THE Ninety-fifth Annual General Meeting of THE ROY AL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION was held at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on Friday, 2nd May, 1919, at 4 P.M. The Right Hon.

the Lord Chancellor presided, and amongst those present were :—The Earl Waldegrave, P.O. (Chairman of the Committee of Management), the Countess Waldegrave, Sir Godfrey Baring, Bfc, (Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Management), Lady Baring, Mrs. Lloyd George, Mr. W. Fortesque Barratt (Civil Service Life-boat Fund), Sir Frank Benson, Rev. B. J, Campbell, Captain C. J. P. Cave, Major Sir Edward F. Coates, Bt., M.P., the Hon. George Colville, Sir William Corry, Bt,, M. le Comte d' Onnesson, First Secretory of the French Embassy, Mr. H. B. Fargus, Sir Robert and Lady Penrose Fitzgerald, Mr. J. Berill Fortescue, Major-General Sir Coleridge Grove, Mr. Harry Hargood, Brigadier-General Noel M. Lake, G.B., Mr. J. F, Lamb, Commander Sir Harry Mainwaring, Bt., B.N.Y.B., Engineer Rear-Admiral Charles Budd, Major- General the Bight Hon. John E.

Bernard Seely, C.B., O.M.G., D.S.O., M.P., Captain Sir Herbert Acton Blake, K.C.Y.O., K.C.M.G., (Deputy Master of the Trinity House), Rear-Admiral John F. Parry, O.B., (the Hydrographer to the Admiralty), Mr. Alfred G. Topham and Mrs. Topham, Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, G.C.B., Mr. George F, Shee, M.A-. (Secretary), and Commander Thomas Holmes, B.3S". (Chief Inspector of Life-boats).

The Annual Report was presented to the Meeting.

The CHAIRMAN; My Lords, ladies and I gentlemen, this, as probably most of you who are present here are well aware, ln the Ninety- fifth Annual Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION I shall probably not be wrong in assuming that the work of the I Institution is too well known to all those who aw present hew to-day tot it to be useful that I should go Into its past history at any length.

It is sufficient to say that it supplies a history of some generations, dating which the courage tall, the nobility of the seafaring folk and the men of our race never shone with a more splendid valour. It would, I think, not be without interest to you if 1 reminded you of the effect of the war upon the activities of | The war conditions of the past five years are,  as everyone must hope, over, Mid it is necessary for those who are charged with the fortunes of this Institution to look forward to, and j work upon, peace conditions.

Ladies and gentlemen, the war record of this Institution has been worthy of Us long 1 record in the peace year» which preceded 1914.

1 Since the outbreak of war there have been no ! fewer than 1,778 launches of life-boats. In that period no fewer than 5,MS lives have I been saved, wad 179 vessels have actually been saved through the exertions of the crews of the Life-boats which protect our coast. It is j not without interest to know what has been I the contribution of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION.  in regard to those I war casualties which may be described as immediate, In order to deal with casualties 1 springing directly from the war, there have teen no fewer than S49 launches of Life-boats, and no fewer than 1,668 lives have been saved.

And here you would, I think, be interested if I mentioned, In passing, a novel feature—that 1 no fewer than 23 lives have been saved from I aircraft casualties by boats connected with your Institution. Now, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it is not to ha supposed that this j element will not enter into the work of the institution in an increasing degree in the future. Indeed, it requires vary little iiaagto- ation to suggest that if many aviators are to attempt to fly, during the weather conditions i with which we have been blessed in the last 1 week, from Newfoundland to Europe, the  exertions of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION are likely to be very considerably ' increased. The work of the last year, 1918, may be very shortly summarised. In 1918 S52 lives were saved, and, as far as the present year has gone—that is to say, to the 1st May—no fewer than 25S lives have been saved. It is not perhaps possible to realise the great aggregate contribution which has been made in the years by this great Institution to the saving of human life, unless one takes a figure, and states it quite N 2 shortly, from the year 1824, the earliest days. In the years which-have elapsed between 1824 and 1919, 57,069 lives have been saved by the exertions of the gallant members of these crows. I think that we should make a great mistake, and the general public—and still more that section of the public which is principally interested in seafaring men—would make a very great mistake if they thought that the need for organization, the need for added resources, was likely to grow less in the years that are in front of us. It is, on the contrary, quite certain that it will grow greater. For some time, as the distin- guished Admirals whom I see on this platform would assure yon, we must count upon great danger from stray mines. Nothing is more certain than that there will be many maritime causalities from this cause during the next few years. And we mast also be prepared for a great increase in the world's shipping.

