MR. W. J. OLIVER is not only one of the most devoted and indefatigable of the Honorary Secretaries who carry out the difficult and responsible task of administering the Station Branches, but he is himself a practical Life-boat man. His skill and splendid courage afloat have been proved on very many occasions, and he has taken part in the rescue of over 300 lives.

Mr. Oliver has been actively con- nected with the work of saving life from shipwreck for the past forty-four years ; and for the past twenty-one years he has been the Honorary Sec- retary of the Sun- derland Branch.

When he was ap- pointed Honorary Secretary in May, 1900, there were Mr. W. J.

three Pulling and Sailing Life-boats at the Station, and it was no light duty to be responsible for the efficient maintenance of all three. The Station is now provided with a Motor Life-boat, the Henry Vernon, which was sent from Tyne- mouth to Sunderland in 1918. It had been decided six years before to place a Motor Life-boat at this important Station, but there were difficulties in the way owing to the great rise and fall of the tides, which made it impossible to find a site for a slipway ; but these difficulties have been got over by a special launching device, the Boat-house being built out over the river with a movable floor by which the Boat is lowered into the water.* Mr. Oliver has not only devoted himself with great enthusiasm and ability to the ad- ministration of the Station, but he has worked hard to make Sunderland also an important Financial Branch.

When he became Honorary Secre- tary and Treasurer the Branch was raising £120 to £130 a year. Last year it raised over £760, and the Station is now not only self-support- ing, but makes a substantial contri- bution to the general funds of the Institution.

The Committee of Management have on several occasions shown their appreciation OLIVER. of Mr. Oliver's services. In 1905 he received a Mounted Aneroid in recognition of the work which he did when one of the Sunderland Boat- houses caught fire; in 1912 he was presented with a Binocular Glass; and in 1916 he received the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum. In 1909 Mrs. Oliver received a Framed Photograph in recognition of her co- operation in the work of the Station.

In 1920 Mr. Oliver spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Governors, giving a most interesting account of * This Life-boat Platform or " lift" was described in The Life-Boat for November, 1920.

his long experiences in life-saving work.

Unstinted in energy and zeal for the Life-boat Cause, this is not the only service in which he has shown his high sense of public duty. For thirty-five years he has also been the Honorary Secretary of the Sunder- land Volunteer Life-Brigade, an office which he has held with much distinction and great advantage to the port. In this capacity Mr. Oliver was responsible for the building of a Watch House on Sunderland Pier, which also serves as a recreation-room for the Life-boat men, and provides sleeping accommoda- tion and hospitality for all interested in life-saving work. The Board of Trade have on several occasions shown their high appreciation of his devotion and care by letters of thanks and congratulation, and have awarded him their Long Service Medal. The Ship- wrecked Mariners' Society has also frequently expressed its gratitude for his services to shipwrecked persons after they have been rescued, and many have reason to thank him for the generous first-aid which they have received from him by the provision of food and clothing. During the war Mr.

Oliver organized this work with con- spicuous energy and success.

The Sunderland Life-boat crew re- gard Mr. Oliver as their faithful friend and counsellor, and all those who are connected with Life-boat work in Sunderland gratefully recognise his whole-hearted zeal for the Cause, and the value not only of his practical services to it, but of his splendid example.

One would imagine, from the amount of honorary public work which he does, that Mr. Oliver is a man of leisure. It would for that reason be very unfair, after this brief account of his public services, if we did not add that he has found the time and energy for them in addition to his own work as one of the most prominent and busiest grocers in the town. Mr. Oliver is now helped in his work for the Sunderland Branch by his son, Captain W. J. Oliver, M.C., a guarantee that the Branch will carry on his splendid tradition of devoted work and personal courage in the service of life-saving..