The CHAIRMAN : Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, to-day is the hundredth birthday of our Life-boat Service.

That is the historic event which we have met here to celebrate.

It is, and must always be, a matter of great pride to the city of London that the city was the birthplace of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE- BOAT INSTITUTION. At a meeting held in the old City of London Tavern, just a century ago as I am speaking, the resolution was carried which called the Institution into existence; but there is another reason, and, I will venture to say, an even stronger reason, why it is most appropriate that we should meet in the Institution's birthplace to see its first century ended, and to wish it God-speed as its second century begins. Here we are at the very heart of our maritime empire. The whole kingdom should remember to-day what we owe to the Life-boat Service, but nowhere should it be remembered with deeper gratitude than in the city of London, the headquarters of our great shipping industry and our world commerce.

What the seafarers of Great Britain and the industries dependent on them owe to the Life- boat Service is contained in five figures. The Institution has given rewards for the rescue from shipwreck of 59,574 lives. (Applause.) It is not only commerce which has met here to do honour to a great national service and its splendid achievement. The Church, the three great political parties and the Navy have all most distinguished representatives here to-day to pay their tributes. We have also with us a number of descendants of those whose honour it is that they took part in the founding of the Institution. We have His Grace the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, whose predecessor, Dr.

Manners Sutton, moved the resolution which called the Institution into existence, and who will himself move the principal resolution to-day. We have with us a descendant of Dr.

Manners Sutton, the Viscount Canterbury; we have Mr. S. A. R. Preston-Hillary, a descendant of that most distinguished man, Colonel Sir William Hillary, the Institution's founder (applause), and the first, and one of the greatest of our Life-boat men, the rescuer from shipwreck of no fewer than 305 lives.

Amongst others who are with us to-day, representing those who took part in the foundation of the Institution, are the Bishop of London, Lord Spencer, Lord Suffield, Major A. G. R. Foulerton, and Lieutenant Barclay Foulerton, R.N. We have also with us, in Admiral Sir Edmund Fremantle, a still closer link with the past of 100 years ago. A few months after the founding of the Institution, its first gold medal was awarded to Captain Fremantle of the Royal Navy for gallantly swimming out to a Swedish brig wrecked off Christchurch. Captain Fremantle lived to reach high rank in the Navy, and Admiral Fremantle is his nephew. Not only that, but Sir Edmund served with his uncle as flag- lieutenant sixty-six years ago; so that we have with us one who knew the Institution's first Gold Medallist, and heard from his own lips the story of that rescue which took place nearly 100 years ago.

Lastly, as a culminating honour and tribute to this unique Service, national yet not nationalized—national in character, yet inter- national in its beneficent activities—we have with us Your Royal Highness (applause), bearing witness, both by your presence and by the fact that you are the Institution's President, to that personal interest which our Royal House has taken in the Institution's work from the date of its foundation. Your Royal Highness will have the great satisfaction of knowing that in the services for which you will make awards to-day, Englishmen, Scotsmen, and Irishmen all took part. (Applause.) Before asking His Royal Highness to decorate those who have won medals for conspicuous service, I will call on the Deputy Secretary to read a brief account of the services for which those medals have been awarded.

The DEPUTY SECRETARY : The outstanding service of 1923 was carried out on 19th October by the Newburgh Life-boat with the help of men from H.M. Destroyers Vampire and Vendetta.

At 5.30 in the morning of that day, the trawler Imperial Prince, of Aberdeen, with a crew of nine men, drove ashore by Belhevie, near Aberdeen, in a full southerly gale, and at daybreak she was seen with only her bow and stern above water. The Institution's Life-boat at Newburgh, the Aberdeen Harbour Com- missioners' Life-boat and the Board of Trade Life-saving Rocket apparatus were all called put. Although the rocket apparatus succeeded in throwing a line over the wreck, the crew were too exhausted to haul in the breeches buoy, one of them being drowned in the attempt; and the Aberdeen Life-boat was swept back to the shore.

Meanwhile, the Newburgh Life-boat was being dragged along seven miles of soft, sandy beach, with men, women and children all helping in the work. She was launched, and at two in the afternoon reached the wreck, taking off two men, but a third was washed out of the life-buoy and drowned. One of the two was so badly injured, and the Life-boat j Crew themselves were so exhausted, that tie Coxswain decided to return ashore. Two more j attempts were made, but without success.

The Peterhead Motor Life-boat was summoned, and a message asking for help was sent to the Commanding Officer of H.M. Destroyer Vam- pire, lying at Aberdeen. Seven of his crew and four from H.M. Destroyer Vendetta, in charge of one of his Petty Officers, quickly arrived at the scene in taxicabs, and a fourth attempt was made, the Life-boat being manned by the naval men and by the Newburgh Coxswain and Bowman.

