Provincial.

" This building , though good in itself , was not adapted for the purposes of a school , and possessed many incurable defects , but , after some alterations , was prepared aud opened in 1857—for the reception of 25 inmates . " The applications for admission increasing , after fresh alterations in 1859 , 68 boys were received into the establishment , and were thus enabled , liy the wise and benevolent arrangements of the General Committee and the liberal support of the Craft , to

enjoy the great benefit of a ho . ne and the striking advantages of complete education , clothing , and maintenance . Two great changes had now been made in the general system of the school , adding considerably to the yearly expenditure—the maintenance of the boys as well as their clothing and education , and the extension of the term of education from fourteen to fifteen .

" Your Committee feel it right to express their decided opinion that these changes were most desirable and advisable , and have tended more than anything else to the comfort and improvement of chose admitted to the Institution . " All , indeed , who have had any experience iu the working of similar institutions can have no doubt whatever that the alterations introduced so successfullin the rules aud regulations of

y the Boys' School in 1856 , must be a very great improvement on the original scheme , because , not only thereby has a comfortable home been provided for the sons of our deceased and unfortunate brethren , but the health and habits of the boys , their regular progress , and intellectual improvement have been watched over more effectually under this system than could possibly have been the case under the one previously in

operation . Such was tbe condition of the Institution until 1862 . In that year , owing to the still increasing demands for admission , which the General Committee were unable to comply with , and the evident insufficiency of the then existing buildings for the purposes of the Institution , the Committee determined , with the general approval of the Order , to erect an entire new building on the site at Wood Green , which should be distinguished not only for its architectural excellencies and striking external appearance , but for its internal accommodation , and

thoroughly adapted for the great end and object of such a school , by its educational appliances and sanitary arrangements . The Committee of the school were encouraged in this their great undertaking , involving as it did a very large and serious outlay , by the conviction that our Order in England is yearly increasing and very remarkably so both in numbers and social elevation ; and that there could be but little doubt , humanely speakingthat in their laudable efforts to render the school

, deserving of the approval and support of the entire Craft , ancl thoroughly efficient as an educational institution , those efforts would not fail for want of funds in large hearted liberality to further so good and so desirable an object . "Neither were their anticipations disappointed ; but in 1865 , having received substantial proofs of the interest and sympathy felt by the entire Order iu their praiseworthlabours

y , the school was opened—a noble building iu itself , and admirably adapted for the purposes of an educational establishment for the reception of 80 pupils , nine being from our own province . In 1866 this number was further increased to 100 . " But yet the large increase iu the number of inmates from 25 in 1856 to 100 , the number admitted in I 860 , has altogether failed to supply what are undoubtedly the still growing wants

of the Order . At the April election this year , for instance , out of 41 candidates nine only could be elected ; while at the recent election , October 19 th , out of 53 candidates nine could only be received , leaving 44 unsuccessful candidates . In consequence of the very large expenditure needful from a variety of causes , to erect substantially and satisfactorily the new buildings required by an increased number , of pupils and resident

masters , and the educational improvements of the day , there exists at this time , in round numbers , a building debt of £ 10 , 000 . " Could this debt be paid off , your committee believe that an addition could be at once made to the number of inmates , and that in a short space of time , supposing that the interest of our order in the Institution is kept up , of which there can happily be little doubt , the number of pupils could be still further sensibly increased .

" It is in order , if possible , to pay off this building debt which will weigh so heavily on the annual income , and will interfere so materially with any increase in numbers , so truly desirable , that your committee have come to the conclusion that this is a fitting ™ time and an urgent reason , for making a fresh and

special appeal to the province . In past time it was the great privilege of West Yorkshire to give the impetus to the provincial movement iu favour of the Metropolitan Charities , ancl the Charity Committee believe that—bearing in mind that our E W . Prov . G . M . will preside at the next Anniversary Meeting , and the pressing claim there is for a large and liberal support of the Institution , and the remarkable advantages this province has derived from the Boys' Schoolthe Prov . G . Lodge of West

, Yorkshire will be again willing to render a hearty and sympathetic response to the appeal now made to them . " Your committee have reason to know that the provinces of East and West Lancashire , Lincolnshire , Somersetshire , Hants ,, and others , are earnestly bestirring themselves , in order , if possible , to reduce and even extinguish the debt , ancl they therefore venture to indulge the hope that their brethren in West

Yorkshire , will unanimously agree to-day to join in promotingand achieving so very desirable a result . " No doubt it may he asked here , before the Charity Committee appeal to the province for fresh pecuniary support on behalf of the Boys School , has the Charity Committee nothing to say in respect of the financial and educational position of the school ?

" In answer to this , the Charity Committee would beg toobserve , that in all great building undertakings it is impossible but that questions will fairly arise as to the propriety of theexpenditure on the one hand , and the value of the result achieved on the other . Looking at the general tendency to improve school buildings ancl school arrangements , who can safely venture to say that the committee of the Boys' School

were unwise in seeking to raise the very admirable buildings they have happily succeeded in raising , or that the expenditure , however large , can be deemed inexpedient , which has provided a permanent and befitting building to meet the pressing claims of our yearly increasing brotherhood . Much could be said here if it were not , your committee think altogether out of place , in respect of the cost of building and materials which

especially marked- the years in which the contracts for the new school were executed , the unavoidable excess in some items , the . unforeseen expenses of others , which as very often happens in similar buildings , exeeed the amount of the original estimates .

" But your Committee prefer , as that only lies within their province , to deal with the practical question , how best can we reduce the building debt ? How , most effectually , can we render the school thoroughly efficient , and able to receive a still larger number of those poor orphans who anxiously seek admittance . " As qestions have arisen from time to time relative to the cost of the boys in the schoolthe committee think it riht to

, g say a few words on that head . " Thc cost of the Boys per head to the close of 1867 for actual domestic and educational expenditure , excluding office expenses and the education of Boys out of the School , amounted to £ 36 12 s . 2 Jd ., including oflice expenses , rates and taxes , and all expenditure to £ 46 15 s . Id . or £ 1 2 s . Id . less than in 1866 .

"No doubt this seems at first sight a large amount , but on . analysis it is susceptible of satisfactory explanation . The Freemasons' Boys' School is made up of very different classes of society , and requires therefore a higher standard alike iu clothing , food , and education , than is given to the orphans of merely eleemosynary institutions , or boys of any one particular class-It must always also be borne in mind that the object of the Boys' School is not to make our boys Charity Boysor to reduce

, them to the level of a pauper institution , but to give them the same education they would have had , had God spared the lives of " their parents , so as to fit them for the social position they were destined , humanly speaking , to fill . " And we must always keep this before us when we consider the cost of the education given in the Boys' School , or compareit with that of any other school . " A careful analysis of the expenditure of the Boys' School

per head , with that of several of the London Institutions of somewhat of a kindred nature , gives tbe following result" The expenditure per head is in excess of such schools as the Commercial Travellers , Warehousemen and Clerks , British Orphan , City Freemen ' s Orphan School , St . Anne's , London Orphan—but is equal to that of the clergy , orphan , and less than that of the Royal Medical Benevolent . Tbe much larger numbers in almost all these schools will in every case account for tbe difference in expenditure . " For instance , the office expenses in the boys' are larger per