THE Ninety-eighth Annual General Meeting of the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION was held at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on Wednesday, 29th March, 1922, at 3 P.M., the Right Hon Stanley Baldwin, M.P., President of the Board of Trade, in the Chair Among those present were :—The Ear Waldegrave, P.O. (Chairman of. the Committee of Management), Sir God- frey Baring, Bt. (Deputy-Chairman oi the Committee of Management), and Lady Baring, the Right Hon. Sir Donald Maclean, K.B.E., M.P., Admiral the Hon. Sir Stanley Colville, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., Lieut. T. W. Moore, C.B.B., F.R.G.S., R.N.R. (Secretary of the Imperial Merchant Service Guild), Commander Sir Harry Mainwaring, Bt., R.N.V.R., the American Consul-General, the Mayor and Mayoress of Paddington, the Mayor and Mayoress of Wimbledon, the Mayor and Mayoress of Bermondsey, Major Sir Maurice Cameron, K.C.M.G., the Hon. George Colville, Sir John G.

Gumming, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., Mr. Thomas B. Gabriel, Engineer Vice-Admiral Sir George G. Goodwin, K.C.B., Mr. Harry Hargood, O.B.E., Sir Woodburn Kirby, Brigadier-General Noel M. Lake, C.B., Mr. John F. Lamb, Mr. Herbert F.

Lancashire, Colonel Sir A. Henry Mc- Mahon, G.C.M.G, G.C.V.O, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., Commander Francis Fitzpatrick Tower, R.N.V.R., Mr. W. Fortescue Barratt (Hon. Secretary of the Civil Service Life-boat Fund), Miss Alice Marshall (Hon. Secretary, Oxford Branch), Commander Thomas Holmes, R.N. (late Chief Inspector of Life-boats), Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. (Secretary of the Institution), Captain Howard F.

J. Rowley, C.B.E., R.N. (Chief Inspector of Life-boats), Commander Stopford C. Douglas, R.N. (Deputy Chief In- spector of Life-boats), Mr. P. W. Gidney and Mr. Charles Vince (Assistant Secre- taries), and Lieut.-Colonel A. S. Murray, O.B.E. (District Organising Secretary for Greater London).

The CHAIRMAN : Lord Waldegrave, ladies and gentlemen, in presenting to you the Annual Report of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-Bo AT INSTITUTION, I assume we may take that Report as read ; but, in accordance with custom, it is my duty to say a few words on the adoption of that Report, as an intro- duction to the proceedings to-day.

I think it is one of the few agreeable facts in the life of a public man that he is on occasion allowed to be present at a meeting of this kind, and to support, however inadequately, one of the most noble and self-sacrificing works that are carried on in the country. I do not suppose you could have chosen one who has less first-hand knowledge of the subject, but, on the other hand, I am convinced that you could have chosen no one to whom your appeal comes with a greater seriousness.

I do not propose to talk to you to-day about your own Institution, because you know far more about it than I. But I do want to say something to encourage you to go on with your work and to encourage the people of this country to support that work as they ought to do.

There are certain facts connected with Life- boat work that ought to make your work easy.

In the first place, wherever an Englishman lives, whether on the coast or inland, some knowledge and a real love of the sea enter into his very being. I notice to-day a letter in one of the popular daily papers, in which a, man writes to explain the interest which people take in the Boat Race as arising from the fact that we are a nation to whom any- thing connected with water appeals. In the same way, if you can imagine such a thing as the literature of our country from the earliest time; from which all reference to the sea was taken, our literature would sink from being the greatest in the world to one of the most poverty-stricken. You have only to consider just for a moment how the very language of the sea has become part and parcel of our mother tongue. There is not one among us who does not use maritime phrases in his daily ife, without for a moment thinking that to be the case. Take the work that my friend Sir Donald Maclean and I do, and just think For a moment; did any Government ever come into power in this country save under the nfluence of a fair wind ? When Ministers irst come in they are apt to be free and easy—another nautical phrase—but if they do not attend to their work, they may be taken aback —another seafaring phrase—and such Ministers very soon find themselves in deep water.

What Government has ever been in power more than a few months before it begins to tack ? It tacks again and again until it gets into heavy seas, and ultimately, whether I or Sir Donald Maclean belong to the Government, the ultimate fate of that Government is a wreck — with no Life-boat to save it! (laughter).

Now, not only have you got this inbred love of the people for the sea to ground your appeal on, but you have another thing connected very closely with our national character. That is, that your system is a voluntary system. Deep down in the very fibres of our being we are individualists and voluutaryists, and that is why our people in some ways are hard to govern. I always think the basis of that grumbling which goes on year in and year out against any Government which exists in this country arises from the fact that there is no individual man or woman in England or Scotland but feels that he or she could govern the country a great deal better than those who are in office.