Nothing seems to me to be more clear econo- mically than that the great nations of the world, who have been associated with one another in carrying through the great straggle from which we have just emerged to a successful conclusion, are convinced that the development of the world, and the commercial intercourse between the nations of the world, will produce » reward rich beyond all imagin- ation for that country which maintains—as it would be in our case—or secures—as it would be in the case of another nation—the primacy in the shipbuilding of the world. It is, as I have said, certain that the greatest efforts will be made by every nation which can be counted among the first in the possibilities of productivity to manufacture the maximum quantity of mercantile tonnage. In that friendly competition those who believe in the fortunes and in the star of this country, and in the manufacturing enterprise and capacity of the citizens of this country, do not believe that for any considerable period we shall be content with the second place to any other country. But observe, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, if I am right—as I believe I am right in that anticipation—it follows equally that additional obligations and duties will be imposed upon the Life-boat crews, and it will be necessary that additional provision shall be made in order that they may not prove inadequate to the increased calls upon them.

Mow it is quite obvious that, having regard to the nature o! the work that is thrown upon them, all Life-boats must be kept in absolutely first-class condition. It is no good keeping a Life-boat if it is unseaworthy, because the very conditions of its employment involve the pre-mapposition that it will be required to put to sea under circumstances which, much more than is the case with ordinary vessels, will at once find out a vessel which has a weak spot or which is not completely seaworthy. And it must not be forgotten by those who are responsible for the finances of this Institution, that we are face to face, as all the world is now, with circumstances under which construction, labour and every- thing, cost 40 or 60 per cent, more than they did before the war. And I need hardly point out, either, that the whole of the expenses of ! maintaining the fleet of Life-boats has under- j gone an enormous, and, as far as we can judge, an enduring increase. The question of persomtfl is not less difficult. The men, indeed, are ready and willing to go out in all weathers, and usually when no other craft can venture, and they go heartily, carelessly, gladly, to risk their lives tor others under circumstances when they have very little of the glamour of danger and all the icy terror of its grim reality, I have before me a note, very expressive in its laconic simplicity, which, it seemed to me, gave a very clear and vivid impression of what these valiant men undergo, and are content gladly to undergo. I read in yesterday's paper; "Exciting scenes were witnessed at Fraserburgh yesterday. The Admiralty patrol vessel Eminent, of Burghead, was making for Fraserburgh, when something went wrong with the engines, and she had to come to anchor in the bay. A tremendous northerly gale was blowing, and the breakers were running mountains high. The ISmnent put up signals of distress, and, in response, the motor Life-boat "Lady Hollies (one of the latest patterns), manned by a crew of eleven, under Coxswain Andrew Noble, put to sea. The ! Life-boat had not gone far beyond the south j breakwater when a succession of huge breakers I overtook her and turned her over. The crew were all thrown into the raging sea, amid the horrified cries of the spectators. It was not thought that any could be saved. The men made a great fight for life, and though they floated through half the length of the bay they reached the sands alive. Nine of the men came round all right, bat the chief Coxswain, Andrew Noble, aged fifty-nine, and the Second Coxswain, Andrew Farquhar, aged fifty, died immediately after being washed ashore. Noble, who held the decoration for 1 life-saving at sea, was master pilot at Fraser- burgh, and the premier Life-boat coxswain of Scotland. Farquhar was also a pilot. The accident caused great excitement and sorrow in Fraserburgh, The Eminent eventually I drove on the sands, when the crew were all j landed by the life-saving apparatus." Well, | ladies and gentlemen, it seems to me indeed a moving thing that men of fifty-nine and fifty should be found ready, on the first call of danger, to risk their lives under circumstances which must have been so perilous as the events show on the occasion which is described so simply in the passage which I have read to you. It is, indeed, as I have I said on another subject, a most moving re- flection that, after five years of war in which I a deep and constant and most grievous toll j has been taken in » variety of ways of our | sea-going population, whatever other dif- ficulties we have, there are always to be found heroic sailor men who, when they are asked to volunteer for and to perform this service, aye, and to train for this service— which is far more trying in ordinary times— ! come forward, and, as we believe, will continue to coma forward in sufficient numbers; and while we find the British race giving proof of these qualities let us be slow to listen to the gloomy conclusions of those who have told us that there is anything wrong with the heart of the people of this country.

Now, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I have two final observations to make, not primarily connected with the main topic with which I have attempted to deal. The first is to make a special appeal to ladies to help on Life-boat Day, which will be held on the 6th May, 1919. Now I have not the slightest doubt that the ladies present are as weary of flag days or special appeals as most other sections of the community after five years of war may be supposed to be, but my experience of these appeals was that towards the end of the war the public had learned to discrim- inate, and that, while there were many appeals to which they listened with very con- siderable impatience, the fact that so many had been made did not estrange them from the appeals to which they had been long accus- tomed, whose merits they well knew, and which they were prepared to respond to; and of this I am sure—that the needs of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION are so clearly realised throughput the whole oi the community, and its exertions excite so much admiration and sympathy in the members of the community, that you ladies will not make a vain appeal if we may enlist you in our support on the 6th May; and indeed you will be doing a noble work, because Life-boat Day is a day upon whose fruits the financial well- being of the Institution very greatly depends; and whether it is a great success or not depends in its turn upon the personal exertions which are made by our friends in all parts of the country.

