As readers of The Lifeboat know, we have for some time been urging on the shipping community the claims of the Institution to their generous support, since it maintains a national service in which they are more directly interested than any other section of the nation.; These efforts have borne some fruit in increased contributions; but we feel bound to record that the shipping com- munity as such—apart from the portion of the contributions made by passengers on steamers " for charitable purposes which some of the shipping! companies allocate to the Institution— still contributes less than 1 per cent, of the £250,000 which is needed annually to maintain the Service.

The Institution has now obtained from the Board of Inland Revenue valuable concession for shipowners who support the Institution. The Board has decided that annual subscriptions made by " shipowners and other persons who directly employ seafaring persons as a class " may for the future be " treated as expenses incurred in the earning of business profits." This is an interesting decision, because it shows that the Board Inland Revenue recognize that the maintenance of an efficient Life-boat Service is a vital necessity to all shipowners.

It is useful because it means a considerable saving to shipping companies who contribute generously to the Institution.

We have drawn the attention of British shipping firms to this concession, so that those who already contribute may take advantage of it, and those who do not may be encouraged to become annual subscribers of amounts bearing some relation to the value their shipping. Our chief aim is that all shipping firms should contribute proportion to the number of their vessels.

But there is another way in which we are asking them to show their appreciation of the Life-boat Service. At the suggestion of a prominent shipowner it was decided, in June 1924, that in future owners should be notified when the crews of their vessels had been rescued, and that the work of the Institution should be put before them.

There is not and never can be any question of the Institution asking for payment for its services to those whose lives it rescues from shipwreck, but it is that the owners of the ships may like to take the opportunity of showing their gratitude, particularly in those cases where, at present, they do not subscribe'. We propose to publish in The Lifeboat lists of such gifts as they come in. Those which have been received since this plan was adopted last autumn are as follows :-

Stromness Motor Life-boat rescued 10 from steam trawler Hessmite, oi Hull. Owners : The Kingston Steam Trawling Co. £25. (This Company is an annual subscriber to the Hull Branch).

Runswick Life-boat rescued 19 from the s.s. Princess Clementine of Antwerp. On 27tli October it rescued the Captain who had remained on board.

(A full account of this service appears elsewhere in this issue.) Owners: The Belgian Stf am Navigation Co. £30.

Eastbourne Motor Life-boat rescued 3 from a Motor Lauich, M.L. 87, on 21st October, Owner; Major T.

Ross, M.C., D.C.M. 5s.

October 22. Margate No. 1 Life-boat rescued S from barge Lord Nelson, of London. Owner; W.Easter, Esq. £1 1*. subscription.

October 22. Margate No. 1 Life-boat rescued 5 from barge Guernsey, of London. Owners: Messrs.

T. E. Evans & Co., Ltd.

£5.

November 27. Newhaven Life-boat rescued 4 men from the tug Richmere, and stood by the S.S.

Dieppe, of Newhaven.

Lifeboat badly damaged.

Owners: Southern Railway.

£105. (The Southern Railway are already subscribers to the Institution.) December 23. An.struther Life-boat rescued 12 from the s.s. CAingford, of Dundee. Owners: Messrs.

James Mitchell and Sons, £26 5s. (Messrs. James Mitchell and Sons are already subscribers to the Institution, and the two partners of the firm are subscribers also, and take an active part in the work of the Institution's Branch at Dundee, Mr.

W. M. Hunter Mitchell being its Chairman.) To these another donation has to be added which has not been sent in response to this appeal.

Service to the S.S. "Bardic." As recorded in the last issue of The Lifeboat, the Motor Life-boat at the Lizard rescued ninety-three lives, from the wrecked White Star cargo vessel Bardic, on 31st August, 1924. At the time a letter of appreciation was written by Colonel Concannon, one of the joint managers of the White Star Line, to the Station at the Lizard. Colonel Concannon has now sent to the Station £100, asking that £5 should be presented to each of the eight members of the Crew, and that the remainder should be entered as a donation to the Branch.

A personal presentation has also been made to the Honorary Secretary of the Station. The White Star Line is one of the great shipping firms which are regular supporters of the Institution, its annual subscription being 15 guineas.

In addition to this it makes generous allocations to the Institution from the sums contributed by the passengers on board its steamers for charity, these allocations amounting to some hundreds of pounds each year.