WE have received the Annual Report 01 the operations of the United States Life- Saving Service for the year ended the 30th June, 1890, issued from the Govern- ment Printing Office at Washington in 1892, the Service being a branch of the United States Treasury in accordance with an Act of Congress approved June 18, 1878.

We find from the Report in question that at the close of the above-mentioned year there were 233 life-saving stations, 176 being on the Atlantic coast, 46 on the lakes, 10 on the Pacific, and 1 at the Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky.

This total gives, therefore, an increase of 8 stations as compared with the previous year; viz., 4 on the Atlantic coast, 3 on the Pacific, and 1 on the lakes.

During the year there had been 384 disasters to vessels coming within the field of station operations, this number being 6 more than in the previous twelve months. There were 3,197 persons on board these vessels, of whom 38 were lost. The number of vessels totally lost was 76, being an increase of 13 as com- pared with the previous year. In addition there were, during the year reported on, 145 disasters to smaller craft, such as sail-boats, row-boats, &c., which had 299 persons on board, only 10 of whom were lost. The total number of persons suc- coured at the stations was 788.

Besides the lives saved from vessels, the life-saving crews were instrumental in rescuing 27 persons who had fallen from wharves, &c., and would, had it not been for the prompt aid given, have probably perished.

In pursuance of the Act of 1878, a careful investigation was held in the thirteen cases where life was lost, re- sulting in proving that the attending circumstances were not attributable to any diminution of the watchfulness and energy that have been notable qualities in the conduct of the men employed at the station?.

The fact that there had been a larger number of lives lost, in proportion to the number of persons on board the vessels involved, than there had been for many years past, was largely due to the un- usually violent and destructive gales which visited the Atlantic coast during the months of October and November, when several destructive wrecks occurred.

Happily, there had been a further in- crease as compared with the records of previous years in the amount of assistance rendered in saving vessels and property.

We regret to notice the death of Captain J. H. MERRYMA.N, of the United States Eevenue Marine, who was for many years the Chief Inspector of the Life-Saving Service, and who died on the 23rd February, 1890, at the age of sixty-two.

His colleagues deplore their loss, feeling that they owe much to his varied ex- perience and peculiar administrative abilities in the reorganization and im- provement of the system.

The death is also recorded with sorrow of Captain E. B. FOEBES, of Boston, U.S., who for some years acted as President of one of the Boards for the examination of life-saving devices, and who, on behalf of the Humane Society of Massachusetts, was an old and valued correspondent of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

Another telephone line has been con- structed for the benefit of the Service, connecting all the stations on the danger- ous stretch of coast on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, between Eace Point (near Provincetown) and Monomoy. The gradual extension of the system, and its intimate connection with the telegraph, has proved of incalculable benefit both to the Service and to shipping.