The second announcement I have to make is one which I am sure will be hailed with sincere pleasure by all the members. It is to the effect that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has become President of the Insti- tution; and in a letter His Royal Highness conveys the hope that the appeal will be attended with very great success, and calls attention to the magnificent work done throughout the war by the Life-boat crews.

Every one of us knows with what extraordinary assiduity and energy His Royal Highness associates himself with every element of our national life. It is certainly a source of satisfaction to us that in this particularly humane work, work which saves so many of those—rather pathetic and helpless because so simple—men who go down to the sea in ships. It is indeed a source of satisfaction to us that His Royal Highness should be found putting himself at the head of a movement at once so beneficent and so necessary in an island country.

Ladies and gentlemen, if we are all, accord- ing to the measure of our opportunities, determined to make the next appeal on the 6th May worthy in its results of the exertions of the Institution throughout the war, and correspondent with its known and ascertained needs in the near future, we shall have done something to repay those who sacrifice their lives in the interests of their follow sailors, and we shall have done some- thing, though this matters less, to repay the exertions of those who, year after year, lay us under such great obligations for the time they spend upon the organization of this Institution, in all its branches throughout the country.

I now call upon the Secretary to read the list in connexion with the election of the Committee of Management and auditors.

The SECRETARY: This is signed by Lord Waldegrave, as Chairman.

(The Secretary read the List.) President.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G.

Vice-Presidents.

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

His Grace the Duke of Leeds.

His Grace the Duke of Portland, K.G., P.O., G.C.V.O.

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Ailsa.

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

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

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

The Right Hon. the Earl of Plymouth, P.O., G.B.E., C.B.

Admiral the Right Hon. the Lord Beresford, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., G.B.E.

The Right Hon. the Lord Strathclyde, P.O., G.B.E., LL.D.

Sir Robert Uniacke Penrose Fitzgerald, Bt.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt.

Robert Birkbeck, Esq..

Treasurer.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Harrowby.

Committee of Management.

The President.

The Vice-Presidents.

The Treasurer.

The Right Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.O., V.P. Chairman.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., V.P., Deputy- Chairman.

The Right Hon. the Lord Airedale.

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

Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, Esq.

Captain Charles J. P. Cave.

Kenneth M.Clark, Esq.

Harold D. Clayton, Esq.

Major Sir Edward Feetham Coates, Bt., M.P.

The Hon. George Colville.

Sir William Corry, Bt.

Commander the Right Hon. the Viscouut Curzon, M.P., R.N.V.R.

Henry R. Fargus, Esq.

John Bevill Fortescue, Esq.

Major-General Sir Coleridge Grove, K.C.B.

The Right Hon. the Viscount Hambleden.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Hardwicke.

Harry Hargood, Esq.

Admiral of the Fleet, the Right Hon. the Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O.

Vice-Admiral Sir Colin Keppel, K.C.I.E., K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O.

Sir Woodburn Kirby.

Brigadier-General Noel M. Lake, C.B.

3. V, Lamb, Esq.

Herbert F, Lancashire, Esq.

Charles Livingston, Esq.

Commander Sir Harry Mainwaring, Bt., B.N.V.B.

Colonel His Grace the Duke of Northumber- land.

Captain Robert Pitman, OM.G., B.N, Captain Qoorgo B, Preston.

Sir Boverton Bedwood, Bt., F.B.S.

Engineer Rear-Admiral Charles Badd.

The Right Hon.. Walter Bunciman, Brigadier-General the Right Hon. John E.

Bernard Seely, O.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., M.P.

Rear-Admiral Hector B. Stewart.

The Bight Hon. the Lord Sydenham, G.G.SX, G.C.M.G., G.O.I.E., G.B.E., F.B.S, Alfred &. Topham, Esq.

Commander Francis Fitzpatrick Tower, B.H.T.B.

Sir Philip Watte, K.C.B., F.B.S.

Commodore Sir Richard Henry Williams- Bulkelay, Bt.,O.B., B.N.B.

The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor.

The Admiral Commanding Coast-Guard and Reserves (Vice-Admiral B. S. de Chair, K.C.B., M.V.O., K.C.M.G.).

The Deputy Master of the Trinity House (Captain Sir Herbert Acton Blake,K,C,M.G., K.C.V.O.).

The Hydrographer o£ the Admiralty (Rear- Admiral Sir John P. Parry, K.C.B.f.

Auditors.

Messrs. Price, Waterhouse & Co, The CHAIRMAN; My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, no other persons having been named, under Bye-law 9, Section 3, I declare the gentlemen whose names have been read out duly elected. It is now my duty to present medals to a number of brave men who have ' rendered conspicuous service during the past twelve months, and I will ask the Secretary to read a record of their services.

