THE annual meeting of the Governors of the Royal National Life-boat Institution was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on the 26th of March, 1957. The Earl Howe, Chairman of the Committee of Management, was in the chair.

The Countess Mountbatten of Burma, President of the Ladies' Lifeboat Guild, presented medals for gallantry and other awards and gave an address. Viscount Hailsham, Minister of Education, proposed and Sir Miles Thomas seconded the resolution of gratitude to the coxswains and crews of the life-boats, the honorary officers and committees of the stations and the honorary officers and members of the financial branches and the Ladies' Life-boat Guild.

Lord Ailwyn and Sir Eric Seal, members of the Committee of Management, proposed and seconded the vote of thanks to Lady Mountbatten.

Supporting Lady Mountbatten on the platform were the French Ambassador, M. J. Chauvel; the Naval Attaches of Denmark and Sweden; the Members of Parliament for Canterbury, Mr. L. M. Thomas, Dorset South, Viscount Hinchingbrookc, Norfolk North, Mr. E. G. Gooch, and Pembroke, Mr. D. L. Donelly; the Mayor and Mayoress of Westminster; the Deputy Chairman of the London County Council; the mayors and mayoresses of forty boroughs; the chairmen of several urban and rural district councils; representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, the Civil Service Life-boat Fund, the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society, the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society and the Girl Guides Association; and donors of life-boats or their representatives, honorary life governors and vice-presidents of the Institution, members of the Committee of Management, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Central London Women's Committee of the Institution.

Chairman's Address Presenting the report of the Institution for 1956, Lord Howe said: I feel I must begin my remarks to you as Chairman today by expressing my deep regret, and I am sure the deep regret of everyone of you present, that Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, our President, is unable to be with us today, and I am quite certain that everyone here joins with me in expressing deep sympathy with Her Royal Highness in her tragic bereavement. We are, however, extremely fortunate in that we have been able to persuade the President of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, Lady Mountbatten, to come here and present the medals and other awards for gallantry and long service. I need hardly say how deeply indebted we all feel that her ladyship has been able to pause in her busy life and be with us this afternoon.

This is the first year that I have had to occupy the chair in the position of Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. Last year I was merely deputising for Sir Godfrey Baring, my predecessor. I am delighted to think, and so are we all, that Sir Godfrey Baring remains a member of the Committee of Management to help vis in our deliberations.

This past year has been in many ways a year of outstanding success and achievement.

There has hardly been a year in the history of the Royal National Life-boat Institution of a similar character. For example, lifeboats were launched last year on service on 745 occasions. The previous record was in 1954, when they were launched on 668 occasions, and at that time I remember we all thought how remarkable that was. There was one period of twenty-four hours last year which was really quite outstanding, and which provided an absolute record for the Royal National Life-boat Institution, so far as we have been able to discover, from its formation. That was on the 28th/29th of July. I suppose most people in this country imagine that the 28th and the 29th of July are dogdays, but they were nothing like that last year. Life-boats were called out on no less than 52 separate occasions during that period of twenty-four hours. That was more than in the worst period of the Battle of Britain. The Bembridge life-boat, for example, was called to sea on four different occasions during that period of twenty-four hours. Several other stations had their boats called out and at sea on at least three occasions. Altogether 107 people owe their lives to the efforts of our boats and their crews at that time. Later today, when her ladyship presents the awards for gallantry, you will hear a little more of the details of some of the things which happened.

Unfortunately, during the past year we had to mourn the loss of two members of our crews. The St. David's life-boat was making for Angle, after rescuing the crew of a French trawler. It was at night, and on her way into harbour she got into very rough water, into a tide rip, and one of her crew, Mr. leuan Bateman, was washed overboard and never seen again. On Christmas Day, of all days, the Exmouth life-boat was called out to go to the help of a Dutch steamer in the Channel. Mr. William Carder, one of her crew, was also washed overboard and never seen again. There was nothing anyone could do about it. We can now only mourn their memory and remember that those men responded to the call of duty voluntarily, as do all the members of our crews.

