Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 553 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 554 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys 555 Provincial Grand Lodee of West Yorkshire 556

Cenienary ofthe Grand Lodge of Maryland 555 C ORRESPONDENCEBrowne ' s Masonic Master Key sjg Ihe Institutions 559 An Explanation 559 Notes and Queries 559

REPORTS OK MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 560 Instruction 562 Roval Arch 563 Instruction ebs

Mark Masonry 563 Ancient and Accepted Rite 563 Cryptic Masonry 5 6 3 Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution 5 6 3 Masonic and General Tidings 5 ( 14 Lodee Meetings for Next Week iv .

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THE proposals of the Special Committee appointed to provide Court , Girls' for the due celebration of the Centenary Festival of the School . Girls' School drew a large attendance of Governors and Subscribers at the Quarterly Court , held on Saturday last . There would have been a strong muster under any circumstances , as the regular autumn

election was a part of the day ' s proceedings . But it was known that a series of resolutions , embodying the recommendations of the Special Committee , as adopted by the General Committee , would be submitted , and it was also known that a wrong impression had established itself in the minds of sundry members of the Court as to the nature of those recommendations . There was , therefore , a very natural anxiety on the part of the general

body of subscribers as to what would be done , and how any objections that might be raised to the Committee's proposals would be met . and the misapprehensions of sundry members allayed . The report of the Committee was in due course submitted by Bro . FENN , its Chairman , who moved , in the first place , that Scheme A , which provides , as we explained last week , for the new houses and Lyncombe House being converted into one building and

rearranged so as to provide dormitory accommodation for an additional 35 girls , should be at once proceeded wilh under the direction of the House Committee , and carried out at an expense not to exceed . £ 2000 . Bro . FENN ' then submitted a number of resolutions relating to Scheme B lor enlarging and re-arranging the main building and erecting a new Centenary Hall and other necessary premises at an estimated expense of some £ 20 , 000 ,

the extent to which these proposals will be carried out being necessarily dependent on the amount of support that may be forthcoming at the Centenary Festival . Resolution No . 4 , which provided for the immediate inspection of the windows , with a view to their offering an easy means of escape in the case of fire , was adopted at once , and there was but little discussion as to Resolutions Nos . 5 to 9 , which were also adopted .

Resolution No . 2 , however , which recommended the approval of Scheme B and the raising of the necessary funds , occupied the Committee ' s attention for a considerable length of time , in the course of which Bro . FENN fully and most minutely explained the various parts of the Scheme , and so clearly indicated the nature and extent of the alterations and additions which it proposed , and the sums they would severally cost , that we

are satisfied the evident misapprehensions of the Provincial Grand Master of West Yorkshire and others must have been set at rest , and that he and they fully understand that the Committee are not going to pull down property which cost , ( , 63 , 000 nor do they propose to erect buildings which will require a subsidy ol £ 30 , 000 . To us it seems hardly in doubt that Bro . TEW must have added the estimated cost of Schemes B

and C together , instead of noting that it was only the former which the Committee recommended for adoption , and that Scheme C , for the manifold and satisfactory reasons which were offered , had been absolutely and entirely rejected . At all events , the ample and lucid exposition of Bro . FENN set the whole of the proposal before the Court in such a manner , that with a slight addition as to the time when it should be brought to the notice of the

Quarterly Court , Resolution No . 2 was carried , and Scheme B was approved as the plan for commemorating the Centenary Festival of the Institution . It is now manifest that the extent to which it will be possible to carry out this scheme depends entirely on the Crait , on whose contributions the Committee rely for the necessary ways and means . If the requisite funds are forthcoming our Girls' School will be a fine building , as it

is already a fine educational Institution , but if less than the amount stated is raised , the Committee must content themselves with such alterations and additions as will be possible with a lesser sum . It is as well , however , to point out that the fulfilment of any part of the Committee ' s plans now rests with the general body of the Craft , and we need hardly , therefore , temind the brethren that the services of Stewards are anxiousl y desired by the Secretary .

* * * The THERE is little doubt that , when due allowance has been made Girls 'School for the disappointment which the partisans of the unsuccessful Election . ... . . , , .. . .. . ~

' candidates must experience at the failure of their efforts , the result of the Girls' School Election at the Quarterly Court on Saturday is about as satisfactory as it could have been under any circumstances short of the election of the whole body of applicants . There were 30 candidates and onl y 16 vacancies . It was inevitable , therefore , that 14 of the former must an in obtaining laces . Howeverit is gratifying to know that the hope J' - ~ vV .. — . . I W

p , \ vhl t . — ^ " — " •h ...... .-.- > . KW wnicn we expressed last week , and which was endorsed by the Chairman of ch-lJ 1 rt ' H B MARSHALL , Past Grand Treasurer , that the four nudren who had but the one and only chance of election would prove s ' ueo . ' j « nas _ een rea |; sec * an _ tuat no gjr i > chance of admission into the ^ ci -ool . been utterly and irrevocably extinguished . The whole of the 14 no failed , and who are . naturallv enoup-h . downcast bv the result nf Ia < sr

cha ay ' P ' , liave t ' ie cons 0 ' ' of knowing that at least one more rem " ° v success awaits them in April next , while several of them will . mam eligible for further ballots , should their then efforts prove as unavailbien 1 ° " thlS occasion > As regards the polling , the contest appears to have and T \ j "/ fnd we" managed- No- 1 > a London girl , obtained 1 958 votes . iNo . 10—IDA WILKINSON , of Northumberland—1637 votes , or only 321

