THE Duke of Northumberland's Life- boat Essay Competition was held this year for the twelfth time. The number of schools taking part in the competition was 2,249, as compared with 2,354 in 1931. The number of schools which took part in the inter-school competition was 1,252, as compared with 1,471 in 1931. The number of schools which wrote essays without entering for the inter-school competition was 997, as compared with 883 in 1931.

The Institution, as in previous years, offered for competition a Challenge Shield and thirty-five individual prizes in each of the eight districts into which Great Britain and Ireland are divided for the purposes of the competition.

Those schools which did not enter the competition for the inter-school com- petition, and those which were not successful in it, each receive a certificate for presentation to the writer of the best essay in the school.

Of the eight districts, the North-West comes first with 367 schools, as compared with 308 in 1931 (212 entering for the inter-school competition). The North- East comes second with 332, as com- pared with 334 (166 entering for the inter-school competition). London, which was first last year, is third with 321 schools, as compared with 386 (201 entering for the inter-school competi- tion). The South-East of England is fourth with 300 schools, as compared with 358 (185 entering for the inter- school competition). The Midlands is fifth with 285, as compared with 301 (163 entering for the inter-school com- petition). Scotland is sixth with 264 schools, as compared with 237 (110 entering for the inter-school competi- tion). Ireland and Wales (including Shropshire, Hereford and Monmouth) are seventh with 238, as compared with 265 (124 entering for the inter-school competition). The South-West of England is again eighth, with 142 schools, as compared with 165 (91 entering for the inter-school com- petition).

Thus in the North-West of England and Scotland there is again an increase in the number of schools. In all the other districts there is a small decline on last year, but, except in London and the South-West, the number is larger than in 1930. In every district the number entering for the inter-school competition is smaller, except in the North-West, where there is a slight increase.

The Essays.

The subject was: " What are the qualities which make a good Life-boat- man ? " The judges all speak in praise of the high general standard of the essays, and we cannot do better than quote the following description of them by one of the judges: "They give ample proof that the youthful essayists appreciate to the full the qualities that go to the making of the good Life- boatman. Courage, devotion to duty, self-sacrifice, the sense of responsibility, sympathy, perseverance, activity, vigil- ance, experience, strength (moral and physical), promptness, readiness, initia- tive, coolness, resource—all these qualities and others, to the sum total of well over a score, are dealt with in the various essays. And some of the writers are very strict. Let there be awanting but one of the qualities they enumerate and the Life-boatman stands condemned. He may be a good Life- boatman, but he is not the perfect, the ideal Life-boatman. Youth can be stern in its summing-up.

" The age of chivalry is not gone. Many of the boys contrive—let the irrelevance be pardoned—to introduce a word of praise for the heroines as well as the heroes of the Life-boat—the women who, ' when a Life-boat is about to depart, help to push the heavy boat into the water, often standing deep in the boiling surge.' " "Tight Lips and a Granite Face." Many of the essayists found very quaint and charming phrases to describe those high qualities of body, heart and mind which they expect the Life- boatman to have.

" A Life-boatman must be a tight- lipped and granite-faced man to wrest victims from the stormy seas." " He must have the body of a Spartan and the endurance of a horse." " He must have a strong heart and he must not be insane. If he had a weak heart he will often be sick, and maybe he would die in a bad storm, and if he was insane he would not know what to do and when to do it." The need for courage is very originally expressed.

" Would the Life-boatman scream and probably swoon ? No ! Assuredly not. He would be like a goat in a stable which is on fire ; he would try to seek some way of escape." What could be more telling than this homely simile ! "A weak and scared man would shrink from that sort of job like flannel does from washing." And what more charming than thia tribute in terms evidently of the writer's own struggles to be brave ? "A man who is afraid to go upstairs in the dark would not do for a Life-boatman." In this, as in previous competitions, the courage needed in getting up in the middle of the night has impressed the essayists. " Most people have a certain amount of courage, but hardly anyone would appreciate the job of rising in the small hours of the morning to man the Life-boat." But this year another form of courageous asceticism has roused the admiration of one writer. " They have to be men who are not afraid of leaving any kind of meals." The Learned Life-boatman.

The scholar is notorious for being absent-minded, careless and slow, but one essayist has quite another idea of the effect of learning on character.