The Secretary read the record, and the medals were presented.) The Silver Second Service Clasp of the Institution was awarded to JOHS T.SWAK, and the Bronze Medal to GEORGE AYERS, Coxswain and Second Coxswain of the Lowestoft Life-boat in the following circum- stances :— On the 30th September, 1918, the sloop Pomona,, with a crew of twelve hands on board, stranded in a N.E, gale and a very heavy sea, about 17 miles from Lowestoft, As other help was not forthcoming, a message was sent to Lowestoft, and Coxswain Swan at once fired the assembly gang. He succeeded in obtaining the requisite eighteen men, but two of these were over seventy years of age, twelve were over sixty, and the remaining four over fifty.

Notwithstanding the severity of the gale, this brave crew pat off without hesitation to the help of the imperilled men.

When the Life-boat reached the wreck she was completely under water, and four men were taking refuge on the top of the wheel- house, while five others wars on the foremast.

A terrific sea was running, and the first two attempts to get near the vessel failed, owing to the wind and tide.

Undaunted, however, by their failure, the men made a farther attempt, which proved successful. With great difficulty the men were rescued, one man falling into the sea, but fortunately he was hauled on board by a boat-hook.

The men on the wheel-house had to be dragged through the water into the Life-boat by moans of a rope. Aa soon as all the men were safe, the boat returned to Lowestoft.

A striking fact in connexion with this service was that it was carried out by a veteran crew, in very severe conditions of weather, showing that these men, in their old age, are no less courageous, when life is in danger, than their sous who were away on war service.

Coxswain Swan, under whose leadership this fine rescue was performed, already holds the Silver Medal of tea Institution, The Bronze Medal of the Institution was awarded to JOBS OWEN, Coxswain of the Llandudno Life-boat, in the following circumstances:— On the 2?th March, the Life-boat was despatched to assist a schooner which was making signals of distress. The wind was blowing a gale from the N.W. and a very heavy sea was running, and it was only after two attempts that the Life-boat wag success- ful in getting alongside and saving the two men who were on board, both of whom were in a very exhausted condition. The vessel had had her sails blown away and one cable had parted, so that she was liable at any moment to be driven ashore. After the men were saved, the Life-boat Wed for over two hours to beat back to Llandudno, bat the wind and tide, combined with the heavy sea, were too strong, and the boat was obliged to I pat into Colwyn Bay, where the men were j landed and the boat was hauled up. Whilst the j Life-boat was on her way to the wreck she j was three times buried by the seas, and on one occasion some of the men were only saved from being washed overboard by clinging to I the life-lines, The Bronze Medal was also awarded to THOMAS BOWKK, Coxswain of the Cardigan I Life-boat, for the following service:— : On the 27th March, daring a whole N.W. gale, accompanied by cold weather, snow showers, and a very heavy sea, the s.s. Conservator, of London, got into difficulties | in Cardigan Bay. Signals of distress were made, and, in response, the Cardigan life- boat, under Coxswain Thomas Bowen, was ; launched at once. When she reached the steamer it was found that she had two anchors down, bat they were not holding, and there was every prospect of the vessel being wrecked i on the bar. The tea men on board were skilfully rescued by the Life-boatmen, and the Coxswain and Crew deserve the highest praise for their work, carried out in perilous conditions, as the sea was washing over both the steamer and the Life-boat. When the men had been taken off the distressed vessel, attempts were made by the Life-boat to regain her station, but the elements proved too strong, and the attempt had to be abandoned. The Life-boat then crossed the bar and ran up the river to Cardigan, where the rescued men were landed in safety.

The CHAIRMAN: My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you will hold me excused when I say that it is necessary that I should catch a train and that I should leave now. Lord Waldegrave has kindly consented to take the Chair in my absence for what remains of the proceedings. For myself I can only thank you for the kindness with which you have allowed me to preside here to-day.

(The Right Hon. the Earl Waldegrave, P.O., in the Chair.) The CHAIRMAN: My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I have now to call on Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss to move a resolution.

ADMIRAL WEMYSS: My Lord Chairman, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, to me has been allotted the honour of moving this resolution recording thanks to those gallant men whose services we have heard of from the Lord Chancellor, and to those kind ladies and gentlemen who help the organization in this great national work. I can hardly say what a pleasure it is to be associated with such a resolution, and, if I may say so, I think it is somewhat correct in the order of things that it should be a seaman to whom this pleasur- able duty is allotted. Surely no one knows better the hardships of these men and the gallant work that they do then we who have our being on the water, and whose duty takes us down to the sea in ships. I had, before coming here, gone through a great many statistics, which I will not give you, because they have been given you much more ably by the Lord Chancellor. But if you will excuse me for one or two minutes I will give you one or two to which I might draw your attention.

