The New Secretary.

THE NEW SECRETARY .

Wih give elsewhere tho result of the election which took place on Saturday , when a Secretary was appointed for tho Royal Masonic Institution

for ± > oys , m succession to ± 5 ro . Frederick . Binckes , whose term of office expired on the 30 th ult ., after a service extending over nearly 30 years . As already recorded in our pages , there were 28 candidates , whose qualifications were in accordance with the

requirements of the Provisional Committee , and that number went to the poll on Saturday , but in reality —as we anticipated would be the case—the contest fnv the n / nnm ' ntmfint was nnnfirmrl In five imnrlirlnfoa . ¦ - ¦¦ ^^

"" •— ~ rc —~ ~~— - ~~« - ~ ...... u .. uu ... » wu , Bros . Baskett , Greenwood , McLeod , Smith and Storr , who between them polled 5375 votes out of the 5441 recorded on the occasion . This left but 66 votes to be divided between twenty-three of the candidates ,

but as seven ot them were wholly unsupported at the poll , the actual distribution was confined to sixteen , as follows : —One candidate polled , 21 votes , one 14 , one 5 , one 4 , one 3 , eight 2 each , and three 1 each .

The 5375 votes already mentioned as secured by the five leading candidates were not , however , by any means equally apportioned . Bro . J . M . McLeod came out first , with a total of 2317 : thus leaving but

3058 to be divided between his four foremost rivals , who polled as follows : —A . C . Greenwood 991 , Gordon Smith 815 , Edwin Storr 716 , S . R . Baskett 536 . It

will be seen that Bro . McLeod s majority was no less than 1326 over that of Bro . Greenwood , who came second on the poll , ' and this majority is in itself one and a-third times the total secured by Bro . Greenwood . This is a splendid result for Bro . McLeod .

and not only for him , but for the Institution over whose affairs he will in future have so much influence , as it proves that nearly three-sevenths , or not far from one-half , of the whole body of voters agreed to support him , and having placed ami in the onerous position of Secretarv . thev

cannot desert him during the early days of his rule at the offices of the Institution . It rests with Brother McLeod himself to show that he deserves a continuation of the support which has been thus given him , mci

< we shall be very much surprised if he does not prove himself fully competent to discharge the work entrusted to his care ; but we strongly urge upon his supporters the necessity of giving him a fair start ; to

use every effort , in fact , to make his first Festival as ^ ch of a success as they have made his election to the orace of Secretary , and if they will do that , we shall "ot have much fear for the future of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , at least so far as its

wuetary can influence its concerns . . We were very pleased to hear Bro . McLeod express mmself , as he did after the result of the election had ° een made known , in regard to Bro . Binckes . The ? Secretary said he recognised he had a good man 10 follow , and he gave to Bro . Binckes the credit of

The New Secretary.

having first aroused in him a desire to work for the welfare of the Masonic Charities . Recognising that it became imperative for the Craft to find a successor to Bro . Binckes , we think about as good a selection as waa possible has been made in choosing Bro . McLeod , but we advise him that we look upon his predecessor

in the office of Secretary as about as perfect an official as it was possible to find , and we consider he will have a very difficult task to reach the position secured by Bro . Binckes , far less improve upon it . In saying this we do not wish to discourage

his efforts , but rather to show him the difficulty of the 1 task before him ; at the same time we assure him : it will be our particular endeavour to do everything jin our power to prove we are anxious to " welcome

j ihe coming , and speed the parting guest . " It is no disrespect to our new love if we refer to the feelings we ; have entertained towards his predecessor , and we know there are a very large number of'Freemasons who feel as we do in this matter . They do not regard

Bro . McLeod as an interloper ; they feel that their duty is to help him to the best of their ability , so that he may be enabled to uphold the dignity of the office , raised to a high place in the opinion of English

Freemasons by his illustrious predecessor . On these lines we are convinced we may promise Bro . McLeod a large amount of support from the old friends of Bro . Binckes , and , as in addition , he has a very large following of his own , we anticipate it will not be a

wholly impossible task for him to make a brilliant success of the Festival of 1891 , for which we are pleased to learn a number of brethren have already given in their names as Stewards . In this

connection we venture to offer a word of advice to the new Secretary . It was London that made such a sorry show at the last Festival , and it is London which will require his most strenuous exertions up to the date of the next . He need not offend his Provincial

supporters by neglecting them , but he can justifiably ask his friends in the country to work for the Institution in their own districts , and thus enable him to give his whole attention and the best of his ability to the Metropolitan field , which has , up till the present

year , always produced the richer crop , and which is still available for an energetic worker who has the desire to make friends of those who are anxious to co-operate in the advancement of a good cause . We

again congratulate Bro . McLeod on his success , and sincerely hope he will labour successfully for many years to come in the new office to which he has been appointed by the Freemasons of England .

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire have resolved to recommend Bro . R . V . Vassar-Smith ni tbo successor of tho Baron de Ferrieres as Provincial Grand Mark Master Mason .