Developments for 1931.

THE Duke of Northumberland's Life- boat Essay Competition has now been held for ten years. Started in 1918, it was held in that year and the two following years. In 1921,1922 and 1923 no Competition was held owing to the high rates of postage and printing, but it was resumed in 1924, as part of the Institution's centenary celebrations, and has been held each year since then.

The Competition has been a great success. Although the number of schools taking part has only been a small proportion of the total eligible, the Competition has resulted in some hundreds of thousands of boys and girls, during those ten years, being given an idea "of the history and work of the Life-boat Service. For the success achieved, the Institution is indebted in the first place to the Education Authori- ties which have given permission for the competition to be held, but its chief debt of gratitude is to the teachers themselves. The essays have shown very clearly how much trouble they have taken to instruct their pupils in the work of the Service.

This year the Institution increased the number of Challenge Shields from six to eight (dividing the North of England and the South of England each into two Districts), and the number of individual Awards from 210 to 280. Next year, when the Competi- tion enters on its second decade, it is proposed to make another and much more important development, which it is hoped will lead to many more schools taking part in the Competition.

To every school which takes part, the Institution will present a Certificate to be awarded by the Headmaster or Headmistress to the writer of the best essay in the school. This best essay can then, if the head teacher wishes, be sent in, as at present, for the Inter-School Competition, for which the Institution will continue to present eight Challenge Shields, and, in addition, thirty-five individual prizes in each of the eight Districts.

It is hoped that as a result of this development of the Competition the few Education Authorities which at present refuse their permission will now allow the Competition to be held, and that many more head teachers will decide to take part in it. The full particulars of the 1931 Competition will be sent out to the schools early next January.

The 1930 Competition.

The subject for the 1930 Competition was " Why I Admire the Li o-boat- man," and 346 more schools too!; part than in 1929. The number was 1,737 as compared with 1,391. In every District there was an increase, except in Ireland and Wales. London comes first with 363 schools as compared with 268, but the London District, which before was the County Council area, has been enlarged to include Middlesex, which was previously in the Southern District.

The South East comes second with 246 ; the North East third with 231; the North West fourth with 215 ; the Mid- lands fifth with 204 (as compared with 165 last year); the South West sixth with 184; Scotland seventh with 184 (as compared with 103 last year); and Ireland and Wales (including Shropshire and Herefordshire) eighth with 143 (as compared with 179 last year). The Irish schools competing have fallen from 94 to 72, while 57 Welsh schools competed, an increase of one. Only 14 schools in Herefordshire and Shropshire competed, as compared with 29 last year.

Last year, as has already been mentioned, the North of England and the South of England each formed a single District. The whole of the North shows a notable increase, the number of competing schools being 446 as com- pared with 271. The South also shows an increase, 430 instead of 405, but the Southern figure still does not compare with the fine record of 1928, when 728 schools in the South of England took part in the Competition.

The Essays.

In giving a general idea of the essays we cannot do better than quote from the reports of some of the examiners in the different Districts. The examiner in the North West of England found a distinct improvement, the general aver- age being higher and the number of poor essays smaller. The examiner in the two South of England Districts reports : " The writing, with very few exceptions, was excellent. The essayists, generally speaking, showed very com- mendable constructive ability in sen- tence-making.

" . . . In many instances the imagery used -,'a.s beautifully apposite. The child ,joint of view was always apparent, although the guiding mind of their instructors was evident throughout." The same examiner gave the following list of authors quoted: Shakespeare, Banyan, Wordsworth, Dickens, Tenny- son and Conrad, besides many Biblical quotations.

The examiner in Scotland noted a good many unsuccessful attempts at fine writing, and considered that children should be " warned against attempting flights of rhetoric beyond their powers." He also noticed with disapointment that those who lived on the coast did not draw on their own observation, and that their essays " differed in no respect from those of children in inland towns who had perhaps never seen the sea, and certainly never seen a Life -boat launched." All the examiners agreed in noting the number of essays which, while showing a good knowledge of the Life-boat Service, were not written on the subject set for the Competition.

A Tribute to the Teachers.

One of the examiners pays a tribute to the work of the teachers, which it is a pleasure to quote and to endorse : " The whole of the essays reflect very great credit on those who have in- structed the competitors. One felt while reading these essays that their teachers were giving evidence of their own fitness for their work of educating children. . . . They have inculcated their pupils with high ideals and aroused that keen interest in the work of the Royal National Life-boat Institution which justifies in the fullest degree the holding of these Competitions." "Why I Admire the Life-boatman." There can be no doubt that the boys and girls of the British Isles do admire him. " I admire him," says one, " in every shape and form," while another considers that if you do not admire him, so far from being " a manly human, you are a disgusting, shameful, sneaking type of animal," which is perhaps just a trifle severe. But children do not mince matters when their heroes are in question.