There was also another extraordinary occasion in this last year. In the early days of the motor life-boats we always used to look upon them as being rather dangerous, new-fangled things which were probably going to catch fire because they were propelled by petrol. So we insured them, but we found that we were paying very large sums in premiums. So in 1932 we set up a committee, which went into the whole problem with the greatest care, and decided that on the balance of risk it would be better not to go on paying these very large premiums, for which we really had nothing to show. Thus from 1932 we did not insure our life-boats any more. Last December, at seven o'clock one morning, the Thurso lifeboat station was found to be on fire. There was nothing that the local fire brigades or anybody else could do to get the fire under control, and the upshot of it was that we lost the boathouse and we lost the boat. The boat was almost brand new; only two or three months before Her Majesty the Queen Mother had named that boat. She was lost, and so was the station, by that fire.

You may say perhaps that we ought to have been insured, but remember this. If we had been, scores of thousands of pounds would have gone in the meanwhile in insurance premiums, and this is the only loss which we have sustained of a similar character since 1932. But the fact remains that we have to replace the boat, which will cost us £32,500, and we have to replace the station, which will cost us another £23,000. These sums we must find out of our resources. At the same time we have saved a very great deal of money by not insuring through the years.

The fire was a tragedy in another way, because Thurso has one of the keennest and one of the best local committees, and it has a magnificent record in support of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. Notwithstanding the fact that there are only 7,000 people within the ambit of the built-up area of Thurso, those people have raised £1,500 a year in order to support the Institution. We have sent a reserve boat there, and by October we shall have the station repaired and a new boat on her station.

The Institution has naturally had many other problems in the past year. We have to leave no stone unturned to keep up with all the developments and the modern inventions of science. We have brought into service new carriages and new tractors, and with the development of the helicopter we had to find some means of being able to communicate directly between the coxswain and the pilot of the helicopter. So we have gone in for very high frequency radio-telephones. We have had to fit out a hundred of the boats in our fleet with this device; and to show you how it works, perhaps I may tell you how, recently, a naval aircraft, working from Culdrose in Cornwall, was lost at sea. She came down in the sea. The approximate area where she came down was known, but the actual point of course was not. An aircraft is a most difficult thing to help effectively because it only remains afloat for a a very short time. Four life-boats went to.

sea, and there was a merchant ship in the Channel, which was also helping in the search. Several times during that operation the pilot of the aircraft wished to communicate with the merchant ship. He was able to talk to one of the life-boats, and the lifeboat was able to pass his signals to the merchant ship, and vice versa. The fact that it was not possible for anybody to save any of the crew of the helicopter was nobody's fault. It just could not be helped, but if it had been possible to save the crew it would have been due very largely to this new device.

A life-boat is a craft with which you must not take any unnecessary risks. You can easily turn a life-boat into a Christmas tree if you fit it out with all the various gadget* that could be suggested, but for considering all these problems of new devices we are fortunate in having a Committee of Management which includes naval officers of high rank, R.A.F. officers of high rank, business men and people connected with shipping and other affairs all over the country. All those gentlemen are delighted to give their service in an entirely voluntary capacity in order to try to do whatever they can to help the Service along.

I think we all ought to be very proud and honoured that two very distinguished figures in our public life have consented to come along this afternoon, and be with us; and they are going to address you. One is Lord Hailsham, the present Minister of Education.

The other is Sir Miles Thomas, the former chairman of British Overseas Airways Corporation.

They are not the only guests we are very glad to have with us this afternoon.

I refer at once to His Excellency the French Ambassador. We also have with us the Danish and Swedish Naval Attaches. We are particularly glad to welcome the Swedish Naval Attache because I think I am right in saying that this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Swedish Life-boat Service. I am told that we also have the Members of Parliament for Canterbury, for Dorset South, for Norfolk South and for Pembroke, each of whom numbers amongst his constituents the winner of an award for gallantry. I think I have been able to say enough to show you the international character of the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the national character of it. We are indeed glad that those Members of Parliament have been able to spend a short time away from their manifold duties in the House of Commons in order to be with us this afternoon. It is a great honour to us all.

I have given you a few facts to turn over in your minds, and it is now my duty formally to move the adoption of the report and accounts.

The Chairman then read out a telegram sent by H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, President of the Institution: "I deeply regret that I am unable to be with you today, and I send my very good wishes and warmest congratulations to the gallant men of the life-boats who in recognition of their courage are to receive medals and to all who have won awards for their services in the great cause of life-saving during the past year." A proposal moved by Lord Howe that the meeting should send a telegram to Her Royal Highness acknowledging her message and expressing deep sympathy was carried unanimously.