It was now nearly seven in the evening, and the tiawler's crew had been thirteen hours in the rigging. Although by this time the weather had moderated, there was a heavy swell breaking right over the wreck, leaving only her masts and the lop of her funnel visible.

After a long and hard pull the Life-boat got to windward of the wreck, which, thanks to the moon, could just be seen between the breakers.

The drogue was put over, and the boat was dropped down to the port side of the wreck, where she lay with her stern close in under the foremast, rising and falling eight feet with the waves, while the remaining five men of the trawler's crew were got aboard. The Peter- head Motor Life-boat, which had had a journey of twenty-two miles against the gale, arrived at the wreck shortly after the men had been rescued.

The Lords of the Admiralty have shown their appreciation of the services of the petty officer and men of the two destroyers by promoting Petty Officer Essam to the rank of chief petty officer or warrant officer, as he chooses, and by giving each of the eleven men six months' seniority.

The Committee of Management have made the following awards :— To John Innes, Coxswain, who went out on three of the four attempts, although he had been injured, the Silver Medal of the Institu- tion.

To James Innes, Bowman, the Coxswain's son, who went out each time with his father, the Bronze Medal of the Institution.

To the remaining members of the crew, special awards.

To Petty Officer C. A. W. Essam, of H.M.S.

Vampire, the Silver Medal of the Institution.

To each of the other eleven naval men, the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum, and special awards.

A special Letter of Thanks was also sent to the women of Newburgh. (Applause.) (H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES then pre- sented the Silver Medal to Coxswain John Innes, and the Bronze Medal to Bowman James Innes.) The DEPUTY SECRETARY : Another gallant service was carried out by the Life-boat of Cloughey, County Down, on the night of llth January last. It is noteworthy for the fact that neither the Coxswain nor Second Coxswain could go with the boat. The Coxswain was away from home. The Second Coxswain, his brother, lay dying. Another brother took command.

The Boat was launched at 11.30 in response to signals of distress from a vessel—the brigantine Helgoland, of Plymouth—which had driven ashore. A strong gale was blowing, with a heavy sea, and showers of sleet and hail.

The Helgoland had sunk, and her orew were in the rigging. She lay surrounded by rocks, and the night was very dark. All that the Life-boat could do was to lie as close as possible to the wreck, burn flares as a sign that help was at hand, and wait for daybreak. As soon as there wag light, the Life-boat, dropping anchor 200 yards astern of the wreck, veered down to her. A strong current was running, but she succeeded in getting a line aboard, and in a few minutes the five members of the crew were rescued from the mast, all utterly exhausted.

Only very cool and skilful seamanship could have succeeded in carrying out a rescue from a wreck lying among rocks in so perilous a position.

It was nine in the morning -when the Life- boat reached the shore with the rescued men, and Andrew Young, the acting Coxswain, found that his brother had died two hours after the Life-boat had been launched.

This is the second occasion upon which Andrew Young has distinguished himself in charge of the Life-boat. On the first occasion, November, 1920, when thirty lives were rescued from the s.s. Scarpa, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was specially thanked for his services. On this present occasion his gallantry and devotion to duty in such painful circumstances have been recognized by the award of the Institution's Bronze Medal.

(H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES then pre- sented the Bronze Medal to Acting Coxswain Andrew Young.) The CHAIRMAN : I will now ask His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury to move the first resolution.

His Grace the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY : I have to propose the following resolution :— " That those present at this, the Centenary Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, recognizing the important ser- vices which the Institution has rendered to the seafarers of all nations during a century of life-saving, desire to record their hearty appreciation of the gallantry of its Coxswains and Crews, to pay a tribute of respect and admiration to those who have sacrificed their lives in the attempt to save others, and gratefully to acknowledge the invaluable help rendered to the Life-boat cause by the Local Committees, Honorary Secretaries and Honorary Treasurers, and many thousands of self-sacrificing men and women who have helped to maintain that cause in the hearts of the British people." My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, I esteem it a very real privilege to take part in this gathering to-day.

It takes place appropriately, as you, my Lord Mayor, have reminded us, in the central spot of English commercial life and interest, and j we therefore have a right to feel that here, if anywhere, should God-speed be given to the work of those who have contributed to the saving of so much life among the men who are engaged in doing what is for the gain and advantage of us all; and I rejoice to be along- side of your Royal Highness, whose interest in all matters connected with our public welfare is so marked and keen, and who, if it is not impertinent to say so, has special interest in those works which have about them a spice of courage and adventure.

I am not apologizing for being the man chosen to stand here to-day. There is a peculiar appropriateness in it, regarded as an historical fact. It was on this very day, the fourth of March, one hundred years ago, that my predecessor as Archbishop, Archbishop Manners Sutton, as you, my Lord Mayor, have reminded us, moved the resolution which started the organized system of Life-boat work and energy on the coasts of the British Islands.