Many of the essayists go beyond admiration and love him as well.

" All these fine points and good qualities of which the Life-boatman is saturated will help to make him ' be- loved among mankind.'" Another essayist cannot remember ever having been so deeply interested in a subject, or " feeling so filled with such lovely feelings when writing before." "Greater than Hobbs." One essayist calls the Life-boatman "A story book hero come to life," and another " Hero of the seven seas and master of its nefarious forces." Yet another considers him " much more of a hero than any blood-thirsty general." But perhaps the summit of praise was reached by the London boy who wrote : " Many English lads place on the pedestal of hero-worship some great sportsman like Hobbs or Grimsdell, but surely the Life-boatman is worth ten such sportsmen." The children of Great Britain admire the Life-boatman for his courage. " If everyone had to vote as to which type of man is the bravest, I am certain the Life-boatman would be top of the poll." They admire him because he is " gentle and tender towards those he has res- cued," and because " he is the very soul of unselfishness." " His unselfish love for others beats anything." " He has the spirit of the man who has seen the valley of the shadow of death, and how black it is, and yet set his teeth to walk right through." The Man who can Get Up in the Middle of the Night.

Many essayists particularly admire the Life-boatman for being able to get up in the middle of the night.

" Many of us find it very hard to get up at 7 a.m. on a winter morning, or visit the dentist when one has the tooth- ache, but the Life-boatman has to get up in the middle of the night, sometimes in the midst of a blinding snowstorm." " Not everyone is ready to leave a warm bed and suck up the humours of a dank morning." " Would the average citizen," says another, " get out of bed in the middle of the night, and in spite of terrible seas, start on a risky journey to save the lives of those on a wreck. Not likely ! " But the Life-boatman does it will- ingly. " He gets into his oilskins and rushes out of his warm bed without as much as a frown." "He Never Swanks." His modesty is another quality on which the writers lay emphasis. " He never swanks or sticks his nose in the air as if he was somebody great." " They are'not men who like a lot of publication, and who like being crowned with wreaths." They are men who do great deeds and then say no more about them, or, as one essayist excellently says, " When they come back they have a brief siesta, and the matter is speedily forgotten." " They willingly risk their lives," says another, " not to have their photos in the paper, but for the benefit of others." Even under the greatest temptation the Life-boatman preserves his modesty.

" The greatest honour for the Life- boatman is to hold converse with H.R.H.

the Prince of Wales, and to be praised by him and to receive a general hand- shake, and to be presented the medal by the Prince is a staggerer. But he does not smirk and look down his nose ; he goes quietly back to his home as a fisherman and not as a dude or a swank." Statues in the Park.

But though they are modest men who do not like wreaths, a number of essayists consider that they ought to have statues. " I shall like to see statues of some of these brave men who have lost their lives occupying pedestals in the public parks in pre- ference to those who perhaps have not merited the distinction half so much." Another goes still further. "In con- clusion, I may say that if statues were decreed as in ancient Greece and Rome to those who serve their country well, every Life-boatman should have one." Courage Better than Wealth.

Some of the writers have been struck by the fact that it is not always the brave who are wealthy. " There are plenty of people making far more money than the Life-boatman who never do any heroic deeds like him." Others, again, have no doubt how they would choose themselves between courage and wealth." I am not afraid to say that I would rather have the courage of a Life-boat- man than the fortune of a millionaire." The Life-boatman's Wife.

The Life-boatman's wife has not been forgotten, and her anxieties and suffer- ing.

" A Life-boatman's wife must be a very heartbroken person." " Their wives must be willing to let them go out late at night." But it is recognized that he must have a wife. " A Life-boatman needs to be married, for when he comes home he needs a warm cup of tea. That is why he needs to be married." A Partner in the League of Nations.

Several writers have realized and well expressed the international value of the Life-boat Service, and the men who man it.

" The Life-boatman has a great breadth of vision, and knows no barriers of race or colour." "Often when I think of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, I associ- ate with it the League of Nations, and I think of these two as partners who will succeed." " Jesus Christ said, ' Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for a friend,' but a man has twice as much love when he lays down his life for a stranger or enemy." A Rough Exterior but Fond of His Grandchildren.

