THE eighty-ninth Annual General Meeting of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION was held in the Whitehall Rooms on Wednesday, April 16th, 1913, at 3 P.M. The Right Hon.

the Lord Mersey, P.O., presided, and amongst those present were :—The Right Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.O., V.P. (Chairman of the Committee of Management), Sir John Cameron Lamb, C.B., C.M.G., V.P. (Deputy-Chairman), the Right Hon. the Earl Brassey, G.C.B., V.P., Mr. Robert Birkbeck, V.P., Mr..Harold D. Clayton, the Hon.

George C. Colville, Sir Robert U. Pen- rose FitzGerald Bart., Mr. J. B. Fortescue, Lieut. H. T. Gartside- Tipping, R.N., Mr. Harry Hargood, Mr. H. W. Kirby, Admiral Sir Arthur W. Moore, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., the Right Hon. Arnold Morley, Captain R. Pit- man, C.M.G., R.N., Vice-Admiral R. C. Prothero, M.V.O., C.B., Rear-Admiral Hector B. Stewart, the Deputy-Master of the Trinity House (Captain H. Acton Blake), Sir Allen W. Young, C.V.O., C.B., the Most Hon. the Marquis of Graham, C.B., C.V.O., Commander St. Vincent Nepean, M.V.O., R.N., Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. (Secretary of the Institution), Commander Thomas Holmes, R.N. (Chief Inspector of Life- boats), Mr. William Spicer (Assistant Secretary), Commander H. F. J. Rowley, R.N. (Deputy-Chief Inspector of Life- boats), and Captain A. C. Cust.

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said: The first business on this occasion is for me to present to your notice the Report for the previous year. Accordingly I do so.

Most of you have had an opportunity, of which you may have availed yourselves, of examining it, and, that being so, I presume that it is not necessary for me to refer to it at length, and it may be taken as being read.

In many ways this report is of great interest.

It furnishes an admirable testimony to the great beneficence and generosity of the public in providing means for prosecuting the work of this Institution. It also affords an admir- able testimony to the care and the ability with which the means so provided are ad- ministered by your Committee of Management with the assistance of your Secretary, Mr. Shee. We all owe a very great debt of grati- tude to the Members of the Committee for the labour and time which they devote, and for the interest which they show in the work that they have to manage, and I am sure we do feel grateful to them for what they have done. (Hear, hear-.) In referring to them we ought not, I feel sure, to forget those members who have gone before us, and who are now DO longer able to take their seat at the Board. During the last twelve months three Admirals, distinguished Members of the Committee of Management, have died. They are Admiral Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton, Admiral Sir William Montagu Dowell, and lastly, and within quite recent days, Admiral J. Halliday Cave, who was a Member of the Committee since 1894, and a Vice-President since 1908. All these gentlemen gave their time and their intelligence and their learning to the work that they had to do, and they gave them with single-hearted devotion. It is my pleasure to be able to tell you that, to some extent, their loss has been made good by the Senior Branch of the Service, for there are already two Admirals who have taken their places, Admiral Prothero and Admiral Sir Arthur Moore.

In addition to the loss of the three gentle- men whose names I gave just now you have sustained another loss of a heavy and serious kind. My friend, and probably your friend, the late Chief Constructor to the Navy, Sir William White, died, as you may remember, within the last two months very suddenly.

He gave the benefit of his great knowledge and experience to your Institution. Indeed, it is a singularly notable fact, that he was actually in attendance upon the Committee the very day before he died. He gave, so far as I know—for I happened to dine with him the very evening before he died—no sign of that sudden death which took away from us so able and so great a man.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, figures are, as a rule, uninteresting, but in connexion with this Institution they are worth listening to, for without taking them into consideration you can scarcely realise the extent and the importance of the great work which is carried on by this Institution. The Institu- tion was formed ninety years ago; you will very soon be celebrating, and I hope we shall all be here to do it, the centenary of your Institution. It was, as I say, formed ninety years ago, its objects being to build and maintain Life-boats, Life-boat Houses, Trans- porting Carriages and Slipways. Its objects have been enlarged since it was originally constituted, for, keeping abreast of the im- provements of science and knowledge, it has in late years constructed and maintains a number, seventeen I think, of Motor-boats, and these Motor-boats have been constructed at a cost of about 3.00W. each, giving a total cost of something like 50,0002. That fact alone will show you how expenses in con- nexion with an Institution like this tend to increase. The cost of an ordinary Life-boat when the Institution was originally founded was, I understand, about &OQI. The cost of such a Life-boat has, with the increase in the cost of material, the increase in the cost of construction and the increase in the cost of labour, now grown to something like 1,2002.

