The Quarterily General Courts Of The Royal Masonic Institutions.

justified . More than this we will refrain from saying , not considering it fair to express the opinions of our correspondents and ourselves upon a conclusion without doubt properly arrived at upon particulars , the details of which wc are not in possession of any more than other members

of the Quarterly Court of the Institution . Wc can only hope , and AVC do sincerely hope , that there may be much , very much , in those details to mitigate whatever censure may be contained in the summary ( if censure there be , as wc have reason to suppose there is ) upon the respective

Committees , Staff , and Officials of the Institution ; and that in any case no rash or injudicious action on the part of its supporters may be permitted to affect those who have given zealous service in former Years . If there is now

much to condemn there is also much to remember and be grateful for , and the past should be permitted to have its influence upon the present and the future , so long as rehabilitation of the best interests of the school can be secured .

I he Quarterly General Court of the Girls' School , on the 27 th , was presided over by V . W . Bro . Horace Brooks Marshall , Past Grand Treasurer , and Treasurer of the Institution . Information was conveyed to the meeting that , acting on the success of the centenary festival of the

Institution , on June 8 th , 1888 , when the Prince of Wales , M . W . Grand Master , presided , in the Royal Albert Hall , and secured subscriptions considerably over £ 50 , 000 , the House Committee had resolved to enlarge the School at St . John ' s Hill , Battersca Rise , at a cost of £ 31 , 000 , in

order to extend the benefits of the Institution to a larger number of the daughters of necessitous or deceased Freemasons . V . AV . Bro . Sir J . B . Monckton stated thatBros . Hunt and Glutton , the architects under whose advice the House Committee were acting , in recommending this resolution

to the Quarterly Court , found that the arrangements of the establishment were of such a character that the whole of the nesjv work could be conducted without removing a single pupil from the larger to the smaller building . Bro . II . B . Marshall was again chosen treasurer , and it was then

resolved to elect at this meeting twenty girls in addition to the seventeen for whom there were now vacancies in the course of the ordinary conditions of the Institution . The motion of Bro . J . S . Cumberland , P . Prov . G . Warden , N . & E . Yorks , "That all motions or particular business

to be brought before the Quarterly Courts of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls shall be printed and distributed in the room at the meetings of such courts for the information of the brethren present " was carried ; as was also the important motions by Bro . Wm . Moiiey , " for

altering law 35 by the addition after the word ' admission ' in the 9 th line , of the words ' after having a report of the Petitions Committee , ' and after the word ' audit' the words ' and petitions , '" and that '' from the General Committee , Five or Seven Life Governors , being Freemasons ,

shall be elected annually to act as a Petitions Committee . They shall be nominated and elected in like manner , and at the same meeting as the House Committee . Three shall form a quorum . They shall meet from time to time as circumstances may require , and receive and examine

Petitions of Candidates for admr . sion , and investigate and make such enquiries relating to the circumstances stated in the Petition , or of the relations of the Petitioner , and may require such confirmation thereof as they may deem advisable , and they shall report the result of such

examination ov investigation to the General Committee , but they shall not have power to reject any Petition . The first Committee be elected at the Meeting of the General Committee next after the above propositions become Laws of the Institution . " Before the

proceedings closed a cordial vote of thanks was passed to Bro . Thomas Fenn , P . G . D ., the stockbroker who so arranged the conversion of the funds of the institution invested in Consols that the institution had saved as much as £ 1 , 000 . The General Committee , who acted

on Bro . Fenn ' s advice , and directed that the matter should be carried through , were also included in the vote . Scrutineers having been appointed , the business of the election was proceeded with , and at shortly before 6 p . m .

the poll was declared as follows : —Webster , 3 , 434 votes ; Harling , 3 , 009 ; Thaw , 2 , 732 ; Codling , 2 , 731 ; Liverd , 2 , 107 ; I lemmings , 2 , 323 ; Venables , 2 , 319 ; Lee , 2 , 298 Staff , 2 , 289 ; Gorton , 2 , 195 ; Pother , 2 , 112 ; Balch , 2 , 099 ; Cookes , 2 , 035 ; Schofield , 2 , 02 < s ; Winterbottom , 2 , 009

The Quarterily General Courts Of The Royal Masonic Institutions.

Collard , 2 , 008 ; Towse , 1 , 934 ; Campbell , 1 , 910 ; Astington , 1 , S 67 ; Greenwood , 1 , 859 ; Williams , 1 , 849 ; Roberts , 1 , 838 ; Tettenborn , 1 , 822 ; Taverncr , 1 , 819 ; Gould , 1 , 771 ; Cooper , 1 , 707 ; Turner ., 1 , 722 ; Sunnier , 1 , 089 ; Swaebe ,

1 , 679 ; Bruce , 1 , 078 ; Smith , 1 , 000 ; Jones , 1 , 022 ; Kassail , 1 , 015 ; Hall , 1 , 000 ; Michael , 1 . 592 ; Thorne , 1 , 579 ; and Young , 1 , 557—being a total of thirty-seven successful candidates from an approved list of seventythree girls .

