The April School Elections.

THE APRIL SCHOOL ELECTIONS .

THE ballot papers , just issued , for the spring elections of the two Educational Institutions , afford further evidence of the ability of the Craft to fairly keep pace with the claims made upon its benevolence through

these two particular funds , for we find that no less than 52 vacancies are open for the 83 candidates on the two lists . This is a very gratifying position of affairs , and no doubt it will greatly relieve the anxiety of the

parents and friends of the candidates , who must see in such a large proportion of vacancies as compared with the number of applicants , increased hopes of success for the children they are particularly interested in .

Tor the Boyal Masonic Institution for Girls , the election for which takes place on Thursday , 12 th April , there are forty candidates , with twenty-two vacancies ;

while for the Boyal Masonic Institution for Boys , the contest for which is fixed for the following day , there are forty-three applicants , and thirty vacancies to be filled . More than half of the candidates—44 out of the

83—are first applications , the remainder coming forward , in one case for the fifth time , in others for the fourth , third or second , and in every case having votes already polled to their credit .

There are four last applications on the Girls list , three of them being first cases , and the other a brought forward case from the October election of last year , with 459 votes already polled on her behalf . This latter is No . 15 , L . F . flolloway , daughter of an old member

of the Provinces of Hampshire and Isle of Wight and Dorsetshire , who has five children yet dependent upon him . The other cases are No . 24 , Emma Hardy , one

of four fatherless children from the Province of North and East Yorkshire conjoined with the Eastern Division of South Wales , her father having been initiated in the

Lion Lodge , No . 312 , subsequently joining the Bute , No . 960 . No . 33 , B . S . Duke , is one of seven children

left to the care of their mother , widow of an initiate of Ionic Lodge , No . 227 , London , in which he passed the chair , and the Baymond Thiupp Lodge , No . 2024 , Middlesex ; the late Brother Duke was a Steward and

Subscriber to the three Institutions , and we hope his daughter will receive such support in her candidature as will ensure her election . No . 34 , N . K . K . Bleakley , is one of two children left by an old member of the

Great Northern Lodge , No . 1287 , London ; he was a member of the Lodge for five years , and during that period qualified as Life Governor of two of the Institutions , little thinking , it may be imagined , that one of bis children would seek the benefits he was so

anxious to help to provide for others ; let us hope the Crait will be as ready to support the daughter as the father proved himself willing to assist others .

The April School Elections.

There are two candidates on the list where both parents are dead , and another in which the father is dead and the mother a lunatic . This latter is No . 13 , E . H . Brown , who comes forward with 1415 votes to

her credit from October last . Her father was initiated in the Borough of Greenwich Lodge , No . 2332 , London , in which he rose to the dignity of J . D ., and was a subscriber thereto at the time of his death last year .

No . 14 , M . E . Brereton , is one of two parentless children from the Province of Suffolk , her father having been initiated there in St . Luke ' s Lodge , No . 225 , and

remaining a subscriber until the time of his death ; the daughter was a candidate in October last , on which occasion seventy-five votes were recorded in her favour .

No . 21 , Ethel Eddevane , is the last of the brought forward cases , having 820 votes to her credit from the last election . She is one of five parentless children , accredited to the Province of East Lancashire , where her father was admitted in the Antiquity Lodge , No .

146 . We hope her father ' s Province has the case in hand , in which event success is pretty certain at no very distant date . The remaining cases on the list are of an ordinary

character , No . 16 , Martha Whitcombe , heading the list so far as votes already polled is concerned , with 2 , 600

recorded at the last contest ; she has a sister in the Institution , and is one of seven children left to the mother ' s care , of whom two are partially provided for ; the father was initiated in the Lebanon Lodge , No . 1326 ,

Middlesex . The first on the record , May A . Tubbs , comes forward with 165 votes in hand from three previous elections ; she is one of four children left by a former member of the New Forest and Albert Edward Lodges , in the Province of Hampshire and Isle of Wight ,

and will , it is to be hoped , receive the support of the

district in due course , and then her election should be secured . The cases are pretty evenly divided between London and the Provinces , there being fifteen candidates

accredited to Metropolitan Lodges alone , and five others in which London shares responsibilities with outside districts . Hampshire and the Isle of Wight appears three times on the list , in one case , however , sharing the nomination with Dorsetshire . East Lancashire has

two cases of its own . Essex and Lincolnshire have each a candidate to work for , and share with each other and London the responsibilities of a second . Oxfordshire and Warwickshire are interested with other divisions in

two cases ; while the remainder are distributed between Middlesex , with one case of its own , and shared responsibility in another ; Berkshire , Cornwall , Durham , Gloucestershire , North Wales , Somerset , Suffolk , Surrey , and West Yorkshire each with one candidate ; and Dorsetshire , Kent , Jersey , North and East Yorkshire