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CONTENTS . PAGH L EADERSProposed Removal of the Boys'School ... ... ... ... 397 American Freemasonry ... ... .:. ... ... 39 s " Liber Ordinis Templi" ... ... ... ... ... 39 s Consecration of the Headingley Lodge , No . 2 G 0 S , Leeds ... ... 399 Consecration of the London School Board Lodge , No . 2 ( 511 ... ... 401

M ASONIC NOTESAppointments by H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , M . VV . G . M . ... ... 403 Jubilee of Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Missouri ... ... ... 403 Proposed Memorial to Bro < Sir Augustus Harris ... ... ... 403 Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 403 Provincial Grand Lodge of Monmouthshire ... ... ... ... 404 Provincial Grar . d Lodge of Hertfordshire ... ... ... ... 404

The Loss of the Drumrcond Castle ... ... .., ... 404 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Northumberland and Durham ... ... 404 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 405 Royal Arch IVfasonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 406 Lodge of Instruction ... ... .,. ,.. ... ... 406 Recent Boys'School Festival ... ,.. .,. ... ... 406 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 40 S

Proposed Removal Of The Boys' School.

PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

In an article on this subject which appeared in these columns a fortnight since , after pointing out that the plea of ignorance as to what had bee n done by the Board of Management under the authority of the General Court of Governors and

Subscribers could not be sustained , we mentioned that there were sundry other matters on which our correspondents had laid no small stress that might reasonabl y claim our attention . Thus , as regards the clayey character of the site on which the School

stands , "Ex-Secretary , P . M ., " though we allow that lie does not attach any special importance to the argument , reminds us that the soil was the same when the buildings were erected as it is now . The inference which we are apparently invited to draw

from this reminder is that if a clayey soil was held to be good enough some 40 years ago , when the nucleus of the present Estate was purchased , it ought to be good enough at the present time . It seems , however , to be very generally allowed that a

clayey site is very far from being as conducive to health as that on which a great public school is erected ought to be . The argument is decidedl y a weak one , namely , that because a mistake was made b y those charged with the purchase of Lordship

House and the 10 acres of ground which surrounded it , therefore that mistake should be perpetuated . Let it be shown that a change from an unhealthy soil to a healthy soil would be detrimental to the monetary interests of the Institution , and there is an end of the matter ; the School must remain where it is . This

point , indeed , was not lost sight of by Lord LATHOM when lie mooted the question of a removal . " Of course , " said his lords ' np , " it was a financial question , and required very great care and thought . " If length of time may be taken as an evidence of

Hie care and thought bestowed upon a question , there can , or ° "g )) t to be , no grumbling in this particular case . Lord lj \ 'lHOM ' s speech was delivered at the Festival held at Brighton ° » the 24 th June , 1891 . At the Quarterly Court of Governors

an d Subscribers in April , 18 92 , authority was given to the Board of Management " to entertain negotiations for the realisation of 1 TO Estate of the Institution to the best advantage . " Four years lapsed , and then , at the Quarterly Court in April last , the Board

0 Management were authorised to entertain negotiations for lc purchase of a new site . The matter , therefore , has thus far l 0 ( ' » considered with the utmost deliberation , and we have the i" -Iher assurance of the Chairman of the Roard of Management

at nothing will be finally arranged until it has received the Ruction of the supreme governing body of the Institution , that o say , of Die General Court . To judge from the tenour of 011 r correspondents' letters , it might be imagined that the

Proposed Removal Of The Boys' School.

question of removing the Boys' School to a healthier and more commodious site had been sprung upon the Governors and Subscribers for the first time in April last . Again , while " Ex-Secretary , P . M ., " appears to argue that

the error originally made in purchasing Lordship House and grounds should be perpetuated , he docs not hesitate to concede that the sourroundings of the School are not such as they should

be . " Doubtless , " writes he , " the surroundings of the Institution at Wood Green are not as pleasant nor yet as healthy as they were at the time the Schools were built . " This admission

appears to us to settle the question as to the desirability of removing the . Institution to another and better site . If we concede this , then , though the site were the best in other respects that could be found in England , the removal of the School

would become , not simply desirable , but a necessity . What kind of a conscience do we imagine the Boys' School authorities must have , when we find them appealing to the Craft generally

for funds in aid of a School , the surroundings of which are notoriously unpleasant and unhealthy , without at least propounding a scheme for the removal—if financiall y possible—to a healthier and more pleasant site ?

It may be as "Ex-Secretary , P . M ., " suggests—at all events , for the sake of argument , we will allow—that " the views expressed in the northern Provinces are not in harmony with the resolutions of the Board of Management . " It may also be , as in

the opinion both of " Ex-Secretary , P . M ., " and " Life Governor , " that , in the event of the scheme for a removal of the Boys ' School to another and healthier locality being persisted in , the northern Provinces , if not the Provinces generally , will

withhold their support from the Institution . This is tantamount to saying that the northern Provinces—or the Provinces generallyare prepared to support a School , the site and surroundings of which are admittedly unsuitable ; but that they will not

support it if it is removed to a healthy site , where its surroundings will be entirely unobjectionable . We cannot say that we share in this uncomplimentary opinion respecting the Provinces which our correspondents appear to ascribe to them . Firstly , if the

Institution is worth supporting for its own sake , when it is situated in a locality which is allowed to be undesirable , it will be still better worth supporting on the same grounds if it is removed to another locality which is desirable . Secondly , if the northern

or any other Provinces find it to their interest to avail themselves of the benefits conferred by the Institution under existing circumstances , a fortiori will they exhibit a disposition to avail

themselves of those benefits , and even to a greater extent than they do now , when the School is removed to a better and healthier site . The seven Provinces contained within the six northern

counties of England , that is to say , Northumberland , Durham , Cumberland and Westmorland , the two Yorkshires , and the two Lancashires have—or at the time the last Subscribers' list was issue / 1 , had—51 boys in the Institution ; and as London , at the

same time , had 8 4 out of a total 01 278 , these seven Provinces have availed themselves of the benefits of the Institution to an extent which is represented—as regards those elected from the whole 46 Provinces—by the ratio of 51 to 1 94 . Or , to

put the case still more strikingly , while the seven northern Provinces have 51 boys in the School , the remaining 39 Provinces have only 143 . Are the northern Provinces prepared to carry

their objections to the proposed removal of the School from an unhealthy to a healthy site so far as to sacrifice altogether the benefits they severall y derive from the Institution ?