FROM time to time the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has endeavoured to keep before the public eye the neces- sity for increased efforts to promote the extension of the art of swimming, and in doing this it has only been acting up to its duties by endeavouring to improve, so far as lay in its power, what may reason- ably be called an important ally to its work of saving life from shipwreck. No doubt much has been done in late years by means of swimming clubs, public swimming baths, exhibitions of feats in swimming, &c., to overcome the lament- i able deficiency in this most useful, if not j absolutely necessary, acquirement -which j has always marked this eminently mari- | time and water-loving country. There still remains, however, much to. be done, and what more fitting season can be found for recurring to the subject than the present, when all who have the oppor- tunity, and many who have not, would only be too happy to get into the water, i whether that water be the pure health- giving seas round our coasts, or their sub- stitutes for the dwellers in inland counties, rivers, ponds, &c., down to the turbid, polluted waters of the canals passing through parts of London, in which many people are daily to be seen bathing? Some j ears ago a return was made, under the authority of the Government, of the numbers of deaths from drowning in in- land waters, and a startling record it presented, the numbers far exceeding those lost by shipwreck on our coasts during the same period. Although a knowledge of swimming would not have availed all or nearly all of those unfortu- nate people, doubtless it would have materially reduced the list of casualties.

There are few animals, excepting man, that cannot swim naturally and without previous education in the art, but with teaching man is equally capable of ac- quiring the power, and the power once acquired by him will, we believe, never be lost. Of course the old proverb " prac- tice makes perfect" is as applicable to this as to other attainments, and who knows when real proficiency may not only enable its possessor to save his own life, but also to have the gratification of saving those of others, where without it he would be powerless. We believe that even now a very considerable proportion of our maritime population, "who go down to the sea in ships, and do their business in the great waters,'" are unable to swim.

In the Royal Navy this want has doubt- less been in a great measure corrected by both officers and men being taught the art during their period of preparatory training before being sent to sea-going ships, and it is to be earnestly hoped the day may come when to teach it will be considered a necessary part of every boy's education and even of a girl's also; for although •woman's dress must, we fancy, always be a serious bar to great proficiency, it surely would be possible to teach them sufficiently to enable them to keep themselves afloat in cases of sudden immersion until help arrives. It certainly would materially promote coolness and presence of mind, vital qualities in all sudden emergencies.

Acting on the established principle that "Union is strength" there can be no doubt the object in view would be very materially promoted by the formation of a National association for the pro- motion of swimming, which would be a centre or point of union for all the local swimming clubs in the country to com- bine round, and so concentrate their at present admirable, but local, efforts into one great general effort. No doubt the existing clubs, or at least a majority of them, would see the advantage such a centre would be in the promotion of their work, and would aid in its formation. In this country which stands alone in pro- moting by private effort all works of charity and public usefulness, willing and able hands [ could surely be found to guide and work such an undertaking.

In very many cases of saving life from drowning, the battle is only half fought when the victim is taken out of the water, and the risk and work of doing so is fre- quently thrown away in the absence of proper and persistent efforts to restore animation so often found suspended. This power, like swimming, does not come naturally to man, but requires previous study. Of course such endeavours are best conducted by a medical man, but whilst sending for one, if none be on the spot, the precious moment at which they would have been effectual may have slipped away; we would therefore recom- mend the careful study of the instructions published by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION, for the restoration of the apparently drowned, which are com- piled from the well-known systems of Dr. Marshall Hall and Dr. Sylvester.