H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, and H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, attend the First Meeting.

THE first meeting of the General Council of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild was held on 23rd November last at Hampden House, Green Street, the London house of the Duchess of Sutherland, President of the Guild.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G., President of the Institution, and H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Patron of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, both attended, and personally greeted all the members of the Council. The meeting was in every way a great success and should have done much to stimulate the work of the Guild. Members came from all over the country, over 150 being present, including eighteen holders of the Gold Brooch, awarded for long and distinguished services, who are Honorary Members of the Council.

Before the arrival of the Prince and Princess, the Duchess of Sutherland welcomed the members in a short speech. On the platform with her were Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Chair- man of the Committee of Management, the Hon. George Colville, Deputy- Chairman, Lady Florence Pery, Hono- rary Secretary of the Guild, and Mr.

George F. Shee, M.A., Secretary of the Institution; and among those present were Viscountess Bertie of Thame, Chairman of the London Women's Committee, Lady Cynthia Colville, the Dowager Lady Raglan, and Dame Margaret Lloyd George, D.B.E.

The Duchess of Sutherland.

The Duchess of Sutherland said:— " I want first of all to say how very pleased I am that the first meeting of the General Council of the Ladies' life-boat Guild should be held in my house, and how glad I am to welcome so many members of the Council from all over the country. Many of you have come hundreds of miles to attend this meeting, and I think we could not want better proof than that of the real enthusiasm which ani- mates the women who form this Guild.

" As members of the Life-boat Guild we belong to a great fighting service, and it is for us, the women of England, an army of thousands of women, to fight the apathy and ignorance of the general public towards the Life-boat Cause. If we can only overcome that enemy, I am sure that the heart of the British people throughout Britain will respond to the call of this great national and humane service. I, therefore, as your President, appeal to-day to every one here to do all they can to forward the Life-boat Guild. There are so many ways in which you can help. I will not go into them now, as our time is limited, but one of the most important in my mind is to collect new members, and this we can all do, thus making this great movement more widely known and appreciated.

" I am glad to see we have here to-day a number of our honorary members, those whose splendid services have earned for them the high honour of the Institution's Gold Brooch.

Also with us to-day are Miss Marshall, of Oxford, and Mrs. Astley Roberts, of Eastbourne, two ladies who are Honorary life Governors of the Institution. There are only ten Honorary Life Governors altogether, and four of them are ladies. The other two, I am sorry to say, are prevented by serious illness from being present. It is a signal honour, earned, in the other cases, by long and distinguished service as Honorary Secretaries of Life-boat Stations, that is, in the actual work of rescue.

That it should have been conferred on these ladies shows how highly the Institution has valued their services. Miss Marshall, who is with us, has collected year after year between £900 and £1,000 in a. city where there are few wealthy people and hardly any industries.

Mrs. Astley Roberts, who is also with us, has, in the coast town of Eastbourne, used the splendid appeal of the Life-boat itself to obtain a large and steadily increasing revenue.

(Cheers.) " There is one more personal reference I should like to make, and that is to Miss Hannah Denham, the latest holder of the Gold Brooch. She is not with us to-day; she cannot be with us; she is a cripple in the Incurable Ward of the Westminster Hospital. There, for many years, she has collected for the Life-boat Cause, and, in my opinion, and I am sure you will all agree, no one has better deserved the honour of the Gold Brooch. (Cheers.) " The essential purpose of this gathering to-day is that we may have the honour of meeting His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, President of the Institution, and Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, our Guild's Patron, who takes the deepest interest in the Guild's work, and ia London gives us her personal help on Life- boat Day.

"And now for the short time left to us, Sir Godfrey Baring, Chairman of the Com- mittee of Management of the Institution, will address us about the work of the Guild, and if there are any ladies here who would like to ask any questions or make any statements about our work we shall be very pleased to hear them.

