H.R.H. THE DUCHESS OF KENT, Presi- dent of the Royal National Life-boat Institution recently named two new motor life-boats; one in March and one in May. The first, on March 29th, was at New Brighton, to whose station a 52-foot Barnett Stromness life-boat, the Norman B. Corlett had been given by Mr. W. Ernest Corlett and members of his family in memory of his son, drowned in a yachting accident.

Shortly before noon, on a day drizzling with rain, the Duchess and her entourage arrived at South-West Princes Dock, Liverpool. The new life-boat had been moored at an angle; and the dock was gaily decorated with ships' flags. A large crowd braving the weather was present to greet the Duchess, and to see her name the life- boat, the sixteenth to go to this station since it was founded in 1863.

The Lord Mayor of Liverpool (Alder- man the Rev. H. D. Longbottom) presided, and welcomed the Duchess.

And then Commander P. E. Vaux, D.S.C., R.N., Chief Inspector of Life- boats, described the life-boat.

It was presented to the Institution by Mr. W. E. Corlett, who said briefly and with emotion "On behalf of the Corlett family I have much pleasure in presenting this gift in memory of one who was very dear to us"; and Com- modore the Earl Howe, C.B.E., V.R.D., P.C., R.N.V.R., Vice-Chairman of the Institution, accepted her and handed her over to the New Brighton Branch.

After the Earl of Derby, M.C., had welcomed the life-boat to Merseyside as chairman of the Port of Liverpool Branch, Mr. B. W. Harris, D.S.C., accepted her on. behalf of the New Brighton station, and the hymn "Eternal Father, strong to save" was sung by the assembly.

The Bishop of Liverpool (Dr. Clifford Arthur Martin, D.D.) assisted by the Rev. W. L. Beckles Goodwin, M.A., Vicar of St. James, New Brighton, and the Rev. F. T. Copplestone, President of the Free Church Council, then dedicated the life-boat in a short effective ceremony, and the Duchess of Kent named her Norman B.

Corlett. With a vote of thanks to her (proposed by Mr. M. Arnet Robinson, Deputy Chairman of the Port of Liverpool Branch and seconded by the Mayor of Wallasey, Alderman J. H. Wensley, J.P.), and the National Anthem, the naming ceremony ended.

The Visit to Margate On the 17th May, the Duchess travelled to Margate to name the new life-boat there, North Foreland (Civil Service No. 11), a gift from the Civil Service Life-boat Fund. The Margate station was established in I860, and this was its eighth life-boat.

Councillor C. B. Hosking, J.P., the Mayor of Margate, opened the pro- ceedings at about 12.30 p.m. in an apt speech, in which he referred to the Duchess' unremitting work for the Life-boat Cause, and welcomed her "not only as President of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, but as one of our cherished Royal Family." Commander T. G. Michelmore, R.D., R.N.R., then described the new life- boat, and Sir Richard Hopkins, G.C.B., P.C., Chairman of the Civil Service Life-boat Fund, presented her to the Institution. She was received by Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Chairman of the Institution, who in pithy words handed her over to be received by Mr. A. .C.

Robinson, Honorary Secretary of the Margate Branch.

The ceremony of dedication was performed by the Bishop Suffragan of Dover (The Right Rev. A. C. W.

Rose, M.A.) assisted by the Vicar of Margate (the Rev. S. A. Odom), and the President of the Margate Free Church Council (The Rev. R. F.

Newland, B.D.); and after the custom- ary hymn "Eternal Father, strong to save" had been sung (the singing was led by the Choir of the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Margate, accompanied by Vera Denman's Ladies' Orchestra), Her Royal High- ness named the life-boat and it sped down its slipway to the sea. Votes of thanks (proposed by the Hon E.

Carson, M.P. and seconded by Colonel A. D. Burnett Brown, M.C., T.D., M.A., Secretary of the Institution) and the National Anthem brought the naming ceremony to a close..