The Lord Chancellor told you that during the war THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has been the means of saving nearly two hundred vessels. That is a great work of humanity, but during the war it was also something more, for if you knew as well as some of us do what a perilous position the country was in—well, I will not say perilous—but if you knew what the position was in the way of communications and the way of food coming in, you will realise what a national asset those two hundred ships were, and I can assure you that they repre- sented a very great deal. I think that this is all the more wonderful when we realise that these boats were manned by men who were past the prime of life. All those men who usually manned Life-boats before, men of youth and vigour, had rallied to their country's call, and most of them, if not all, were under the White Ensign, and the great strain of this work of saving human life from shipwreck fell upon men who other-wise -would probably not have been doing such strenuous work. All praise to that splendid spirit, that devotion to duty, that gallantry, that enabled these men to carry on their work all through. I under- stand that it is the great wish of the Com- mittee to place more Motor Life-boats round the coast, and, indeed, I am told that this work was well in hand before the war broke out, but that, like many another good thing which had to be put on one side, it was delayed through the exigencies of the national peril. Now, naturally, the Committee wish to go on with this. I understand "that they have already had a practical proof of the excellence of these boats. But this great work cannot be done without funds, and I believe that no less than half a million of money will be required to be spent before it can be put fully into execution. This raising of half a million of money must, indeed, be the cause of great anxiety to the Committee. We know how people's pockets are strained at this moment, and how very many things there are to which they can give their charity, but surely there are not many that are greater than this one, which does so much for the well-being of our national life and Empire.

It is purely voluntary, and everybody sincerely hopes that the appeal which the Lord Chancellor made to those ladies and gentlemen who, he trusts, will kindly assist on Tuesday, will be responded to. We in the Navy, natur- ally, are very intimately connected with THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

Not only, as I said, do we who go round these coasts realise these things, but I think that naval officers are very much in use with the Institution. It has been my great privilege, and my great pleasure during the war to have some of these officers serving with me. There is Captain Howard Bowley, who has done wonderfully -well. Those people -who ate interested in the Institution probably know him from the Life-boat point of view. I know him from the point of view of war service, and very great it has been. Captain Basil Hall, also, has performed great services hi organizing and helping the coast watches on the East coast. Commander Edward Drury is an officer whom I had the pleasure of having aboard my own ship at one time, and who, later on, commanded what was in those days a brand-new institution, namely, a sea- plane carrier. With conspicuous ability and success did this gallant officer turn his attention to that work, and carry it out.

Captain Forbes has done yeoman service at Salonica as Divisional Naval Transport Officer, and I can assure you that that is not easy work.

It requires brain, it requires physique, and it requires organizing power, and all these have been conspicuously shown. Captain Innes, also, who is Assistant Defence Officer up in the North, has done great work for his country during this time of stress. Those are only some, but they will be enough to show how intimately connected we are, and how, I might almost say, affectionate are the bonds which unite the Admiralty and this great Institution.

Everybody who is interested will hear with great regret of the approaching retirement of Captain Thomas Holmes, the Chief Inspector of Life-boats. It is not for me to recount the work of this gallant officer. I do not think that I should be able properly to describe all the good work that he has done, but we do know that his abilities and .his time have been given to an enormous extent, and through him has this Life-boat organization been worked up to its present efficiency. We are an island, an island Empire, and nothing that touches the sea can help but touch the heart of every person in this Empire. But we are not the only ones. We have gallant Allies who also have large coast-lines, and it is with the greatest pleasure that I see that the gentleman who is to second this resolution belongs to our gallant Ally, Prance. With friendly rivalry do our fishermen and the French fishermen vie with each other in that highest form of virtue—the saving of life. It would be invidious to put one before the other, and indeed there is no invidiousness in this work.

The gallantry shown by all those seafaring populations is a gallantry shown in the direction of the great good of the human race, and, indeed, even in war-time. May we shake hands and thank God that we are allies with our neighbours across the sea.

My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure in proposing the following resolution: " That this meeting, fully recog- nising 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." The CHAIRMAN : Ladies and gentlemen, I call on Count D'Ormesson, First Secretary of the French Embassy, to second the resolution.

COUNT D'ORMESSON: My Lord Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I have the honour of seconding the resolution moved by Sir Rosslyn Wemyss. It is to me a great honour and 'great pleasure as a representative of the French Embassy to second the resolution.

I should have been very pleased indeed to have made a speech in English, but you will all understand that it would be very difficult for a foreigner to speak in English as fluently as he could speak in French. I apologise for asking to be allowed to speak a few words in French. It will be with the same heart in French as in English. (The speech was con- tinued in French). As you may see, French vessels and French lives were saved also by THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

If is with great gratitude that I second the resolution, and I say that Frenchmen will always be happy to hear of the gallant service rendered by THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. We have in France a similar Institution, which also does very good work; and I am sure that in France all will be grateful for the kind and gallant services rendered by boatmen of the British and French Societies.

The CHAIRMAN : I will call upon Sir Frank Benson to say a few words.