There are some quaint attempts to hit off the character and appearance of the Life-boatman.

" Although he may have a rough exterior and an unpleasant voice, he is really a kind, gentle and loving gentle- man ; perhaps he may have a grand- child, and if he has I am quite sure he is passionately fond of it." " The Life-boatman is like the dogs which are trained to look for travellers who have lost their way on the Alps." " I always imagine a Life-boatman as tall, strong, blue-eyed and very deter- mined. With his broad shoulders, long arms, very powerful legs and coarse hands, he does the work of three ordinary men." " When all have been saved he sets back for shore, and on the way acts the part of waiter, and does his best to cheer them up by cramming them with hot food and drink." Buttons in the Collecting Box.

One or two writers touch on finance, and give excellent advice on the subject of contributing to the Institution.

" To put buttons in the collecting box shows disrespect for this service done by the hard-working Life-boatman." In connexion with this admirable dictum, it is worthy of note that the Institution's bankers, who count the money collected on Life-boat Day in Greater London, have reported that this year for the first time they found no buttons in the boxes. On the other hand, there was such a diversity of foreign coins that even the money- changers could not identify them all.

Another example, no less admir- able, comes from another essayist who writes: "I subscribe my penny towards this noble service. . . . Even if I don't require the assistance of these people, it makes no difference to my subscription." The Best Essay in Great Britain and Ireland.

While among the eight essays which won the Challenge Shields there was none which was of outstanding merit, the judges had no hesitation in awarding the prize for the best essay in Great Britain and Ireland to Denis Butler, of the Stamshaw Boys' School, Ports- mouth, for his thoughtful, well-balanced, well-written essay. We should like also to make special mention of the essay by Sydney Perfrement, which won the Shield in the South-east of England.

Though Sydney Perfrement is still among the youngest of the successful competitors, this is the second year in which he has been a prize-winner. Last year he was seventeenth in the list for the South of England.

The Winning Schools.

The Stamshaw Boys' School, Ports- mouth, which has the honour of winning not only the challenge Shield for the District but the prize for the best essay, has already held a Challenge Shield. It won the Southern Shield in 1927. It is also worthy of note that for the second year running the best essay has come from the South-west. This year it comes from a boy in Hampshire. Last year it came from a girl in Somer- set.

In London, the Challenge Shield has been won for the first time by a Hamp- stead school. In the North-west of England, a Birkenhead school has been successful, and in the North-east a Filey school. This is the first time that Filey has won a Shield. In the Midlands it is won for the first time by a Coventry school, and in the South-east of England for the first time by a Croydon school.

In Scotland a school in the Orkneys has won it. The Orkneys, in fact, continue their conspicuous success in the Competi- tion. An Orkney school won the Shield in 1928. Last year an Orkney school was runner-up for the Shield, which was won by a school in the Shetlands, and the Orkneys won seven out of the thirty- five Certificates in Scotland this year.

The Orkneys, besides winning the Shield this year, have won four Certificates.

The northern Islands are carrying all before them in Scotland, and the schools of the mainland must lopk to their laurels. In Ireland and Wales, the Lakefield Girls' School, Llanelly, has the high honour of winning the Challenge Shield for the second year in succession, and if it should succeed in winning it next year, will have the right to retain it.

Honours Divided between Boys and Girls.

The honours are fairly divided be- tween boys and girls. A boy has won the prize for the best essay, but girls have won five of the eight Challenge Shields, and of the 280 prize-winners, 145 are girls and 134 boys.

The Awards.

Denis Butler, as the writer of the best essay, will be presented with a copy of the five-guinea edition of " Britain's Life-boats," by Major A. J. Dawson, signed by the Prince of Wales. Each of the other seven who head the lists for the Districts will receive a copy of the ordinary edition of " Britain's Life- boats " and a Certificate. The remain- ing 271 boys and girls in the lists will each be presented with a Certificate.

The name of the winner in each district will be inscribed on the District Challenge Shield, and the School will hold the Shield for a year. Each of these eight schools will also receive, as a permanent record of its success, a copy of the Certificate awarded to the pupil.

Our Thanks to the Teachers.

We have already referred to the Institution's debt to the teachers, but we should like to offer them again our very cordial thanks for their interest and co-operation, and at the same time to express our hope that the developments which will be made next year will have their hearty support, and lead to a great many more schools entering for the Competition.

Below will be found the complete list of prize-winners, followed by the best essay.