THE Annual Meeting was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on the 24th of October, 1947. Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., chairman of the Committee of Management, presided, supported by the Mayor and Mayoress of Westminster, Lady Nathan, Chairman of the London County Council, the Mayors and Mayoresses of over thirty Metropolitan Boroughs, the Mayor of Swansea, the Duke of Montrose, a vice-* president and honorary treasurer of the Institution, the Duchess of Montrose, a vice-president of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, The Earl Howe, a vice-president of the Institution and deputy chairman of the Committee of Management, the Countess Howe, Lady Baring, and other members of the Committee of Management.

H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent The Duchess of Kent, President of the Institution, was to have presented the awards for gallantry, but was prevented by illness and the following telegram from her was read by the chairman: "I am terribly disappointed that I cannot be with you all this afternoon but I have been forbidden to go out for the next few days. Please tell all those to whom I was to have presented medals and certificates, and in particular the families of The Mumbles life-boat crew, how sorry I am I cannot be present but I shall be thinking of them.

I hope you will have a very successful meeting and'I trust I shall be with you next year." A telegram of sympathy, thanks and good wishes was sent to the Duchess by the meeting.

A telegram was also read from the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, C.I., G.B.E., D.C.V.O., President of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, from Delhi: "My thoughts and good wishes are with you all on the twenty-fourth." The Chairman'* Address I have the honour and privilege to present to the governors of the Institution this afternoon the report of the work of the Life-boat Service in the first full year of peace. That year, 1946, was the busiest which our lifeboats have ever had in time of peace. If there should be any who thought that, with the end of the war, our Life-boat Service would be less needed, this report gives them the answer.

Not only does our work go on, but its dangers remain. Just six months ago we lost our life-boat at The Mumbles with the whole of her crew. You will hear shortly an account of that disaster, but there is one thing that I should like to say now. Within two months another life-boat was at the station, and another crew had volunteered, all of them men of The Mumbles. (Applause.) Although the dangers remain, so does the spirit of the Life-boat Service.

That disaster brought us one of the greatest proofs that we have ever had of the interest and pride which the British people take in our work. To supplement the pensions given by the Institution to the wives, children and mothers of those eight men, the Mayor of Swansea opened a fund. Over £90,000 has been, subscribed to it. I am very glad that the Mayor of Swansea is with us, and that I am able, on behalf of you all, to thank him personally and, through him, all who responded to his appeal. We have with us, too, the Mayors and Mayoresses of many of the London Boroughs. It was in the City of London that the Institution was founded 128 years ago, and their presence here is proof of the unfailing interest which the people of the whole of London take in the Service.

I welcome also the speakers to our main resolution—Colonel John Astor, the chairman of The Times, and Commander Douglas Marshall, M.P., who represents in the House of Commons one of the divisions of Cornwall, a county with a very great life-boat record.

Report and Accounts, and Elections The report and accounts for 1946 were adopted, the president, vice-presidents, treasurer and other members of the Committee of Management and the auditors were elected.

The Wreck of The Mumbles Life-boat COLONEL A. D. BURNETT BBOWN, M.C.r T.D., M.A., the secretary of the Institution, read an account of the wreck of the life-boat at The Mumbles on the 24th of April, and the MAYORESS OP WESTMINSTER (the HON. MRS.

GREVILI.E HOWARD), presented to the widows of six of the eight men who lost their lives, and a sister of another man, the certificates, recording the men's devotion to duty and the supreme sacrifice which they had made.

The widow of the eighth man had been prevented from coming by illness.

Medals for Penlee and Fowey The secretary read the accounts of services.

by the Penlee and Fowey life-boats for which medals had been awarded, and the medals were presented by the Mayoress of Westminster.

To COXSWAIN EDWIN MADRON, of PENLEE, CORNWALL, the silver medal for rescuing eight men from H.M.S. Warspite when she was wrecked in a gale on the 23rd of April last.

To JOHN DREW, the motor mechanic, of PENLEE, CORNWALL, the bronze medal for the same service.

To COXSWAIN JOHN WATTEBS, of FOWEY, CORNWALL, the bronze medal for rescuing seven men from the London motor vessel Empire Cantamar in a gale on the 22nd of March last, after his life-boat had been damaged.

The President's Address The secretary then read the President's address, which is on page 81.

Colonel the Hon. J. ]. Astor I am proud, as anybody would be, to propose a resolution expressing our admiration for and gratitude to the coxswains and crews of the Institution's life-boats, and our deep obligation to the honorary officers and members of local committees, of station and financial branches, and the Ladies' Life-boat Guild. England's Life-boat Service has led the world in the work of rescue and lifesaving at sea for a century and a quarter.

