ANOTHER year of " Life-boat Saturday " work has closed, and notwithstanding the great hindrance to advancement in the shape of a General Election, and County Council and School Board Elec- tions, good progress has been made, up- wards of eighty of the principal cities and towns of the United Kingdom having in all now joined the movement. The metropolis is busy preparing for a cam- paign, and we have no doubt that before the close of another year a handsome " Life-boat Saturday" collection will stand to the credit of London. If so, the moral effect on those large towns which as yet have not shown an interest in the work is sure to be a good one, and will certainly secure adherents for the cause. Our readers will remember that the Institution decided last May, in view of the growth of its Saturday move- ment and the desirability of developing it in London, that on and from the 1st January last, it should be worked from a central office in London. This was accordingly done, and business was in full swing on New Tear's Day at the "Life-boat Saturday" Fund Offices, 3 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, W.C., under the able guidance of Mr. A. P. SMITH, the " Life-boat Saturday" Fund Secretary.

The immediate general conduct of the Fund has been deputed by the Institution to a Committee composed partly of a few Members of the Committee of Manage- ment of the Institution, but principally of Representatives from cities and towns throughout the country in which " Life- boat Saturday" collections have been made. The first meeting of the Central Committee of the Institution's " Life-boat Saturday " Fund was held at the Offices of the Fund on the 15th January, when Sir EDWARD BIRKBECK, Bart., the well- known Chairman of the Parent Committee, was unanimously appointed Chairman of the Committee of the Fund. We have every reason to believe that the move- ment will, as heretofore, go on and prosper. This will certainly be the case if our readers give it a helping hand..