All the best work that is done in our country is either voluntary or not done for money.

The great life-saving services of the country, whether they be the services rendered by the Life-boats or the services rendered by the Hospitals, are founded mainly on a voluntary basis. The greatest professions that help our country in all departments do not look to pecuniary rewards for their remuneration.

There is no profession which renders such ! service to humanity as the medical, and how much of that is rendered free of charge ! As to the services that are rendered to this country (such as they are) by our public men, whatever the ambitions may be that move them, they are not ambitions to make a fortune. The last kind of service by which a man in England (and it is fortunate that it is so) could make a fortune is by rendering public service, whether it is of a national or of a local kind. And so it is that the spirit which animates your Institution and those who work for it, finds itself in the closest consonance with the very best spirit that actuates the best life, both spiritual, political and civil, in our country.

There is one more thing I think we must have regard to, and that is that when people j come to consider the kind of services which the j Life-boats on our coasts render, we cannot but: be struck with the quality of the lives which i they go out to save. They represent very , largely the lives of some of the very best ele- ! ments of our civilisation. The men who sail our mercantile fleets and the men who pursue their own avocations, such as fishing in deep waters, those are the men who rallied to the support of our country during the great war and performed services day by day and night by night of a valour which will always be held in remembrance (cheers).

It is not possible, nor would it be desirable if it were possible, to compare courage and bravery. You can make no common de- j nominator by which you can compare these | things ; but I am sure that the heart of Eng- land recognises that there was no courage shown in the war superior to that shown by those men who went out to sea again and again and again to bring this country her food, the means of carrying on the war, and who went out to clear the seas for those who were per- forming those functions. The mere recollec- tion of those days ought to make all who sur- vived that awful time only too thankful that they have an opportunity given to them to show their gratitude in a practical form.

Now, such being the ground in which you have to work, and such being the material with which you have to deal, there ought to be no difficulty in this country, even in these times of depression, in your succeeding in getting all that you require, not only for the preservation of your service, but for the equip- ment of that service with the very best boats obtainable at the present day.

For that purpose you have an organisa- tion which I imagine covers most of the country. I know that in a town near where I live at home, in the heart of England, the collection goes on steadily and well, under the auspices of the Mayor, for the Life-boat Insti- tution ; and there ought to be no town in England where such collections are not held.

I am glad to see, too, that you have enlisted in your support the Women's Committees, which I hope may cover the country, because that is work for which they are peculiarly fitted, and their work ought to bring in a rich reward.

Before leaving this subject, there is just one thing I should like to say, and that is this : that I have been very much struck, in looking through your Report and Accounts, to see how meagre the support is which you receive from the shipping trade in this country. I feel con- vinced that there must be some reason for this. The shipping trade is a great trade and a generous trade, and has never been behind the other great trades in this country in sup- porting charitable objects, and, in particular, in lending magnificent help to the charities connected with shipping. I feel convinced that it only requires, shall I say, some better co-ordination between them and ourselves to achieve the result desired, and a result which ought to be attained. I feel convinced that in some way the needs of this Institution have not been brought home to them, or they could not fail to respond to the appeal in a manner worthy of their great traditions. I, as a lands- man, have always been brought up to believe in what is termed the brotherhood of the sea, and it seems to me that if ever there was a case in which that brotherhood might be mani- fested practically it is in a case like this.

Where those who are responsible for this great trade, where those who are in this great trade, are successful, it seems to me that they only need the realisation of their duty, to do it; and I hope very much that the officers of your Institution, and the representatives of that industry, may succeed in coming to some understanding together that will be of great and lasting benefit to both.

I do not propose at this moment to say anything of the valiant deeds which have been performed during the last year, and which are going to be recognised at this meeting before we part, because our Secretary, by and by, will make us fully acquainted with their details ; but I should like to say, as a note to what I said in my opening remarks, that ] think it is a great privilege to be allowed to represent you here to-day in offering your right hand of fellowship to those who have performed these gallant deeds, and to offer to them, on your behalf, the formal recognition which you keep for the most conspicuous acts of sacrifice and courage that come under your notice during the course of the year (cheers).

It only remains for me, ladies and gentle- men, to thank you sincerely for the welcome you have given me here to-day, and for having listened to these few remarks of mine. If any- thing that I have said may help you in any way, in the course of the year we have now entered upon, to make a still more success- ful appeal to the people of this country, ] shall be more than repaid (cheers).

I will now call upon the Secretary to reac the list of those nominated for the various offices of the Institution.

(The Secretary read the list of nominations of Officers for the ensuing year.) President.

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

V'ice-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.

HisGrace the Duke of Northumberland,C.B.E., M.V.O.

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Ailsa.

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

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

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

The Ear] of Lonsdale.

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

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

The Right Hon. the Lord Strathclyde, P.C., G.B.E.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt.