" I will finish by saying once again how very pleased I am to welcome you all here this afternoon." (Cheers.) Sir Godfrey Baring then spoke on some of the practical details in con- nexion with the work of the Guild, and a short discussion followed. On the arrival of the Prince of Wales and the Princess Louise, the Duchess of Sutherland thanked their Royal Highnesses for the honour which they had done the General Council by being present, and the Prince of Wales spoke.

The Prince of Wales.

" I am very glad to be able to come here to-day, and, by the kindness of the Duchess of Sutherland, to attend the first meeting of the General Council of the Guild, especially as we have the great advantage of Princess Louise's presence as its Patron." When I presided at the Annual General Meeting of the Institution in April, 1921, I said that, in my opinion, ' The Committee of Management have come to a very wise decision in forming the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, in order to bring into closer union and co- operation the women whose personal service on behalf of the Life-boat Cause has already done so much to commend it to the support of men and women of all classes.' " I pointed out that throughout the splendid story of the Life-boat Service women on the coast had, over and over again, proved how valuable was their help in such a work. At the last Annual Meeting, the Institution honoured the women of Boulmer, in Northumberland, as it has honoured the women of Holy Island and of many another little fishing village, for their devoted services in assisting to launch the Life-boat under circumstances of the greatest difficulty and danger, many a time going into the water waist-high in their anxiety to ensure a prompt and successful launch.

(Cheers.) "We cannot all emulate the heroism of Grace Darling, but the work of thousands of women in organizing the difficult, and often thankless, task of raising funds for this great Institution has been carried on in the same spirit, and with magnificent results. I am told that folly two-thirds of the amount raised annually for the Institution in connection with Life-boat Day efforts, fetes, bazaars, house-to-house collections, etc., is due to the work of the women, and I should like to pay a warm tribute to the large numbers of those who have recognized in the life-boat Service a Cause which represents not only the courage and endurance of our race, but especially its humanity and kindness of heart.

" I regard the Ladies' Life-boat Guild as an asset of the greatest value. It unites in one great body all women who are working for the Life-boat Cause, and I feel sure that it is a matter of profound satisfaction to your Royal Highness and to the Officers of the Guild to know that there are in the country thousands of women in humble circumstances who share your own earnest wish to help forward a. Service which has brought life and hope within the reach of many a shipwrecked seafarer, and has shed lasting honour on the fishing population and the Life-boatmen of Britain.

"Like all corporate bodies, the Guild has a Badge, and I am glad to see BO many wearing it to-day. I trust members will make, a practice of wearing it. 3?or members of the Guild will then be able to recognize one another in every part oi the country, and when members in inland counties visit our Station Branches, the Badge will bring encouragement to many a hard-worked Honorary Secretary, who will see in it both a token of fellowship and a promise of success for his own effort.

" The times are not easy for those who take up charitable and philanthropic work, and work for the Life-boat Cause is, perhaps, more than usually arduous, because, great and overwhelming as are its claims, it requires a strong effort of the imagination on the part of the ordinary man in the street to realize the services that are carried out on some remote spot on the coast in the darkness of a winter's night.

" The Institution has taken a very wise step in forming the Guild, and yon have done well in forming the General Council, on which, I am glad to hear, are represented those ladies who have earned the award of the Gold Brooch for long and special services. I believe that the General Council will be of the greatest assistance to women in every part of the country, as it will enable them to look to local members of tie Council for that help and leadership which must be its main function.

"As President of the Institution, I thank you warmly for what you have already done, and I place the Life-boat Cause in your hands, confident that it will be as safe with you &a the Life-boat itself is safe in the hands oi trot gallant crews." (Loud cheers.) All the members of the General Council were then presented indi- vidually to the Prince of Wales and the Princess Louise, who shook hands with each; and. they were afterwards the guests of the Duchess of Sutherland at tea.

In the September issue of The Life- boot last year, a preliminary list of members of the General Council of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild was pub- lished, and it was intended to publish additional names as they were received.

As, however, the names will be published in the Annual Report and also in. a separate pamphlet which can be had on application to the Secretary of the Institution, it has been, decided, for reasons of apace, not to publish them as well in the Journal. Members of the Guild are invited to apply for the pamphlet.