Another great object of this Society is the gathering together and maintaining for these boats an efficient crew, I suppose the most im- portant part of the work, for without a crew of the very best kind the materials which the Institution has at hand would be of little or no use. That part of the business of the Insti- tution I believe to be admirably performed.

So much so that at the present moment the Institution has in its service a body of men whose qualifications for their work have made the Life - boat Service of this Kingdom a model to the countries which have any corre- sponding service. (Applause.) Now, ladies and gentlemen, the beginnings of the Institution, like the beginnings of many things, even of human life, were small, and in the first year there was a saving of only 124 lives — not an inconsiderable number when one remembers that it was the first year's effort. But by the year 1869 that number had multiplied itself by ten, so that in that year the number of lives saved was 1,231. That is the largest number of lives recorded in any one year. A few subsequent years have approached that figure, but none have exceeded it. Last year the number of lives saved was 759. The average, I believe, for some years past has been about 700, so that last year's figures are not in- considerably above the average. But what I want to draw your particular attention to is this, that from the beginning, from the foundation of this Institution to the present day no less than 51,000 lives have been saved (cheers), and I want, if I may, to call your attention for a moment to what that means; to what.it meant at the time that the saving was effected, and to what it means now in the day that we are living. These men who were saved from death were sons, husbands, fathers, and they were restored to the homes of those who loved them and to the homes of those they loved. But this is small as compared with what this saving of life represents at present. These 51,000 lives, the population of a moderate sized town, were given back to humanity to increase and multiply; and if you think of it to-day they must by this time represent some hundreds of thousands of lives in this world.

In earlier days by far the larger part of the lives that were saved were rescued with what are called shore-boats, by which I understand boats not built or maintained or in any sense owned by the Institution, but boats which happened to be on the shore at the time that the wreck or calamity occurred.

What the Society does in connexion with such salvage of life is this:—They reward the men who go out to give their services towards saving the lives that are at risk, and in this way the Institution encourages and fosters the disposition all round our coasts to do the best to save life. Now things are a little changed, and changed in the interests of your Institution in the right direction. It is not by means of the shore-boat that the bulk of the lives at risk are saved. It is by means of your Life-boats, for now they save three- fourths of the total of the lives that are saved on the coasts.

But although this great work is done, there is, and there ever will be, more work to be done. For, notwithstanding the fact that an average of about 700 lives are saved in the course of twelve months, nearly a like number of lives—about 600—are .lost. This indicates that there ought to be continued efforts made to increase the efficiency of the Institution. What steps, if any, can be taken in this direction it is not for me to say. In fact, I am not qualified to do so. But the experienced gentlemen who sit upon your Committee of Management will no doubt know what those steps ought to be. There is, however, one thing of which I feel confident, and that is that whatever those steps may be they will involve and require a larger expenditure of money. I am not daunted in the least by that consideration. I am satisfied that the generosity which enabled this Institution to be founded, has enabled it in the past to be carried on, and is enabl- ing it to be carried on at present, will not be wanting when the further needs of the Institution are made known to the public.

A good work of this kind, I am glad to think, seldom appeals in vain to the English public.

There is one other matter upon which I should like to say a word. It was mentioned last year by the Duke of Northumberland, who was in the chair, and it strikes me as being a matter of considerable importance.

I mean the question of the comparative cost of a Life-boat service such as yours, carried on by voluntary effort, and a Life-boat service of a similar kind carried on by Govern- ment organisation. Many people think that great services of this kind ought to be in the hands of the State. They think, perhaps, that the State could manage them more effi- ciently, and they think, perhaps, that the State could manage them more economically.

