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

AT the Caxton Hall, Westminster, on the 15th July, the Mayor of Westminster (Captain J. F. C. Bennett) presided at the presentation of the Challenge Shield and other awards won in the 1931 Life- boat Essay Competition in Greater London (consisting of schools in the London County Council area and Middle- sex), and also of the Challenge Shield for the South-East of England. The London Shield was won by a Willesden school and the South-Eastern Shield by a Walthamstow school.

The presentations were made by Captain Sir Malcolm Campbell. The Mayor was supported on the platform by the Mayor of Walthamstow, the Chairman of the Willesden Urban Dis- trict Council, the Chairman of the Willesden Education Committee, Mr.

H. W. Wallace, M.P. for East Waltham- stow, Mr. H. A. Baker, a member of the Committee of Management, Sir George Shee, Secretary of the Institution, and Lieut.-Colonel C. R. Satterthwaite, O.B.E., the Deputy Secretary.

After the presentations Mr. Frederick Woodhouse sang five sea songs.

In opening the proceedings the Mayor of Westminster reminded the audience that Sir Malcolm Campbell, in his motor-car " Blue Bird," had travelled faster on land than any man in the world—247 miles an hour.

Sir Malcolm Campbell.

After presenting the Shields and awards, Captain Sir Malcolm Campbell said :— " I am very glad indeed to have had the privilege this afternoon of presenting the prizes to the winners of this Essay Competition, and I should like highly to congratulate them on the skill which they have shown in writing such good Essays. I want also to offer a word of encouragement to those children who have not been successful in this year's Essay Competition. Never become dis- couraged because success has not been your way. For my part, I have had more defeats than victories, and have long since found out that these spurred me on to fresh determination. And when you finally do succeed in reaching your goal the victory is all the sweeter.

Therefore, all of you determine to go one better next year so that you will be coming up here and winning awards.

(Cheers.) " The subject of the Competition this year was ' There are thousands of brave men. Why do you look upon the Life- boatman as a hero among them ? ' Before giving you my views, I would like to describe to you what I consider constitutes a brave man. A brave man is a man who realizes fear, but who is able to overcome that fear. That is a very important point. There are those who do not possess that sense of fear, and such persons do acts of what look like courage, but which are really acts of foolhardiness, because they do not realize the risk they run.

" I would like to give you two examples. First of all, the man who does what looks like a courageous act.

He takes up motor-racing. He starts in his first race with very little expe- rience and with practically no sense of fear whatever. He takes all kinds of risks which may be regarded by the spectators as courageous acts, but he does not himself realize the danger.

Then the inevitable happens. His car overturns and he is injured or killed.

" Now, let me tell you what I con- sider to be real bravery. It is a true story, and one I have never forgotten, about a friend of mine with whom I was acquainted before the war. He was an extremely likeable fellow, but a very timid man. When war broke out I lost sight of him altogether, but after I had been over in France some little time he turned up and was sent to join our unit. He arrived looking more timid than ever, and had not been with us more than two or three days before an order to attack next morning was given. My friend went through a terrible state of depression and nerves that night. We endeavoured to console him as best we could, not knowing what attitude he would adopt next morning.

When dawn broke and zero hour was approaching he was in his place, and when the word to go was given he was up and away first. He showed such courage that he was awarded the Military Cross. (Cheers.) If ever there was a case of real bravery it was this.

He realized the sense of fear more than most of us, but he overcame it and acted as a true and gallant man.

Unfortunately, later on he was killed.

" Now we come to the subject of your Essay : Why is the Life-boatman considered a hero amongst all the many brave men ? The reasons I should give would be, ' First, because having lived all his life by the sea, he knows the risks he has to run when he goes out.

No one knows more than he what he has to contend with, but he goes when the call comes. Secondly, it is not his real job. He does not do it as a regular occupation, but simply from the wish to help those in peril on the sea. There- fore, surely he is a noble and gallant man. He never knows when he will be called out, or, when he does go, whether he will see his wife and family again. Therefore, we all take our hats off to him and look upon him as a hero amongst heroes." (Loud cheers.) Mr. Frederick Woodhouse then sang " Three Poor Mariners," " Sea Fever," " Married to a Mermaid," " Sally Brown," and " Fire Down Below," accompanied at the piano by Miss Phyllis Harris, the audience joining in the chorus of the third and fifth songs.

Mr. H. A. Baker, a member of the Committee of Management of the Institution, proposed, and Sir George Shee, the Secretary of the Institution, seconded, a very hearty Vote of Thanks to the Mayor of Westminster and Sir' Malcolm Campbell, and after they had replied Mr. Frederick Woodhouse led the singing of the National Anthem. A small Life-boat gift was handed to each boy and girl as they left the hall.

Sir Malcolm Campbell as Rescuer and Rescued.

Only three weeks after making his speech on Courage, Sir Malcolm Camp- bell was himself both rescuer and rescued at sea. According to the account which appeared in the Daily Express, he had landed from his motor- yacht Blue Bird at West Wittering, Sussex, on 8th August. Two men were seen signalling for help from a boat.

He at once launched his 11 feet dinghy— the only boat available—with two friends and rescued the two men who were being swept out to sea. The dinghy, with five men on board, became unmanageable. Seas were breaking' into her and she was in danger of sinking over two miles from shore. Fortunately, her plight was seen by a boy and girl who were bathing. They pluckily swam out to the Blue Bird and gave the alarm.

The yacht made for the dinghy at full speed and rescued Sir Malcolm Camp- bell and the other four men just in time..