Noel E. Peck, Esq.

Treasurer.

The Earl of Harrowby.

Committee of The President.

The Vice-Presidents.

The Treasurer.

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

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Deputy-Chairman.

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

Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, Esq.

Admiral Sir Frederick E. E. Brock, K.C.M.G., C.B.

Major Sir Maurice Cameron, K.C.M.G.

Captain Charles J. P. Cave.

Sir August B. T. Cayzer, Bt.

Colonel Lord William Cecil, C.V.O.

Kenneth M. Clark, Esq.

Harold D. Clayton, Esq.

The Hon. George Colville.

Sir William Corry, Bt.

Sir John G. Gumming, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.

Captain the Viscount Curzou, R.N.V.R., M.P.

Henry R. Fargus, Esq.

John Bevill Fortescue, Esq.

Thomas B. Gabriel, Esq.

R. H. Gillespie, Esq.

Major Ralph Glyn, M.C., M.P.

Engineer Vice-Admiral Sir George G. Goodwin, K.C.B.

Rear-Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., C.B.

The Earl of Hardwicke.

Harry Hargood, Esq., O.B.E.

T. W. H. Inskip, Esq., C.B.E., K.C., M.P.

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.

John F. Lamb, Esq.

Herbert F. Lancashire, Esq.

Colonel Sir A. Henry McMahon, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., K.C.I.E., C.S.I.

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

General Sir Charles Monro, Bt., G.C.M.G., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., A.D.C. GENERAL.

Captain George B. Preston.

Engineer Rear-Admiral Charles Rudd.

The Right Hon. Walter Runcimau.

Major-General the Right Hon. John E.

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

Rear-Admiral Hector B. Stewart.

Commander Francis Fitzpatrick Tower, R.N.V.R.

The Lord Tredegar, O.B.E.

Commodore Sir Richard Henry Williams- Bulkefey, Bt., K.C.B., R.N.R.

The Lord Mayor of London.

The Admiral Commanding Coast-Guard and Reserves (Vice-Admiral Sir Morgan Singer, K.C.V.O., C.B.).

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

The Hydrographer of the Admiralty (Rear- Admiral Frederick C. Learmouth, C.B., C.B.E.).

The Chairman of Lloyd's.

Auditors.

Messrs. Price, Waterhouse & Co.

The CHAIRMAN : I will ask Sir Godfrey Baring to say a few words.

Sir GODFREY BAKING : Ladies and gentle- men, this business of the re-election of the Vice- Presidents and the Committee of Management generally goes through with a rapidity and a unanimity exceedingly satisfactory to those of us who have to be re-elected. But I just wanted to say one word to call the attention of the Governors present to the fact that a new name has been added to the list of Vice- Presidents in the person of Mr. Noel Peck.

The Governors will recollect that there has been an ambition of the Committee of Manage- ment for the last three or four years to extend very largely, and to complete if possible, the provision of a scheme of placing Motor Life- boats all round the coasts, and we have appealed to the generous public to assist us to secure a sum approximating to half a million pounds in order to provide these Motor Life- boats. The Committee of Management felt that, before they went on with such a large scheme as that, which made a very great demand on the organising power of the Institution and on our financial resources, it would be well if they were fortified with the best technical and expert advice as to the organisation of the Institution with regard to boat building. We applied to Lord Inchcape in this matter, and, owing to Lord Inchcape's kindness, we were put in touch with Mr. Noel Peck, who is the Managing Director of Messrs.

Barclay, Curie & Co., one of the great building firms on the River Clyde. Lord Inchcape told us that Mr. Peck was a very busy man ; he was engaged in very big business enterprises, and Lord Inchcape was very doubtful whether we should secure his services. I was able, on behalf of the Committee of Management, to have an interview with Mr. Peck. Mr. Peck not only agreed most readily to do the work, but he added a stipulation, which I am sure you will find extraordinarily generous on his part; he said he would only undertake the work on one condition, and that was that the work was done without any payment or remuneration of any sort or kind. That is an example of the voluntary work which has been eulogised by our Chairman to-day. That offer, I need hardly say, was gratefully accepted by the Committee of Management (cheers).

Mr. Noel Peck made a thorough review of the whole organisation of the Institution. He was occupied two days a week for a period extending to over three months. He supplied us with a most able and a most valuable report.

I should like to say that in the forefront of that report he says that, after careful investigation and inquiry, he considers that there can be no institution in England which is served with greater efficiency, with greater zeal, and with greater discretion than the Life-Boat Institu- tion is served by its staff, from the highest official to the lowest.

The Committee of Management already knew that, but we very heartily welcome the tes- timony of a distinguished expert in a matter of this kind. The detailed recommendations made by Mr. Peck, with which I need not trouble you on this occasion, have been adopted by the Committee of Management, and I am sure they will be most valuable to our working.