I venture to doubt both. It has been my fortune or misfortune to enquire at great length into the administration of what is called the out-patient departments of the hospitals. I spent with Lord Northcote and the Bishop of Stepney a long time in making inquiry into that subject, and we at last made a Report which was issued just before the In- surance Act came into operation. It was, of course, a great question as to how far that Act would affect the out-patient departments of the hospitals, and I had to spend some time in considering that matter. I came to the conclusion that, so far at all events as the out-patients were concerned, the voluntary system in the hospitals was a better one and a more satisfactory one than the system erected by the Insurance Act. I am not here, of course, for the purpose of making—nor do I desire to make—any political reference. I merely mention it in connexion with the subject about which I want to read you some- thing. Now, I told you that this question of the comparative cost of the Life-boat Service, as managed voluntarily and as managed by Government, is a question which was men- tioned last year. Since then, and, indeed, quite recently, it has come up again in the course of correspondence between a gentleman of Stalybridge, a Life Governor, and your Secretary. The correspondent seems to have taken the view that some of the public may take, that possibly the work might be better done by Government. Mr. Shee answered that letter, and answered it so well, as it appears to me, and put the points so clearly, that I would rather use his words in dealing with it than my own. He said, writing on the 80th January last:— " The matter of the nationalisation of the Life-boat Service is one which, I need hardly say, has often been raised, and there is no doubt, prima facie, a good deal to be said in favour of such a step. But there are several considerations which should, I think, be borne in mind. In the first place, I need hardly say that any undertaking which is run by the State must necessarily be far more costly than that which is managed and administered by private effort. It so happens that the Life- boat Services of the United Kingdom and of the United States afford a very apt example of the truth of this statement. For the United States Service, which maintains almost identically the same number of Life-boats as the Institution does, costs 440,OOOZ. per annum, while the Institution maintains the whole of its Service, including every item of expenditure, at a cost of about 110,0002. a year.

" Secondly, we have, as it happens, inde- pendent and impartial testimony to the excellence of the management and administra- tion of this Institution from two very high authorities. The Select Committee of the House of Commons, which was appointed to investigate the administration of the Institu- tion in 1897, reported unanimously that the 'whole community was indebted to the Committee of Management of this Institution for the energy and good management (often in very difficult circumstances) with which they have for so many years successfully carried out the national work of life-saving, and this without reward or payment of any sort.' " Further, speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Institution in 1893, the Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P., then President of the Board of Trade, said: ' No Government Department could ever do the work as well as the National Life-Boat Institution; no Government De- partment would ever maintain that alertness and alacrity which the Governors of that Institution always exhibited; and no Govern- ment Department could ever invoke that generous sympathy with heroism which has characterised the work of the Institution. I trust the time will never come when the English public will abdicate their duty and their highest privilege of supporting such a noble Institution.' " (Cheers.) I think you will agree with me that these reasons commend themselves to your good sense, and that it is most desirable that the efforts of this Society should be controlled by the Society, and not taken away from it by any Government Department. (Hear, hear.) You must realise that the Committee of Management of this Society distribute yearly, and it is an increasing amount, something like 110,0001. I am quite. satisfied — for I have taken the trouble to examine the accounts—that that money is well dispensed, economically, wisely and effectively, and you could not do better.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, just one general observation. If you turn to the public press in these days you will see how the nations are struggling for the destruc- tion of human life; how they are actually destroying human life. And those who are not engaged in the actual destruction of human life are engaged in devising, at great cost, the means by which that destruction may be brought about. I have nothing to say against it. It may be that the lives lost and the money spent all help towards securing the peace which we desire, but it is surely a great consummation to turn from the consideration of these circumstances to the humble, quiet and useful work which this Institution is doing. Not work connected with the destruc- tion of life, but work connected with the saving of the best part of it. Therefore I think I am justified in saying, and I say it to you, that I hope with all my heart that this Society will progress, that its good work will spread, and that we shall not hear the end of it for many days. (Cheers.) Now, ladies and gentlemen, I will call upon the Secretary to read the names of those proposed to fill the offices of President, Vice- Presidents, members of the Committee of Management, and Auditors.

