THE year 1903 has come and gone, and we are glad to be able to congratulate most cordially all the Life-boat Saturday workers throughout the United Kingdom on the almost unexpected success which accompanied their zealous and self- denying efforts during the year to assist the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. Times have certainly been somewhat bad, and men in all the walks of life have been asserting loudly that "nothing is doing," money scarce, and prospects far from reassuring.

Nevertheless, the Saturday Committees and their most invaluable adjunct, the Ladies' Auxiliaries, have not been daunted, but worked on bravely and enthusiastically, with the gratifying result that at the close of the year it was found that more cities and towns had aided the movement than in 1902, and, which is even more important, the net proceeds of the collections made showed a marked improvement. We are told that nothing succeeds like success ; we may therefore fairly hope without being accused of being either over sanguine or optimistic that even yet better times are in store for the Life-boat Saturday Fund, and that the new year's program will include the co-operation of some of the few remaining large centres of industry, which hitherto have either held aloof altogether from the work, or contributed but sparingly to it. The movement is one which the " working classes" of the United Kingdom — to obtain the support of whom the Fund was originated—should more especially aid and encourage, as they are perhaps more directly interested than others in the safety of our ships and sailors, contributing as they do more largely to the seafaring ranks, and depending in no small measure on their " voyages to and fro" for those necessaries -which, constitute the main staple of life. Were it not for the Life-boat Institution and the great national life-saving service it provides with its 289 Life-boats and the thousands of gallant men who man them, the dangers and difficulties connected with British imports and exports would be vastly increased. To assure the maintenance in efficiency of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION is the sole aim and object of the Life- boat Saturday Fund; and its committee, helpers, and auxiliaries have earned, and are continuing to earn, the gratitude of the Committee of Management for their important and very necessary support.