It is not always that we are able with the same accuracy to make history repeat itself, and I am very grateful for being allowed to take part to-day in something which marks the con- tinuity of our effort, the continuity of pur- pose which lies with those of us who exer- cise central responsibility in Church or State, and for to have the opportunity myself to wish, with my whole heart, God-speed in what we are endeavouring to do. Arch- bishop Manners Sutton had been, just as I have, some twenty years or more Arch- bishop of Canterbury at that time. He saw English life in a quiet and leisurely way, in a different way from that in which English life presents itself to us a hundred years later ; but then as now, perhaps then more than now, the perils which surround the lives of seafaring men on the coasts of our island home were great and real, and the first thought which actuated him and those who supported him then was doubtless the humanitarian thought of the saving of life on the part of those to whom the community owes so much. The resolution which was moved here in the city of London one hundred years ago, on this very day, and perhaps at this very hour, was " That an institution be now formed for the preservation of life in cases of shipwreck on the coasts of the United Kingdom, to be supported by donations and annual subscrip- tions, and to be called The National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck." I believe it in every sense to be a good thing that that work should be carried on by the voluntary and enthusiastic support of those who care, rather than by contributions from a central or Governmental source, which gives no sense of the real donations of those who would contribute. I am certain that we gain by the fact that the Institution has stood from the first upon these voluntary lines ; and the way in which it has grown from strength to strength, and advanced bit by bit while the decades have passed, has shown how closely it has been in touch with the best thoughts, the best impulses, and the best endeavours of the people who in these large matters really care. The need then, unfortunately, was as great as it is now, except that shipping was not so extensive in amount, but the mode which up to that time had been in existence for bring- ing help where help was needed was of the most haphazard kind. One coast line after another was practically without such aid, and it would seem that in some of the places where help was likely to be needed most, it was only in the most " chancy " way, I might call it, that it was rendered. It was felt by those who had the whole interests of the people at heart that such help must be put on a more regular basis, so that we should be able to estimate from a central quarter where the need was greatest, to make it practicable to bring rescue where rescue would not otherwise have been possible, and to save life possibly on a greater scale. The Archbishop then had a feeling which is in all our hearts to-day, I think, that it would be a great mistake were it to be imagined that this was a matter which chiefly concerned our coastline, and our coast- line folk—it concerned us all. Not merely is there probably no family in the land which is not in touch with or has members among those who are seafaring and exposed to peril, but apart from that, it is for our good, our gain and our sustenance, that those men are on the high seas risking their lives ; and in order that they should not perish within actual sight of the British shore, everybody feels that it is our paramount duty to render, if it may be possible, assistance to that end.

Apart from that, there is surely the thought that it is not a small thing in English life that there should be some great object lesson, on which al] eyes might be directed, of what self- sacrifice at its best can mean, and that a stimu- lus should be given to all kinds of thoughtful and deliberate self-surrender and self-sacrifice for the good of others, whereof the gallant men who man our Life-boats are but the object lesson and example to us all. It gets down to our national life, and gets to the very depths of the things for which we care most.

Therefore I feel that the Church, as represented by the man who holds the chief office in it, is in its right place when, in a matter which con- cerns the deepest life of us all, it takes the lead in doing that which so markedly brings home to everybody, both what is practicable and what is possible as regards the common duties and obligations of our English life.

But, my Lord Mayor, there is another reason why it is appropriate that the man who holds the office of Archbishop of Canterbury should be the speaker on this occasion. I have no doubt that Archbishop Manners Sutton said what I am going to say to-day. The dangers are great in stormy times on most parts of the British coast, but there is no part of the British coast on which the perils, and the need for help, are greater, and on which shipwrecks are more numerous than in the south-east corner of the British Islands—that bit of Kent which juts out into the sea, and is so surrounded by stormy water, on a difficult coast, with cliffs rising from the sea, and the Goodwin Sands just outside. That coast, or a great part of it, is in the diocese of Canter- bury. Canterbury itself lies in that angle of England on the coastline of which these perils are rife, and we have all round us, from Margate to Dungeness, Station after Station of Life- boats. It is brought home to one who is con- stantly on that coastline what the reality of that need is, and he rejoices in knowing that there, if anywhere on our coasts, Life-boats have been adequately supplied, adequately manned, and triumphant in their results.

There is hardly any station, if there be any on the coasts of the British Islands, where the Life-boat Service is more required than at Ramsgate. Ramsgate lies in a centre of peril, and has been able during a long course of years to contribute in a great degree to the work we are contemplating to-day. Something like 1,200 lives have been rescued by the Life- boats of Ramsgate alone.