The SECBETARY read the names, as follows:— President.

His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, K.G.

Vice-Presidents.

His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, G.C.V.O.

His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, K.G.

His Grace the Duke of Leeds.

His Grace the Duke of Portland, K.G..G.C.V.O. : The Most Hon. the Marquis of Ailsa.

The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Clifden.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, K.G., K.T.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.O.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl Brassey, G.C.B.

Colonel Sir FitzRoy Clayton, K.C.V.O.

Sir John Cameron Lamb, C.B., C.M.G.

Robert Birkbeck, Esq.

Treasurer.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Harrowby.

Other Members of the Committee of Management.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Albemarle, K.G.V.O., C.B., A.D.C.

Major-Gen. Edward A. Altham, C.B., C.M.G.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bart., M.P.

Admiral the Rt. Hon. Lord Charles W. De la Foer Beresford, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., M.P.

Admiral Claude E. Buckle.

Charles J. P. Cave, Esq.

Kenneth M. Clark, Esq.

Harold D. Clayton, Esq.

The Hon. George 0. Colville.

Sir William Corry, Bart.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Derby, G.C.V.O., O.B.

Sir George Doughty, M.P.

Colonel the Hon. Charles E. Edgcumbe.

Sir Robert Uniacke Penrose FitzGerald, Bart.

John Bevill Fortescue, Esq.

Lieut. H. T. Gartside-Tipping, B.N.

Harry Hargood, Esq.

Horace Woodburn Kirby, Esq.

Admiral Sir Arthur William Moore, G.C.B., G.C.V.O.

The Rt. Hon. Arnold Morley.

Eugene F. Noel, Esq.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Gerard H. U. Noel, a.O.B., K.G.M.G.

Captain Robert Pitman, C.M.G., B.N.

Captain George B. Preston.

Vice-Admiral Reginald Charles Prothero, M.V.O., C.B.

Sir Boverton Kedwood, Bart., F.B.S.

Colonel the Rt. Hon. John E. Bernard Seely, D.S.O., M.P.

The Hon. W. F. D. Smith.

Rear-Admiral Hector B. Stewart.

The Admiral Commanding Coast Guard and Reserves (Vice-Admiral Arthur M. Farquhar, C.V.O.).

The Deputy Master of the Trinity House (Captain Herbert Acton Blake).

The Hydrographer of the Admiralty (Rear- Admiral H. E. Purey-Cust, C.B.).

J. Herbert Thewlis, Esq.

Alfred G. Topham, Esq.

Francis Mtzpatrick Tower, Esq.

Sir Philip Watts, K.C.B., F.R.S.

Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley, Bart.

Sir Allen W. Young, C.V.O., C.B.

Auditors.

Messrs. Price, Waterhouse & Co.

The CHAIRMAN declared these noblemen and gentlemen elected, and called upon The Most Hon. the Marquis of Graham, C.B., C.V.O. to move the first resolution.

The MARQUIS OF GRAHAM said:—The reso- lution which has been entrusted to me to move this afternoon reads as follows: " That this meeting, fully recognising the important services of the Royal National Life-Boat Institution in its national work of life-saving, desires to record its hearty appreciation of the gallantry of the Coxswains and Crews of the Institution's Life-boats, and gratefully to acknowledge the valuable help rendered to the cause by the Local Committees, Honorary Secretaries, Honorary Treasurers and Ladies' Auxiliaries." This is a very comprehensive resolution.

It might very well have been divided into two, because we desire it to be two things.

First of all we have said that, recognising the important services of the Royal National Life-Boat Institution in its national work of life-saving, we desire to record our apprecia- tion of the men who do it. Then, secondly, our desire is that, as we recognise that you cannot carry on this work of the Life-boat Service without adequate funds and careful organisation, we should express our thanks to those who give that untiring zeal and energy to raise those funds which enable us to carry out the organisation. (Hear, hear.) That is what we desire to do. Now the resolution says that the Life-boat work is a national work, a national service. If it is a national service, then it has one unique peculiarity. It has no opposition like other national services. There are no opponents, there are no anti.s, there are no cranks.