Medals for Gallantry The report and accounts for 1956 were adopted and the president, vicepresidents, treasurer and other members of the Committee of Management and the auditors were elected.

The Secretary read accounts of services by the life-boats at Selsey, Sheringham, Dungeness, Dover, St.

David's and Lerwick, and of three shore-boat services. Lady Mountbatten then presented: To COXSWAIN DOUGLAS GRANT, of Selsey, the silver medal for the rescue of 18 lives from the three yachts, Bloodhound, Maaslust and Coima on the 29th of July, 1956; To COXSWAIN HENRY WEST, of Sheringham, the silver medal, and to A!OTOR MECHANIC EDWARD CRASKE, of Sheringham, the bronze medal, for the rescue of 18 lives from the S.S. Wimbledon on the 31st of October, 1956; To COXSWAIN GEORGE TART, of Dungeness, the bronze medal for the rescue of 9 lives from the motor vessel Teesicood on the 29th of July, 1956; To COXSWAIN JOHN WALKER, of Dover, a second-service clasp to his bronze medal, for the rescue of 10 lives from the three yachts, Taivi, Sonia and Madame Pompadour on the 29th of July, 1956; To COXSWAIN DAVID LEWIS, of St. David's, the bronze medal for the rescue of the crew of 8 from the French trawler Notre Dame de Fatima on the 8th of November, 1956; To COXSWAIN JOHN SALES, of Lerwick, the bronze medal for the rescue of the crew of 5 of the Swedish motor vessel Samba on the 28th of December, 1950; To MICHAEL BOYES, a fourteen-year-old boy, of Birchington, the bronze medal for the rescue of two boys from a sailing dinghy on the 18th of May, 1956; To MR. HAROLD ROWDEN, of AVMtstable, the owner of the fishing boat Audrey Russell, the bronze medal for the rescue of a man and a woman from a dinghy on the 29th of July, 1956; To CHARLES MAYO, a thirteen-year-old boy of Portland, an inscribed wristlet watch for his part in rescuing a man who had fallen overboard from a motor boat on the 17th of November, 1956.

After the presentation the Chairman announced that news had just been received that a regular member of a life-boat crew, Second Mechanic Cyril Allcock, of the Humber, had been awarded the Royal Humane Society's testimonial on vellum for rescuing a man who had fallen into the sea.

Guest Speakers Lord Hailsham then moved the following resolution: "That this meeting, fully recognising 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 life-boats, and its deep obligation to the local committees, honorary secretaries, and honorary treasurers of all station branches, and to the honorary officers and thousands of voluntary members of the financial branches and of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild in the work of raising funds to maintain the service." In doing so, he said: We are sometimes, I think, a little apt to talk as if modern life had destroyed the need for private generosity or the obligations of voluntary personal service and sacrifice.

I should think that the proceedings this afternoon would illustrate how contrary to the truth this is. On the contrary, although modern conditions undoubtedly limit the amounts which many are able to subscribe freely and out of their own resources, I would say that there is HO good cause in the world which can afford to do without an element of voluntary personal service. Nor has there ever been a time in this island when the ability to pay something has been more widely distributed than at the present time. Certainly, if I were asked to provide an example of a good cause which neither relied on State aid nor could function at all by the use of compulsion, I could not discover a better example than the Royal National Life-boat Institution.

It has a national budget of close on £1 million, over £850,000, and every penny of it has to be raised by voluntary sources.

It has just had the busiest year of its life in time of peace, as your Chairman has reminded you, and every single one of its 745 launchings was undertaken by a crew of men who gave their service at personal risk without any compulsion whatsoever. I cannot but feel that their shining example has more lessons than one to offer us as a nation at this particular juncture of our history.

All this helps to explain why I am happy and proud to be your guest at your annual meeting, and to be proposing this resolution.

If I might at this stage offer a word of apology, I must tell you that the fact that I may hereafter have unfortunately to slip away after making my speech is solely due to the fact that I happen to be in charge of a Bill passing through the House of Lords, the Committee stage of which I was by no means able to postpone. I hope I may therefore be forgiven for what might otherwise appear to be a discourtesy.