Throughout it has set a high example in devotion and gallantry and in efficient administration. We are all proud of the Institution's achievements! Every successful rescue thrills us. We are sometimes apt to forget the other occasions, and there are many, when the life-boats put out, it may be, on some unnecessary call; it may be on some hopeless quest. We almost take these things for granted until some tragedy wrings the nation's heart, and one incident in this afternoon's proceedings was a sad reminder of the most recent of these.

We salute the men who of their own free will are ever ready to face storm and danger.

They deserve, and must have, the finest boats and equipment and support of every kind.

They have the finest of hearts, and that the public conscience is keenly alive to the debt it owes to them is shown by its response to the rising needs and costs of the Service.

Life-boats, I believe, used to cost a few hundred pounds; they now cost from £10,000 to £20,000. This Institution neither asks nor receives any financial help from the State; it is a voluntary organisation and, as such, it is an outstanding instance of the people themselves assuming a great national duty and discharging it with success and every credit year by year in peace and war. We here would warmly thank all who play their part in this service to mankind. (Applause.) Comdr. D. M. Marshall, R.N.V.R., M.P.

You have seen fit to ask me this afternoon to second this resolution, and I realize the great honour that you have paid to South- East Cornwall in so doing. At the same time, as we have a motto in Cornwall which is "One and All," I would like to couple with that the great pride that I know will be felt by Mr. Alec Beechman, member of parliament for St. Ives, for the great courage and gallantry of his constituents off Penlee.

I think it is right and proper to realize the vitalness of this Service and of all those who serve in it. It is right to try to find proper and fitting words to describe it, but they are very difficult to find. But if we take note that the patrons of this Service are His Majesty The King, Her Majesty The Queen, and Her Majesty The Queen Mother, and the president is Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent, there, indeed, in brief, we have the reason why this Service is so vital.

(Applause.) I have always felt very deeply the importance of our small ships, and their maintenance, and the importance of our fishing industry, and I see in reading through the report that the main strength of the life-boat crews is drawn from that fishing industry. It must have been a great comfort in this year of 1946 that the Life-boat Service itself has 134 times gone to the rescue of fishing vessels and saved from them 93 lives. (Applause.) Not only 93 lives, but let us think as well of what that means to the next-of-kin and the beloved of those who are saved.

At the same time as we have heard the stories of gallantry this afternoon, we have been reminded how tragedy can play its part. As a representative of South-East Cornwall, which, as you know, is Celt, perhaps I might be allowed to dwell upon this point that some believe that the word "Cornwall" was, in fact, derived from " Corn-Welsh," and perhaps I might humbly suggest that at the same time one can pay that compliment in the same way to that great Celtic race of Wales, for we have seen this afternoon how great tragedy occurred there.

In conclusion I would like to say this: We all know that great anxiety is in the hearts of our great nation to-day, but while men of the spiritual and martial qualities that we have seen to-day still live amongst us, we can survive any turbulent storm.

(Applause.) The resolution was then carried: "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 Institution's lifeboats, and its deep obligation to the Local Committees, Honorary Secretaries, and Honorary Treasurers of all Station Branches, and to the Honorary Officers and hundreds of Voluntary Members of the Financial Branches and of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild in the work of raising funds to maintain the Service." Presentations to Honorary Workers Since the last annual meeting four honorary workers had been appointed honorary life governors of the Institution, and the Mayoress of Westminster presented the vellums, signed by the president, recording their appointment to: ALDERMAN SIR CHARLES McREA, J.P., of the CITY OF LONDON.

MBS. R. BEVAN JOHN, of LLANELLY.

MR. C. E. FIELDING, of MANCHESTER.

LADY FRANCIS GODOLPHIN OSBORNE, of BERWICK-ON-TWEED, was not able to be present.

MRS. MARSDEN, of HUDDERSFIELD.

EX-BAILIE THOMAS BIMSON, of IRVINE.

Miss H. COTTON, of KIDDERMINSTER.

MRS. D. J. WlLKES, Of L/LANDUDNO.

Miss W. F. SHAND, of LYMM.

The gold badge had been awarded to the Institution's Consulting Naval Architect and ten honorary workers, of whom eight were present to receive their badges. The Mayoress of Westminster presented them to: MR. J. R. BARNETT, O.B.E., M.I.N.A., of GLASGOW, CONSULTING NAVAL ARCHITECT for the past forty years.

CAPTAIN HERBERT'TURNBULL, M.B.E., of GRIMSBY.

ARCHDEACON HAROLD S. WILLIAMS, of THE MUMBLES.

MRS. STANLEY BELL, of WIGAN.

A vote of thanks to the Mayoress of Westminster was proposed by Admiral of the Fleet the Earl of Cork and Orrery, G.C.B..

G.C.V.O., and Mr. H. S. H. Burdett-Coutts.

members of the Committee of Management..