Everyone is united in the desire to save life from drowning at sea. (Hear, hear.) Now in carrying out that work you will have been very pleased and very gratified to have seen in the Report that during last year the Insti- tution, with its 278 Life-boats, managed to save no less than 759 lives. That is a very good record, but our Secretary has just handed me a slip of paper in which he says that, speaking of this year, 1913, the number of launches up to date is 161, and the number of lives saved is 211. (Cheers.) With these facts before us, it seems to me that we are assured that both in the past year, and in this year up to date, the Institution has maintained its high level of good service. (Hear, hear.) As I say, we saved 759 lives last year. Besides lives, I think we may say we also saved a large number of homes, because we must know that if any of these men got drowned so many homes would be plunged into misery and into poverty. So we take credit, then, for not only lives saved, but homes saved, in the useful work of this Institution. (Hear, hear.) Now I also see in the Report that in carrying on this work we spent last year 109,5001. That- is a very big sum, but I think, in view of the facts I have given, you will agree that, big sum though it is, it represents money well spent. (Hear, hear.) And, what is more, I will say this, that of those people who contributed that money not one ever grudged a single penny of it. Indeed, the pity of it is, to my mind, that the Insti- tution had not more money to spend. If you will look at the Report you will see that had it not been for a few very generous legacies last year, the ordinary expenditure of the Institution would have exceeded its ordinary income. Now that surely ought not to be in this country. Especially when considering last year which, we are told on all hands, was a year of abounding prosperity. I say that if this was a year of abounding pros- perity, then those people who have profited by the " gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks " brought to this land in ships should not forget the requirements of the men who man the ships. (Hear, hear.) We have mentioned the useful work that has been done in saving life. I well remem- ber in 1903 the awful gale off Cape Colony.

I remember that on one fine morning there were more than twenty ships laying wrecked on the beach at Muizenberg. Now there was not a single Life-boat in the district. There was one very inefficient rocket apparatus, but it would not work, and those who stood on that beach saw a sight they will never forget, and that was dozens, literally dozens, of men in those twenty ships climbing the rigging calling for help. No help could be sent them, so they jumped off the rigging hoping to reach the shore, but the great majority of them were drowned. Now if it were not for this Institution and the useful work which it does, that kind of disaster and that kind of experience would be a common thing round our coasts every winter. (Hear, hear.) But mercifully we are preserved from that, thanks to the Life-Boat Institution and its gallant heroes. Every winter innumerable acts of gallantry are done. There are too many to particularise, but I might mention two examples. There is a man, Charles Fish, of Ramsgate, who has helped to save over 877 lives. (Cheers.) Then there is another, James Cable, of Aldeburgh, who has helped to save over 300 lives. There are many of them who do similar service and similar acts of gallantry.

Why, last year, as your Report will show you, you distributed eighty-one different kinds of reward in the form of binoculars, aneroids, medals, certificates of thanks, besides 10,0001. in cash as recognition of service and gallantry.

That is proof of the heroism which is shown in the Life-boat Service every year. (Hear, hear.) Now I will turn to the last part of the resolution. This noble work could not be carried on unless we had adequate funds and adequate organisation. All thanks, then, to those who do not go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters who, year after year, bring shots to the looker, corn to the mill, money to the bank in order to help the Institution in its great work. We cannot get on without them. Engines will not run without fuel. All thanks, then, to these humble stokers. They do their work away from the limelight, away from public applause, away from the glamour of the press; and their work is unselfish and deserves our praise and thanks. (Cheers.) I have given you a few facts of this noble service and have shown you how it is we owe thanks to those who carry it on. It is a noble service. It is a service to be proud of.

