IN an article dealing with the Board of Trade returns of the shipping disasters during the year ended 30th June, 1903, a newspaper, whilst showing much appreciation of the work done by the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITU- TION, and in a friendly and helpful way recommending the Institution to the generous notice of the public, ends its article with the following sentence :— " No doubt if the number of Life-boats was increased the proportion of those saved from shipwreck might be raised from one-half to three-quarters of the total lives imperilled." This sentence was evidently written in the same kindly spirit that pervaded the rest of the article ; but it is a state- ment which will set thinking those who are thoroughly conversant with the work and organization of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. Is it in the direction of more Life-boat stations that the further development of the Life-boat service is to proceed, that is the question which arises ? It is a question which no doubt would be answered straight away in the affirma- tive by those who have not studied it from every point of view. The question, however, is not so simple and easily dealt with when one comes to look into the matter. The first point to consider is what lives were lost which might have been saved had there been a Life- boat station in the neighbourhood, and here at once we are met with a curious fact. This particular point is one which the Life-boat Institution never loses sight of, and every means is taken to obtain information which would warrant the Institution to establish new stations.

The Inspectors have special instructions to report on this subject and to get information in their districts which might point to the necessity for increas- ing the number of stations, and besides this, the Institution spreads broadcast the fact that " It is prepared to establish and maintain a Life-boat station on any I part of the coast of the United Kingdom, where it can be shown from previous disasters that a Life-boat is required." Yet, strange as it may appear, though anxious and willing to carry out this most important duty, the opportunities for doing so are extremely rare. No matter how heavy the calls might be on the finances of the Institution, the duty j splendid slipways have been built. The of providing Life-boat stations where ; most modest slipway will entail an required would rank first. | expense of some £500, whereas those From 1850, the red-letter year of the j which have to be carried out a consider- Institution, until 1895, the fleet of Life- I able distance and have to support heavy boats went on steadily increasing, nume- Life-boats of the largest class run into rically, until it reached 308. Since 1895  thousands. The expense of upkeep is the number of boats has fallen a little, j another considerable item, and in but otherwise the fleet hasincreased enor-; addition to that if the slipway is in mously in efficiency and power. It has 11 been found necessary to close some of the stations, established when the coasting trade was carried out in different circumstances to those which prevail now, when it was not uncommon to have 100 small craft in sight at the same time entirely dependent on their sails. Those were the days which led to the multiplication of Life-boat stations ; a sudden shift of wind or heavy squall would be sure to give work for the Lifeboats, but now things are different. The small-vessel carrying trade is very much reduced; steam and well-found vessels have taken its place, and have somewhat altered the conditions which formerly governed the position and number of Life-boat stations, and the description of Life-boat required for the work. The fishing industry has also undergone changes, and in places which had been provided with Life-boats, where this industry has now died out, it became desirable to close the stations or shift them to better positions.

Something of course remains to be done to improve the efficiency of the Life-boat service, but it is not so much in the direction of forming new Life-boat stations that we must look, as it is towards improvement of the launching arrangements, and thereby gaining expedition.

Everything points that way, but it must be remembered that the means and methods employed for obtaining success in launching entail large expenditure. With the Life-boats designed for sailing, it is always desirable, where possible, to launch them from slipways, and in recent years many an exposed position it is necessary to have moorings laid for the Life-boat to lie at at such times when it is too rough to replace the boat on the slipway.

Where a slipway is possible there is no gainsaying the fact that it is by far the most efficient means of launching a Life-boat. As soon as the crew can be mustered there is no further delay ; the men get into the boat, the chain which hangs her is slipped and away she goes to sea : the crew start in the best of circumstances, for they are not tired out by dragging at ropes or wet through by wading into the water. There is certainly one economic advantage in slipways, and that is that the Life-boat's crew require no further aid than one, or at the most two, additional men, either in launching or hauling up. A powerful winch renders it possible for the crew to haul up their boat. This at any rate is something to set off against the great initial expense of building a slipway, a small point when all is considered, for the slipway requires repairs, painting or tarring, &c., from time to time. The extra efficiency gained by the slipway more than compensates for the great expense. A thoroughly efficient station where launching can be relied on can be depended on to cover a long stretch of coast, and is better than half a dozen stations where launching and getting clear of the land is a feat attended with most uncertain results.

The existing arrangements for launching in every condition are capable of improvement. Much has been done of late years to improve the Lifeboat carriages and their appliances, andattention has been directed also to improv- ing the methods of using haul-off warps.

As for the Life-boats, the chief efforts of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION are always directed towards improvement. At present the question of the use of motors fully occupies their attention, and if the present experimental boats realise what is anticipated of them there is little doubt that the motor will prove a most popular addition to the service.

It might also at some future time be considered whether motor-power might not be applied to the transporting carriages, but there are many obstacles to overcome in this direction.

Now all these improvements which have been referred to in this article cannot be carried into effect without considerable expense, and if the Life- boat Institution is to carry on its practice of insisting on always having the best that can be procured, the strain on its finances must be correspondingly great. The public must not judge the expenditure of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION by the number of Life-boat stations, neither must they run away with the idea that more stations are not placed on the coast because funds do not admit of it, for as already pointed out the Institution is bound to station a Life-boat at every place where it can be shown that one is really required. Funds are urgently required, not, as it happens, for the special purpose of establishing new stations, but to enable the Life-boat Institution to bring its machinery into as near a state of perfection as mortals can command.