When I was first asked to address this meeting I was First Lord of the Admiralty, and I gladly accepted because it gave me the opportunity of acknowledging publicly the immense debt which the Royal Navy and all those who go down to the sea in ships owe to the life-boats. Now that I am Minister of Education I fear I must be a little less glamorous, and I approach the subject on more general lines.

We are a maritime people. There is nobody in this island who dwells more than seventy miles away from the sea. There is no human being in any part of it, so far as we know, whose remote ancestors did not come here by water. However much the air may speed the passenger and freight services, the main weight of our foreign commerce, on which we depend for our existence in war and peace, is shipborne. I sometimes think we remember our maritime traditions too little. I am sure we cannot remember them too much. If ever we were to forget them we should lose our individuality as a people. Nor do I believe that they are any less contemporary in their moral insights and practical discipline than they have ever been.

Britain without her maritime traditions would be like Switzerland without her mountains or Arabia without her deserts.

And what traditions they are! There is that about the tradition of the sea which makes all men comrades, which should make all men friends.

If I were asked in a single word to say what it was that before all else had opened up the continents of the world to a new vision of prosperity and to the unity of mankind, I am sure I should not say the aeroplane; I am sure I should not say the steam engine. I feel certain that I would say in the first place that it had been the ocean-going sailing ship which first made possible the modern era, and that even today it is the ocean-going merchant vessel which is fundamentally the greatest symbol of international commerce and of the need for the unity of mankind and nations.

The sea has always been at once the beloved and the enemy of the sailor. It is for the sailor what the mountain is to the mountaineer.

It is a perpetual sign of man's need to assert his authority over nature and his inability to do so with success. You can never be quite certain of its moods; you can never take it for granted; you can never afford to treat it with familiarity.

Now this brings me back to the point from which I started. As the mountain, so the sea extracts its eternal sacrifice of human life and treasure. Yet in so doing—and how many, how notorious and how tragic have been the sacrifices the sea has extracted—it somehow brings out the very best in human nature. There have been many examples of heroism at sea in the Navy, in the Royal Air Force, in the Merchant Navy, among the fishermen who inhabit our coasts and, as we have learnt this afternoon, in private individuals, even boys. But amongst all these examples of heroism there is none more cold-blooded, more generous, more sacrificial, than the constant availability for duty of the life-boat service.

To be safe at home in one's bed amongst one's family, to be called out without warning, to leave the safety of the shore at night in a storm at sea for no other reason than that other human beings are in peril and need help, this requires courage indeed; much more, it is a shining example of the spirit of adventure which should inspire a maritime people.

But the spirit itself would fail if it were not clothed with an organisation able to match the need with which it is faced. This is the organisation which I am happy and proud to support today. It needs funds for new construction, for the maintenance of stations and for administration. It needs voluntary workers. It needs the publicity without which none of the other things can be obtained from free and voluntary sources in sufficient measure. We have heard from the report that none of these things has failed in the past. May I very humbly express both the hope and the confidence that in those material things we shall not be found less forthcoming than the men who man the boats? Seconding the motion, Sir Miles Thomas said: It gives me very great pleasure to second and fully associate myself with the resolution which Lord Hailsham has proposed. The pleasure that one feels when given the opportunity to lend even a small measure of support to a noble cause must for anyone of British stock be heightened when that cause is associated with the sea and those who go down to it in ships. So it is for me this afternoon.

Even in this age when so much is taken for granted, when miracles of science and prodigies of human achievement are readily absorbed by minds conditioned to sensation, I think it is true to say that we in these islands have remained acutely conscious of the challenge of the seas around us. For has our preoccupation with a changing way of life blunted our admiration for those who spend—and often give—their lives in meeting that challenge. It would be a sad thing if the men of your gallant Life-boat Service felt that they were ever just "taken for granted".

I think it immensely important that we assure them of our awareness and our appreciation of the valiant work they are doing, so vividly illustrated by the report which we have heard today.

That report I most wholeheartedly support and, in doing so, I might add that I am not without personal experience of how comforting to the mariner—particularly, as in my case, a very amateur one—the vigilance of the Life-boat Service can be. To be tempted by a passive sea and a clear sky out of the tranquillity of Poole Harbour is quite easy. But to turn for home into a freshening wind, with the sky filling with anger, and the movement of the water against the gunwale changing from a tickle to a slap produces a sensation that might not be so close to exhilaration without the reassurance of the proximity of the Life-boat Service.

