lincolnshire , Shropshire , Somersetshire , and West Lancashire , with the District of Madras , send up two candidates apiece , those from Durham being both old cases , but with few votes in

hand , while the West Lancashire boys will be candidates for the lirst time at this election . The candidates from Jersey—Nos . 6 and 8—are well placed with 1279 votes and 1619 votes already to their respective credits , and one of the two from Madras , namely , No . 7 , brings forward 138 4 votes . No . 11 , from

Lincolnshire , starts with io 3 gvotes , andthereis acanchdate , No . 43 , hailing from Durham and North and East Yorkshire with 292 votes already to his account . The remaining 19 are from single Provinces , or have claims on more than one , and of these , No . 1 , though he hails from Cornwall and Devonshire and has stood six

previous elections , has only 17 votes in hand , and as his name will be struck off the list if he fails this time , his friends will have to exert themselves in order to carry his election . No . 2 , one of four candidates who have made four previous attempts to obtain admission , stands well with 1720 votes in hand , and so , to

a lesser degree , does No . 4 , with 1386 votes , the intermediate No . 3 having * 219 votes . No . 16 , from Hertfordshire , starts vvith 1614 votes ; No . 17 , from Norfolk , with 965 votes ; and No . 26 , who may look for support from Suffolk , Bombay , and Sussex ,

1886 votes . No . 40 , who has only the Province of Suffolk to look to for support , has 4 60 votes brought forward ; but as for the rest , except on the principle that every little helps , tlie votes they start vvith are few in number and will make no appreciable difference , either in the direction of success or failure .

As regards other particulars , eight children have both parents living , but in two cases , as already cited , the father is insane , and in a third case , he is paralysed . Four of them have lost both parents , and one is motherless ; but the great majority , as usual ,

are dependent on the mother . In respect of 20 of the applicants , we note that the father in his prosperous days did service to one or more of our Institutions , either by acting as Festival Steward or subscribing to its funds ; while considerably more than half of them held office in lodge or Prov . G . Lodge , or assisted in