THE hundred and twelfth Annual Meeting of the governors of the Institution was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, at 3 P.M. on Wednesday, 6th May. Some 1,800 people were present.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G., as President of the Institution, had promised, early in the year, to preside.

By his accession to the throne, this was made impossible, and H.R.H.

the Duke of Kent, K.G., presented the medals awarded for gallantry during the past year and the awards to honor- ary workers for distinguished services.

He also gave an address and announced that the Institution hopes, by the end of three years, to have mechanized the whole life-boat fleet.1 Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., chairman of the Institution, presided and the other speakers were the Marquess of Lothian, C.H., Mr. P. M. Oliver, C.B.E., honorary secretary of the Manchester, Salford and District Branch, the Hon.

George Colville, deputy chairman of the Institution, and Major-General The Right Hon. Lord Mottistone, P.C., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., a vice-president of the Institution and coxswain of the Brooke (Isle of Wight) life-boat.

The Duke of Kent and Sir Godfrey Baring were supported on the platform by vice-presidents of the Institution, members of the committee of manage- ment, the Duchess of Sutherland, president of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, the Marchioness of Milford Haven, a vice-president of the Guild, members of the Central London Women's Committee of the Guild, and honorary life-governors of the Institu- tion.

Among those who accepted the invitation of the committee of manage- ment to support His Royal Highness and the chairman on the platform were representatives of ten foreign countries, and the High Commissioner for the Irish Free State ; seven Members of Parliament; Mayors and Mayoresses of twenty-seven cities, towns and boroughs; and representatives of the Board of Trade, the Cork Harbour i The Duke of Kent's address will be found on page 57.

Board and the Shipwrecked Mariner's Society.

The representatives of foreign coun- tries were: Their Excellencies the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Lat- vian Ministers, the German, Finnish and Portuguese Charge's d'Affaires, the Counsellor of the Italian Embassy, the Secretary of the Belgian Embassy and the French Naval Attache".

The seven Members of Parliament were Mr. Charles G. Ammon, M.P. for Camberwell, Lieut.-Commander R. Fletcher, M.P. for Nuneaton, and Mr. Arthur C. Reed, M.P. for Exeter, all members of the committee of manage- ment ; and Mr. Patrick Munro, M.P. for Llandaff and Barry, Mr. Charles Williams, M.P. for Torquay, Mr. G. M. Garro-Jones, M.P. for Aberdeen North, and Major B. H. Neven-Spence, M.P.

for Orkney and Shetland, all repre- senting places from which life-boatmen had come to receive medals.

The twenty-seven Mayors were from : Westminster, Coventry, Gillingham, Basingstoke, Southend-on-Sea, Kidder- minster, Kingston-upon-Thames, Horn- sey, Bermondsey, Deptford, Richmond, Baling, Acton, Kensington, Wands- worth, Hounslow, Greenwich, Holborn, St. Marylebone, Lewisham, Fulham, Ilford, Southwark, Barnes, Lambeth, Wood Green, and Battersea. The Vice- Chairman of the Barry Urban District Council also accepted the invitation.

Parties of boys from the training ships Areihusa and Stork were present.

Presentation of the Report for 1935.

SIR GODFREY BARING, BT., chairman of the Institution, presented the annual report and accounts for 1935, and they were adopted.

Election of Vice-Presidents and Committee of Management.

LiEUT.-CoL. C. R. SATTERTHWAITE, O.B.E., secretary of the Institution, read the list of those nominated as vice-presidents, treasurer and other members of the committee of management, and auditors for the ensuing year. Those nominated were elected and the list appears in the annual report for 1935.

Presentation of Medals.

THE SECRETARY read the accounts of the services for which medals had been awarded, and the medals were presented by the Duke of Kent as follows :— To COXSWAIN PATRICK SLINEY, of Bally- cotton, Co. Cork, the gold medal for the rescue of the whole crew of eight of the Daunt Rock Lightship in a hurricane on the night of 13th February, 1936. The life-boat was on service for sixty-three hours, and in that time her crew had only three hours' sleep.

To SECOND COXSWAIN JOHN L. WALSH and MOTOR MECHANIC THOMAS SLINKY, silver medals for the same service.