Therefore I find a special local appropriate- ness, a sentimental appropriateness, in being allowed to stand here to-day to advocate, as my predecessor did one hundred years ago, a Cause which ought to be in all our hearts, a Cause in which every one of us is able by the contributions we give to bear some little part towards the common good.

I was yesterday in Oxford. I believe Oxford is about as far from the coast as almost any town you can find in England, but Oxford is one of the places which contribute most substantially to the aid of this Institution, because those who are there have been thought- fully stimulated to remember what they, like all of us, owe to the seamen who are imperilling their lives for the good of us all, and whom we desire to protect in every way from those perils. Of course, if one takes one part of England, it seems as if one forgets another part, but I do not forget that north coast.

South Shields has been most remarkable in the story of Life-boat work. The first Life- boat had its origin there, and there were people 120 years ago, long before this Institu- tion was founded, who tried, and actually did, set on foot a local Life-boat Service.

With all my heart do I plead for the Cause for which you have been good enough to bring us together, that we may foster it in a most appropriate way in this appropriate spot. I plead for it because it matters to us all, and I am quite sure that the plea, if it goes out to-day, will not be made in vain. (Applause.) LORD CHBLMSEOR.D : My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, my first duty this afternoon is to express on behalf of the feme Minister his very sincere regret that pressure of Parliamentary duties prevents him from being here and from seconding the resolution which has been moved by the most reverend Primate. I feel sure you also will regret his absence, because the presence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain always adds a distinction to any meeting. I can say, too, from conversation with the Prime Minister, that he would have been able to tell you of his own personal experience of this great Life-boat Service, because from Lossiemouth, where he lives, he has seen the Life-boats at work doing their wonderful deeds. It is obvious that no member of the Government can adequately represent the Prime Minister at a gathering such as this, but I think it is not inappropriate that if there is to be a member of the Government present, it should be the First Lord of the Admiralty. From the fact that I have many speakers after me who will take up the theme and address you, especially Mr. Austen Chamberlain, who is going to sup- port this resolution (applause), I will be brief ; aud uay I say, if Mr. Chamberlain will forgive me, I am looking forward with added interest to what he is going to say, because he told me he had been basing some of his remarks 00 the presence of the Prime Minister (laughter), and it will be interesting to see how, with his readi- ness of speech and his flair for debate, he will be able to transfer those premature remarks to the person of the First Lord of the Admiralty. In view of the speakers to follow me, I propose to confine my remarks more especially to the naval aspect of this great ROYAL NATIONAL LITE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

What are the facts which are recorded for us in the Report now before us ? First of all, for the past hundred years we have had this great Service established round our shores, developing from thirty-nine Life-boats one hun- dred years ago to 230 to-day, which guard every dangerous spot upon our coasts, and, in that time, 60,000 lives have been rescued. In the second place, there have been during the past year some 12,000 men afloat, for practice or otherwise, in our Life-boats, and, thirdly, notwithstanding the dangers to which these men have been exposed, there has been during the past year no loss of life to the crews (applause)—an outstanding proof, if proof were needed, of the skilful seamanship of the Coxswains. Now what I want you to think of this afternoon is what these facts mean in the matter of what I would term the sea-sense of our people. I pass over, because it is not germane to my point, the fact that 60,000 lives have been saved and come to this, that, year by year, this Institution has made an appeal for help to the maritime ranks, and that appeal has never been made in vain. Year by year it has trained men to the sea under the most exacting conditions, and requiring a knowledge of seamanship which cannot be surpassed, and year by year it has furnished records of courage, of endeavour, of endurance and humanity, the mere recitals of which are in themselves a great instruction, keeping before our youth what men can do and dare.

From first to last the naval power of this country has been based on the sea-sense of our people. We have come to regard the sea as particularly and peculiarly our own, and the call of the sea has been a call which has always evoked a response from our youths. Now I can conceive no more striking manifestation of this sea-sense than the wonderful -work which has been done by our maritime popula- tion under the auspices of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. Nor can I conceive an appeal more valuable to this sea-sense in these days, when our maritime population forms so small a proportion to the rest of the population of this great country.

One more word in support of the resolution which I have to propose for your acceptance.

We desire to place on record our hearty appreciation of the gallantry of the Coxswains and Crews. Courage is a quality which defies analysis, and defies definition, but I imagine you will all agree with me in regarding three- o'cloek-in-the-morning courage as its supreme type (applause); by which I mean that readiness to go out from warmth and comfort in cold blood to face danger and death. That is the nature of the courage that has been shown by our Life-boat Crews, and that is the courage of which I am sure you are all wishful this afternoon to express your appreciation.

It has been a great privilege, ladies and gentle- men, for me to assist at this gathering this afternoon. I will now second the resolution which has been put before you by the most reverend Primate. (Applause.) The CHAIRMAN : I will now ask Mr. Austen Chamberlain to support the resolution.

Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN : My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, when a good resolution has been well proposed and well seconded, it would not be necessary in any country but our own that another speech should be made in support of it. (Laughter.) The Archbishop of Canterbury raises by his office no possibility of misconception or of discord, but a member of the Government has spoken, and you cannot keep politics out of our gatherings except by bringing political parties in. Accordingly, a member of the Government having spoken, Sir Donald MacLean and I are here to show that there is no guile in the man—on this occasion (laughter)—and to give our certificate to all that he has said this afternoon. That is really, ladies and gentlemen, the only reason why I speak, or have been asked to speak, except a slight misconception entertained by the Secretary of this Institution, who appeared to think that at some point in my public career I had been First Lord of the Admiralty. Now there he touched me, for my earliest, and it would be very nearly true to say, my only political ambition, was—when I entered office as Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and thus became acquainted with the men of the sea— to end my official career at some period when I had risen to such measure of dignity and influence as might be my lot, as First Lord, the post which Lord Chelmsford holds. But, like most ambitions, it has not been realised.

What then shall I say ? My Lord Mayor, this is a great national occasion, and we do well to commemorate it as such, but it is something more—it is a great international occasion, for the Institution whose hundredth birthday we are celebrating has been the pioneer, the model and the exemplar of similar services throughout the civilized world. There will be published, and I do not wish to anticipate the publication, messages from sister services all over the world, alike in the British Dominions and in foreign countries which greet this anniversary. Surely, Sir, no more remarkable work was done by two private individuals than that done by the founders of this great Institu- tion. I suppose when they established it a hundred years ago, wrecking was still a no1 unprofitable occupation on some parts even of our coast, and the systematic provision ol any means of saving life from shipwreck was unknown anywhere throughout the world.

Let us be thankful that we who have paid the price of Admiralty—our country and our jountrymen—and are the great seafaring nation before all others, were pioneers in this ;reat '. rviee of humanity, and add that to our credit as a nation and a people. (Applause.) My Lord Mayor, I do not want to be disagree- able to any one on an occasion like this—I lave plenty of opportunities of making myself disagreeable in another sphere ; but there is one matter in the history of this Institution and in its present-day conditions which is not satisfactory. I should think it was a mere accident, some fault of organization, if it were not the case that a year or two ago the same ting struck the late Prime Minister, then President of the Board of Trade, when presiding at one of your annual meetings. My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, I do want to make a serious appeal to the shipping community of this country to give that measure of support to this Institution which they, above all men in this country, owe to it. (Applause.) The income of the Institution last year was—giving you round figures—£230,000. In 1921 the contribution of all the shipping firms in the United Kingdom was under £2,000 ; in 1922, including £600 in special gifts, it was less than £3,000; last year it was only £2,300. The whole shipping community of Great Britain contributed last year less than four times the contributions made by foreign shipping firms.

That is not right; it is not creditable ; and I am sure that if the chambers of shipping in the United Kingdom and the leaders of ship- ping were to take the matter up, they could show very much better results. There are nearly 2,000 shipping firms in the British Islands ; less than 300 of them find a place in the list of subscribers to this Institution.

Now, my Lord Mayor, I have made myself quite disagreeable enough, and I say no more than that, but I have a bone to pick with Lord Chelmsford. (Laughter.) He is a member of a Government very new to office, and very inexperienced in it, and he has done what Sir Donald MacLean or I, members of the older parties, would not do; he has revealed in the House of Commons what we call, in common parlance, a conversation behind the Chair. Well, I had a thought which I could have expressed quite confidently if the Prime Minister had represented the Government, but what troubles me is that I do not quite know how far Lord Chelmsford agrees with the Prime Minister. (Laughter.) But I sTspose it would be polite to assume that they iave one mind on the great issues which divide public opinion at the present time. I think, therefore, I need not be disturbed by the fact that the Prime Minister is absent, and that Lord Chelmsford represents him. You would not expect to see me and a member of the Government on the same platform at the present time. We are divided profoundly on many questions, but first and foremost, as to what should be the limits of Government action and of individual enterprise. If we were sitting down, Lord Chelmsford, or the Prime Minister, and I, and Sir Donald Mac Lean —if we four were sitting down with a clean slate to devise a constitution for a new country, and to define the sphere of its Govern- mental activities, I suppose there is no subject which we should more readily agree was more suited to State action, rather than to indi- vidual enterprise, than the organization of a Life-boat Service round the coasts of our country. (Applause.) And yet here we are all celebrating the Centenary of a Voluntary Institution which has owed nothing but good will to any Government that has existed during the whole hundred years of its life, and which has organized this Service, developed it, carried it on so efficiently, with such energy, with such adaptation to the march of science and the progress of invention, that not even Lord Chelmsford would wish to convert it into a Government service, or would not haiL this great Institution as the best means by which the Life-boat Service could be con- tinued in the future as it was originated, and as it has been carried on in the past. I come to something more remarkable still. Other countries have been much more disposed to rely upon Government initiative and Govern- ment aid than our own. It is the glory of this Institution that it has done its work so well without Government assistance—I return, as you see, to my first thesis, that this is not merely a national, but an international Institution—it is the glory of this Institution that so well, so triumphantly has it done its work, that I believe amongst all the countries which have an organized Life-boat Service, there are only three which have not been captivated by our example, and have not made their service a voluntary, though sometimes a State-aided, service.

