ON 1st July His Majesty's Government gave a dinner at Lancaster House in honour of the Delegates to the Con- ference. The Right Hon. Sidney Webb, M.P., President of the Board of Trade, presided, supported by the Right Hon.

F. W. Jowett, M.P., First Commissioner of Works, and Mr. A. V. Alexander, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade. Among the guests, in addition to the Delegates from the foreign Life-boat Societies, were Sir Alan Garrett Anderson, K.B.E. (President of the Chamber of Shipping), Sir Ernest Glover, Bt. (President of the Chamber of Shipping in 1923), Vioe-Admiral Sir Hugh Tothill (Admiral Commanding Reserves, and a member of the Com- mittee of Management of the Institu- tion), Captain Sir Herbert Acton Blake, K.C.M.G. (Deputy Master of Trinity House, and a member of the Committee of Management), Sir Sydney Chapman, K.C.B. (Permanent Secretary to the Board of Trade), Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt. (Chairman of the Committee of Man- agement), the Hon. George Colville (Deputy Chairman), and other members of the Committee, Sir Arthur Norman Hill, Bt. (Chairman of the Board of Trade Advisory Committee on Merchant Shipping), Mr. G. Hipwood, O.B. (Her- cantile Marine Department, Board of Trade), Captain J. D. Daintree, C.B.E., R.N. (Inspector-General of Coast Guard), Mr. George F. Shee, M.A. (Secretary of the Institution), and Captain Howard F. J. Rowley, C.B.E., R.N. (Chief In- spector of Life-boats).

In addition to the toasts of " The King" and " The Sovereigns of the Kingdoms and Presidents of the Repub- lics Represented," the only toast was " Our Guests," which was proposed by Mr. Sidney Webb. In the course of his speech Mr. Webb paid the following tribute to the Institution, which is all the more interesting when it is remem- bered that Mr. Webb is, and has beenfor many years, one of the most in- fluential and distinguished intellects in the Socialist movement:— " Great Britain happens to be the oldest in the beneficent enterprise of saving life from the sea, as befits the country which has the largest amount of shipping, and the largest coastline in proportion to its size, and we have all been struck by the enormous increase, during the past hundred years, in the size of the Institution and the scope of its work. It is one of its glories that it is entirely voluntary, carrying on itswork without Government assistance.

One of the advantages of voluntary organization is that it can initiate and experiment, which is very difficult for a Government Department. But there are drawbacks. It is difficult for a volun- tary association to have continuity— but the Institution has managed to do it. It is another of the drawbacks of voluntary associations that they seldom manage to be equal to the whole of their tasks—but here again the Institution has succeeded." The-toast was responded to by Mr.

P. E. Tegelberg, President of the North and South Holland Life-Saving Society, who spoke as the representative of the younger brother, though not quite the twin brother, of the Institution, for his Society was founded in the same year as the British, eight months later. Mr.

Tegelberg paid a tribute to the British Service, and acknowledged the readiness which it had always shown to help the life-boat Services of other countries.

Sir Godfrey Baring also replied to the toast, and Major-General the Right Hon.

J. E. B. Seeley, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., M.P., proposed the health of Mr. Sidney Webb..