The School Elections.

THE SCHOOL ELECTIONS .

The attendance of Governors and Subscribers at the recent School elections was , as usual , very considerable , and the returns show that the polling was very heavy , especially in the case of the Boys' Institution , for which there were many candidates ,

and , comparatively speaking , but few vacancies . In all other respects , however , the meetings in Freemasons' Tavern on Thursday and Friday of last week were exceedingly quiet , the business set down for transaction being of the most ordinary character imaginable . In thc case of the

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS , the election took place at the Quarterly General Court on Thursday , the ioth instant , when the recommendation of the Committee for increasing by one thc number of vacancies to be

tilled having been adopted , the poll was opened , and iS children were elected from an approved list of 34 candidates , of whom eight hailed from London and the remaining 26 from the Provinces and Districts Abroad . London carried four , and the

Provinces , which thus had a slight advantage , 14 of its candidates , so that , as all the last cases won places among thc Successful children , there remain four London and 12 Provincial candidates who will carry forward such votes as were polled for them to the

election in April , 18 9 6 . A London girl , whose name had been approved since the Spring election , headed the poll with 4395 votes , one of the two children from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight being placed second with 3703 votes , of which 142

already stood to her credit from April last . One of the East Lancashire lasses , who brought " forward 2538 votes , but had only this chance of success left her , increased her total to 3752 , and thereby secured the third place , a London girl being close at her

heels with 3664 votes polled , on this occasion . The fifth in order hailed from Cheshire , had this one chance of success only , and starting with an inappreciable five to the good , scored in all 3658 votes , the Warwickshire candidate , with 77 votes in hand , coming

next with 3634 , and the second East Lancashire lass next with 3 * " > 3 r votes , of which 217 stood to her credit from the Spring election . The Surrey candidate , who started with the substantial array of 1262 votes in hand , increased her poll to 3 605 , and

thereby secured the eighth place , while thc girl with claims on Warwickshire and Oxfordshire , who stood at the top of thc list , had 134 votes to her credit , and only had this chance left her , won the ninth vacancy with 3569 votes . The second Cheshire

candidate , having 2586 votes already in hand , had little difficulty in obtaining such further support as raised her total to 35 61 votes , thc two that followed her and hailed from West Yorkshire and Sussex scoring 3524 and 3513 votes respectively . The 13 th

vacancy was secured by the Middlesex girl , who started with 2 4 ° 6 and finished up the day with 3504 , while thc Lincolnshire girl was placed next with 3448 votes , of which , however , 1046 Were brought forward from April . A London girl , with 2536

votes in hand , won the 15 th place with 333 8 , a new candidate , , v 'th claims on Herefordshire and Derbyshire , being not far behind with 3272 votes . The last two on the successful list Were the Staffordshire child , who polled 3232 votes , and a fourth

London candidate , who raised the 1492 votes with which she started to 3223 , and thus secured the 18 th vacancy . The list of Unsuccessful Candidates was headed by a London girl with 2526

votes , the Somersetshire child being next with 2525 . Then followed the girl from Madras and Burma with 1907 votes , a second London girl with 1795 votes , a candidate with claims on "lalta , Essex , and Lincolnshire , who polled 1136 , of which 131

The School Elections.

were brought forward , and the Kentish candidate with 1060 votes . Of the remaining 10 only the Suffolk and two London girls obtained any considerable amount of support , there being 959 votes polled for the first and 6 97 and 642 for the two

Londoners . It is satisfactory , however , to know that all the unsuccessful will have at least one further chance of obtaining admission into the School , while most of them will have further opportunities as well .

The total number of votes available for the election was 86 , 521 , of which 15 , 726 were brought forward from April , : o were added under Law 4 6 , and 70 , 78 5 issued for this ballot .

The total polled was 79 , 073 , so that 743 8 votes were unused , or in a few cases spoiled through some informality in filling up the papers . The election for the

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS was held on Friday , the nth instant , the number of candidates being 46 and the number of vacancies 17 . Here the polling was heavier and the contest more keen , thc total votes issued

for the election being 7 8 , 495 , which , added to the 19 , 465 brought forward from April and 3 8 added under Law 33 , gave a total available of 97 , 99 s . The total poll reached 90 , 708 , so that there were 7290 votes unused , a large number of which were spoiled through some informality in filling up the papers .

In a former article we mentioned that of the 4 6 candidates 17 were furnished by London , three had claims partly on London and partly on a Province , while thc remaining 29 were wholly from thc Provinces or Districts Abroad . As regards the

17 who secured thc vacancies , seven hailed from London , two from London and Essex , and eight from the Provinces or Abroad , so that while London carried nine out of the 20 in which her brethren were interested , the Provinces secured only

eig ht vacancies . Gloucestershire , which sent up two boys and had a joint interest with London in a third , carried both the former , one being placed at thc head of thc poll with 4296 votes , while a London lad , and a last case , who brought forward

1540 votes from April , obtained a sufficient number of votes lo augment his total to 4227 . The third in order hailed from Essex and London , and polled 4141 votes . A second London boy , who had but this chance left him of winning admission into the

School and had already to his credit 990 votes , obtained further support to the extent of 3095 , and thus was placed fourth with 40 S 5 votes . The solitary West Lancashire youth who was new to the experiences of an election , scored 4021 right

away , and stood fifth , while Derbyshire secured the sixth vacancy for its candidate with 4013 votes . London furnished the seventh successful lad , who started with 2140 votes to his credit , and finished the day with 3926 , the second Gloucestershire boy

being only 20 votes behind with 3906 . As this youngster s name would have been removed from the list , had not his friends worked to such good purpose on his behalf , we must congratulate him and them on the

satisfactoryresult of their elTorts . A London lad followed with 3 S 55 votes , and was followed by another from the same source , who , considering it was his one remaining chance , fortunately had 1995 votes already in hand , and polling a further 18 3 6

made up his final total to 3 831 . One of three Essex candidates was placed nth , with 3521 votes , of which 2094 were brought forward from April , and 1427 polled on this occasion . No . 12 , from London , with 1373 votes in hand , received such an addition to his credit as raised his total to 3499 , while No . 13 ,