My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, I think that this is a remarkable record for any Institution. We hail its hundredth birthday ; we hope that its future will be as beneficent as its past; and if I may say so—if I may think that what I feel is what the ordinary man and woman feel—when we in our several ways try to do our duty to our country and our time, we are immensely helped by the conspicuous instances of self-sacrifice and heroism which the Life-boat Service offers to our eyes. (Applause.) The CHAIRMAN : You have heard the resolu- tion read, which has been proposed, seconded and supported. I will now put it: all those in favour of the resolution will signify the same in the usual manner. On the contrary ? Carried unanimously.

I will now ask Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee to move a resolution.

Admiral Sir DOVETOS STTIRDEE : The resolu- tion is as follows :— " That those present at this, the Cen- tenary Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, approving of the principles laid down by Sir William Hillary that the Life-boat Service should be founded upon the widest possible measure of sup- [JUNE, 1924.

port, just as the Service itself is the expres- sion of voluntary self-sacrifice for the Life- boat Cause, pledge themselves to do all in their power to secure a widening and increasing measure of support for the Life- boat Service." My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, on an occasion like this, the Centenary of a great Sea Institu- tion, it is a great privilege to be here to speak as a brother seaman to Life-boatmen. I am not speaking quite for the Admiralty, because the First Lord, whom we all bow to, has spoken, and a would-be First Lord has also spoken. I can only speak as a seaman, who feels that we ought to be proud of this Institu- tion. 1 think, too, that I ought also to speak for the Army. A soldier started it, and I think the Institution shows that we are not such bloodthirsty people as people sometimes think. THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION and the men in its service are rather a sister Service with the Navy. The Navy defends the country from enemies, and prevents war ; the Life-boat Service defends the people who are in peril of their lives. We are very similar, and we are all seamen. But I bow my head to the Life-boatman, who is probably a better seaman than the Navy man, because he has to rough it in much harder circumstances.

It is a very interesting fact, which we do not all realize, that the great merchants of Brentford, who started from London, gave us a sea route, and by the development of trade have given us a communication right across the seas. I hope people will never forget how we defend them coming across the seas, but as the Archbishop has mentioned, they have other perils to face, and against these an Institution of this sort is a necessity.

It is a wonderful record for the people of this country to subscribe £230,000 a year, and yet I notice' we want a little more, because there is £20,000 deficit. I feel that we as a people should support the Institution, perhaps more generously and widely. I was reading in the paper yesterday that one of the inland counties, Northamptonshire, is raising £10,000 for a Motor Life-boat. It shows that the sea- sense goes right through the nation, and it is because of that sea-sense that we see such a large audience here to-day supporting this Institution. Coming up in the train to-day I read a notice in a paper of a wreck and the work of a Life-boat, and if you will allow me, I will read it to you. " During the rough weather in the Channel early yesterday morn- ing flares at sea were seen by the coast watcher at Hythe, and the Life-boat was launched just before 5 A.M., but after an adventurous voyage it returned without having found any vessel in distress.'' I have read that, ladies and gentlemen, just to show you what is going on daily.

This Institution has a great record, and I hope, and I am sure, that it is thoroughly recognized by this meeting. The Navy, of course, is very much interested in the Life-boat Institution. It did good service in the War. The Army is interested too. The Institution has helped the Army, and I have no doubt that the Air Service has also been materially helped by it. You have heard about the courage and endurance of these grand men, and I will not weary you, except to say how thoroughly we appreciate their skilful service, and the good work which has been done by this private Institution. It is a great thing to feel that philanthropy can still do good work without Government support. The Institution is so truly British, and long may it remain individual, independent, and not always looking to the Government for financial assistance, when we can carry on ourselves.

(Hear, hear.) With those words I propose the resolution.

The CHAIRMAN: Sir Donald MacLean will second the resolution.

Sir DONALD MACLEAN : My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it is always interesting on occasions of this kind, which relate to the sea, to notice how closely linked His Majesty's Naval Forces are with the civil side of our ships at sea.

That union which has long existed between both seta of men at sea was developed, strengthened, and, indeed, consecrated by their common sacrifice during the late War.