SIR FRANK BENSON : My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, we have had on this platform some of the pilots of the ship of State, and I think that they would be the first to say how important are those other pilots of the boats that came up so modestly, those strong men, to receive the reward of heroism at sea.

The other day I was standing on the East Anglian shore looking at the hundreds of ships steaming and sailing by night and day, sweeping majestically through the wave, so self-reliant, so free, so well-ordered. Whose was the order, whose was the freedom ? That of the Island Race. I thought to myself: This story has been told sometimes more per- fectly than at others, but at any rate with full perfection during the last five years.

The story has been told for centuries, from the times of the Saxon, Alfred and Athelstan, with their North Fleet and their East Fleet and their West Fleet and their South Fleet, precursors of our own splendid ships. Re- presentatives of the Navy are on this platform to-day. It was not for them to say what a song the waves were singing as I stood by the sea. What a song the east wind was singing of the glorious deeds of that Fleet in the German waters ; of the splendid achievements of our Mercantile Marine, unconscripted, undefended, unafraid—men torpedoed eight and nine times, but who, when they returned, were only anxious to get off again, only anxious that they should not be late for the next sea-going ship, in order to show that they were not to be driven off from our King's highway; and with those splendid deeds in no less degree—perhaps in greater degree because their service is now nigh a century old—come the men of the Life-boat Brigade; and as I was standing on the shore I was thinking of the splendid achievements of our seamen, so silent, so selfless, so strong, borne witness to, as I have had the pleasure of hearing myself, by our French Allies, especially those of the Breton race. I heard a Breton sailor say on the Western Front, " Landsmen do not realise, as we sons of the sea do, what it is that the English sailors have been doing.

I owe it to them that my home and my family, and the cottages and the homesteads of our friends in Brittany are safe. It was they who protected our homesteads while we were fighting on the land." And so it is an auspicious thing to-day, as the gallant Admiral on my right said, that we number in our company to-day a representative of our brave Ally. And then another thing came to me as I stood looking over the waves. I became aware that there was a mighty man standing by my side, of the same blood as those we just welcomed, whose deeds we rejoice in because they are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and the very life-blood of our Empire.

Because of these things I was glad to see one of their fellows standing by my side, six feet | high, sixty years old, straight as a dart, with just that far-seeing look that one sees in the eyes of those who have learned the lesson of life, and laugh and gladly ride out in the face of death, as is the wont of the Island Race.

I spoke to him of the ships, and I spoke to him of the achievements of our sailors, and he said, " Yes, sir; I do not think, before the war, people thought quite as much of the sailor folk as they ought to have done," and I assured him, and I knew that I was assuring him true, that it would not be so in the future; and we, at any rate, assembled here in this hall to-day, are going to do our best not only to think but to do the right thing by the sailormen to whom we owe so much. And then I learned that my friend standing up- right and brave by my side had lost four sailor sons in this war, and I heard afterwards that all that his wife said was this: " My great regret is that I have not four other sons to send to play a man's part in this fray.

Weep not for the dead," she said. " Tears do but dim the path of those who die for their country, and it is not a question of weeping to-day. It is a question of gladly doing and rejoicing." What is this strange new life that is permeating the whole of our Empire to-day, and the whole of the Empire of our Allies, the French—vibrant, insistent, j infinite? Surely it is in part the gallant ! deeds that our brave men and women, both ' at home and on the battle fronts have done, and also I like to think it is the full free life that was given so gladly by our beloved deid, pulsating in a new form and with new force, bringing new hopes to us all, and it is in their name that I make this appeal to-day, that we i shall all do our beet to fill, according to the j best of our means, with silver or gold if we i can, if not with service; and such an example of volunteer service has been set us by those who are working for the Life-boats; and let us copy their example, and let us do our best on this day and on Tuesday to fill a goblet with the new wine of life that our dead and our living have won for us. Let us fill that cap of life which is symbolised for us to-day by the Life-boat.

The CHAIRMAN: Before putting the resolu- tion to the meeting I will ask the Rev. R. J.

Campbell to say a word or two to us.

REV. R. J. CAMPBELL : My Lord, Mrs. Lloyd George, ladies and gentlemen, a short time ago, when Sir David Beatty was presented with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool, the distinguished gentleman said that we are a sea race—we came into being by the sea, we exist by the sea; and if there is one thing that the war has demonstrated more than anything else, it is that we still remain a sea race; witness the glorious exploits of our Mercantile Marine, undaunted by submarine or mine, that maintained the traditions of our race.

No ship ever failed to sail for want of a British crew to man her. These words received an important application in regard to the resolution which I have the honour briefly to support. The Mercantile Marine did a great work throughout the war, but also at a great cost. We have been told that no less than 15,000 non-combatants lost their lives during the period of unrestricted submarine warfare.

How much greater that total might have been but for the magnificent services of our national Life-boats is evidenced by the fact that the number of lives saved during the war by the Life-boats amounted to something over 5,000, rather more than one-third of the number I mentioned as having been lost.

