IN his address at the Annual Meeting, the Prince of Wales referred to the number of services to foreign vessels performed during 1920, and said that there was " no nation possessing a coast- line and any ships which had not benefited at some time or other by the activities of the British Life-boat Ser- vice." The following are the details of the services to foreign vessels in 1920 :— Zives Rescued.

Country.

Prance .

Denmark Norway .

Holland .

Germany Bussia .

Greece .

Spain Finland .

Number of Services.

60 45 10 7 24 7 10 16 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 (helped vessel) (helped vessel) 35 163 The total number of lives saved by Life-boats in 1920 was 451—apart from 133 lives saved by shore-boats and other means, for whose rescue the Institution gave rewards. That is to say, more than a third of the lives saved by Life- boats were from foreign vessels. Nothing could show more clearly the international value of the Service. Its value has, indeed, been fully recognised by the foreign countries whose vessels it has helped. From 1873, up to the end of 1920, no fewer than sixty-four decorations or special records of thanks have been received by the Institution from foreign Governments, Monarchs, or Life-Saving Societies. Fourteen dif- ferent countries in that time have in this way shown their gratitude for the work of the Institution. Such marks of gratitude have been received from Norway seventeen times, from France twelve times, and from Germany eleven times..