DURING the coming holiday months many people will find themselves con- fronted at seaside resorts and elsewhere with flag sellers for the Royal National Life-boat Institution. When putting a coin into a box they may well ask them- selves: 'Is all this really necessary? Is this the best way of running a life-boat service ?' It is a fair question which demands a reasonable answer.

There seems to be general agreement that the R.N.L.I. runs an efficient life-boat service. Some years ago for one of those television programmes of which controversy is the essence the B.B.C. tried to find someone ready publicly to question the R.N.L.I.'s efficiency. They had a difficult search, and in the end the case for the prosecution rested on certain local difficulties at Clovelly, which had not yet been satisfactorily solved.

REPUTATION HIGH The reputation of the R.N.L.I. spreads far beyond these islands. Every four years an international life-boat conference is held, and in the periods between conferences the R.N.L.I. acts as the central secretariat for life-boat services everywhere. This is an honour not lightly accorded.

Since records began to be kept in the middle of the last century nearly 90,000 lives have been saved through the efforts of the R.N.L.I. The number of people rescued by R.N.L.I. rescue craft is today on the increase. Figures of this kind may be misleading, for clearly the number of people saved is related to the number who get themselves into trouble. Neverthless, a comparison between records of 1956 and 1966 shows that in 1956 R.N.L.I. rescue craft saved 533 people and last year they saved 817.

Behind these figures lies a record of remarkable technical advance. Indeed the last 10 years have almost certainly seen greater progress in design and construction than in any similar period throughout the R.N.L.I.'s history. One of the most important developments has been that of the inshore rescue boats, fast inflatable boats manned by a crew of two and driven by an outboard motor, which supple- ment the conventional life-boats so successfully in the summer months. Other important innovations have been the largest type of self-righting life-boat, the relatively fast 44-foot steel life-boats, the large yo-foot steel life-boats (the first of which is now operating successfully off Clovelly), much more efficient pro- tective clothing and life-jackets and various improvements in communications.

THE STATE ARGUMENT In the light of this it may well be felt that if anyone considers the voluntary system ought to be changed the onus is on him to show that such a change would lead to improvement. The argument in favour of a State service rests largely on considerations of what is sometimes called logic but might perhaps be more ap- propriately described as tidiness. It is true that many less important services are provided by the Government without protest from taxpayers. However, logicand tidiness are not necessarily the best criteria.

In fact, there are strong arguments in favour of the voluntary system for the running of the life-boat service. Perhaps the most important is that virtually everyone personally associated with the service favours it, and the opinions of men who are prepared to give their lives, and of men and women who are pre- pared to give up a great deal of time, should not be lightly overlooked. The voluntary system does in practice bring men of outstanding quality into the life-boat service, to whom it is a source of pride to be a member of a voluntary life-boat crew. This is a truth of which nearly everyone who visits a life-boat station soon becomes aware.

TRANSFERS MIGHT RESULT State control would almost certainly lead before long to a. demand for full- time boat crews, and whether the same qualities would be found in such crews is at least questionable. At some life-boat stations a year or more may pass before the life-boat is called out on service; and for this reason alone volunteers, many of whom earn their living at sea, may well be found more suitable than men who have had to endure long periods of frustration and waiting. The introduction of full-time crews would probably lead to transfers from station to station with the consequent loss of the intimate knowledge of local waters which is an important quality of life-boat crews as they are constituted today.

Politically the question of nationalization of the life-boat service is not an issue. None of the parties represented in Parliment advocates it. Historically the evidence in favour of the voluntary system is strong.

The R.N.L.I. was founded as a voluntary body in 1824. Thirty years later it found itself in serious financial difficulties, and in 1854 a Government subsidy was needed. This was discontinued at the end of 15 years at the request of the R.N.L.I., which had found that the degree of Government control, which always accompanies a Government subsidy, was impairing efficiency. Since the war which ended in 1945 the German life-boat service has undergone a similar experience and some years ago reverted to the voluntary system of its own choice.

PUBLIC MONEY In two world wars, when the saving of life from sea was not simply a humani- tarian exercise but an important part of the nation's struggle for survival, and when Governments had virtually absolute control over lives and property, the decision was deliberately taken to allow the life-boat service in Britain to remain on a voluntary basis.

It is sometimes suggested that a subsidy should be sought from the Govern- ment and that at the same time the voluntary nature of the R.N.L.I. should be retained. This is not a realistic policy. It is an essential part of our political system that Ministers are answerable to Parliament for any public money expended and for that reason sooner or later expect and indeed demand some control over the way in which the money is spent.

The maintenance of the voluntary system is, of course, dependent on onefactor, which is today of increasing importance. This is the amount of money which the public are prepared to subscribe voluntarily.

Before 1966 the R.N.L.I, had been reasonably successful for some years past balancing expenditure and revenue with a small surplus year by year. Last year there was a deficit of about £124,000 and the indications are that the deficit in 1967 will be substantially greater. For nearly a hundred years now the public has regularly provided the funds which the life-boat service has needed. It would be a sad commentary on the quality of our present society if now, when in spite of periodic squeezes arid freezes the general level of prosperity is higher that it ever was, this support were not forthcoming.

If this happened something of value would disappear from British life. This would not only be the loss of the voluntary spirit which has been the inspiration of the crews of the R.N.L.I.; it would also be the elimination of voluntary service offered in many other ways, by the old and the young, the rich and the poor.

As I write 1 have a letter in front of me from Class I of a primary school. It reads: Our group has made a life-boat station out of cardboard, paper, wire, string, silver paper, cocktail sticks and a few other things. After that we painted it, then varnished it. It took us four weeks, which is eight handwork lessons to make our model. We have collected 22S. towards the Royal National Life-boat Institution. We enjoyed making our model very much.

This letter came from Birmingham. Yes, Birmingham, in the very heart of England and a long way from the sea..