More and more people are experiencing that reassurance today. More and more, as we have heard this afternoon, owe their lives to your service. I have suggested that we are suffering no diminution of our inborn seafaring tradition. Rather, it seems, is the reverse the case, for have we not seen in recent years a great rush to desert the comforts of modern so-called civilisation and get afloat? Thousands of common or garden land-lubbers today are answering a call to the sea. Admittedly here can be a case of a little yearning being a dangerous thing.

But I suggest that, even though the "Sunday sailors" add to their responsibilities, the men of the life-boats will gladly play their part in producing more sea-going Britons and in encouraging in this mad world the all too rare tranquillising influence that sailing provides.

Having given you some indication of my feeling for the sea, I must recognise the fact that those of you who know me or know of me most probably connect me with another element—the air; and I should like to speak for a few moments about the close associations of the two elements and the men who use them for our good, particularly as they concern your Institution. Of course, in these days both are of immense commercial and military importance to our country.

Both provide technical challenges that are constantly met by the remarkable ingenuity of men. Both often make demands of great fortitude and endurance.

The airman and the sailor have much in common. They both have fascinating jobs that arc of the greatest importance to our country in their respective ways. Our way of life would not be possible without them both or—and this is what I want to emphasise —without either of them. The two services are complementary. Great as has been the progress of aviation in recent years I can never see the day when the aeroplane will assume all the functions of the ship.

As one whose lifetime has been stimulated by the startling progress of earthly and airborne sciences I must commend you for your recognition of the way in which they can be allied to the more conventional methods your excellent service employs. You have already been told of the way in which seato- air radio contact by means of V.H.F. has already been instituted in more than a hundred of your life-boats. I must also endorse the implications of your Annual Report that aircraft augment, but in no way replace, the invaluable work of the life-boat itself. For one aspect of that work there can be no substitute at all, and that is the factor that seems to me to be the most vital of all in your work: the sterling character of the men who man the life-boats.

It seems to me that these men are the most effective refutal one can imagine of the charges one nowadays hears of the softening character of this nation. You can build the best vessels, fit them with the latest equipment that science can provide, give them the maximum of shore-based support, but in making a rescue against the cruel sea and a Force 8 gale everything depends on the quality of these men.

I have said that there was much in common between the airman and the sailor. The captain of a great four-engined airliner bears much of the stamp of his nautical counterpart.

Both are highly respected, proud of their calling, jealous of their dignity, meticulous in their technical skill, and at 25,000 feet above sea-level the man in the left-hand seat of an aeroplane cockpit experiences much the same isolation of command as the man on the bridge of the ship below.

Awards for Honorary Workers The Secretary reported that since the last annual meeting the Committee of Management had decided to introduce a new award for honorary workers.

This was the bar to the gold badge.

The gold badge itself was given only for long and exceptionally meritorious service, and the bar to the gold badge was an even higher award. - The first bar to the gold badge had been awarded to the late Major A. C. F.

Luttrell, of Axminster, who was represented at the meeting- by his widow, Mrs. Luttrell, who received the award.

The Secretary reported that the gold badge for distinguished service had been awarded to twelve honorary workers. Lady Mountbatten then presented badges to: MRS. A. J. SCOBIE, ARBROATH.

MR. F. O. WILLS, J.P., BRISTOL.

MRS. C. WILLIAMS, CARDIFF.

MRS. A. GUYSE BARKER, CONWAY.

MRS. R. M. LLOYD, COXWAY.

MRS. M. WARD, COWES.

CAPTAIN SIR QUENTIN CRAUFURD, Bt., M.B.E., R.N., DUNGENESS (Represented by his cousin Miss Russell).

MRS. E. WELLS, HERTFORD.

MRS. A. TAYLOR, SWINTON AKD PENDI.EBURY (MANCHESTER).

MRS. L. HOOK, WELLING.

MR. ROBERT MAHONY, of Ballycotton, and Miss MARION RIIIXD, of Drogheda, who had also been awarded gold badges, were unable to be present at the meeting.

After making the presentations, Lady Mountbatten said: This is no speech but just a very few words to thank you, my Lord Chairman, for your generous welcome to me personally today, and to say as President of the Ladies' Guild of the Royal National Life-boat Institution what a proud, proud privilege it has been to me to present the awards for gallantry and also the awards for long service.

