Presentation of Prizes in the Greater London and South-Eastern Districts.

AT the Caxton Hall, Westminster, on the 20th October, the Mayor of West- minster (Captain J. F. C. Bennett) pre- sided at the presentation of the Chal- lenge Shield and other awards won in the 1930 Life-boat Essay Competition in Greater London (consisting of schools in the London County Council area and Middlesex) and also of the Challenge Shield for the South East of England.

The presentations were made by Colonel the Master of Sempill, a member of the Committee of Manage- ment of the Institution. The Mayor was supported on the platform by the Mayor of Croydon, Mr. George F. Shee, M.A., Secretary of the Institution, and Lieut.-Colonel C. R. Satterthwaite, O.B.E.. the Deputy-Secretary.

After the presentation Mr. Arthur Cranmer sang five sea songs.

The Mayor of Westminster.

In opening the proceedings the Mayor of Westminster said: "I count myself very fortunate that this is one of the things which falls to the lot of the Mayor of Westminster, and particularly that I have had the pleasure of doing it twice. This is the tenth year of this very valuable Competition, and more schools have taken part in it this year than last year, due, no doubt, to the interest which the Education Officers and the teachers have taken in the Competition. Credit is also due to the parents, who have probably said a few words at home. I always think parents are rather left out of education. As a matter of fact, tKeir help and interest in all the children are doing is very valuable, and I am'confident that in a matter like this the parents have had a good hand in it. (Applause.) I do not know what you all wrote about, but I think it is not at all unlikely that some of you spoke about the Life-boat which we saw at Chelsea last year, which is the fastest Life- boat in the world, and is now stationed at Dover to look after any aircraft which may be in trouble. But, whatever you wrote, you have been very successful, and I congratulate you all very heartily.

" The London Shield has been won by Hampstead, and I am very sorry that the Mayor was not able to come to-day. He himself was for seventeen years in the Naval Service and was a member of the Dover Patrol which did such wonderful work during the war. The Shield for the South-Eastern District was won by Croydon, and fortunately we have the Mayor of Croydon here to-day.

" Last year you received your prizes from Major-General Seely, who is, as he told you, a member of the Life-boat Crew at Brooke, in the Isle of Wight. The previous year it was Coxswain Swan, a Life-boatman who holds the Gold Medal of the Institution, which is looked upon as the Victoria Cross of the Life- boat Service. This year Colonel the Master of Sempill, who is a distinguished airman, is going to present the prizes to you, and I think that you are very lucky in again receiving them from a man who is able not only to talk to you about doing brave things, but to tell you how they are done. (Applause.) " I will now ask Colonel the Master of Sempill to present the prizes." Colonel the Master of Sempill.

After presenting the Shields and other awards, Colonel the Master of Sempill said: " I take it as a very great privilege to have been appointed by the Committee of Manage- ment to present the Shields and Certificates to-day, and I would like to congratulate all those who have received them. I would like also to say, on behalf of the Committee of Management, how very grateful we are to their Worships the Mayor of Westminster and the Mayor of Croydon for coming here to-day to participate in this ceremony. Wherever the work of the Life-boat Institution is being carried on we always find the Mayor leading that work in an energetic and whole-hearted manner." After giving a brief history of the Competi- tion and referring to the developments for 1931, which were described in the issue of The Lifeboat for last June, Colonel the Master of Sempill quoted some extracts from the essays. He then proceeded : " I have recently had a good deal of ex- perience around the coasts of many lands. I have been all round the Baltic States, Norway, Sweden, and round the coasts of Great Britain, and I can assure you that no other country is so well provided with splendid equipment in the shape of Life-boats, Life- boat houses and launching facilities as are the coasts of Great Britain.

"The Chairman referred to the new Dover Life-boat, which was recently christened Sir William Hillary by the Prince of Wales. She is the fastest Life-boat in the world, with a speed of over twenty miles an hour, which she obtains from two engines of nearly four hun- dred horse-power each. It was thought neces- sary to have such a Life-boat stationed at Dover because there was so much traffic up and down the Straits, and also because of the air- craft which pass over the Straits all day and in certain cases, at night. In the case of air- planes which might be in distress and come down into the water it is important that the Life-boat should be able to get to the wreck at once. An airplane is a flimsy structure. It is quite strong enough for its work in the air, but if it should hit the water it would break up very quickly and sink. Therefore the Life-boat must get to the scene very quickly.

" What would happen would be this. All airplanes travelling to and from this country are in touch by wireless telephone with the aerodromes in England, at Croydon and Lympne, and also with the aerodromes in France or Belgium to which they may be travelling. The pilot is sending out informa- tion all the time to say where he is, what he is doing, the state of the weather and if every- thing is going all right. He is also receiving by wireless all the movements which are going on in connexion with other machines, so that he may be on the look-out in the air for them.