We are perfectly aware that the periods covered are not the same—that the latter is shorter than the former—but I think the one set of figures is worthy of being placed along- side the other, and when it is remembered —as Sir Rosslyu Wemyss reminded us in that eloquent and forceful speech that he made a few moments ago, and as we saw when the Society's medal was given to these veterans who sit below—no small part of the work was done by men who had attained the age of three score years and ten, and practically all of it by men who were too old tot combatant service, the record is all the more impressive.

While the sons were fighting the fathers had to carry on, and I think we may gratefully add that the part played by our veteran Life-boat- men was not one whit less worthy in its way than that which was played by the younger sons of Britain fighting for their country on land and sea, though it received no publicity, no special recognition, none of the reward bestowed for war services and other things.

Coming with equal brevity to the second part of the resolution, the fact ought un- doubtedly to be emphasised in a meeting like the present that the THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION is a voluntary Society.

It does not come upon public funds, and yet surely no philanthropic society deserves better of our country at the present or any other time. I would venture to add that no society has ever been better or more generously served by purely voluntary workers than this Institution, and our most grateful thanks are therefore due to all of these for the good work they have done, and are continuing to do, for the humane and benevolent organization on whose behalf we are met to-day.

The CHAIRMAN : The resolution I have to put to the meeting is:—" That this meeting, fully recognizing 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." As many as are in favour of that please signify the same by holding up their hands. On the contrary ? Carried unanimously.

My Lords, ladies and gentlemen, I regret that the Lord Chancellor has had to leave us, but I am sure we are grateful to him for finding time among all his work to come here at all, and I do not think we ought to part without moving a hearty vote of thanks to him for presiding here to-day, and though he has gone, I am sure you would like us to put that on record. I do not think in moving that resolution there is much left for me to say.

Many of the able speakers who have addressed us have gone into the statistics of the Life-boat Service, but I should like to add, on behalf of myself and my colleagues, our appreciation of the great work that our Chief Inspector,Captain Holmes, has done for many years, and our great regret that he is obliged to retire this year. I am very glad we have had here to-day to speak to us so many representatives of different bodies. It is a great gratification that Sir Rosslyn. Wemyss was able to come and tell us what the Royal Navy think of the Life-boats, and I am sure you are glad to see here a representative of our good French friends, and we have also been honoured by the Church and Stage, so that I think we have done pretty well.

I have much pleasure in moving that the best thanks of this meeting be given to the Bight Hon. the Lord Chancellor in presiding over this, the Ninety-fifth Annual General Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, and I should like to add to that " and to the speakers who have been here to-day." I will now ask General Seely to second the resolution.

MAJOR-GENERAL SEELY : My Lord Chair- man, my Lord, ladies and gentlemen, I know that most of you have engagements and that you must leave at once so I will not detain you for a moment, but in accordance with ancient custom, for the purposes of our Ninety- fifth Annual Meeting, I rise as a member of the parent Committee to second the vote of thanks to the Chairman and to those who have addressed us to-day. It is not necessary to add words of mine to the thanks expressed by our Chairman, to whom I hope you will allow me to move our vote of thanks in anticipation for the words he has said of thanks to the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor is a man of varied activities, and he goes wherever there is a means of travel.

I have myself taken him in aeroplanes and airships, and, with your permission, sir, I will take him in a Life-boat. Now he is as active in good work as he is in seeing life in all its aspects, and we are grateful to him for doing for us what he has so often done— gracing with his presence as the Chief Officer oi State oi this country our great NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. To you, Admiral Wemyss, I would say we are very grateful to you for coming here—particularly grateful. You, as the First Sea Lord, represent that great Service without which the Life- boats really could hardly exist. Although we do not man them with coastguards, with- out the help of the Royal Navy in a dozen different ways we never could get along at all.

We were reminded by my friend Mr. Campbell that we live by the sea. Well, I warn this assembly that in a very few years we may be told—and I warn my friends sitting there, the Life-boat Coxswains, that we may be told— that we live by the air, and I would only ask Admiral Wemyss on behalf of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION that he will extend the same cordial and generous help to the Air Service, either at the moment of its distress or at the moment of its need of any kind as he and his Service have extended to THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITU- TION. We cannot yet foresee the day when we may want Life-boats to go into the air to the help of people navigating the air, but that day will undoubtedly come—undoubtedly— and it will be your duty then, Lord Waldegrave, to organise the necessary service, and we shall call upon you, Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, to help us then as you help us now.

To the other speakers I would say, especi- ally to the First Secretary of the French Embassy, that THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION rejoices that in saving the 5,000 lives or more that it saved during the war, it saved a great many French lives. The French are our nearest neighbours. For many years, centuries, there were only two peoples in the world that counted—the French and the English—and naturally we were sometimes at loggerheads, but we always fought like gentlemen, sir, from the day when one of your race invited us to shoot first.