So that the testimony which has been given by the gallant Admiral, who has just spoken to this essential civilian service, is one which comes with peculiar grace and effectiveness at the present moment.

I suppose I am the last of the political crew to step into the boat this afternoon. That, I may add, is, as a rule, the duty of the Coxswain.

(Hear, hear.) I am glad to note something towards general approval of that statement.

(Laughter.) But here, at any rate, we are all pulling together, and I hope and believe that the rank and file of all political parties, and those who belong to no political party, will do all they can for this great and noble Service.

The resolution which I am seconding has for its main theme the splendid ideal of voluntary service in a great national effort. I am not one of those—indeed, I suppose there are none of them left nowadays—-who believe that the State can do no good; but I should imagine the solution of our problem is to be arrived at by an admixture of State and voluntary effort. Therefore I do not see why the State should not contribute to such a splendid Service as this—so long as it does not interfere with the working of it (Laughter and ap- plause), and I hope that suggestion, which I imagine comes with a whole heart from this meeting, will be passed on to the Chancellor of the Exchequer by the First Lord of the Ad- miralty. But it is profoundly true of British life, perhaps more than of the life of any other nation in the world, that individual effort, backed up by a spirit of self-sacrifice, has pulled this nation of ours through most of its troubles, and I believe that is the real main, spring of the success of the great movement, These men receive some reward for their efforts, but I am sure the reward they appre- ciate most is the kind of recognition which was given by the Prince to-day—no money payment, but a token of national recognition of unselfish individual heroism. I believe it is still true of the ropes which are need in the Navy that there is one strand which is coloured, running right through the rope; and that coloured stand of voluntary effort is the most important part of our national life. I hope that this great Service never will be nation- alized, but always will give the public a chance to contribute a voluntary levy—let it be a capital levy in this case, as long as it is volun- tary—to so splendid a work as this. (Applause.) I remember reading some year or two ago of a wounded soldier struggling with a number of parcels, and a lady who met him said, " Let me help you; I see you have lost an arm." " No, madam," he said with a cheery smile, " I have not lost my arm; I gave it." (Applause.) The LORD MAYOR of LIVERPOOL : My Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, we have listened to some brilliant speeches by brilliant men, but not a word too much has been or could be said in furthering the Cause that we have at heart. I am here this afternoon as Lord Mayor of the great City and Port of Liverpool, and thereby as President of one of the Institu- tion's largest and, I am delighted to say, most generously supported branches. I am also here, apart from representing Liverpool, representing thousands of voluntary workers throughout the country. We have all been delighted to read the report of the remarkable progress of the Institution during the last 100 years, of the saving of 60,000 lives, the development from the £150 Life-boat to the £10,000 modern Motor Life-boat; the contrast between the expenditure in the first years of £1,800 as against £230,000 last year—practi- cally a quarter of a million.

My Lord Mayor, this afternoon, if I may, I should like to pay a special tribute to the Life- boatmen, for we recognize that this great work is only done by the co-ordination and co-operation, first of all, of the generous British public, then of the voluntary workers, and lastly, of the men who man the boats.

And may I pay » special tribute as » ship- owner. I say this with considerable diffidence, feeling acutely my position, after what Mr.

Austen Chamberlain said. We recognize that the men who man the boats are largely drawn from the men who populate our fishing vil- lages, and that the wide experience gained by them in fighting the storms, they give freely and voluntarily in the succour of those in peril on the sea. Their endurance and courage, and splendid seamanship have been shown in hundreds of cases round our coasts, and perhaps their spirit cannot be better described than in the words of one William Aylett, who was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution on the occasion of the disaster of the Caister Life-boat, He lost two sons and a grandson, and at the inquest, when it was suggested that the Life-boat had turned about and given up the fight, he said indignantly, though he was a man of seventy-eight, " Caister Life-boatmen never turn back." It is remarkable that, even when they grow old, our Life-boatmen do not seem to lose their powers of endurance and bravery. The founder of the Institution, Sir William Hillary, was a Life-boatman until he was sixty; and remember that during the Great War it was the old men who carried on the Service when the young men had joined up in the Navy. Not only the men, but the women of our fishing villages show the same brave spirit. It requires great courage and endurance in the middle of a night, in a snowstorm, foi these women to turn out and help to drag the Life-boat through the soft sands and launch it while waist-deep in the boiling waves. That is what they do; they look on it as their duty •when the call goes for their men to man the Life-boats.

