IN 1947 the Lord Mayor of Sydney started what came to be known as the Australian Express Parcel Scheme for sending food parcels to Great Britain.

Two years later, on November 29th, 1949, the two-millionth parcel was received in this country.

To celebrate this splendid achieve- ment of Australian generosity, the organizers of the scheme had already decided to send to Britain a Christmas present of 100,000 parcels—costing £50,000 in Australian money—and 144,000 tins of fruit. Among the donors of these parcels were the Australian government, clubs, news- papers, and public societies.

The parcels were distributed by the Commonwealth Gift Centre in London, and on the 19th of November the Centre wrote to the Institution that 1,500 parcels were coming to the Life-boat Service from the office of the Prime Minister of Australia.

This very generous gift was most gratefully accepted by the Institution, and the parcels were distributed to the coxswains and regular members of the crews at each life-boat station in Eng- land, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to the honorary secretaries of these stations, to retired coxswains and other members of crews who were receiving annuities or pensions from the Institution, to all men suffering from injuries on service, and to the widows of three members of the Institution's head office staff.

In sending the parcels the Common- wealth Gift Centre wrote: "The donors in Australia naturally like to know that their gifts have arrived safely and been valued, and they look forward to hearing from families in the Mother Country." In each of the Institution's parcels was a request that those who received them should thank the Prime Minister of Australia. The Chairman of the Institution has also written to him on behalf of the whole Service to tell him how deeply touched it had been by these gifts..