We then had to consider how we could show our gratitude for the great and noble services which Mr. Noel Peck had rendered in this way, and we came to the conclusion that the only way in which we could show our gratitude was by conferring on Mr. Peck the highest honour which it is in our power to bestow—that of appointing him to be a Vice-President of the Institution, and we hope that the Governors of the Institution, assembled here in their Annual Meeting, will consider that that i? an appropriate close to an incident which is a very valuable, very instructive and very helpful incident in the long and glorious history of the Life-Boat Institution (cheers).

The CHAIRMAN : I now declare the noblemen and gentlemen whose names have been read out duly elected.

I will ask the Secretary to read the account of the services for which Medals have been awarded.

(The Secretary read the Report of Services.) Holy Island.

A Bar to his Silver Medal is awarded to George Cromarty, the Coxswain, and the Bronze Medal to William Wilson, the Second Coxswain, and to Thomas A. Stevenson, the Bowman of the Holy Island Life-boat, for the following service. A special Letter of Thanks was also sent to the women of Holy Island, and a Letter of Thanks to the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Fred Hollingsworth.

On Sunday evening, the 15th January, 1922, the trawler James B. Graham, of Hartlepool, with nine men on board, went ashore on the rocks of False Emmanuel Head on the north side of Holy Island off the Northumberland coast, during a strong S.E. gale, heavy sea and snow-storms. She burnt flares of distress, and these were seen at the Life-boat Station on the other side of the island. It was then eight o'clock. The crews of the Life-boat and of the Coastguard's Life-saving Apparatus were summoned, and the apparatus was hurried across the island. The trawler was found lying in a very perilous position, with a heavy list, and the seas breaking along her decks. The apparatus was taken as near as possible, but it was too far away by a hundred yards. No rocket could reach the vessel. Meanwhile the whole of the village, men and women, had turned out in the dark and snow to launch the No. 1 Life-boat. The tide was low and the wheels of the carriage sank deep into the mud.

It was only with extreme difficulty, and by the gallant efforts of sixty helpers, that the Boat was launched. Undeterred by the bitter cold, the women waded out waist-deep into the sea, and just forty minutes after the alarm had been given the Boat was afloat. The distance round the island to False Emmanuel Head was nearly four miles, and it was close on ten o'clock before the Life-boat reached the stranded vessel. She lay surrounded by dangerous rocks and by the iron remnants of an old wreck. Among these the Life-boat would have to make her way, in the pitch dark- ness and the blinding snow-squalls, if she was to rescue the crew. The Coxswain made the attempt, but, owing to the rocks, he was com- pelled to pull out again. The Life-boat then lay off for two hours waiting while the tide rose. The Coxswain then tried to approach the wreck from the other side. Again he had.

to pull out. The rocks were too dangerous.

He waited another hour, and then, with his anchor dropped, veered the Boat slowly and cautiously down towards the vessel, and in between two rocks, before he could reach her.

By skilful and daring seamanship this dan- gerous manoeuvre succeeded, and all nine men on the trawler were safely taken aboard the Life-boat. She was hauled out from among the perilous rocks, and reached her station again at two o'clock in the morning.

This fine service was only carried through to its successful issue by the promptness, energy : and devotion of the launchers and by the cool- , ness, daring and good seamanship of the j Coxswain and crew (cheers).

The Silver Medal to which the Coxswain, George Cromarty, now receives a Bar, was awarded to him for a fine service during the war, when, in November, 1916, the Holy Island No. 2 Life-boat rescued fourteen lives from the Swedish barque Jolani.

(The Medals were presented by the Chairman amid applause.) The SECRETARY : I was directed by the Committee of Management to write to the women of Holy Island to express the deep indebtedness and appreciation of the Com- mittee to the women of Holy Island, who had so long and so often served the Life-boat in the way that has been described ; and the women of Holy Island have selected from among them- selves Miss Daisy Cromarty to receive the copy of the letter which I now propose to read.

" MESDAMES,—The Committee of Manage- ment have entrusted to me the pleasant duty of conveying to all those who took part in the launch of the Life-boat Lizzie Porter, on January 15th, 1922, to the trawler James B. Graham, their very sincere and cordial thanks for the fine spirit of humane and helpful service which the women showed on this occasion.

" Great difficulty was experienced in launching the Boat owing to the soft mud, but you, the women of Holy Island, acting in accordance with the noble traditions of a coast which will ever be associated with the name of Grace Barling, overcame these difficulties by exerting yourselves to the utmost, many of you entering the water waist-deep, and thus shared, to a notable extent, in the rescue of the nine hands of the trawler which was in jeopardy.