I suppose, as a sailor's wife, I understand as much as all sailors' wives the glories and yet the perils of the sea. I have been a sailor's wife for thirty-four years, and I would like to say that all my life I have admired beyond all things the wonderful service given by the men who man the lifeboats, men -whose very courage is unlimited.

May I say also how much I admire their wives and their families, because they so magnificently share in that ? I would just like to say one final word, and that is of gratitude to all those who by their efforts throughout the country support this wonderful service and who, I know, will continue to do so in the years to come.

Votes of Thanks Proposing a vote of thanks to Lady Mountbatten, Lord Ailwyn said: It is a very agreeable duty and privilege to move this vote of thanks to you, Lady Mountbatten, for so kindly coming here today and for deputising for our Royal President whose absence—and you, my Lord Chairman, have already stated the reason for her absence—we so greatly deplore.

It is a great pleasure to me personally to be the channel this afternoon of conveying to you, Lady Mountbatten, our thanks for your presence and for the inspiring address which you have just given. One reason is that one of my earliest and happiest recollections is that of serving, over fifty years ago now, as a midshipman in the flagship of that great sailor and great patriot, your illustrious father-in-law, Prince Louis, Prince of Battenburg, as lie then was—"P.L." as he was affectionately known to all of us. From that stems the second reason why I appreciate the honour of moving this motion, and that is that I have been immensely interested in watching since those days the career and the meteoric rise of your distinguished husband, culminating, after eminent service in the Far East and in India, with the supreme Royal Navy appointment of First Sea Lord.

That is the very position in which his father forty years earlier rendered such incomparable service to the nation.

Lady Mountbatten, your own great services to so many varied and deserving causes over the years arc too well known to regime recapitulation: Red Cross, child welfare, nursing, British prisoners of war, cancel relief, Our Dumb Friends' league, to mention just a few; your indefatigable journeys to the far ends of the world on visits of inspection ; and today, as President of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild, you have spared the time to come here and present the medals and awards for gallantry in the life-boat service. W« thank you most warmly for this action, and we are confident that you have been thriUed with those stories of heroism and gallantry to which we have just listened.

Seconding this vote of thanks, Sir Eric Seal said: It is my great privilege and most agreeable duty today to second the vote of thanks to Lady Mountbatten. As previous speaba» have pointed out, she has very generously agreed to undertake the duties of presents the medals for gallantry and for long service at very short notice, and we are all deeply grateful to her for the way in which she has performed those duties.

I have a special reason for a feeling of particular regret at the unavoidable absence of Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Kent, because l am the chairman of the Civil Service Life-boat Fund. This fund, which has been going for very many years, has the most remarkable tradition behind it. The aim of the fund is to afford every civil servant— and there are quite a number of them in this country of ours now—an opportunity of contributing towards the work of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. We collect very nearly £20,000 a year in this way. This money is devoted to the building and maintenance of life-boats, of which in the course of the history of the fund there have been to date thirty-one. Of those thirty-one, ten are now in service at various stations round our coasts. The St. David's boat, the coxswain of which, Coxswain David Lewis, has received a bronze medal today, is one of the Civil Service life-boats. The fund is very proud of what it has been able to do, and we intend to do better in the future.

In the past three years the fund has contributed two new boats, both of the very largest and highest class, to the Institution; and not very long ago it was my very pleasant duty to attend the launching and the naming ceremony of the new Civil Service life-boat at Southend, the Greater London II. It was performed by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent with her usual grace and charm.

I was looking forward with keen anticipation to be able to say "thank you" to her in public today. However, fate has ruled otherwise, and it is an equal pleasure to be able to say "thank you" to Lady Mount batten whose husband is a famous admiral, the First Sea Lord, and whose close connection with the sea, with that splendid brotherhood of the sea, about which Lady Mountbatten has spoken with so much eloquence, we all know.

In the evening the medallists, Charles Mayo and their families were the guests of the Institution at dinner.

Afterwards they went to the Crazy Gang show at the Victoria Palace, where they were asked to rise in their boxes as the spotlights played on them.

The proceedings at the meeting were shown in the Independent Television Newsreel on the same day..