SIK CHARLES W. MACARA, BART.

W. Haslam Mills. 6s.

This book is a record of a life of marvellous activity and manifold in- terests. Few men, even in that hive of commerce and industry the county of Lancashire, have made a greater mark, especially in the wider sphere of industry, than Sir Charles Macara.

The present " sketch of modern Lancashire," written by one who has evidently taken the keenest zest in writing it, has a special interest for the Institution, since it gives a clear and detailed account of Sir Charles Macara's association with the " Life-boat Satur- day Fund," of which he was the founder.

Having retired to St. Anne's-on-Sea, in 1884, as a means of finding some rest from the storm and stress of industrial life, Sir Charles was drawn into close association with the seamen and fisher- men of this little spot. The association ripened into warm sympathy and friendship, and this was clinched by the deep impression made upon Sir Charles Macara by the terrible Life-boat disaster which overwhelmed the Southport and St. Anne's Life-boats on the occasion of their launch to the German barque Mexico in-December, 1886. With his customary energy Sir Charles threw himself into the business of raising a fund for the benefit of the widows and orphans, and in less than a fortnight £33,000 was raised, to which, it is strange to add at a moment like the present, the German Emperor con- tributed £250.

This tragic event and its generous sequel led Sir Charles Macara to make a closer study of the financial position of the Life-boat service. He found that, although the Institution was the only society entrusted with this great national work, its income was far short of its expenditure ; a fact which, as he saw, was essentially due to the lack of interest among the great mass of the public, who knew little about the Life- boats, and consequently did not feel the strength of the claim which they had on every inhabitant of these islands.

To remedy this situation Sir Charles originated the Life-boat Saturday move- ment, " to get at the small change and the coppers," the first function of the kind being held in Manchester in 1891.

The success was instantaneous, and a city which had been contributing a poor £200 a year raised £5,500 in a day.

With such proof of the value of the popular appeal, the movement spread with great rapidity, Sir Charles remain- ing the prime mover in it until the headquarters were transferred to London in 1896, a step of which he disapproved, although the records show that the Fund in no way suffered by the change.

The Life-boat cause owes a very great debt to Sir Charles Macara for the results which have accrued to it through his having brought it home " to the business and bosoms of men " that they have, in this glorious national service, a form of activity of which they may well be proud, and which it is at once an honour and a duty to support. It may be noted, too, that the Insti- tution has, through its ancilliary organisation of the Life-boat Saturday Fund, been the pioneer of all the street- collections, flag days, and popular efforts which have raised such vast sums during the War, and which have, incidentally, become such formidable rivals to the Life-boat cause, which was the mother of them all. In 1910, as will be remembered, the Institution decided that, in the interests of economy and unity of organisation and control, the whole of the work of raising funds for the Life-boat service should be done by the Institution itself, and the Life-boat Saturday Fund was wound-up. Nor can there be any doubt that this measure was as sound in principle as it has proved beneficial in practice. But no worker in the Life-boat cause is likely to under- estimate the great debt which it owes, not only to Sir Charles Macara, Sir Johnstone Wallace, Major D. McBride, and other prominent leaders of the Life- boat Saturday movement, but to the thousands of men and women who worked so earnestly for it up to 1910, and who have given unstinting and generous support to the Institution year by year since that date.

At the present moment it is safe to say that interest in the Life-boat cause is deeper and more wide-spread than at any previous period; and this in spite of the innumerable charities which the War has brought in its train. For the events of the terrible conflict in which we are engaged have brought home to an ever-widening circle the great debt which the people of our maritime race owe to the Life-boat service. It must be a comforting thought to Sir Charles Macara that he has played no in- considerable part in arousing this interest and stimulating public gene- rosity..