The Quarterly General Court, Boys' School.

THE QUARTERLY GENERAL COURT , BOYS' SCHOOL .

Apart from the interest , and even excitement , which the halfyearly election of children always creates among the Life-Governors and Subscribers , the programme of business to be transacted at the OuarterlyGeneral Courtof the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , which will be held in the great hall of Freemasons' Tavern on

Friday next , the 25 th instant , is of more than ordinary importance , and will , no doubt , attract a numerous attendance of members . First of all there is the motion , of which due notice has been given , by Bro . RICHARD EVE , P . G . Treasurer , on behalf of the Provisional Management Committee , that a pension be to

of ^ 350 a year for life awarded Bro . F . BINCKES " on his retirement from the office of Secretary after a service of upwards of 28 years . " Then follows amotion by Bro . W . MASTERS on behalf of the Sanitary Sub-Committee of the Provisional Management Committee , that the said Committee be authorised in

to spend a sum not exceeding ^ 1000 providing additional baths in the School Buildings and for general sanitary requirements , and also a further sum not exceeding £ 2500 in the erection of a swimming bath . Lastly , we have a series of resolutions by Bro . W . HARRIS SAUNDERS relating to the education and

election of the children . The Court will also elect a Medical Officer from a list of 37 candidates ; while the poll to fill up the 16 vacancies from an approved list of 70 candidates will be opened at 1 p . m ., or earlier , if possible , and close , as usual , at 3 p . m . As regards these last two items , we have dealt with

them so recently , and at the same time so fully , that it is only necessary for us to point out , with reference to the election of ' 16 boys , that the number of those who , in the event of failure at this poll , will have their names removed from the list under Law 53 is ten , the children in question being placed on the list at

Nos . i , 18 , 2 i , 35 , 45 , 4 8 , 53 , 56 , 61 , and 6 4 . Owing , Ave presume , to a printer's error , the list of approved candidates , issued with the voting papers , gave the numbers and names of only five boys as being thus unfortunately placed , but the mistake has

since been rectified in the agenda paper for tile 25 th instant . It is important that voters should make a note of this , other " wise " the support they would have given to one or other of these last cases may be turned over to those who could have afforded to wait for another six months , or even longer .

As to the several motions of which , as we have said , due notice has been given , that of the Provisional Committee concerning the pension to be assigned to Bro . BlNCKES needs no further comment . We have already set forth his claims to the generous consideration of the Governors and Subscribers of the

Institution which he has served so long and faithfully . The proposal has received the unanimous approval of the General Committee , and there is , therefore , no reason to anticipate that the General Court will do otherwise than sanction the approval of the former . We doubt not , also , that the motion of the Sanitary

Sub-Committee will be approved . The necessity for greater bath accommodation on the premises and improved sanitary arrangements was shown clearly in the Report of the Committee of Investigation ; while there cannot be two opinions as to the desirability of erecting a swimming bath ,

not only on the score of health and cleanliness , out also because , in the great majority of public and quasipublic schools , instruction in the art of swimming has now come to be recognised as an essential part of a boy ' s training . As regards the first of Bro . W . H . S AUNDERS ' S ' series of

resolutions— " That boys shall be educated according to the position their father occupied while in prosperity , and that when con-SRlered advisable by the Committee an allowance be granted for ec Wation out of the Institution" —we do not see what better P ' cin can be adopted than that already provided under the rules

a "d regulations of the School . The bulk of the boys admitted are of the middle class , and the system of education is that ad opted in our middle-class schools . No doubt some of them

v ° uld have received a better education had their fathers refined prosperous , while others would have fared not quite so . ' 'l as they do now ; but the mean between these two extremes s fet b y the present system as far as possible , and quite as far

The Quarterly General Court, Boys' School.

as such an Institution as this can be expected to go . As for his proposal that an allowance should be granted for the education of some of the children " out of the Institution , " Bro . SAUNDERS

appears to be ignorant that under one of the existing laws an allowance not exceeding £ io per annum for education and clothing is granted to the parents or guardians of children in those cases where a desire has been notified to the

Committee that . they should be educated elsewhere . His resolution ( 5 )—that the sons of Masons should be eligible for admission into the School on payment of a fixed annual sum—seems quite uncalled for . We know of no reason why the sons of Masons who can afford to pay

for their children ' s education should be educated in any particular School ; and even if there were a reason , it will be time enough to take such a proposal into consideration when there are no longer any children of deceased and indigent Masons to provide for . His other two resolutions—( c ) to elect , if possible ,

all last cases , and [ d ) to have a Sub-Committee , whose special duty it shall be to examine and report to the General Committee upon all petitions—have our heartiest approval . For a long time past we have made it our business to invite the attention of voters to this class of cases , in the hope that by so doing we

might , as far as lies in our power , prevent their failure ; while , as regards the election or appointment of a Petitions' Sub-Committee , it is difficult to imagine how it can be otherwise than beneficial . The particulars of each case will be more carefully

inquired into than under the present plan , and the chance of an improper or unworthy object being accepted as a candidate will be rendered more difficult . We trust , therefore , that , if time permits , the Court will give these two suggestions of Bro , SAUNDERS a favourable hearing .

The Late Bro. Sir Daniel Gooch. Bart.

THE LATE BRO . SIR DANIEL GOOCH . BART .

The event which every one has been anticipating for some few weeks past has happened , and Bro . Sir DANIEL GOOCH , Bart ., who was M . P . for Cricklade from 1865 to 1885 , Chairman of the Great Western Railway Company , and Provincial Grand Master and Grand Superintendent for Berks and Bucks , has at length succumbed to the serious illness from which he had been

suffering so long , and which he had borne with such exemplary patience and fortitude . Our late brother had been a familiar figure in various spheres of public duty , as well as in Freemasonry , for

very many years ; but though he rendered many important services in Parliament , in railway administration , and in connection with the various schemes for establishing telegraphic communication between the old and the new worlds—it was for his

success in laying the Sub-Atlantic cable of 1866 that her Majesty conferred upon him the honour of a baronetcy—it comes not within our province to do more than refer to them as constituting so many additional claims upon our respect and admiration for his public worth . Our concern is with the services he

rendered to the Craft of Masonry , and we are by no means exaggerating the merit or the extent of these when we state that few brethren of our time have done more to promote the welfare of our Society than the distinguished Mason whose loss we are now so sincerely mourning . It is close on 40 years since

he underwent the ordeal of initiation , and since that date there is hardly a year in which we do not find some important Masonic work associated with his name . More than one lodge or chapter on the roll of England is indebted for its success to the energy and ability with which he presided over its early

fortunes . When Lord METHUEN was appointed Prov . G . M . of Wiltshire in 18 53 , the services which Bro . DANIEL GOOCH had rendered to the Craft in that county were recognised by his lordship , who appointed him his Deputy , nor did he retire from this office until in 1868 the late Earl of ZETLAND . M . W . G . M . —

who in 1858 had conferred on him the collar of Grand Sword Bearer of England—selected him to occupy the still more important post of Prov . Grand Master of Berks and Bucks . In 18 75

his Royal Highness the GRAND Z . appointed him its Grand Superintendent . Of his success as a provincial ruler it is unnecessary for us to say more than that , during the 20 years of his Prov . Grand Mastership , the lodges . in Berks and Bucks more than