Last year the Institution had a deficit of nearly £124,000, and the figures for revenue and expenditure at the end of the first six months of the present year indicate that in 1967 there is every likelihood of an even larger deficit. At the end of June expenditure, which amounted to £902,595, was £335,246 higher than revenue. This figure must fill all those in any way connected with the life- boat service with concern, and the need for increasing revenue is too obvious to need stressing. The reason for the decline in revenue in the first six months of 1967 compared with the corresponding period last year was a substantial drop in the amounts received from legacies and gifts for special purposes. Legacies were down by over £160,000 and special gifts by over £150,000.

This fall in revenue occurs at a time when the work of the life-boat service is continuing to expand. Once again the number of launches on service by rescue craft of the R.N.L.I. in the first six months of 1967 was an all time record, amounting to 723 (416 of these were by life-boats and 307 by inshore rescue boats). Many more lives were also saved this year than in the first half of 1966.

Life-boats saved 262 people compared with 196 in the corresponding period last year and inshore rescue boats 169 compared with 114.

NEW LIFE-BOAT STATIONS Launching conditions at Padstow have for a long time been unsatisfactory as a result of the silting of the river. In order to provide adequate coverage it has been necessary to build a new boathouse and slipway at Trevose Head, a short distance outside Padstow. The constructional work has cost £114,600 and the new boathouse will become operational in the autumn of this year. The life- boat station will then bear the name Trevose Head (Padstow).

As a result of trials carried out last winter and a review undertaken by the Coast Review Working Party of the Committee of Management it has also been decided to establish a station at Lochinver in Sutherland. As a temporary measure to provide coverage during the coming winter the 46-foot life-boat formerly stationed at Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, will operate from Lochinver.

This boat will later be replaced by a newer life-boat fitted with radar.

TRIUMPH FOR VOLUNTARY LABOUR A new inshore rescue boat station has been opened at Lyme Regis, Dorset. It was built entirely by voluntary labour at high speed and with great enthusiasm and skill. At least two people may be said to owe their lives to the fact that the station was made operational so speedily, for two days before the official opening took place the IRB rescued two 24-year-old holidaymakers from a capsized dinghy.

The service of dedication was held on roth June and conducted by the vicar of Lyme Regis, the Reverend J. H. Charles. Some 700 people attended, and the station was formally opened by Mr. Simon Wingfield Digby, M.P., forWest Dorset. The driving force behind the splendid achievement of volunteers was the honorary secretary of the station, Wing Commander F. A. Buckingham, R.A.F. (retd).

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE At the farewell dinner given by the French Central Life-boat Society to the delegates to the tenth international life-boat conference and their wives Captain Olaf Bjornstad, the Inspector General of the Norwegian Life-boat Society, said that the friendly nature of the discussions which had taken place might serve as an example to all international gatherings. The conference was, as always, happily free of any political differences, and the friendliest spirit prevailed. A report of the conference appears on page 155. From this it will be seen that there was a wide range of subjects discussed.

It is still somewhat early to estimate the immediate practical benefits of the conference, but there was tangible evidence of the value derived from the con- ference held at Edinburgh in 1963. This was the 44-foot life-boat to be stationed at Gorleston, which is itself based on a design of which the United States Coast Guard gave details during the Edinburgh conference. The American delegates were favourably impressed by the modifications which the R.N.L.I. had made.The Norwegian Life-boat Society is also building 44-foot life-boats to a modified design.

The R.N.L.I. life-boats were a fine sight and attracted much admiration. By a happy coincidence they arrived in St. Malo immediately following the Sail Training Association's ship, Sir Winston Churchill, which was manned largely by a crew of girls.

In the last number it was incorrectly stated that the R.N.L.I.'s delegation was led by the Chairman, Captain the Hon. V. M. Wyndham-Quin, R.N. After the number had gone to press it was learnt that the Chairman would be unavoidably prevented from attending, and the R.N.L.I.'s delegation was led by Commander F. R. H. Swann, O.B.E., R.N.V.R., a Deputy Chairman.

ARRIVAL OF SIR FRANCIS CHICHESTER Three life-boats met Sir Francis Chichester when he arrived off the coast of England in Gipsy Moth IV after his great voyage round the world. The yo-foot life-boat, Charles H. Barrett (Civil Service No. 35), took up station astern of Gipsy Moth /Ffrom the Scilly Isles to Plymouth. Some days before Sir Francis's arrival the weather had been changeable, and it was expected that casualties might occur among boats which put out to greet him. Fortunately, in the event, the services of the life-boat were not called upon. The Lizard /Cadgwith life- boat, The Duke of Cornwall (Civil Service No. Jj) also put out and met Gipsy Moth IV off the Lizard. Congratulations were conveyed by the honorary secretary, Mr. Lindsay Britton, and in reply Sir Francis thanked him and said he hoped he would never need the services of a life-boat.

Nearing Plymouth Gipsy Moth IV was met by the Plymouth life-boat, Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse, and the new inshore rescue boat. The two rescue craft escorted the yacht into harbour both as a tribute to Sir Francis and to be available as safety boats, but their services too were not needed in spite of the huge number of boats which greeted Sir Francis.

PADSTOW LIFE-BOAT MARCH A life-boat march has now been composed which, it is hoped, will be played on many life-boat occasions. It is known as the Padstow Life-boat March and is the work of the well known composer, Malcolm Arnold, who wrote it as a tribute to the crews who have served at Padstow and to mark the building of the new station. The first performance was given at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on loth June during the B.B.C.'s International Festival of Light Music. Mr. Arnold himself conducted the performance.

CLOVELLY STATION The 70-foot steel life-boat, Charles H. Barrett (Civil Service No. 35), which has been operating for some time past in the Bristol Channel area, will be the Clovelly station life-boat after the 3ist March, 1968. The 35-foot 6-inch Liverpool type (William Cantrell Ashley) will then be withdrawn. Trials of an inshore rescue boat will be carried out at Clovelly during August, 1967.THANKS FOR THE BADGE Mr. J. Richard Hobbs, honorary treasurer of the Reigate and Redhill Branch, recently wrote to the South East office thanking the Institution for his badge.

He said: 'That the Institution thinks fit to recognize those who support from the side lines is a matter of much satisfaction to those of us thus noticed and I should like my grateful acknowledgment duly recorded.' HELICOPTER CRASH WHEN an R.A.F. helicopter from R.A.F. Coltishall, Norfolk, crashed into the sea near Yarmouth on 22nd June, 1967, the three members of the crew who were killed - they were well known to the R.N.L.I. for their air sea rescue work - were Fit. Lt. A. Gavan, flight commander of 'D' Flight, No. 202 Squadron; Master Navigator H. Grossman, and Fit. Lt. G. Pink, a navigator on the station.

Coxswain J. R. Plummer, of the Caister life-boat, said that after 'the quickest launch we have ever had' they saw a petrol slick gradually spread out on the water, and they took three cross-bearings on this point. This information was given to the R.A.F.