THE Institution receives each year from a number of the big shipping com- panies part of the proceeds of collec- tions which have been made on board their ships on behalf of different chari- ties. The increasing numbers, as well as the wealth, in a very great many cases, of those who travel by the great trans- Atlantic and other liners, and the fact that they, more than most people, should realise the importance of sup- porting the Life-boat Service, make one hope that we shall receive in- creasingly large sums from this source.

In this connexion the following very practical proposal which appeared some time ago in the Liverpool Journal of Commerce will be read with interest:— LIFE-BOAT CONTRIBUTIONS. j " One constantly hears the complaint i that the Life-Boat Institution is very in- j adequately supported by the British mer- j eantile marine, arid investigation into the matter forces one reluctantly to admit that it is well founded. Many companies are splendid, many others are forgetful, while for some there is no excuse. The fact remains that the red ensign does not pull its weight beside the Navy, which calls upon the Service comparatively rarely. It occurs to one that there is one scheme which has not yet been tried, and which would do infinite good to the funds of the Institution, and that is to have a rake-off of 10 per cent, on the daily sweepstake which takes place in the smoking-room of every liner on the day's run. The average liner passenger is the most generous of mortals, and contributes handsomely towards the orphanages, but the Life-Boat Society, in which he is very -willing to be keenly inter- ested, gets very little from him. In a first- class ship on the Atlantic ferry £50 would be quite a moderate sum to hand over to the Institution at the end of each voyage, and every penny of it given with.the best of good feeling. In a year some of the big companies would collect enough to endow a Motor Life-boat, and one must admit that Cunard Passengers or White Star Passengers would not look ill as the name of the Life-boats presented to the country and the seafaring community by this means." There is little doubt that the passen- gers themselves would welcome such a proposal if the shipping companies would allow this appeal to reach them..