" Life-boatmen should be learned be- cause they should hurry when going to a rescue." Yet another sees humour as one of the chief qualities of a good Life-boat- man. " The Life-boatman has to be a joker or else he will fail to keep wrecked people from crying. If he starts to tell jokes the people will forget about their misery and enjoy themselves." He must also know how to sing.

" Life-boatmen go out to a storm sing- ing. They are busy men. If they were lazy they would be kicked out." As has already been pointed out, the wives of the Life-boatmen are not for- gotten, though certainly it is stretching the meaning of " quality " rather far to describe a wife as one. " One of the qualities to make a good Life-boatman is to have a good and helpful wife." " He must have a good wife or someone similar to get off his wet things." "Incomplete without a Halo." Several writers can hardly find words strong enough to describe their admira- tion, and one essayist ingeniously com- bines a tribute to the Life-boatman's courage with a reminder of the perils of his calling.

" Who knows, when they come home a wreath of flowers might have taken the place of the wreath of laurels which in imagination adorns the brow of every man in the service." " He is a great example to man- kind," says another, " one could almost imagine him incomplete without a halo." But all these fine qualities are best summed up by the essayist who describes him simply as " the good Samaritan of the sea." The Best Essay in Great Britain and Ireland.

Among the eight essays which won the Challenge Shields the judges had no hesitation in awarding the prize for the best essay of all to Barbara Bull, of Leesland Girls' School, Gosport, Hants.

Bessie Beedie, of St. Augustine's School, Langloan, Coatbridge, Lanark, the youngest of the shield winners, was, with the handicap for age, a very good second.

A Shield Won Outright.

In past years several schools have succeeded in winning a Challenge Shield two years running. This year, for the first time, a school has won a shield for the third year in succession, and the shield now becomes its property. The school which has this honour is the Spon Street Boys' School, Coventry.

Successful Towns.

Portsmouth has beaten every other town in the number of prizewinners. It has won seven certificates. Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent have again been successful, though less successful than last year. Each has five winners. So have Birkenhead and Belfast. In Scotland the Orkneys and Shetlands are again prominent with five winne'rs. In the South-West, Gosport holds the Challenge Shield for the second year in succession (last year it was won by a boys' School), and in the Midlands Coventry has not only won the Challenge Shield outright, but has three other schools among the winners.

Girls and Boys.

It has been a girls' year. For the second year running the best essay of all comes from a girl; and girls have now won this special prize seven times to five times by boys. In the North- West of England girls hold the first five places. The eight Challenge Shields are divided equally between girls and boys, but of the total of 276 prizewinners 154 are girls and 122 boys.

The Awards.

Barbara Bull, 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, and a certificate. Each of the other seven winners of the Challenge Shields will receive a copy of the two-guinea edition of " Britain's Life-boats," and a certificate. The schools will hold the Shields for a year (except Spon Street Boys' School, Coventry, which has won its Shield outright), and each school will also receive, as a permanent record of its success, a copy of the certificate awarded to the pupil. The other prizewinners will each receive a certificate.

Our Thanks to the Teachers.

The Institution wishes very gratefully to acknowledge the help of the Educa- tion Authorities, not only by giving permission for the competition to be held, but in many cases by circulating the particulars and drawing attention to it in other ways. To the teachers also the Institution offers it warmest thanks, for without their cordial co- operation the competition would be impossible.

Below will be found the names of the eight Challenge Shield winners, and the best essay. The full list of winners is printed as a separate leaflet and will be sent, with a copy of this Journal, to each of the schools which entered for the inter-school competition.

Winners of the Challenge Shields.

LONDON.—George Richards, St. Mary's Boys' School, Arragon Road, Twickenham, Middlesex.

NORTH-WEST OP ENGLAND.—Helena Rotherham, Manor Road Senior Girls' School, Wallasey, Cheshire.

NORTH-EAST OF ENGLAND.—Edna E.

Harbottle, North Council Girls' School, Whitley Bay.

MIDLANDS.—Sidney C. Attridge, Spon Street Boys' School, Coventry.

SOUTH-EAST OF ENGLAND.—Douglas E.

Back, Central School, Melton Con- stable, Norfolk.

SOUTH-WEST OF ENGLAND.—Barbara Bull, Leesland Girls' School, Gos- port, Hants.

SCOTLAND.—Bessie Beedie, St. Augus- tine's School, Langloan, Coat- bridge.

IRELAND AND WALES.—Eric Channell, Wood Memorial Boys' School, Saltney, Flintshire..