A TOURNAMENT and Display, organized by the Naval, Military and Air Force authorities at Portsmouth, was held on Southsea Common during the first fort- night of August. It was on the lines of the Naval and Military Tournament at Olympia, and one of the items was a Life-saving Display. This Display was given by the Royal Naval Physical and Recreational Training School at Ports- mouth, and a Line-Throwing Gun was lent by the Institution. What happened is best described in the language of the offi ial programme :— " This display is intended to show the method employed by the modern Life- boat in the rescue of the passengers and crew of vessels in distress, when the weather is too rough to allow the Life- boat to go alongside.

" The Display will consist of two parts:— " (1) The rigging of a mast, up which climb the captain of the ill-fated barge and his wife. The hungry waves which pursue them are a little late for the performance, as they are delayed on Southsea beach. As the captain fires his signal of distress the situation appears desperate.

" (2) The signal is seen by a lynx-eyed look-out, who gives the alarm, and a Life-boat immediately puts out into the boiling surf (still delayed on Southsea beach). After struggling for many a weary second through the murk, the mast of the ill-fated vessel is at last sighted. Manoeuvring his Boat into position, the Coxswain raises the Line- throwing Gun to his shoulder and fires.

Will the projectile with its line fall athwart the yard on which sit the captain of the ill-fated barge and his wife ? " The awful suspense ! With feverish haste the captain of the ill-fated barge hauls in the thin line, and then the thick line and tail block, which he secures to the mast. The Life-boat is quickly hauled out to the wreck by the Life- boat's crew. Placing himself in the buoy, the captain of the ill-fated barge bids his wife a fond farewell. But, owing to the efficiency of the gear and the gallant efforts of the Life-boat's crew, he is shortly rejoined by her, and they live happily ever afterwards.

" The hungry waves and boiling surf are told they can go away, as they are too late." It only remains to add that the Life- boat, built on the chassis of a motor car, was most realistic; that all the actors in the scene were bluejackets, including the wife of the Master of the barge, who played her part with masculine vigour; that in the struggle to be first to be rescued the Master's beard became de- tached, and was carried away by the breeze; and that his " wife " showed that there is more than one way of using a breeches buoy by being rescued upside-down.

The acting of the two chief performers caused much amusement, but the dis- play gave as realistic an idea as is j possible on land of a rescue from ship- wreck, and of the value of the Line- throwing Gun, which was fired at a distance of about 25 yards, and secured a " hit " at the second shot, although the line had to be dropped across a yard only about 12 feet long..