THE LIFE-BO AT FLEET Motor Life-boats, 120 :: Pulling & Sailing Life-boats, 56 LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Institution in 1824 to November 25th, 1933 - - - 63,502 The Regulations of the Institution.

By LIEUT.-COL. C. R. SATTERTHWAITE, O.B.E., Secretary of the Institution.

A NEW edition of the Institution's regulations is now being issued.

The present edition, dated 1922, was prepared at a time when the mechan- ization of the life-boat fleet had not progressed far, and the need for a book which would cover the immense developments that have taken place since the war has, I know, been severely felt by honorary secretaries of station branches for some years. I sincerely hope that the new edition will be of real value and interest to them.

When the Institution was founded in 1824 the committee of management prepared and published in their first report a set of " Rules and Regula- tions," applicable in the main to them- selves and the headquarters staff, but also dealing with some of the aspects of the work of local committees on the coast. Regulations as we now under- stand the term appear to have been first issued after the reorganization of 1851, under the Duke of Northumber- land. The annual report for 1851 states that " a set of Life-boat Regula- tions has been prepared and extensively circulated all round the coast." The fourth issue of this journal, in June, 1852, contains these first regulations.

They cover three pages only. They were reprinted, with occasional amend- ments, in the reports year by year till 1871. In 1872 they were issued, with other matter, in a separate pamphlet, a fuller edition of which appeared in 1880.

Further editions were issued in 1889 and 1896, the latter being current until the issue of the present book in 1922.

From 1852 to To-day.

It is interesting to compare the very simple rules of 1852 with those of to- day. Practically all survive in some form or other, and some with wording almost unaltered, even in the new edition.

The new book will be a small one, to fit the pocket. Since the first edition of 1872 the regulations have been bound in green. The same colour will be used for the binding of the new edition, and the regulations will still, I hope, be familiarly referred to as the " Green Book." This " short title " is certainly over fifty years old, for it appears in an official account of a committee meeting in 1880.

Much that appears in the 1922 edition has been omitted in the new book. The complete regulations are, of course, issued only to station branches, and it is felt that advice and informa- tion relative to the raising of funds, which apply equally to financial branches, are better brought to the notice of our workers in other ways.

Again, the complexity of the modern life-boat fleet is so great that it would be impossible within the compass of a small book to include technical in- structions on all matters of importance.

The aim in the new book has been to tell honorary secretaries, coxswains and others what they are expected to do, and not to attempt to teach them how to do it. Technical instructions on many matters not dealt with in detail in the regulations will continue to be issued in the form of notice boards for exhibition in life-boat houses. Other omissions are the pictures, diagrams and photographs, which so quickly get out of date, and which greatly increase the cost of the book without adding to its usefulness.

It would be impossible, and indeed undesirable, to impose a rigid system of regulations on the honorary officials of an Institution organized on voluntary lines. The emergencies that occur on the coast are so varied in their nature that wide discretion must be left to the " man on the spot" to deal with the situation as he thinks best. The chief inspector and I have tried to frame those regulations which deal with life- boat services to vessels in distress in such a way as to make this clear.

In certain matters, such as the control of expenditure and account- ing, some rigidity is essential for an institution that claims to be conducted on businesslike lines, and I hope the regulations covering this side of the activities of honorary officials will be found simple, sensible and workable.

Section I of the new book, which contains the financial and other rules which apply equally to station and financial branches, will continue to be issued as a separate pamphlet to financial branches.

No Essential Changes.

Any honorary secretary who cares to take the trouble to compare the new edition with the old will find many differences, some omissions, and many additions ; but he will not find any alterations in essentials. Many para- graphs have been rewritten to make their meaning clearer, or to give, more fully, the interpretation which has been applied to the paragraph in the past.

But there are no real changes, and no experienced honorary secretary need fear that he will in future be expected to carry on his work on different lines from those laid down at present.

I should like it to be known that the new book is in every sense the result of team-work. The chief inspector and his deputy have helped me with every paragraph ; many members of the staff have assisted in the matters which concern their particular departments ; the chief inspector of Coastguard has read the proofs and made valuable suggestions which have been adopted ; and, finally, the draft has been exam- ined by a special committee, whose recommendations have been considered and approved by the committee of management.

Finality in regulations is an im- possible ideal. Conditions change, the march of invention proceeds, and new and unforeseen emergencies arise.

Amendments will no doubt be necessary from time to time, but I hope and believe that the 1933 edition of the " Green Book " will form the basis of the Institution's regulations for many years to come..