Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

The Quarterly General Court of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls will be held in the Large Hall of the Freemasons ' Tavern , on Saturday , the ist proximo , when , as there is happily no business of a seriously controversial character , the

proceedings will , doubtless , be both brief and satisfactory . The number of vacancies to be declared will be 21 , and the list of candidates will be announced as containing the names of 46 girls , of whom 33 remain over from the last October Election , and the remaining

13 have been since approved and accepted . Notice also has been given of a motion , the precise terms of which will be found in our advertisement columns , and which will in all probability command the general , if not the unanimous , consent of the Court .

The motion relates to the Centenarv Memorial Hall , and it is to the effect that all lodges , chapters , and other Masonic bodies which contributed to the Centenary . Festival , shall enjoy , as far as circumstances will permit , the privilege , on payment of the

sum ( £ 13 ) , which is necessary to cover the cost for erection , of placing a memorial of its contribution to that brilliant anniversary in one of the lights of the windows , or on the wall framing , of the said Centenary Memorial Hall , and shall further , in consideration

of such payment , be entitled to two votes in perpetuity or to four votes in the event of its being a Vice-President of the Institution prior to the time of such payment . It is reckoned that there were about 800 lodges , chapters , and other bodies which contributed

out of their funds to the Festival in question , and to them alone the privilege will be accorded . The hall will be lighted by six windows , each of which will be in nine compartments , and ,

therefore , capable of including nine memorials . This will allow of 144 of the contributing bodies being accommodated , while the wall framing will furnish the rest of the space that will be needed . Of course the idea is that the Masonic bodies will use

their arms and the memorials of their association with the Centenary , and if this is carried out the effect of the stained glass windows filled with richl y coloured armorial bearings , will

be very fine . However , it is necessary the proposition should be agreed to first , and we do not imagine there will be anything like appreciable ojDposition to its acceptance .

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS .

There will no doubt be a very full attendance of Governors and Subscribers at the Boys' School Quarterly General Court , which will be held in the large Hall of the Freemasons' Tavern , on Friday next , the 31 st instant . There is a very full programme

of business , and several of the questions to be discussed are certain to arouse a strong feeling of partisanship . The most important matter of all will be the question of Bro . BINCKES ' S

retirement from the Secretaryship and the amount of pension to be awarded to him ; and there is also a motion to award a sum of £ 450 to Bro . Dr . MORRIS in consideration of the services he has

rendered to the School during the 14 years of his Head Mastershi p . As regards the first of these questions , we have written about it at such length and so often that it is hardly necessary we should do more than place the circumstances as they are

before our readers , so that they may know what has been done and what it is proposed to do . It will be in their recollection that at the Quarterly Court in October a resolution , proposed

b y Bro . RICHARD EVE , Past G . Treasurer , on behalf of the Provisional Management Committee , to the effect that a pension for life of £ 350 a year should be awarded to Bro . BINCKES on retiring from the Secretaryship after 28 years' service , was car-

Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

ried by a bare majority of seven votes , the tellers returning 220 votes in its favour and 213 against it . Since then , the Provisional Committee finding the opinions of the Governors and Subscribers so evenly balanced , and being anxious , no doubt , that

whatever is done in recognition of Bro . BINCKES ' S long and meritorious services should be as nearly as possible the act of the whole Court , have themselves reduced the amount in their original proposal from £ 350 to £ 250 per annum , and this latter

is the pension which , on Friday next , it will be proposed to give the Secretary for life on retiring from office . In what form the new resolution will be brought forward is not clear , but it appears to us that the best plan will be for a member of the Provisional

Committee , on the question of confirming the minutes of the last Court being raised , to propose , as an amendment , the substitution of " £ 250 " for " £ 350 " in the resolution as passed at that Court , and if that is agreed to , there will be an end of the matter , and there will be no need to discuss the motions of which Bros .

HAWKINS and GREATBATCH have severall y given notice . That this amended resolution of the Provisional Committee will be carried is most probable and certainl y most desirable . There is no doubt as to the greatness of the services of Bro . BlNCKES ,

and the amount of the reduced pension—being £ 100 short . of the half of the emoluments he has been receiving during the last dozen years or more—is by no means excessive . As for the scheme , which has been sanctioned by the Provisional Committee

and of the nature of which our readers are probably already aware , it will not come before the Court in an official form , but the knowledge that a plan has been formed which will secure Bro .

BlNCKES his annuity and , at the same time , relieve the Institution of its annual charge of £ 250 , will certainl y act as an incentive to the Governors and Subscribers to bring the present deadlock to an end .

The motion of Bro . Major A . DURRANT to vote £ 450 out of the funds of the Institution to Bro . Dr . MORRIS in recognition of his services as Head Master , also has our sympathy and we hope it will be carried . It is not a very large sum—only a year ' s

salary as Head Master and Chaplain—and it is admitted on all hands that under Bro . Dr . MORRIS ' S guidance the reputation of the School as an educational establishment has been greatly enhanced . There are also several other notices of motion

relating to the laws affecting the eligibility of candidates for the Secretaryship ( Bro . J . LEWIS THOMAS , P . A . G . D . C . ) and the election , suspension , or removal of the Secretary ( Bro . GREATBATCH ) . As for Bro . THOMAS ' proposal , we see no reason for

raising the maximum limit of age for candidates from 40 years to 45 years . The law as it stands excludes a good man of 41 years , but the law as he proposes to amend it , would exclude a good man of 4 6 years . Perhaps the better course would be to

have no limit at all . As for Bro . GREATBATCH ' proposal for a new rule placing the election and removal of the Secretary in the hands of the Provisional Committee , it is absurd on the face of it . The Committee ' s name indicates that its services are only

temporary , and when it has completed the task with which it was entrusted in the summer of last year and delivered its final report , it will , ipso facto , cease to be . But it strikes us that these proposed

amendments to the laws relating to the Secretaryship , if it is desired they should take effect at the election of a successor to Bro . BlNCKES , will be useless . The idea is that Bro . BlNCKES

should retire as soon as the question of his pension is settled , while any alteration in an existing law which may be agreed to at the Court on Friday next , must be confirmed before it can take effect , that is , at the April Court .