Sir William Hillary, -with his prevision and powers of organization, foreshadowed that not only would he have the assistance of these men and women in the work, but that men and women all over the country would rally to the Cause ; and they have done that. There are over 800 Life-boat Committees in the country which collect over £85,000, and just think— the women of the country provide something like one-third of the revenue. I feel that this Centenary Meeting will do much towards the great Cause, and on behalf of the thousands of voluntary workers throughout the country, I may say we are delighted to serve under the Presidency of Your Royal Highness. I should like to tender their congratulations to you on this auspicious day, and I say on their behalf that they renew the pledge to do all that it is in their power, to protect the lives of those who go down to the sea in ships and do their business in great waters. I have very much pleasure in supporting the resolution. (Ap- lause.) (The resolution was then put to the. Meeting and carried.) H.U.H. THE PRINCE OF WALKS : My Lord Mayor, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it is a very interesting duty I have to perform, that of moving a vote of thanks to you, my Lord Mayor, for placing this hall at the disposal of the Institution. Speakers have referred to the fact that the Institution was founded in this great city of London, and I cannot imagine anything more appropriate than that its hundredth anniversary should be celebrated under your auspices in this Mansion House in the heart of the civic life of London. My Lord Mayor, you represent the city of London, and London is the heart and centre of our great maritime Empire. There is no town in the world where interests are more closely con- nected with the sea, and which must, there- fore, take a greater pride in the humane and heroic work of the Life-boat Service than London.

I thank you, my Lord Mayor, not only for your hospitality to us this afternoon, but for the significance which this meeting has for the future of this Institution. I feel quite sure that one of the results will be the deepening and widening tie interest taken in the Life-boat Cause by this great city, and by other corpora- tions, particularly those which are most closely associated with maritime affairs. I would include in this vote of thanks the distinguished speakers who have come here to-day to pay a noble tribute to a noble Cause.

At this point I should like to read a telegram which I have received: " On this historic occasion, the Centenary Meeting of THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFB-BOAT INSTITUTION, the Manchester and Salford Branch, second only to London in its contributions, send con- gratulations and good wishes to the President and Committee of Management, and rejoice that a hundred years of Life-boat work has resulted in the saving of nearly 60,000 lives.

Manchester and Salford this year resolved to present latest type Motor Life-boat to Institu- tion, and so show appreciation of courage, devotion and heroism, ever displayed by Life-boat crews." (Applause.) That is from the Lord Mayor of Manchester, and it is signed also by other gentlemen. I will send an appropriate reply.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you probably know, I am leaving the country for South Africa in May, and therefore I am afraid I shall not be able to preside at any meeting of th§ Institution during the coming centenary year, so that I should like to take this oppor- tunity, as President, of expressing my heartiest thanks to the Committee of Management, the Honorary Secretaries, the President and mem- bers of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, and the thousands of voluntary workers throughout the country who have devoted themselves to furthering the interests of the Life-boat Cause, not only in the maritime districts, but also in the heart of the United Kingdom. I should like them to know that I take a very deep interest in this noble Service and its gallant Coxswains and Crews, and that I attach great value to the work done by all in this great Cause. (Applause.) I will ask Sir Godfrey Baring, the Chairman of the Institution, to second the motion.

Sir GODFKEY BAKING : My Lord Mayor, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, it would be unpardonable if I attempted to add more than a sentence or two to the resolution of thanks which has been proposed in such felicitous terms by His Royal Highness. I wish to assure you that the Committee of Management are doubly grateful to you for your kindness in allowing us to meet in this historic hall under such delightful conditions.

We are, further, doubly appreciative of the most admirable, helpful and persuasive speeches which have been made on behalf of the Institution at this Meeting. Those speeches will constitute to our Life-boatmen a reward for the past, an encouragement in the present, and an inspiration for the future.

It is true that at one moment during the Meeting there was some high tension, during the admirable speech delivered by Mr.

Chamberlain, when Mr. Chamberlain was separated from the Admiralty by a high dignitary of the Church, by Your Royal Highness, and by a substantial piece of furniture. However, that tension is past, and we are ending our Meeting in perfect peace and amity. There is only one circumstance we have to deplore, and that is the absence, owing to rather serious illness, of our Secretary, Mr.

George Shee. For fourteen years Mr. Shee has fulfilled the anxious and onerous duties of Secretary with real distinction. By his great ability, his unflagging zeal, and conspicuous powers of organization, he has rendered great and valuable service to the Institution, and I am sure I express the wish of every one present when I express the earnest hope that he may shortly be restored to his usual health, and once more direct our affairs.

Ladies and gentlemen, I will say no more, except to ask you to carry this vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor by acclamation. (Applause.) The CHAIRMAN : I am very much obliged to you for the vote of thanks which you have passed to me for presiding, and to the speakers who have addressed you. It has been to me a most interesting occasion, emphasized by the fact that this great Institution was founded in the city of London one hundred years ago, that I as Lord Mayor should be presiding at this f eat Meeting to celebrate its centenary, and can only express the fervent hope that this good work may be continued for many years to come, and that the bi-centenary of this Institution may taken place in this very hall, presided over by one of my successors.

(Applause.).