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votes below No . 1 , the highest unsuccessful candidates being LILY MARTIN , of Kent , with 1619 votes , and M . M . FREEMAN , of London , with 1605 votes . Of the remaining 12 , only one—the Colonial candidate—obtained an appreciable amount of support ; but such support as they did obtain will of course be available for the next and , if need be , for future trials . As we have pointed out already , London succeeded in placing one of its candidates

at the head of the poll , and two of its remaining six stood ninth and fifteenth respectively . Hertfordshire stood second with 1940 votes , and the VVest Yorkshire girl was third with 1939 votes . Wiltshire came next with 1918 votes , and then Cornwall with 1895 votes . One of the two girls fiom the Western Ui vision of South Wales secured the sixth place , and the other the eleventh . The Suff -Ik and Sussex candidates were next in ord ^ r

with 1826 and 1816 votes respectively , while two of the four hailing from Devonshire obtained the tenth and thirteenth places , No . 10 polling 1781 votes , and No . 13 . 1736 votes , the Hants and Isle of Wight girl coming between them , as No . 12 , with 1738 votes . One of the two Dorsetshire girls stood fourteenth on the list , with 1725 votes , and the Northumberland girl brought up the rear with 163 7 votes . Of the 14 unsuccessful candidates ,

four hailed from London , two from Devonshire , and one from each of the following , namely , Cambridgeshire , Cumberland and Westmorland , Dorsetshire , Essex , Kent , Norlolkand London , Somersetshire , and Victoria . According to the official return , 42 , 131 votes were issued tor the election ; but the votes polled and accepted amounted only to 36 , 024 , so that the unpolled and rejected—the latter constituting a very insignificant proportion— -amounted together to as many as 6007 votes .

* # * IT is greatly to be regretted that at the Boys' School Election Boys' School on Monday more strenuous endeavours were not made to Election . secure the return of all those children who , by the operation of Law 53 , had only that one cnance ol being admitted into the Institution . Six of the candidates were placed in this predicament , and ot tnese only

two obtained places , so that tne names ol the remaining lour will now De removed Irom the list . Wuhonly 12 vacancies to be rilled ami 54 applicants to fill them ,, we can well imagine the dirheuity 01 carrying tne whole six successlully through the ordeal , and wc grluer Irom the parueuUrs in the published list that in the case ol three out ot the lour 1 ejected boys , the provinces from which they severally hailed must have pretty well

exhausted their efforts in securing the election ot their candidates at the Girls ' School election on the previous Saturday . But where ol two approved candidates , be they boys or girls , it is found that one nas two chances ol being elected and the other only one , we think the electors should do all in their power to help forward the return ot the latter . VV . re this rule lollowcd , then no boy or girl , whose claims to admission into our Schools have been

recognised and approved , would be rejected . Past Grand Treasurer MARSHALL set an excellent example on Saturday last by announcing his intention of placing his votes at the disposal ol those girls wnu had but that one chance of success , in the event 01 their needing help , and we have little doubt in our own minds that Bio . AIAUSHALL ' announcement had much to do with securing the ieturn ot

the tour " last cases ' among the five girls at the top of the poll . Nor does it detract Irom the merit ot Bio . MARSHALL ' conduct that in the earlier days of the Girls' School it was constantly the practice of the Committee to call the Subscribers' attention to the tact that ii cert tin candidates were unsuecesstul at an approaching Election , tney would become ineligible by superannuation . . Had such a custom prevailed at these

Elections , it is possible the name ot the lad CANNON , who was No . t candidate on Monday , would not have been placed on tne list and remained there for three and a halt years in vain . But to return to the Election . With so many candidates and so small a proportion of vacancies it will be understood that the contest on Monday was very keen , no less man three candidates who polled over 2000 votes , and one who obtained upwards of

1 9 , failing to win places , while five others had 1100 votes and upwards . Tne highest successful candidate was MOKGAN , from Monmouthsliiie , lor whom 33 68 votes were cast , BOULTER , ot " Somersetshire , being second with 3151 votes . MASON , from Warwickshire , wno , as weilas BOULTER , was a ' •last case , " was third with 2981 votes , HIRD and TOLSON , ot W . Yorkshire , being next with 2973 votes and 2916 votes respectively . The next

five on the list hailed from London , PAYNE obtaining 2856 votes , BARKER 2626 votes , ALBERY , 2607 votes , BROAD 2441 votes , and PITT , who had 700 votes to his credit from April , 2397 votes . KELLY , ol Cheshire , stood eleventh wilh 2336 votes , and a second Somersetshire lad named EDWARDS last with 2229 votes , the tour highest unsuccessful candidates being AlossoP ( Cumberland and Westmoreland ) , who had 2145 votes , CHEEK ( London ) ,

2129 votes , CABLE ( Surrey ) , 208 9 votes , and BROWN ( Durham ) , 1914 votes . We notice further that London , which supplied 18 , or exactly one-third of the candidates , was successful in five cases , while West Yorkshire , which sent up four candidates , carried two ; Som ersetshire two out of its three candidates ; Warwickshire one of its two candidates ;

and Cheshire and Monmouthshire each its only candidate . As regards the votes brought forwaid and polled , we find on reckoning up the figures that the former were 635 1 , and tne latter 53 , 400 , tne numoer issued lor this election being announced as 58 , 703 , so tiuu tiie number oi unpolled and spoilt votes was 5303 , which is a smaller proportion than in the case of the Girls' School , both actually and relatively to the number issued .

*»* The Provincial ^ annua ^ meeting * at West Hartlepool of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Grand Lodge of Durham , of which we gave a full report last Dur am . ¦ \ i } appears to have been a great success , both as regards its proceedings and the number of brethren who attended it . The Prov . G . M ., R . W . Bro . Sir HEDWORTH WILLIAMSON , Bart ., presided in person , and was well supported by his Deputy , Bro . the Rev . Canon TRISTRAM ,