" It is gratifying to the Committee of Management to feel that the mothers, wives and daughters of the Life-boatmen of Holy Island are eager to assist in the noble task so often and so honourably carried out by the crew, and they feel that the action of the women of Holy Island reflects infinite credit, not merely on themselves, but on the women of our maritime race. With honourable greetings, " I am, " Yours very faithfully, i " GEORGE F. SHEE, j " Secretary." ; (The Chairman presented a copy of the letter i to Miss Daisy Cromarty, amid applause.) The CHAIRMAN : I will call on Sir Donald Maclean to move a resolution.

Sir DONALD MACLEAN : Mr. Chairman, Lord Waldegrave, ladies and gentlemen, I think I should like on behalf of all of you in the first place to congratulate our three sailor friends on the remarkably successful way in which they have survived the ordeal which they have just gone through ; I am quite certain it terrified them far more than the deeds of heroism which we have celebrated to-day.

Now, sir, I am accustomed, when I follow you in speech, as a rule to get up and say that, much as I appreciate the services of my right hon. friend, I regret that I have to point out the many occasions upon which I think he and his Department have been wanting in duty to the public. But to-day I am in hearty, uncompromising, absolute agreement with him.

You, sir, in the course of some delightfully humorous remarks at the commencement of your address, made some references to the sea of troubles which assail any Parliamentary ship of State. I noticed with mitigated grief that you anticipated at no distant date that the vessel with which you are most intimately associated at the present moment might find itself a wreck—without a Life-boat. Well, I can provide a Life-boat; but under no circum- stances will I give her a name ! Whilst you were yet speaking I turned to page 2 of the Annual Report, and I found a very interesting note there : " The Donna Nook Life-boat, which, on the 24th December, 1921, was capsized by tremendous seas while she was made fast to the wrecked vessel, instantly righted herself and all her crew, and the rescued crew of the vessel regained the boat in safety." Now that is a very remarkable performance, and I suggest that if the whole of His Majesty's Government were to become annual and generous subscribers to this Institution there is no knowing what luck might befall them yet (laughter). For myself, I say this : that I have not hitherto become an annual subscriber to this Institution, but I intend to do so from to-day ; and so far as my limited opportunities allow I will do my best for the Institution (cheers).

I was moved very much indeed, first of all, by the Report which I have read, and, secondly, by the speech which the Chairman has made, and not least of all—indeed, perhaps most of all—by the very touching ceremony in which we have all taken part here to-day.

Now, sir, there are one or two points which I should like briefly to make in connection with the resolution which I have to move. The resolution is this :— " That this Meeting, fully recognising 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 Cox- swains 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 the Ladies' Life- boat Guild."There are one or two figures which I have noted in the perusal of the Report which, I am sure you will agree, are very striking. The work which the Institution has done since its commencement—a work of over ninety-eight years of splendid record—is one of which any institution might be proud. They have rescued no fewer than 58,364 lives, an average of ten a week during the whole of that period ; and during the first three years since the war finished they have saved no fewer than 1,505 lives ; and last year, although it was an excep- tionally fine year as far as the dangers of the seas around our coasts were concerned, they rescued 410 lives. Now that is a great and splendid record, one of which, as I have said, this nation has every right to be proud. But much more work, I am convinced, can yet be done. That cannot be done without adequate financial aid ; and I join in the Chairman's expression of surprise that the great ship- cwiling firms and individual ship owners have not contributed in a much larger measure to the necessary expenses of this noble work. I find that out of the sum which was necessary to be spent during last year, round about £300,000, from the ship-owning firms and indi- vidual ship owners came a sum only of under V2,000. There were only 290 subscribers or donors, but 125 foreign ship owners subscribed.

1 cannot make out what the reason is. There is no lack of generosity on the part of ship owners or of ship-owning firms, because you (an take up any list of the great philanthropic institutions of this country and you will find that ship owners and ship-owning firms occupy a leading and an honoured place in all those lists.

I am quite certain that that position of affairs ought to be remedied. I emphasise it for this reason : that we have in the Chair to- day the President of the Board of Trade, and the Board of Trade has within the ambit of its duties one of the most important of them, namely, the care of all the huge State adminis- trative, and, indeed, legislative, work con- nected with the Mercantile Marine, and I hope that ere the time comes—and long may it be— when my Right Hon. friend vacates his office as President of the Board of Trade—before the time comes for his promotion to a yet higher office, he may find it within the sphere of his pleasures (because I am sure he would so regard it) to see if something cannot be done relative to this. There is no better man. He stands high in the honour and respect of the whole of the community. Everybody trusts him. He is full of tact as well as of ability. I do hope by the time the next Annual Meeting of this Institution is held it may be possible to record a very much more favourable state of things with regard to this matter, which has come under some perfectly friendly criticism here to-day.

In the expenditure of the Institution, there has been an appreciable sum in connection with the change over from manual work in connection with Life-boats, to mechanical aid.

