Final Report Of The Boys' School Provisional Management Committee.

FINAL REPORT OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL PROVISIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE .

The Final Report of the Provisional Management Committee of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , which appeared in our last week's issue , and will be presented at the Quarterly General Court of the Governors and Subscribers , which will be held at Freemasons' Tavern to-day ( Friday ) , gives a clear and

unimpassioned account of the work done by the Committee during the period it has had charge of the Institution . It is a very business-like document . It states briefly the results of its administration , and contains a cordial expression of thanks to the Governors and Subscribers for the generous support

they have at all times given to the Committee . As regards the results , they in every way bear out the statements we made in a recent article . They show that "the whole of the recommendations of the Committee of Investigation have been dealt with , although , " as regards some of them , it is added by way of

qualification , " not yet as completely as could be desired . " The more important of these have already been referred to by us in general terms , but there are certain details which we think it desirable we should lay before our readers , so that they may be in a better position to understand how fully the Committee has

carried out the charge with which it was entrusted by the supporters of the Institution about two years ago . Thus it is satisfactory to know that " the Lavatory and Washing Accommodation has been extended and improved , and whilst affording increased facilities for cleanliness , waste of water has been

prevented . The present arrangements enable every boy to have at least one hot bath a week . " Again , " additions have been made to the fire appliances , and new escapes and shoots provided and fixed to prevent loss of life in the event of an outbreak of fire . " These extensions and additions , together

with the sanitary improvements , have , indeed , absorbed the £ 2111 , the expenditure of which has caused so much perturbation of mind among the partisans of the old regime , but we do not think there is the slightest chance of the alarms they have sounded finding an echo among the general body of Governors .

Then as regards the educational arrangements , firstly , we are told that " a sound system of technical education has been introduced , which already promises to bear good and useful practical results , " while " the course of study has been modernised , and 's gradually being extended , so as to give wider openings for the

various tastes and abilities of the boys . It is also noted that a printing-press has been established , and all the printing tor the School is done there in the hours of recreation , " and that " a School Magazine has been started , printed bv the bovs ,

in order to give full information of what occurs at the School , to maintain the interest of old boys , and to excite the interest ° f the subscribers and friends of the Institution . " These introductions are essentially of a practical character , and will afford those boys who may have a taste or inclination for printer ' s

* - \ ork a chance of entering into such a business immediately on leaving School , with all the advantages which must result J * om having already overcome the initial difficulties which beset le path of the ordinary prentice hand . But this is by no m eans all the Committee have accomplished in the way of 1 acuLdi

' training . the Report tells us in another paragraph that " many of the boys employ themselves in playtime gardening , engineering , and carpentering , under proper pervision . " To this , also , we see no objection ; provided ' ys that care is taken to prevent what is intended as a recrea-, ir , }' being converted into anything like a serious course raining . It is well that bovs who have a taste for

ensrineerci It * car P * tering should have facilities afforded them for vatingthat taste " under proper supervision , " otherwise their r gy in those directions is not likely to benefit them to any see n 6 Xtent ' - -i ! t wil 1 be the duty ° f the Head Master t 0 :, , lat what is mainly a recreation is not allowed to blossom of

athl t * CXtr ^ course Study . Cricket , football , and other a - Ic ex ercises will do the boys more good—besides being , as thai ' more acceptable as recreations by the boys themselvescarpentering and engineering during play hours , even

Final Report Of The Boys' School Provisional Management Committee.

though the latter may be pursued under the necessary supervision . However , we read in the paragraphs almost immediately following the one we have just quoted about gardening , & c , that " the field in front of the Institution " has been turned into " an excellent cricket and football ground /'' and that " greater

freedom' is given to the boys—by which , we suppose , is meant that the boys are not kept under a perpetual surveillance b y the subordinate Masters . In respect of these arrangements , it is difficult to say too much in the Way of commendation . Cricket and football on the one hand , and the greater freedom on the

other , will make men of the boys ; the former will help to make them plucky , enduring , and self-reliant , while the latter will create amongst them—to use the words of the Report itself" something like public spirit and a sense of responsibility . " As regards indoor pastimes , intended more especiall y for the

winter season , we find that " a series of evening entertainments in winter have been started , " and that they have already had " excellent effects on the spirits and character of the boys ; " while to crown all , we are told that " these and other minor but no less necessary improvements have been effected with rigid

economy . " Therefore , the satisfaction with which the Governors will undoubtedly hear of these improvements will be unaccompanied by the fear , which is not unusual in such cases , that their introduction will involve the Institution in any serious additional outlay . But even if it had been otherwise , and these

improvements had entailed a certain amount of extra expenditure per annum , we are inclined to think they would have regarded the addition with a certain amount of complacency , provided it were at the same time shown that the boys were being very materially benefited by the innovations on the previous

system of training . But we need not pursue the subject further . In our recent article we pointed out that the Provisional Committee had done the work with which it was

entrusted most thoroughly . In the course of our present remarks we have shown more particularly what has been done ( 1 ) to improve the premises at Wood Green , and ( 2 ) for the benefit of the children the Institution has taken under its

charge . We now leave the Report to the consideration of-the Governors , and we have very little doubt they will come to the same conclusion as we have—that the Provisional Management Committee has deserved well at their hands , and at the hands of all friends and supporters of this large and important Charity .

Thomas Dunckerley.

THOMAS DUNCKERLEY .

There can be but one opinion as to the third work which has emanated from the pen of Bro . Sadler . As regards himself , it very materially enhances his reputation as an author , while , as regards the subject of his memoir , it places before us a fund of information which enables us to form a clearer and more

complete idea than has hitherto been possible of the part played by Dunckerley in the several branches of Masonry existent in his day . The name of this distinguished brother has , indeed , been long familiar among Craftsmen generally . They may not have known precisely why or in what particular section of our

Order he was considered so bright an examplar to follow . But a mere casual glance at our Grand Lodge Calendar will have sufficed to satisfy them that one who had been Grand Master and Grand Superintendent of so many provinces must either have achieved an extraordinary

amount of greatness by means of the rare abilities he possessed ; or must have had an extraordinary amount of greatness thrust upon him . But though a general belief may have existed that as regards his enthusiasm for Freemasonry and his ability as a

Mason , Dunckerlev must have been a head and shoulders above the majority of his contemporaries ; and though several of the more curious amongst us may have been able to form a tolerably just estimate of his character and the work he accomplished ,