The Boys' School Report.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL REPORT .

^ HT » T would well , before considering - tlie Report of tlie Commiscfp sion on the Boys' School about to be issued , if tlie subscribers j £ and supporters would first reoall to mind certain commonplace truths , and broad general facts , in order that they may be saved from the hasty action which so commonly follows the exposure of flaws and faults hitherto unsuspected . The normal subscriber to

any charitable institution begins by being a warm partisan , and often indignantly repudiates the suggestion of a fault , even when it is supported by good evidence , and refuses to assist in applying a remedy , even when the case admits of one both simple and effectual Later on . when by the accumulation of evidence the fact becomes too obvious to be denied , he becomes unreasonably angry : forgets

the real , broad grounds on which he supported the institution , and is inclined to withdraw his support because of abuses which might have been remedied . Now with regard to the Boys' School : it has received year by year the most generous and ungrudging support . The purses of members of the Craft have been ever open to its claims , and it must

be said also their ears have for the most part been closed to anything but its praises . Nor has this either been the blind ignorance of partisanship . Scarce a single Mason has befriended the ; School without some direct knowledge of its work ; and tu deny that on the whole that work has been a great and good one . is to libel the general intelligence of tlie Craft , by whom

and for whom it has been supported . A great pile of buildings has been erected , and many hundreds of the orphans of Freemasons have been fed , clothed , and educated therein , and afterwards materially helped on in life . ; i Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against , " we ought not to do anything rashly . If there is found to be just cause for blame , let it be meted

out with fairness : but let no feeling of indignation against individuals blind our eyes to the real worth or work of the Institution . For it is too much to expect any school—least of all one like ourscan be carried on year after year without fault . Still less is it to be expected that it can escape the imputation of a fault . Parsimony or extravagance in the management , severity or laxity in the

discipline , over-pressure or under-education in one direction or the other , its critics are sure to say it errs , and if it has kept the via media—the safe middle path—it will probably be said to have erred in both extremes . Bearing all this in mind , its best friends ( and surely there are no Masons who are not really friends to the Institution ) , its best friends

we say must feel that the time has at length come lor a full , judicious and authoritative answer to certain adverse comments , some of old standing , on tlie management of the School . The education , " discipline , management and expenditure" have been in turn exhaustively examined by a thoroughly strong , able and impartial Committee of Enquiry , and it would be well if every

subscriber would clearly formulate for himself the questions which the forthcoming Report may be expected satisfactorily to solve before committing himself to any course of action . It seems to us that these questions admit of very explicit statement , and partial answers at any rate have been , year by year , furnished to Subscribers in the Annual Reports . We wish , to know .

first of all . whether the education given at the School is good ; is it such as the average boy admitted to the Institution requires ; is it supplied by competent men , and under proper educational conditions . ' And granting it to be in these respects all that Masons could wish , we still have to ask—Is it economical , and does the outlav bear a fair proportion to the result . '

The same questions have to be asked as to the clothing , feeding , and what may be called " home-life" at Wood Green . First , are the results satisfactory in themselves ; and second , are they obtained at reasonable cost . ' People generally overlook the fact that these two questions must be taken together . If we pay . C 20 a year for feeding and clothing a boy we may justly praise the place where he

is fed and clothed for that sum , and yet bitterly blame the same food and clothing if supplied at a place where we pay . C 40 ; and the contrary is equally true . We expect from the Committee of Inquiry an opinion on these points , based on an enormously greater experience than is possible for the individual subscriber . There is a third side to the questioning which has arisen in

connection with the Institution where these same interrogatories have to be put—a side almost unique . We have an office which , absolutely costs more than the expenses of Education , and this on the face of it challenges enquiry . What are the duties and responsibilities of a secretary of a school , and what should be the cost of the executive . '

In the same manner it may be fairly asked what are the duties of the principal of the educational department , and the cost of his office and staff . ' If there is any relation between the important and arduous nature of a position and its remuneration , let it be clearly stated in black and white what those duties are , and how are they

performed . But . beyond all this , there are duties of another class—voluntary duties undertaken as labours of love by members of the Craft . In a very different spirit and with a very different right , in all kindness and courtesy and yet most firmly , the general body of subscribers have , wc think , a duty to ascertain how the House Committee and the Finance Committee have fulfilled their trust . In