That certainly is a matter in regard to which anybody who knows anything about the sea —and I have lived in a great seaport for quite a number of years—knows that a very great and sweeping improvement can be made, not only in the launching of the Life-boat, but in those very important minutes of getting her through the surf into deeper water, and after that, getting the Life-boat right away down to the vessel which she seeks to save.

There is one other point upon which I wish to say just a word before I sit down. That is this. There is not a single penny of the money of the State goes into this Institution ; it is purely voluntarily supported. We live in days when there are great calls upon the national exchequer for all sorts of schemes for the development and betterment of the com- munity as a whole. With regard to a large portion of that, I sympathise with and support it, but I do hope the day will never come when this country will depend too much upon State aid for what men and women ought to do for themselves. Our Chairman this afternoon, I am sure, will agree with me in this : that you may pick the best men, and indeed the best women, who have distinguished themselves by initiative, sympathy, foresight and general efficiency in working under voluntary con- ditions, and if you place them inside the State machine, I do not hesitate for one moment to say that 50 per cent, of their efficiency is nearly always lost. I do not know why. It is not for me to inquire now why ; but there is the fact, and I am convinced that if this Institution had been taken on in the first ten or twenty years of its existence, and developed and supported within the State, it would not have done half the work which it has done by its voluntary aid and by the splendid humani- tarian individual responsibility which has accompanied it. We cannot shift off our burdens on the State without somebody or other dropping out of the fighting line because they think they are not needed there. I do think that this is one of the chief attractions of this Society : that this splendid and noble work has been carried out based only upon the sense of the individual responsibility of a number—a far too small number—of citizens.

It is so gloriously widespread in its operation.

These men that we saw here to-day, and this lady who is here, representative of those splendid women at Holy Island; did they consider whether that vessel in distress was British, or German, or French, or Italian ? They never thought of it for a moment. They did not know, I venture to say. All they knew was that a vessel was in distress, lives were in danger, and they risked their own to save them.

The appeal that this Society makes to you and to me is an appeal which is more likely to lift us nationally and internationally (and how sadly we need it!) on to a higher and better plane, in that it works for the nations as a whole (cheers).

The CHAIRMAN : I will ask Sir Stanley Colville to second the resolution.

Admiral the Hon. Sir STANLEY COLVILLE : Mr. Chairman, Lord Waldegrave, ladies and gentlemen, it is always a very difficult task to second a resolution, because one always finds that the board has been cleared previously.

We have just heard a most eloquent and inte-resting speech from Sir Donald Maclean, and what pleased me more than anything else, in the peaceful atmosphere of Caxton Hall, was to hear two Members of Parliament what you may call poking fun at each other. I must say I am very pleased that there is no Admiral to have a go at me afterwards (laughter).

Sir Donald Maclean said that he lived in a seaport, or on the beach near a seaport, no doubt. I have a great advantage over him, because I happen to be a sailor, and I intended to say just a few words as a sailor ; but he is so jolly well near it that I do not exactly like to say that he has had no experience as a sailor. Still, it is as a sailor that I will speak to you. The Navy has a very great regard for the gallant Life-boatmen. They have both got to fight one enemy, and that is the dangers of the deep, and we sailors can appreciate the gallantry of the Life-boatmen perhaps even more so, I may say, than Sir Donald Maclean or the laymen, the people on shore, can. We think that what they do is magnificent.

Again, there is another tiling. Many of the Superintendents of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION are old naval officers.

Another link is this. The first Silver Medal which was given, in the year 1824 (of course you all remember that), was won by a coast- guardsman ; and the first Gold Medal which was given for an actual service was won by a naval lieutenant.

Now, it is all very well for people on shore to sing out: " Man the Life-boat," but it is a very different thing on a dark, wintry night, such as we have heard of, when it is blowing a gale of wind, and raining and snowing and everything that you may call beastly, to get into a boat and to be launched into the unknown, to go to find a ship somewhere on a lee shore, with none of your Regent Street lights to guide you there, but only the skill and gallantry of men like that. There they have to go in the darkness, and just a little bit of stupidity, or anything wrong, and the boat is upset; she is on the rocks, or she will be on top of the wreck. That is what these men here have done. They had such a night as that and they went out and they brought the men from the wreck safely ashore.

Now, what these men want is the best of everything, the best boat that can be supplied.

Let me illustrate what the Motor Life-boat can do. In the year 1861 (I remember it very* well) off Whitby there were seven wrecks.

The Life-boat went out, and the end of it was that she upset, after gallant service, and only one man of the crew was saved. At Whitby, in October, 1914, the hospital ship Rohilla ran ashore in a very heavy gale. The gallant Life-boatmen, in the pulling and sailing Life- boats went out, and one boat out of five managed to get there and saved a few lives : but there were still fifty survivors on that ship, waiting to be saved, and for forty-eight hours, with the sea gradually breaking up the ship, there those men remained, with death staring them in the face. I knew a doctor who was aboard—a gallant man—well, and the captain.

