ON the day on which the International Life-boat display on the Thames finished, and the foreign Life-boats went down the river and out to sea, the Teesmouth Motor Life-boat started on a six weeks' cruise up the Thames. She was in charge of an officer with a crew consist- ing of a coxswain, a motor mechanic, and two men. She went as far as Oxford, a distance of 113 miles, and among theother places where she stopped were Richmond, Kingston, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, Weybridge, Shepper- ton, Henley, Wallingford, Pangbourne, Great Marlow, and Reading. Alto- gether, nearly forty different places were visited, and a number of collections were made, the largest sums being received from Kingston, Maidenhead and Reading.

At Oxford, the Boat remained for three days, making a trip one day to Iffiey. The Vice-Chancellor of the University (Mr. J. Wells) and the Mayor of Oxford visited the Boat together on the first day, the Dean of Christ Church allowing the car which took them and other visitors to the river to go down the New Walk. This privilege, never before given except to Eoyalty, was granted in honour of " such a I special event and so magnificent a cause." At Shiplake, where the Boat arrived on 16th July, in heavy rain, a Life-boat Day was held in connexion' with her visit, and over £40 was raised. On her return journey she reached Henley on August 8th, where she was received byAdmiral Sir Martyn Jerram, G.C.M.Gr.

(a member of the Committee of Manage- ment and chairman of the recently- formed Henley and District Branch), the Mayor of Henley (Vice-Chairman), the members of the Committee and representatives from many places in the district. The following day the Town and Visitors' Regatta took place; the Life-boat made several trips with passengers on board, and the day was held as Life-boat Day, nearly £90 being raised.

The navigation of so large a boat on the Thames was no easy matter, and on account of the wash which she made, and the inconvenience of it to small boats and punts, she could only go very slowly. Often she simply drifted, withtwo or three occasional revolutions given to the engine.

There are dangers for a Life-boat even in the quiet waters of the Thames.

While she lay at Walton, and the crew were on shore for breakfast, about 18 inches of water was let out of the reach, and the crew returned to find the boat aground. A rope was made fasto a tree on the opposite bank and brought to the capstan, but all efforts failed to move her, and in the end the officer in command went down to the next lock by taxi, three miles away, and got the lock-keeper to shut down some of the weirs. The river rose, and in an hour the Life-boat was afloat.

Many thousands saw the Boat passing up and down the river, and many hundreds visited her. They had never seen such a queer craft on the river before, and it was astonishing how many there were, living on the lower reaches of the Thames, who had never seen the sea and had no idea what it was like. Not one in fifty, so the officer in command reported, knew the Boat to be a Life-boat, and one lady thought she was the Royal Barge. A small child was overheard to ask her mother what the Boat was. She was told, a Life-boat. " What is a Life-boat for ? " " For saving lives." " Why should they save lives ? " To many on the Thames who evidentlyknew nothing of the sea, let alone the Life-boat Service, the visit of this " queer-looking boat " will have brought some knowledge. We hope, too, that it will have awakened a permanent interest in what is going on round our coasts, in their many dangers, and in the work of the Life-boat service.

As an example of the value of the tour, a gentleman who visited the Boat at Iffiey, and who had previously informed the Institution that he intended to l ave it £1,000 in his will, was so impressed that he has decided to increase the legacy, and hopes, should he live long enough, to leave a sum sufficient to build a Motor Life-boat..