To MICHAEL C. WALSH, THOMAS F. WALSH, JOHN S. SLINKY, and WILLIAM SLINKY, members of the crew, bronze medals for the same service.

To MR. A. C. JONES, honorary secretary of the life-boat station at Barry 'Dock, Glam- organshire, the silver medal for the rescue in a gale on 17th September, 1935, of the whole crew of six of the French schooner Goeland.

Mr. Jones took command in the absence of the coxswain.

To SECOND COXSWAIN H. J. HOBBS and MOTOR MECHANIC H. G. S WARTS, the bronze medal for the same service. The bronze medal had also been awarded to each of the other five members of the Barry Dock crew.

To COXSWAIN WILLIAM MOGRIDGE, of Torbay, Devon, the bronze medal for the rescue of the skipper of the French trawler Satanicle in a gale on the night of 30th December, 1935.

To COXSWAIN FRANK BLEWETT, of Penlee, Cornwall, the bronze medal for the rescue of the whole crew of nine of the steamer Tay- craig in a gale on 27th January, 1936.

To COXSWAIN THOMAS SINCLAIR, of Aber- deen, the bronze medal for the rescue of one of the crew of the trawler George Stroud, which sank in a heavy sea on the night of Christmas Day, 1935.

To COXSWAIN JAMES SIM, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, the bronze medal for the rescue in a snowstorm on the night of 18th January, 1936, of the whole crew of nine of the trawler Evergreen, which had gone ashore.

Twenty-four years ago Coxswain Sim won the Institution's silver medal for gallantry.

To COXSWAIN WILLIAM DASS, of Longhope, in the Orkneys, the bronze medal for the rescue, on the night of 21st February, 1936, of the whole crew of forty-one of the French trawler Neptunia, which had run ashore in a very rough sea. It was the life-boat's third service in sixty hours.

The Marquess of Lothian, C.H.

THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN, C.H. : Your Royal Highness, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : It is my privilege to move the resolution which stands on the paper, which reads as follows : " That this Meeting, fully recognizing the important services of the Royal National Life-boat Institution in its national work of life-saving, desires to record its hearty appreciation of the gallantry of the Coxswains and Crews of the Institu- tion's Life-boats, and gratefully to acknowl- edge the valuable help rendered to the Institution by the Local Committees, Hon- orary Secretaries and Honorary Treasurers of Station and Financial Branches and of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, and by the thousands of voluntary workers who help to raise the funds of the Life-boat Service." I feel it is a great privilege to be allowed to move this resolution. You have seen the men who have been brought here that you might honour them to-day. You have heard some very marvellous stories of their courage, endurance and resolution, and you have heard the fine things which have been said about them by His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent. (Applause.) I do not think it is for me to add anything to what you have heard or to the applause which you have already given to these gallant men, and therefore I have the greatest pleasure in moving the first part of the resolution which testifies your gratitude to them. I think you will agree with me that it is that spirit of selfless service at the risk of life which lies at the very foundation of national character and strength.

(Applause.) The second part of the resolution, you wilt" see, deals with an expression of gratitude to all the honorary workers who administer the Institution's stations and the voluntary workers who help to raise the funds of the life-boat service. It is, I think, a very mar- vellous thing that this Institution, with an annual revenue this year of over £300,000, is entirely maintained by voluntary activity.

(Applause.) Being a politician, I was going to say that I believe it is the only Institution which does not get a Government subsidy.

(Laughter.) I hope it will never have to ask for one. (Applause.) I am glad to see here some of what I might call the " old buffers," such as Lord Mottistone (Laughter), who not only helps in keeping the Institution alive, but takes a hand at the oar himself. (Ap- plause.) I think you will agree that perhaps your greatest privilege is that you are in some sense the comrades of the men who have done the gallant deeds to which you have listened to-day. (Applause.) One final thing : In the report you will have noticed that a large number of rescues have been from non-British vessels. I am glad to see that of the seventy-five lives rescued in the seven services for which the medals have been presented, forty-eight came from our great neighbour, France, and of the 498 lives which were rescued last year 115 were the lives of men of other nations, and the vessels of ten other nations asked for and were given your help. (Applause.) You will see how those services are .appre- ciated when I ask you to look at the impressive line of Ministers and other representatives of other countries who have come here to testify to their thanks for the services which have been given. (Applause.) They deal with diplomatic storms, and if they can show, and if the politicians can show, half the endurance and courage and vision of the men you have seen to-day, we may get peace in Europe. (Applause.) I have the greatest pleasure in moving formally the resolution which stands upon the paper. (Applause.)Mr. P. M. Oliver, C.B.E.