* Needless to say, the gallant Admiral was having his little joke in making this remark. 1861 was the year of his birth !—EDITOR.

Then the Tynemouth Motor-boat appeared on the scene, and forty-eight hours after the Motor-boat was brought alongside the Rohilla with great skill, and rescued the whole of those fifty men and brought them ashore.

Therefore my appeal to you is for more money. What is £9,000 ? Why, the President of the Board of Trade could produce that in five minutes at his office. £9,000 : that is what you want for & 31otor Life-boat, arid, is I say, what these gallant fellows want is the best of everything. In a Motor Life-Boat there is less strain on your men and lives are saved that otherwise it is impossible to get at, and that no human aid can save without that help.

I have only one other thing to say, and that is with regard to the Ladies' Guild. I am speaking to a great many ladies here to-day, and I am prepared to say that you have your heroines, your sisters, round a 5,000 mile coast: Grace Darling, Mrs. Armstrong, and now, last, but not least, Miss Daisy Gromarty.

They go into the water and help to save life.

Now, the ladies inland, if they will form them- selves into Guilds, can equally save life by getting the money to do it, and they can get £9,000, and many another £9,000, which cannot be supplied by the President of the Board of Trade. I also appeal to the ladiss— I am asked to do so—to remember that the 2nd May is Life-boat Day in London, Now, there is a chance for you all, I am sure, in this room, to come forward and help in the streets and to join in the grand work of collecting money for THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

I have much pleasure in seconding the resolution that is put to my name (cheers).

The CHAIRMAN : I will call on Lieut. T. W.

Moore to support the resolution.

Lieut. MOORE : Mr. Chairman, Lord Walde- grave, ladies and gentlemen, the distinguished speaker who preceded me complained of the task which had been allotted to him'in second- ing this resolution. If that presents a diffi- culty to an officer of his calibre, where am I ? I can tell you, sir, that he has left me very badly on a lee shore. But I must say this : that the invitation to support this resolution was regarded by me as a very great compli- ment and honour to the officers of the Merchant Service, whom I represent. As I happen to be Vice-Chairman of the Seafarers' Joint Council in this country I can very safely speak for the men as well.

We, in this country, take far too much for granted. That is the great trouble. If I might presume to advise the great Parliamen- tarians who are present, so long as an institu- tion or any philanthropic effort is going along splendidly and smoothly, and is not the whole time shrieking for money, we think and we presume that everything is all right. We get lackadaisical and we get apathetic, and, of course, naturally and inevitably the result is that a great institution fails for want of sup- port, for these reasons. It is just the same with all philanthropic institutions. You may take the hospitals. The desperate position in which they stand to-day, especially iu this great city, needs no proof from me. But, afterall, with the inmates of hospitals it is not always a case of life and death. It is the case with this Institution. In the case of officers and men cast ashore amidst all the dangers and the terrors of the position so luridly described by Admiral Colville, when thrown on those rocks, facicg what appears to be not only a certain but a lingering death, the one , gleaming ray of hope which penetrates their hearts is represented by this Institution—the Life-boat. That is the only means of saving them for their wives, their children, and all they love.

: Let me add, on behalf of all the people that I represent, our measure of gratitude to these j gallant men and women who do such grand work. They are never failing. I know these | people so well who have been saved. To what ' do I owe the existence to-day of some of my best friends ? The Life-boat. I have come, i in the course of my duties, into personal con- tact with these officers and men when, so to speak, the water is hardly dry on their clothes, i and their first expression of thankfulness for i their lives is inevitably accorded to the Life- boat.

There is another element about this Institu- tion which I admire, and which, so to speak, gave us a cue and a lesson so far back as the year 1869, when the Committee of Manage- ment of this Institution decided that they would refuse any further help from money raised by taxation, and that they would in future rely upon voluntary contributions.

What a pity it is that we have not been able to keep that spirit up in this country all through our different institutions ! That very fact makes the claims of this Institution all the more undeniable. It is perfectly obvious that we must, and should, command and demand voluntary support, and support with a will.

There is nothing that gave me greater pain in reading this admirably compiled Annual Report than to see the meagre support which emanates from the Mercantile Marine. There is some underlying and subtle reason for it, but, again to be nautical, I cannot fathom it.