It is a service for which it is an honour to work. It is a service which brings credit to our country and to British ships where British ships and seamen are to be found. (Cheers.' The Hon. G-EOBGE C. COI/VILLE, in second- ing the resolution, said : Lord Graham, him- self a sailor by profession, has dealt most thoroughly with the debt of gratitude we owe to the men who man our Life-boats, and who, by their daring, heroic and benevolent assist- ance, enable us to carry on the national work of saving life from shipwreck. In seconding this resolution I therefore propose rather to direct my remarks to the debt which we owe to the Local Committees, Honorary Secre- taries, Honorary Treasurers and Ladies' Auxiliaries for their help in collecting the large sums which are necessary to enable us to do this great work. I am afraid that inevitably these large sums, which now amount to 110,0002., must become larger year by year, because we are continually getting calls from the coast for Motor-boats, and as Lord Mersey told us, each Motor-boat costs us something like 3,0001. or more to construct as against a sum of 1,2002. or 1,5002. which an ordinary sailing Life-boat costs. But in addition to that it involves an expenditure on the wages of mechanics, who keep the Boat in proper order and repair for service. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is common knowledge that the year 1912 was a bad one for charities.

First of all the inauguration of the National Insurance Act involved a call on all of us, and not only on the annual subscribers to the Institution's funds but on the subscrip- tions which go into our collecting boxes from the workmen who are now called upon to pay a part of their weekly wages towards insurance. That was a call which we have heard on all hands from our collectors as largely affecting our funds. Then, secondly, a large sum of charitable contributions was directed to the catastrophe which occurred almost a year ago, namely, the loss of the Titanic. It is possible that that shocking disaster has had an indirect effect for our good, in that it has drawn attention to the importance of Life-boats, and it is extremely gratifying to find that in spite of these two great calls on the national benevolence, which have operated against the whole charitable world, our subscriptions and donations show an increase of 3,1202., and the subscriptions from financial branches an increase of 3,3192.

(Cheers.) This latter increase must be mainly due to the efforts of our Local Committees, and it is particularly gratifying, as we know that those generous helpers of the Life-Boat Saturday Fund, which it been necessary to wind up on account of reduplication of work and overlapping some three years ago, have transferred their efforts to our united cause (Cheers), and are now earnestly co-operating with our Local Committees in collecting funds for the work which we have at heart. I feel sure that the resolution which Lord Graham has proposed, and which I venture to second, will warmly commend itself to you.

(Applause.) The CHAIBMAN then put the Resolution, which was carried unanimously.

The Eight Hon. the EARL WALDEGBAVE, P.O., in moving a vote of thanks to the Chairman said: It is my privilege as Chairman of the Committee of Management to have the honour of proposing a vote of thanks to Lord Mersey for so kindly presiding over us to-day, but I should like, before putting that to the Meeting to say one or two words. You will have noticed in the report that the Com- mittee alluded to the closing of the Thames Iron Works Company, which for so many years constructed our Life-boats. Since that was printed the Committee have, after most careful consideration, decided to employ Messrs. S. E. Saunders, of East Cowes.

Meanwhile the Institution is itself carrying on the completion of the Life-boats which were under construction by the Thames Iron Works at the time those Works were closed.

We have made very careful inquiry, and we have every confidence that Messrs. Saunders will carry out the work in just as efficient a way as it has been carried out in the past.

Several allusions have been made to our finances which, as Mr. Colville told us, are fairly well off. But there is no doubt, as he said, that the Titanic disaster did take a great hold upon the public mind, and un- fortunately withdrew funds which would otherwise have gone to support the permanent and necessary work which the Institution is carrying on around our coasts. On the other hand, we owe to the generosity of the father of one of the survivors the gift of 3,0002. for a Motor Boat for Fraserburgh, to be named The Lady Rothes. This is a thankoffering which Mr. Dyer Edwardes has given in memory of the safety of his daughter. I wish that other survivors might be tempted to follow Vlr. Dyer Edwardes' generous example. (Hear, hear.) Other gifts received during the last fifteen months have been Mr. W. D. Oelsner, of Warnford Court, E.G., on account of the cost of a new sailing Life-boat for Dungeness So. 2 Station, 1,0002. on account of 2,0002.

Mrs. John Thynne, of Grosvenor Street, for a new Life-boat for Lyme Regis to be named The Thomas Masterman Hardy, after her grandfather (Nelson's Hardy), 1,2502.

The Bight Hon. Arnold Morley, a member of the Committee of Management, on account of the cost of a new Motor Life-boat for the Scilly Islands, 2,0001. on account of 3,0001.