MR. P. M. OLIVER, C.B.E., Honorary Secretary of the Manchester, Salford and District Branch : Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, the branch which I represent appreciates the honour which was paid to it when you, Sir Godfrey, asked one of its representatives to speak to this resolution this afternoon. All the more was that honour appreciated because we celebrate this year our seventy-fifth anniversary, and last week we carried through our life-boat collections in that beautiful weather that is characteristic of Manchester and its neighbourhood.

(Laughter.) We as a branch are proud of our long history, but it cannot equal the history or the glamour of the Institution itself, which twelve years ago celebrated its centenary.

Recently a letter of great historic interest discovered among the Melville papers was presented to the Institution by Major Evan Fyers. It is a letter written by Sir William Hillary, the founder of the Institution, himself a resident in the Isle of Man, that little district with such happy holiday con- nexions with the neighbourhood that I represent. It was written in February, 1823, to the First Lord of the Admiralty.

It was a letter appealing for support from the Admiralty, in conjunction with the Government and the nation, in forming a national life-boat service worthy of the Government and the people of the British Empire. The records show that the Admi- ralty regarded this suggestion as worthy of consideration, and I understand that the Admiralty is still considering it to-day.

(Laughter.') Not so Sir William Hillary. He could not wait, and with the impulsiveness of the north, the Celtic and Scandinavian fervour of the Isle of Man, he launched this Institu- tion in the following year, 1824, on a volun- tary basis. On a voluntary basis it continues, and on a voluntary basis it flourishes to-day —an Institution which has been rightly called the greatest charity in the British Empire. (Applause.) It was founded upon the voluntary efforts that we commemorate in this resolution, the voluntary efforts of financial branches and guilds, the voluntary efforts of coxswains and of crews. As representing one of those financial branches, it would be out of place for me, and perhaps it would not be altogether true, to say that we had been entirely worthy of the people of this Empire. That were high praise indeed. Sufficient to say that we have done our best. But there can be no hesita- tion in applying those words to the splendid service of the men—service as splendid in this last year of storm as at any time in our history. I have much pleasure in seconding this resolution. (Applause.) The resolution was put to the meeting and carried unanimously.

Presentation to Honorary Workers.

THE SECBETARY : Since the last Annual Meeting five honorary workers have been appointed honorary life-governors of the Institution. This is the highest honour which it can confer on an honorary worker, and the appointment is accompanied by a vellum signed by the President of the Institution.

Two of the new honorary life-governors are present this afternoon to receive their vellums : ABERDOVEY : CAPTAIN JOHN WILLIAMS.

F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S.

NOTTINGHAM : MR. ARTHUR E. HEAZELL, H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, K.G., presented the vellums.

THE SECRETARY : Since the last annual meeting thirteen gold badges, which are given only for distinguished honorary ser- vices, have been awarded. Eleven of the recipients are present this afternoon to receive them : LONDON, CLAPHAM : MRS. APPENNEA GREEN.

LONDON, HARROW : MRS. E. W. BRUCE.

LONDON, HAYES : MRS. A. A. LAWSON.

BIRMINGHAM : MB. G. F. IGGLESDEN.

DEWSBURY : MRS. M. G. KIRK.

GODALMING : MRS. P. J. GRENSIDE.

PLYMOUTH : MRS. A. G. W. BOWEN.

TROON : MR. J. CLARK, J.P.

WALTON AND FRINTON : MR. F. W.

CALVERT.

WINDSOR AND ETON : COLONEL M. H.

EGAN, C.M.G., C.B.E.

WORTHING : MR. J. R. ALDRIDGE.

H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, K.G., presented the badges.

The Hon. George Colville.