When he comes to the coast he tries to get as much height as he possibly can so that, in the event of an engine-failure he can glide down, but if the clouds are very low it may not be possible for him to climb to a great altitude.

We will assume that a pilot of a twin- engined machine is passing over Dover or Dun- geness and he signals that he is passing over and that he is making for Cape Grisnez, in France. He cannot get higher than a thousand feet. He looks to starboard and then to port to see the gauges which tell him the behaviour of the two engines on which the safety of the craft depends. He finds from them that the engines are working properly. Therefore he is perfectly content to set off at a thousand feet, since it is not possible to get higher. We will assume that he travels fifteen miles and sud- denly the oil pressure drops in the starboard engine. There is a tremendous noise. The pilot's first action is to grasp the throttle which is by his right-hand side and which controls that engine. He closes it down to, prevent further damage, though, as a general rule, in a major trouble of that kind no further damage is done. He is thus deprived of 50 per cent, of his power and therefore tries to fly to the nearest point of land.

The machine is heavily loaded, so that he can- not maintain height on one engine. He imme- diately sends a message to Lympne and tells them of his position. He tells them that he is gradually dropping and asks them to inform the Life-boat at Dover that he will shortly be forced to descend to the water. Then as he con- tinues to lose height he sees that he must come down in the water. He keeps up communica- tion with the shore, and asks them to send assistance as quickly as possible. The sea is rather rough, and he knows the machine will not last long. They have got his position, and the Life-boat at Dover sets out with the greatest possible speed. If the pilot handles his machine skilfully it may float for a matter of fifteen minutes, but it depends upon the weather and the state of the sea. The passen- gers have life-belts, but it is essential that the Life-boat should reach them at the greatest possible speed, and that is the reason why the Institution proceeded with the construction of this Life-boat." (Applause.) After speaking of the financial needs of " one of the finest, perhaps the finest, of the voluntarily supported Institutions of which the country is so proud" (Applause), the Master of Sempill concluded : "I should like to congratulate those boys and girls who have entered this Competition, and particularly those who have won prizes. I hope that next year with the amended scheme there will not only be 1,700 schools competing, but much more like 3,000." (Cheers.) Mr. Arthur Cranmer then sang " Devon, O Devon," " Johnny Come Down to Hilo," " Shipmates 0' Mine," " What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor," and " Come My Own One," accompanied at the piano by Master Philip Cranmer, the audience joining in the choruses of the second and fourth songs.

Mr. George F. Shee.

Mr. George F. Shee, M.A., the Secretary of the Institution, in proposing a Vote of Thanks said : " We feel we are greatly indebted to you, Mr. Mayor, for presiding, because this is the second time you have presided over the presentation of prizes in connexion with the Essay Competition. But there are other and very important reasons why we appreciate the presence of the Mayor of Westminster. This Competition is national. Boys and girls from every part of Great Britain and Ireland enter for it, and it seems to me singularly fitting that when the prizes are presented to London schools it should be the Mayor of Westminster who presides, because, in some things, West- minster, with its great Abbey, can claim priority even over the City of London, and because, although the Institution was founded in the City of London, its home for many years ha? been Westminster.

" And now I would advise you, boys and girls, to take a good look at the Master of Sempill, and for this reason. You have heard of the ' Elusive Pimpernel.' Well, he is more elusive than that. He is not often down at our level at all. He visits the earth infrequently, and his visits, like those of the angels, are few and far between. You have seen him speaking with great courtesy and charm, and yet he has got into the habit of ' looking down' on the majority of his fellow-creatures. Therefore it is extraordinarily kind of him to ' condescend ' to come here to-day. He is a very distin- guished airman, as you probably know, not only during the war, but ever since, and spends most of his time in the air. You will remember how Peter Pan always flew into the bedroom to call on his little friends Wendy and Michael.

Imagine the joy of being the Master of Sem- pill'a children, who have flown almost as soon as they could crawl. The Master, as he has told you, has flown right round our Islands and visited nearly every Life-boat Station in that way. What a lesson in geography ! I think there are several of you who would like to learn their geography lesson in that way.

(Laughter and Applause.) " We are most grateful to the Master of Sempill for paying this ' flying visit' and telling us something about the noble service with which the science of flight will be more and more closely connected. For I cannot help thinking that we are advancing to a time when airplanes will be very closely linked with the great service of the Life-boats.

" I also would like to thank Mr. Cranmer for his delightful singing, and I would ask you to signify your gratitude to the Mayor of Westminster and the Master of Sempill, and also to Mr. Cranmer, by your hearty applause.

I want to see how much noise you can make to show your approval." (Loud Applause.) After Colonel the Master of Sempill and the Mayor of Westminster had replied, Mr.

Arthur Cranmer led the singing of the National Anthem. A small Life-boat gift was handed to each boy and girl as they left the hall..