There ought to be some closer touch, some link connecting intimately the association ; of the Mercantile Marine with the Royal i National Life-Boat Institution. It is not, as has i been truly said, from the want of generosity ! on the part of ship owners. Amongst the ship I owners of this country have ranked the couu- | try's greatest philanthropists. Many of them I to-day, as I know from personal knowledge, j are philanthropists, and yet it may be, for all I know, that even they are not subscribers to this Institution. We see them at their annual meetings declaring dividends ; unfortunately for me and for the country there is not much of that just at present, and it is a shockingly bad time for everybody concerned; but, nevertheless, there are some of them even to- day returning dividends, and, probably, sub- stantial ones. But, even apart from that, as indicating their generosity, we frequently see, in the case of big companies, that in declaring those dividends they recommend that a sub- stantial sum shall be put aside for the pur- poses of superannuation, a most admirable thing to do. Now, if it is desirable to make provision for old age for their officers and men, is it not much more desirable that they should contribute to something which preserves the very lives of their people—that is, make a contribution to THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION ? (cheers).

In dealing with the Mercantile Marine I want, in justice, to include, so to speak, the rank and file of the officers and men of the Mercantile Marine. For many years, in the office that I hold, I have made myself very intimate with the workings of this organisation, and it always has been a puzzle to me why there has been such limited support from the active sea-going personnel of the Mercantile Marine. The only thing that I can imagine as possibly being a reason for it is that no one more than the sailor takes things for granted.

He sees this Institution and the Life-boats, he has got his charts and guides and all that sort of thing, showing him exactly where he is and where the Life-boat Stations are, and I think somehow or other he has got it into his head that this organisation has some form of State aid or something of that kind. I rather think that that is at the back of his mind. There- fore I think he ought to know more about this grand Institution.

1 myself, in my own very humble sphere, i would like to be an emissary in the work. We ! publish in connection with my organisation a monthly periodical known as The Dolphin, which has a very big circulation. It circulates amongst, roughly speaking, 12,000 officers of the Mercantile Marine per month, and I have reason to believe that many of the wives and women friends of those officers read with con- siderable interest the pages of that magazine.

I hope in the next issue to give a special report ' of this meeting. If I can be furnished with 1 it, I shall be glad to have a report for inser- ; tiou so that those officers of the Mercantile ; Marine can see what has been said. I should like to be practical as far as possible in this case, and, what is more, if the Institution will agree to accept it, I should be very pleased to offer it a half-page advertisement in that magazine for twelve months free of charge (cheers). I will leave the Secretary to insert whatever form of advertisement he may con- sider appropriate or desirable.

In conclusion, I have the very greatest pleasure in supporting this resolution. I hope the united efforts which have been made will lead to the continued prosperity of the Institu- tion and will restore the financial position, ! which undoubtedly has been rather badly damaged of late (cheers).

(The resolution was put to the meeting and carried unanimously.) EARL WALDEQKAVE : Ladies and gentle- men, it is my pleasant duty to propose a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Stanley Baldwin for so kindly coming here to-day.

The Committee of Management are very gratified at his presence, because it manifests that close relationship which has always existed, and must always exist, between the Board of Trade and this Institution. Mr.

Baldwin, in following the example of his pre- decessors, has given us hope that the relation.ship may be even more close than it is now, and we look forward in the future to great help from the Board of Trade—though not to that " £9,000 out of his office," because we do not want Government pay.

I am very grateful also to those speakers who touched on the question of the Mercantile Marine. I think, from what has been said to- day, particularly in the speech of Lieut.

Moore, we may hope for better things in future.

The financial state of the Institution is that at present our expenses exceed all our sources of income, and we shall have to put our shoul- ders to the wheel more than ever to try to get more support from the public. The public never has failed us all through and I am sure it will not fail us now. We must do every- thing that we can to obtain its increased help, and I want to second the appeal that has already been made to the ladies of London to rally round us and give us all the help they can on the 2nd May, Life-boat Day. I am sure that no lady in London will refuse an appeal like that to help such a cause and such an Institution.

There is one more thing I want to say, for I do not think it has been touched upon. I want to say, on behalf of myself and my col- leagues on the Committee of Management, how greatly we appreciate the good work of the staff of the Institution, Mr. Shee, and those under him in the clerical departments, and also Captain Rowley and his staff of In- spectors. Our staff is most energetic, and we are very thankful to have such a good staff.

They work long hours and do their best for the Institution, and I am very glad to take this opportunity of expressing my own and my colleagues' thanks to them for what they have done (cheers).

I beg to move : " That the hearty thanks of this Meeting be given to the Right Hon. Stanley Baldwin, M.P., President of the Board of Trade, for presiding over this, the Ninety-eighth Annual General Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION." I will ask Sir Harry Mainwaring to second that.

SIR HARRY MAINWARING : Lord Walde- grave, ladies and gentlemen, I think I may fairly say that the wind has been completely taken out of my sails by everything that the able speakers have already said, so I will merely say that I have much pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks.

(The Resolution was put to the meeting and carried unanimously.) THE CHAIRMAN : Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kind vote of thanks, and I declare the meeting closed..