EARL HOWE, the former chairman of the Committee of Management, has been appointed honorary chairman for life of the Institution. This appoint- ment brings to an end an active period of work on behalf of the life-boat service extending over 45 years.

LORD HOWE'S SERVICE It was in 1956 that Lord Howe was appointed chairman of the Committee of Management. He had served on all of the Institution's sub-committees, had been deputy chairman for 10 years, deputy treasurer for 16 years and chairman of the general purposes and publicity committee from 1932 to 1956. So deep has been his interest in every aspect of the service, partic- ularly the operational side, that he managed to visit every single life- boat station. It was an appropriate tribute that the Committee of Manage- ment formally asked him to accept a title of honour "as a token of their affection and esteem and in recog- nition of his many and valuable years of service to the cause".

THE NEW CHAIRMAN The new chairman of the Commit- tee of Management is Captain the Hon. V. M. Wyndham-Quin, R.N.

who joined the Committee in 1937 and has been deputy chairman since 1956.

Captain Wyndham-Quin makes a reg- ular practice of taking passage in new life-boats when they are sent to their stations in order to acquaint himself in detail with the qualities of the new boats. He served as a regular officer of the Royal Navy in both world wars and after the last war was naval attache in Buenos Aires. He has crossed the Atlantic three times under sail.

Two deputy chairmen have been appointed. They are Air Vice-Marshal Sir Geoffrey R. Bromet, who joined the Committee of Management in 1952, and Commander F. R. H.

Swann, who joined a year later. After holding a number of important com- mands in the last world war, Sir Geoffrey Bromet was Lieutenant- Governor of the Isle of Man from 1945 to 1952. Commander Swann is a stockbroker by profession and in the last world war commanded a number of ships including an aircraft carrier.

He has had many years' experience of small boats and is Rear Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club. He is chairman of both the Institution's boat and construction and helicopter committees.

THE NEW UNITED STATES LIFE-BOAT Following a visit of a small delega- tion from the Institution to the United States a decision has been taken to acquire a 44-foot steel life-boat of the kind now in the service of the United States Coast Guard. This type of life- boat is described in detail on page 9.

Intensive trials of the life-boat will be carried out in order to discover whether boats of this type are suitable for service around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. In deciding to try out an American life-boat the Com- mittee of Management were prompted by a number of considerations. The chief of these was that it is the In- stitution's duty to provide the very best boats and equipment which money can produce or skill can devise.

Such are the qualities of the 44-foot life-boat that clearly it could not be neglected. The United States Coast Guard spent som'e £100,000 in de- veloping the boat, and by taking advantage of their generosity in placing all their knowledge at the Institution's disposal the R.N.L.I. has in fact been saved from expending a comparable sum on development. There also has been the saving of some zj years, which would have been needed to construct a new boat in this country starting from scratch.

Until the trials have been completed it is impossible to state whether life- boats of this kind will be accepted for service by the R.N.L.I., but if they are all the boats will, of course, without exception be built in yards in either Great Britain or Ireland.

A BUSY WINTER Figures for launches on service and of lives rescued by life-boats show remarkable increases during the winter of 1963-4. In every one of the six months from October to March in- clusive there were more launches on service than in the corresponding months of 1962-3, and in each of these months except November more lives were rescued. The total number of winter launches in 1962-3 was 208, and 76 lives were rescued.

In 1963-4 there were 322 winter launches and 119 lives were saved.

When it is remembered that in most parts of the country the winter of 1962-3 was the most severe in living memory these figures tell their own story.

FATHER AND SON DECORATED At the annual general meeting, a full report of which appears on page 13, Coxswain Hubert Petit of St.

Peter Port and his son John were both present. The coxswain had already received the gold medal for gallantry at the international life-boat conference in Edinburgh, and at the annual general meeting his son received a bronze medal. Coxswain Petit repre- sents the ninth successive generation of seafaring men in his family, and his son, who is himself a master mariner and holds a pilot's licence, has been appointed to succeed him as coxswain.

John Petit has himself been largely responsible for the construction of a new type of fishing boat. The boat was built in 13 months by himself, his brother and a friend and has been used successfully for stern trawling. Stern trawling has, of course, been carried out with considerable success in boats with a fairly large deck space, but the Petits' boat is less than 28 feet in length and has a displacement of only nine tons. She has been used effec- tively for all-purpose fishing with a crew of only two men..