THE LIFE-BOAT FLEET Motor Life-boats, 121 :: Pulling & Sailing Life-boats, 53 LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Institution in 1824 to May 31st, 1934 63,663 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G.

Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting.

YOUR. Excellencies, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, in opening the pro- ceedings this afternoon, may I say how glad I am to see such a fine attendance at our annual meeting ? It is three years since I have presided at one of our annual meetings, and we are again very glad to see so many distinguished representatives of foreign countries with us. We have also, as three years ago, the First Lord of the Admiralty, who has come to pay a tribute to the life-boat service from the senior of the imperial services.

We -have with us Coxswain Henry Blogg of Cromer (Applause), who has appeared on this platform before, and we have a great gathering of Mayors from different parts of the country. (Applause.) Then we have you ladies and gentlemen whom I see before me. (Laughter.) I often try to analyse when I come to meetings exactly why people come to them.

Some come because they are genuinely interested and wish to support the cause for which the meeting is held.

Some may come because they do not happen to have anything else to do this afternoon (Loud laughter); and possibly some may come to have a laugh at us who are called the speakers and who perform on this platform.

(More laughter.) But whatever may be the reasons, Ladies and Gentlemen, you have been good enough to come, and I would like you to take away a few thoughts of this great Institution of which I have the privilege of being the president. (Cheers.) In the three years since I presided at an annual meeting this country has passed through, and still is passing through, a very difficult and anxious time. So I feel it is a matter of satis- faction and of pride to myself to be able to say to you that, despite those vicissitudes, here is the life-boat service unchanged, carrying on its work as it has done for 110 years, still secure in the courage of its crews, the support of the people of the British Isles, and I think too in the respect and gratitude of other nations. (Cheers.) The life-boat service goes on with its great work unperturbed. During the last three years it has added over 1,000 lives to the total of those it has saved. That total is now over 63,500.

We are so used to thinking in millions when it comes to reading statistics that it is not easy to realize what a large number 63,500 is when we are thinking of lives. This hall holds less than 3,000 people, so that if we could bring together all those whose lives have been saved from shipwreck round our coasts since the Royal National Life- boat Institution was founded, we should need twenty-three halls as large as this one, and every seat would be filled.

(Applause.) There are two sides to the activities of the life-boat service. First of all, there are the men who compose the voluntary life-boat crews, who are always standing by to face the storms at sea, and to go to the help of ships in distress. We shall see some of these men on this platform later on, and, as on other occasions, we shall be impressed by their grand spirit of courage and self-sacrifice. I always look upon the bestowing of the In- stitution's decorations for bravery as the most important feature of our annual meeting. (Applause.) Secure in the Support of the Public.

On the other side of the picture are all the people who support the In- stitution financially, who are at the back of these splendid men, and who see to it that they are equipped with the latest life-boats and life-saving apparatus. Despite all these years of depression, the life-boat service has remained secure in the support of the public. That support, I think, can be summed up in one sentence from a subscriber who wrote at the beginning of the financial crisis nearly three years ago : " Whoever goes short, it must not be the life-boat service." (Applause.) My friend Lord Mottistone broad- cast an appeal some weeks ago, and from what I know of Lord Mottistone I am not surprised that it was success- ful. It is very touching that among the thousands of replies received there were a number from old age pensioners, who sent gifts out of their 10s. a week.

(Applause.) Such gifts as those have, I think, a psychological value beyond the value of the entry in the In- stitution's ledgers. So I am not going to compete with Lord Mottistone this afternoon and make an appeal. I am just going to congratulate and thank those who work for the life-boat service, both the boats' crews and their thousands of supporters throughout the country, whose combined devotion has been the cause of saving so many lives. (Applause.) I thank you all, and I thank also the thousands of other members who cannot be with us to-day.

It would be impossible to mention individually any of those to whom gratitude is due, nor do I think that they would wish it. But I might make special mention of one thing in the presence of so many of the Mayors.

As heads of the local authorities, they have it in their power to give valuable help to the Institution; and they give it very generously. Some years ago I said that I thought that every town should have a life-boat flag day. It is the Mayors and their local authorities who give the oppor- tunity for organizing them. (Applause.) " Noblest and Best in the British Race." There is no need for me to say more in opening our proceedings ; but as I pin the decorations on the coats of these life-boatmen, I think, in fact I know, that we should like them and their comrades to take that cere- mony as an expression of our gratitude for their voluntary service, and of our admiration for their courage in the risks they take, and of their success in the face of the elements. We want them to know what we think of them, which is that their service and self- sacrifice for ships in distress are an example of all that is noblest and best in the British race. (Loud applause.).