THE facsimile reproduction which we give of a ship's collection sheet, as it was returned to the Port of Liverpool Branch, is only one example, but a very striking example, of the generosity of the mercantile marine to the Life-boat Service.

This steamer, which contributed over £10, is an oil tanker of only 6,500 tons.

Her officers are British and her crew Chinese.

Similar collecting sheets are issued by a number of our Branches, the two principal being the City of London and the Port of Liverpool. During 1924 the Port of Liverpool received contri- butions from 77 vessels, amounting to £648, and the City of London from 360 vessels, amounting to £2,277, these sums being contributed in part by the officers and crews and in part by the passengers.

A ''Liners' Week" was held in the Mersey at the beginning of October, and during the week liners of the White Star and Cunard Lines and of "the Canadian Pacific Railway were on exhibition for the inspection of the public. It was not possible, as had at first been hoped, for the 60-foot New Brighton Motor Life-boat, which, though not a liner, is that most power-ful Motor Life-boat in the world, to 1 take part in the Week, but collections were made for the Life-boat Service, which amounted to £225. This is a very gratifying increase on last year's Liners' Week, when £100 was raised.

Another example of the readiness of passengers to contribute comes from Southampton. Since 1917 the manager of the Southampton and Isle of Wight Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Mr. L. T. Wilkins, who is also one of the directors, has personally arranged and looked after collections made on the steamers of his company which run between Southampton and Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. In the first year collections were made on three vessels, and amounted to £3 10*. Id. By the third year they had increased to over £50, by the fifth year to over £125.

Each year, in fact, has shown an increase on the previous year, and in the present year the collections made on ten vessels, not only amounted to £240, but brought THE facsimile reproduction which we give of a ship's collection sheet, as it was returned to the Port of Liverpool Branch, is only one example, but a very striking example, of the generosity of the mercantile marine to the Life-boat Service.

This steamer, which contributed over £10, is an oil tanker of only 6,500 tons.

Her officers are British and her crew Chinese.

Similar collecting sheets are issued by a number of our Branches, the two principal being the City of London and the Port of Liverpool. During 1924 the Port of Liverpool received contri- butions from 77 vessels, amounting to £648, and the City of London from 360 vessels, amounting to £2,277, these sums being contributed in part by the officers and crews and in part by the passengers.

A ''Liners' Week" was held in the Mersey at the beginning of October, and during the week liners of the White Star and Cunard Lines and of "the Canadian Pacific Railway were on exhibition for the inspection of the public. It was not possible, as had at first been hoped, for the 60-foot New Brighton Motor Life-boat, which, though not a liner, is the most power-ful Motor Life-boat in the world, to 1 take part in the Week, but collections were made for the Life-boat Service, which amounted to £225. This is a very gratifying increase on last year's Liners' Week, when £100 was raised.

Another example of the readiness of passengers to contribute comes from Southampton. Since 1917 the manager of the Southampton and Isle of Wight Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Mr. L. T. Wilkins, who is also one of the directors, has personally arranged and looked after collections made on the steamers of his company which run between Southampton and Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. In the first year collections were made on three vessels, and amounted to £3 10*. Id. By the third year they had increased to over £50, by the fifth year to over £125.

Each year, in fact, has shown an increase on the previous year, and in the present year the collections made on ten vessels, not only amounted to £240, but brought HEAD OFFICE. ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.

Yet another example comes from two river steamers, the s.s. Norfolk and the s.s. Suffolk, belonging to the London and North Eastern Railway Company, which run during the summer on the River Orwell between Ipswich and Harwich and Felixstowe. Life-boat boxes were placed on these two steamers in June of this year, and by the end of September, when the season closed, they had collected over £24 on the s.s. Suffolk, and over £64 on the s.s.

Norfa rolk. These contributions, so the Honorary Secretary at Ipswich writes, have been obtained " through the zeal and energy of two members (in parti- cular) of the crews." Both these cases are striking illus- trations not only of the generous help which the Institution receives all over the country in making its appeals, but oi the fact that the public are always ready to give, no matter where, on liners or on river boats, on the coast or inland, if only there are people of " zeal and energy " to interest them and appeal to them..