Now, henceforth, we will always shoot together, not at each other, but at the common enemy, if there be one; and if there be no more enemies, then we will unite together in the future as we have done in the past in saving life at sea. I know something of your great Institution, for I have been honoured by a decoration from it which I do not claim to have earned, but which I received as repre- senting the particular district in which I five.

We were able to render some service to French vessels in distress. Your kindred Service and our Life-Boat Institution on both sides of the narrow seas will work together to ensure that no seaman in distress shall ever die for want of a bold Frenchman or Englishman to go to his help. It is an interesting thing that the two outstanding services rendered during the war by our Life-boats were rendered to foreign vessels, one an Italian vessel in a storm of such violence that a bystander in your Service, Admiral Wemyss, said that the Life-boat was | observed to be at the height of the masthead j of the little steamer that it was going to rescue; and yet the Life-boat faced the storm, I and, although several times almost capsized, rescued the whole oi the Italian crew o! thirty souls. The second was an American vessel, the Sibiria, wrecked in, I suppose, the next greatest storm in the records of storms during : the years of war. Four different Life-boats : went to the assistance of the vessel, and ; during a period of twenty-four hours en- deavoured to rescue those on board. The : sufferings of the four different Life-boat crews ! that attempted the rescue can be more easily j imagined than described when I tell you that the storm was described in the official records ; as the worst for sixty years—and this in ; mid-winter, and in the middle of the night. Ultimately one of the four reached the vessel, and rescued the whole of the eighty- two lives in two trips. So we do not only ask for help from the public to help our own seamen, though, if you will permit me to say so, that must be to us British men always our first and dearest thought —our own kith and kin.

We do not even ask them only to rescue Frenchmen, who are the next dearest to us as we are the next dearest to them, but to rescue men of all races who are in peril on our shores. If you, Mr. Campbell, will give your unrivalled eloquence to our cause, and yon, Sir Frank Benson, in the varied ways in which you can help us, will continue to help us, and if you will all work together to get us just a little sum, a mere bagatelle in these days, I assure you—I assure you Mr. Austen Chamberlain thinks nothing of it—not even a million, but just half a million, we can guarantee to produce under the wise guidance of our expert designers, with the help of the Royal Navy, fifty motor Life-boats, which will make it ever so much easier to save life, and so we can say with certainty, looking through the records, that if you provide that half- million, many, many men and women who would otherwise die will live.

If I may say so, Lord Waldegrave, on behalf of us all, we thank not only the Lord Chancellor and the speakers, but the ladies who next week are going to make this special effort to raise money; and if those ladies can say to anybody who asks them why they ask for money, that it is a sure thing that every pound they give, or every shilling, will not only save immense labour and danger to the Life-boat crews, but will quite certainly save human lives from a terrible death by drowning, I think we are assured of success.

My Lord Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I beg most heartily to second the vote of thanks to the Lord Chancellor and the speakers and the Chairman himself and the ladies who are going to raise this money. I ask those who are in favour, in Parliamentary fashion, to say " Aye," and the contrary " No." The " Ayes " have it.

The CHAIRMAN : Before we separate I will ask Mrs. Lloyd George to say a word or two to the ladies about Tuesday.

MRS. LLOYD GEORGE : My Lord Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I should like just to ask all the women here to-day to do their very best to help us on Tuesday. I see quite a number of young women present, and I hope that they will all come forward and offer their services to sell flags. During the war, as we all know, we had flag days certainly every week if not nearly every day, and we were all very sick of them, but now we have had a long rest, and I feel sure that next Tuesday will be the first big flag day that we have had for a very long time. As we have been told, we in this little island of ours are very, very fond of sailors and the men of the sea, and I am sure that the public will respond to our appeal next Tuesday very handsomely, I feel sure that we are going to have a very good day, but we want you all to help us. It has been a very great pleasure to me to be here this afternoon to see some of the brave men being rewarded for' their heroic work, and need I tell you that I am more than delighted that two of them came from my own little country, one from Car- narvon Bay and one from Cardigan Bay? Most of you, I daresay, have seen Cardigan Bay in the summer, when it is very, very blue and very calm, and you can go on it even in little canoes, but those of us who have been brought up by the shores of Cardigan Bay can tell you that it really can look very ugly and very stormy in winter, and that is the time that the Life-boat crew are called out to save lives. They never go out in fine weather; they are always called out in the most stormy weather, and we are very proud of them. Some years ago the Admiralty thought that they would take our Life-boat station from our little town, and we were all up in arms at once. We bad a petition signed by every man, woman and child in the place, and we kept our Life-boat, and we have got our station there still, and we are very proud of it. Our crew have done very good work, and I am sure that the crews all over England and Wales right round our island have done the same, and I hope that you will all support them next Tuesday.

The CHAIRMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, your vote of thanks to the Lord Chancellor shall be duly conveyed to him. I beg to thank General Seely' for the words that he uttered warning me.