ALL in Great Britain who knew Lieut.- Commander Hendrik de Booy, secretary of the North and South Holland Life- boat Society, will learn with regret that he has just retired, and will join in wishing him happiness in his retirement.

His retirement, however, is not com- plete. He will remain as treasurer of the society. His son succeeds him as secretary.

After serving in the Dutch Navy, Commander de Booy became the sec- retary of the North and South Holland Life-boat Society in 1906, so that he has served it for twenty-seven years.

Between the Dutch life-boat service and our own, both founded in the same year, there has long existed the most friendly co-operation. As Commander de Booy himself recalled in an article which he contributed to the centenary number of The Life-boat in 1924, that co- operation started in the year after the two services were established. It has been of great value to both, and none has contributed to it more than Commander de Booy himself, who first visited England two years after his appointment.

He was not only secretary but chief inspector, with a complete and accurate knowledge of the technical side of the work, and the Institution's chief in- spectors who have had the pleasure of working with him gratefully recognize how much the life-boat services of other countries as well as Holland owe to him. It was a well-deserved com- pliment when, some years ago, he was invited by the Turkish Government to inspect and report upon its life-boat service.

Commander de Booy took a very prominent part in the international life-boat conferences held in London in 1924 and Paris in 1928, and organized with great success the conference in Holland in 1932 at which twelve nations were represented. An accomplished linguist, he can discuss the technical questions of life-boat construction and engineering in several languages, and in preparation for the conference in Hol- land, which was conducted in English, he himself translated into English the technical papers which were sent up by the different countries.

When the news of his retirement was received the committee of manage- ment appointed him an honorary life- governor of the Institution, in recog- nition of his distinguished services to the work of life-saving at sea and the notable contribution which he has made to the co-operation between the life-boat services of Holland and Great Britain. He is the first representative of a foreign life-boat society to receive this, the highest honour (apart from its medals for gallantry) which the Institution can bestow..