WE deeply regret to have to record the death, during March, of two old and very valued friends of the Institution, Captain Sir Herbert Acton Blake, K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., J.P., F.R.G.S., Deputy-] Master of the Trinity House, and Mr.

W. J. Oliver, for many years Honorary Secretary of the Sunderland Branch.

Sir Herbert Acton Blake died at sea on 7th March in his sixty-ninth year.

Some months ago he had an operation, and was taking a long voyage for his health. He spent a number of years at sea in command of ships of the British India Steam Navigation Company and the African Royal Mail Company, and was a Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve. In 1901 he become an Elder Brother of the Trinity, and in 1910 he was appointed Deputy Master of Trinity House. He was an authority on pilotage, and was chairman of the Pilotage Advisory Committee of the Board of Trade, and it was his special knowledge of lighthouses which earned him his knighthood in the Royal Victorian Order in 1914. He was a member of the Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade on the Mercantile Marine and of the Tonnage Committee ; represented Trinity House on the Port of London Authority for a time ; was chairman of the Dock and Harbour Dues Claims Commission, and one of the British delegates in 1913 on the International Committee for Safety of Life at Sea.

In 1915 he became a K.C.M.G.

On his appointment as Deputy Master of Trinity House he became ex qfficio a member of the Committee of Manage- ment, so that for fifteen years the Institution has had the benefit of his wide knowledge and experience, both of shipping and of the many problems of coast protection. He was also an ex ojjicio member of the General Com- mittee of the City Branch, and, when- ever his duties permitted, was always ready to speak, not only at the Annual Meetings of the City Branch, but at other Life-boat meetings in. London and the provinces.

A memorial service was held in London, at which the Institution was represented by Mr. George F. Shee, M.A., its Secretary..