(Cheers.) I want just to emphasise also what Mr. Colville said, that though we are doing fairly •well in out financial affairs, yet the increase of Motor-boats, which must go on increasing every year, necessitates a still further addition to our number of subscribers and donors, as you cannot build and maintain these Motor- boats at the same cost as the old sailing-boats.

Like all Institutions in this country, we get grumbles and complaints from stations and from different parts of the country, but I can assure you that they are all most carefully inquired into by the Committee of Manage- ment with the assistance of their secretary (Mr. Snee), the Chief Inspector (Captain Holmes), and our other officers, and we do our best to satisfy everybody, although it is not always an easy job. (Laughter.) You must remember that our crews are volunteers and that every station has its peculiar local circum- stances. It is impossible for an Institution like this, carried on in a voluntary way, to regulate everything by hard-and-fast rules, and the case of every Station must be considered on its own particular circumstances, which is not always possible for those who see a short paragraph in the newspapers to understand. I can only assure you that we always do our best to try and carry things out to the satisfaction of everybody. Great Britain has very often been criticised upon her Army, her Navy and other things, but I think we may say that in the Life-boat Institution she is at the head of the world. (Cheers.) Many people come from foreign nations all over the world to study our boats, our rules and customs, and go away to set up institutions on similar lines, which is a fact of which I think this Institu- tion may well be proud. I now move that the best thanks of this meeting be given to the Eight Hon. the Lord Mersey, P.O., for presiding over this the Eighty-ninth Annual General Meeting of the Royal National Life- boat Institution. (Cheers.) Sir JOHN CAMEBON LAMB, C.B., C.M.G., in seconding the motion, said:—I have the honour to second the resolution which has been so ably proposed by Lord Waldegrave.

I am sure we are all very happy and we count ourselves very fortunate in having for our chairman Lord Mersey. (Hear, hear.) Prom his association with Liverpool and his presi- dency of the Admiralty Court, he has gained an intimate acquaintance with maritime affairs, and we are sure that that acquaintance is accompanied by very deep sympathy, which I think has been in evidence here to-day and which we all very keenly appreciate. (Hear, hear.) We shall not forget his report on the Titanic disaster which has gone out to all the nations of the world as a call to set theft ships in order ; and I am sure we are all very glad to know that that report has been very promptly acted on by the Board of Trade, who have already issued fresh regulations, which have been acquiesced in and approved by that shipping community) and which will secure that there will be boat accommodation for every one carried on a passenger ship or an emigrant ship. But although that result has come, I think, mainly from the report which we owe to Lord Mersey, we can at the same time feel assured that it does not in the least diminish the necessity for the maintenance of a Life-boat Service on our coasts. What is to be secured by these new regulations is safety on the high seas, and however fully and efficiently ships may Toe supplied with boats to save their crew and passengers on the high seas, we must always remember that what is in view is moderate weather, and what We in the Life-boat Institu- tion have to deal with is not moderate weather. (Hear, hear.) Our boats are storm boats, and they will remain every bit as great a necessity around the United Kingdom: I should not like to sit down without joining Lord Waldegrave in testifying to the great value of the services which are rendered by the permanent staff. They are far above payment. As permanent officials of the Institution they are, of course, salaried officials, but I can assure you that a great deal of the work they do cannot be paid for.

It is work done from the heart, and is of very great value to the Institution and to the nation. (Applause.) I have very great pleasure in seconding the resolution moved by Lord Waldegrave.

(Cheers.) The Earl WALDEGRAVE put the motion, and it was carried with acclamation.

The Rt. Hon. the Lord MERSEY, P.O., in replying, said: Let me thank you for the honour, the great honour, that you have done me by asking me to come here to take the Chair. There is no subject that I have closer to my heart than the objects of an Institu- tion such as this. It is continually doing good. It does good far beyond the actual saving of life, for it encourages bravery, it encourages kindness and it succours those who are in need. It is not like a flash in the pan; it is not like a generosity which is made in a moment and then forgotten after- wards. The objects of this Institution are efforts of generosity which are continued and which are great. I can assure you that it has given me the greatest pleasure to come here and preside over this meeting to-day.

(Applause.).