AT the request of the General Committee of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, HIS GRACE THE PRESIDENT has addressed the following important communication to its several Branches, inviting them anew to assist to carry on with unflagging energy the great and national work in which the Institu- tion is now engaged. We feel assured that this appeal to aid in consolidating the im- portant undertaking, in which the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has been for so many years unceasingly employed throughout the British Isles, and whereby thousands upon thousands of our fellow-creatures have been saved /KHB aa appalling death from ship- wreck, will on this, as on former occasions, be promptly and cordially responded to.

"14 John Street, Adelphi, London, W.C, "16 May, 1870.

15 SIR, " I AM requested by the General Com- mittee of Management to address the fol- lowing remarks in their name to the several Local Committees in charge of the life-boats of this Institution.

" The Committee have, from time to time, in their Annual Report, thankfully acknowledged their indebtedness to the Local Committees for their invaluable volun- tary aid in superintending the life-boat es- tablishments intrusted to their care; but they feel that, after so many years of co- operation, a more direct expression of their appreciation and of mutual congratulation is called for.

" It is now no less than nineteen years since the Institution seriously undertook the work of providing the whole coast of the United Kingdom with life-boats, wherever needed, and reorganized its system of ma- nagement.

" The question at that time had to be considered whether the Society should be represented on die coast by single indi- viduals, as agents, to whose care the life- boats and all pertaining to them should be intrusted, and who would be held respon- sible for them and for all the necessary arrangements for working them; or whether the General Committee should appeal to the public spirit of their fellow-countrymen on the coast, and invite, them to organize local voluntary Committees, each with its own President, Chairman, and Honorary Secre- tary, to constitute a distinct branch of the Institution; each gathering round it its owa cluster of voluntary subscribers, and each therefore representing, on a smaller scale, the general managing body of the Society in London.

" Having faith in their countrymen and in the voluntary system, and believing that the Institution would appeal to the country ! with more dignity and force through such a ' representative organization than through in- dividual and paid agency, the Committee happily selected the first of those systems.

In the year 1851 the first Local Branch Committees were formed, and the work has gone on and prospered until now, when the Society has no less than 200 Branch ) Committees on the coast of the United Kingdom in charge of 220 life-boats, be- sides inland Committees for the collection of funds alone.

" The General Committee feel, however, that they have not merely to congratulate their local coadjutors on the magnitude of their operations, and on the important po- sition which the Society now occupies, but, what is of more importance, on the prac- tical results; on the many thousand human lives that have been saved by it; on the very small sacrifice of life amongst those brave men who have worked its boats; and on the almost unappreciably small number of failures on their part to effect the rescue of those they have endeavoured to save.

" In congratulating the Local Committees, however, on past results and present po- sition, and feeling how much the successful working of the Institution must always depend on their cordial and active support, the General Committee desire to improve the occasion by a few remarks with regard to the future.

" It would be unreasonable to expect that amongst so large a number of volun- tary local bodies all should be equally active, equally enthusiastic, equally efficient; even in the case of paid and disciplined bodies, such as the army and navy, such universal perfection is not attained; and in the case of Local Life-boat Committees, there are sometimes special causes tending to lessen the general local interest in their life-boat establishments, more especially when wrecks are not of very frequent occurrence.

" In order to maintain a general local interest, which the Committee conceive to be of the utmost importance, even apart from the great peeoniary advantage of the same, they think it indispensable that every Local Committee should meet at the expira- tion of each quarter of the year, to mutually consult as to the state and prospects of the Branch, to receive the Reports of the Hono- rary Secretary and the Coxswain as to the condition of the life-boat and its equip- ments, to audit the receipts and expendi- ture, to authorize payment of bills, or refer them to the General Committee, and to examine the Official Quarterly Report before its transmission to the Secretary in London, " The Inspectors report that at some sta- tions this periodical meeting of the Local Committee is neglected, and that practi- cally therefore, in those cases, the whole re- sponsibility of the life-boat work is thrown on the Honorary Secretary, who is then virtually only a representative agent of the Institution, "Even if only two or three members of a Local Committee should be present, besides the Honorary Secretary, it is still consi- dered that their punctually holding such meetings is highly necessary, and the Gene- ral Committee would recommend that a fixed day for each meeting should be spe- cified ; such as, for instance, the first Mon- day or first Wednesday in January, April, July, and October, when the Reports of the previous quarters just concluded will be ready for examination.

"Secondly, the Committee would also suggest that, at any stations where such is not already the rule, a qualifying subscription be required of each member of a Local Com- mittee, as is the practice in London ; since, apart from the influence of example, with- out some subscription no person can be pro- perly considered to be a member of the Institution at all.

" If the above two recommendations be acted on, and if each member of a Local Committee will kindly use his own per- sonal influence amongst hi* friends and neighbours in favour of their local life- boat establishment, the General Committee have no apprehension that there will be any falling off either in interest or in pecuniary support; but, on the contrary, that the future in each of their localities will more than rival the past.

" In consequence of the spontaneous re- linquishment by the Institution of the annual subsidy received for some years past from the Mercantile Marine Fund, the Board of Trade have, as you are probably aware, intimated to the Officers of Coastguard and Customs, as reseivers of Wreck, who have hitherto by virtee of that subsidy repre- sented die Board of Trade on our Local Committees, that they will now cease to do so. The General Committee, however, trust that tie co-operation of those officers will be continued, and that they will remain OB the several Local Committees.

" The Committee desire to conclude this communication with their cordial and hearty thanks to the several Local Committees for their hitherto kind support, and especially to the Local Honorary Secretaries on whose zealous co-operation the effectual working of the several Branches must always much Will yon have the goodness to acknow- ledge the receipt of this letter to Mr. LEWIS, and; inform him which day in the first week of each quarter will be selected by your Committee to hold their Quarterly Meet- ings: " I am, &c., " NORTHUMBERLAND, President, * To ras HONORARY SECKETARY o» " -Brandi jf i&e SayaH JWiOTdl £jfe*wt JnsKftrffen,".