THE HON. GEORGE, COLVILLE, Deputy Chairman of the Institution : Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, the resolution which stands in my name is one which I know you will receive" with absolute unanimity. It reads as follows: " That the hearty and respectful thanks of this Meeting be given to His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, K.G., for presenting the Awards and speaking at this the Hundred and Twelfth General Meeting of the Royal National Life-boat Institution." Apart from the pleasure which His Royal Highness's presence has given us this after- noon and the gracious way in which he pre- sented the medals, His Royal Highness has, in the past, given us a very great deal of help in our work. (Applause.) He has told you that he has named nine life-boats.

Seven of them are at Southend, Walton, Clacton - on - Sea, Newhaven, Aldeburgh, Shoreham and Weston-super-Mare. He also mentioned that on one occasion he went a journey—at least, he did not say this, but it is a fact—of 700 miles to the Orkneys to name the life-boats at Stromness and Long- hope. (Applause.) I was honoured by representing the Institution on that occasion, and I cannot tell you what pleasure it gave to all the inhabitants of Stromness and Longhope to see him there. His Majesty's family has always taken a very great interest in the Institution. All its members have displayed their interest by coming and naming life-boats on various occasions. I think we owe them a very great debt of gratitude, and I am sure you will help me to express it.

(Applause.) It is no part of the resolution, but I should like to make mention of the fact that there are a large number of Mayors here to-day, and we wish to thank them for the assistance they have given us with regard to our flag days. (Applause.) There were 766 flag days during the year 1935, to which 5,224,000 people contributed £42,982. It works out at just under twopence a head. That shows the national feeling which there is towards our Institution. (Applause.) I beg to move the resolution, and I will ask Lord Mottistone to second it. (Applause.) Major General The Right Hon. Lord Mottistone, P.C.

MAJOR-GENERAL THE RIGHT HON. LORD MOTTISTONE, P.C., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., a Vice-President of the Institution and Cox- swain of the Brooke life-boat : Mr. Chairman, Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a peculiar pleasure to me to second this reso- lution, because, as it states on the programme, being myself a coxswain of a life-boat, I can, however unworthily, speak on behalf of the crews of the life-boats. (Applause.) I am very glad to have got here, because I have only just returned from an international meeting on the Continent of Europe. Here I am at another continental meeting, in England, graced by the presence of Their Excellencies. What a joy to come to this international meeting devoted solely to the saving of lives ! (Applause.) This afternoon I was ushered into a room in this building where, having been warmly greeted, I noticed, after a time, that all the men were wearing gaiters. I thought : " What a strange thing. Has Sir Godfrey Baring said, as chairman of the Institution, that in honour of His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent all the members of the com- mittee shall wear gaiters ?'' (Laughter.) Then I reflected that when Sir William Hillary, as Mr. Oliver said, founded the Institution, the Archbishop of Canterbury was the first chairman. Was that the reason why ? I could not see the proposer of this resolution, Mr. Colville, or anyone else I knew, and I said : " Where, above all, is His Royal High- ness, whom I have come respectfully to meet ? " They said : " You are not in the right place at all. This is a Church Meet- ing." Then they gave me this programme and asked me to sing a hymn. (Laughter.) Your Royal Highness, I thought it was better to do as I had been bidden, and to come to the place where they were trying to save bodies, and leave the place where they are no doubt successfully saving souls. And, Mr.

Chairman, I suggest that you might in future arrange with all these bishops and deans, on these occasions when we coincide, to come to our meeting—which, I may say, is far better attended than theirs. (Laughter.) So that they can combine together for the saving of bodies and the saving of souls, and combine also with the nations of the world, here represented, in saying that there is one brotherhood of man and one brother- hood of the sea. (Applause.) Your Royal Highness, even when you were still in the Royal Navy, and had but little time, you showed a great interest in our work.

Since then, when other duties, and most wonderful duties, have fallen to your lot, you have shown a continuing and ever- increasing interest in it. The words you have said to-day of commendation of our work—quiet, simple, forceful words—will be an inspiration to all of us who man the boats as well as to all those who help to maintain the Institution ; and the announcement you have made, for the first time, that modern science will enable us, if we have the money, to, what we call, motorize the whole fleet, so that every life-boat round our coasts shall have the advantage of extra power— which only the recent development of science has made possible—will give heart to us all.

(Applause.) On behalf especially of the crews, Your Royal Highness, I beg respectfully and most cordially to second this resolution. (Ap- plause.) The resolution was carried with acclama- tion.