THE Blyth station is one of the oldest on the coast — it was established in 1826, two years after the Institution itself was founded — and the inaugural ceremony of the Joseph Adlam, the Motor Life-boat which arrived at the station on 4th October last, after a voyage of six days from Cowes,* was a function in which the whole life of the town was fully repre- sented. Mr. C. E. Baldwin, J.P., presided over the ceremony. The Eight Honourable Walter Runciman, a member * This voyage was described by Com- mander Carver, Inspector of Life-boats, in the February issue of The Life-Boat. — EDITOK.

of the Committee of Management, presented the Boat to the Branch on behalf of the relatives of the late Mr. Joseph Adlam, out of whose legacy to the Institution the Boat had been built. The Right Rev. Dr. Wild, Bishop of Newcastle, dedicated the Boat, and the naming ceremony was performed by Lady Runciman, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Among those present were Sir Walter Runciman, Major H. E. Burton, R.E., Honorary Superintendent of the Motor Life-boat at Tynemouth, the Rev. A.

Tuson, Vicar of Blyth, Mr. John Easton, Mr. J. W. Hogarth, and other members of the Blyth Committee ; Mr. R. Smith, ex-Coxswain of the Tynemouth Life- boat, and Mr. W. J. Parker, the Hono- rary Secretary of the Branch, to whom the Institution is indebted for the admirable arrangements of the ceremony.

The function itself was preceded by a procession through the town. This was headed by the band and boys from the Wellesley Nautical School. The old Life-boat Dash, with the crew on board, and drawn by six horses, followed, and the rest of the procession was made up of boy scouts, sea scouts, girl guides,ambulance brigades, life-saving brigades, friendly societies and the Cowpen Colliery band.

After the opening hymn " 0 God our Help in Ages Past " and a prayer by the Rev. A. Tuson, Mr. Baldwin recalled the fine record of the Salford, the Dalmar and the Dash, the three Life-boats which had succeeded one another at Blyth since 1872, and which had saved in all over 170 lives. The first Life-boat House had been shut off from the sea by commercial developments, the second was not suitable for a Motor Life-boat, and so it had been necessary to build a third to house the Joseph'Adlam, whichrepresented the high-water mark so far reached in Life-boat construction.

Blyth was not a large port when com- pared with the Tyne, but in the course of 1920, 2,289 vessels had entered their harbour, with 34,278 persons on board.

Those figures gave some idea of the numbers who risked their lives at sea and of the need there was to be ready at all times to render help.

In presenting the Life-boat to the Branch, Mr. Runciman spoke of the generosity of the late Mr. Joseph Adlam, after whom the Boat was to be named, in leaving the Institution over £11,000 to be expended as the Committee of Management thought fit. This new Boat had cost £9,000 and she was replacing a Boat which had cost £1,300.

That difference showed the enormous increase in the cost of maintaining the Service, which was the result of the determination of the Institution to continue improving the Boats and their equipment, and to give the Life-boatmen the best that art, science and good workmanship could provide.

Mr. Runciman then spoke of the splendid part which the North-eastCoast had played in the history of the Life-boat service. On that coast the first Life-boat station had been estab- lished, and the Tyne Life-boat, which had served at Tynemouth for forty-eight years, still held, with 1,024 lives rescued, the record for life-saving. Good as had been the record of the Boats on the North-east Coast it was no better than the record of the men, and he was glad to think that they could secure crews not only from among professional sea- faring men but from among those who, as yachtsmen, went to sea for theirpleasure, and were ready, when the call came, to risk their lives in the Life-boat service. In that connexion he would remind them of the splendid service, one of the finest ever performed by a Motor Life-boat, in which Major Barton and Coxswain Smith took part, winning the Gold Medal of the Institution, when, in 1914, the Tynemouth Motor Life-boat came to the rescue of the Rohilla off Whitby. That service not only showed the splendid bravery of men but marked the great advance made by science in the work of saving life from shipwreck, an advance without which many who had been saved would have been lost.

The Institution, with its record of over 58,000 lives saved, had a right to beproud of its achievements, and it was no reflection on State ownership to point out that it had always been voluntarily managed and controlled by a voluntary Committee, manned by volunteer crews, and supported by voluntary contribu- tions. He would ask the voluntary subscribers not to let their generosity fail, for he could assure them that what they gave would be put to the best use possible.

After Mr. John Easton had accepted the Boat on behalf of the Branch, she was dedicated by the Bishop of New- castle; the hymn " Eternal Father Strong to Save " was sung, and Com- mander Carver, Inspector of Life-boats for the Eastern District, gave particulars of the Boat. Major Barton then pro- posed and Mr. Hogarth, of the Blyth Committee, seconded a vote of thanks to Lady Runciman, Mr. Walter Runciman and the Bishop of Newcastle, and the Boat, which had been on the slipway at the edge of the water, was hauled up by the motor-winch into the Boat- house. Here Lady Runciman performed the naming ceremony, and to the playing of the Wellesley Boys' band on the roof of the Boat House, and the cheering of the crowd, the Joseph Adlam was launched..