THE Chairman of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, Admiral Sir Wilfrid Woods, G.B.E., K.C.B., D.S.O., told the annual meeting of the Institution at Central Hall, Westminster, on 25th March, 1969, that, following the serious deficit for 1967 of over £400,000, there was a great effort to rectify the situation which resulted in an increase of H per cent, in branch income, while legacies and bequests during the year were a record figure. The ultimate outcome was a deficit of little over £12,000.

Admiral Woods said: This is a very great deal better than we expected, but it is by no means negligible, and it does mean a further call on our reserves. Nor are all the reasons for this comparatively small deficit as satisfactory as we might wish. Owing to delays in the construction of new life-boats, and these delays were beyond our control, payments amounting to nearly £100,000 have merely been postponed, and like most charities we have always been very dependent on legacies. They are, of course, as welcome to us as any other form of gift, and we are very deeply indebted for them. But they are almost entirely unpredictable.

The importance of doing all we can to increase our income from more regular sources, is, therefore, quite obvious. Yet, allowing for all this, the results of 1968 do show a real improvement in our financial position, even if we are by no means out of the wood yet.

VOLUNTARY WORKERS 'I remarked earlier that branch income had increased by 6 per cent, on 1967.

This is a truly remarkable achievement, at a time when prices have risen by a comparable amount, and I would like to pay a very sincere tribute to all our voluntary workers and supporters for this truly great effort'You will, I am sure, be glad to learn that notwithstanding all the extra efforts which have had to be made we succeeded in reducing both the cost of the administration and the cost of publicity and fund raising.' On the operational side, Admiral Woods said, the R. N.L.I, had a year in which all records were broken. Year after year the number of occasions on which life- boats and inshore rescue boats were called out to save, or to help to save the lives of others, increased. Perhaps the day might come when the graph, which had been steadily rising over the years, would level out, but there were certainly no signs of it at present. Indeed, they had to make their plans on the assumption that more and more people were putting to sea and more and more demands would be made on the service which was provided. It was noteworthy that for the first time over half the lives saved during the year were saved by inshore rescue boats.

Admiral Woods said that in the technical field 1968 marked the Institution's first steps in the use of glass-reinforced plastics (commonly called fibreglass) for hull construction. The introduction of new materials, after exhaustive trials, could lead towards 'drastically reducing the alarming building costs which we face at this moment'.

BEACH RESCUE Referring to the recently completed coastal survey of life-boat stations, Admiral Woods said that it was being followed by a similar survey of the inshore rescue boat fleet. They were relating the requirements for these boats to existing conventional life-boat stations and taking into account the new genera- tions of faster life-boats. One particular problem which would be engaging the Institution's attention in the immediate future was that of beach rescue, and the R.N.L.I.'s part in providing this type of rescue service.

Admiral Woods said that on the financial side the R.N.L.I. was seeking new forms of support from new quarters and increased support from others.

The speaker went on: 'We have up and down the country a very fine networkof branches and guilds extending even into small villages of whom you are representatives, but in some of the great cities the support we have received has been less than we might have hoped. One interesting response to the City of London appeal was that certain great finance houses, examining their con- tributions to the R.N.L.I., realised that they had far from kept pace with changing circumstances. For example, an annual donation of £10 had been decided upon long ago—possibly in the last century—and this had been continued automatically. After reconsideration the figure was changed from £10 to £250 or even £500. This is the kind of change we have to go out for.' Another important venture was the launching of the Yachtsmen's Life-boat Supporters' Association, known as the Y.L.A. They were fortunate in that Sir Alec Rose both launched this Association and became its first member, and the Institution hoped that every owner or user of a boat would, in due course, become a member of the Y.L.A.

NEW PRESIDENT Earlier in his address, Admiral Woods, who paid tribute to the late President of the R.N.L.I., Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and announced that her son, H.R.H. The Duke of Kent, had agreed to accept the presidentship, referred to the Longhope life-boat disaster and the loss of eight men, including Coxswain Daniel Kirkpatrick who was to have received his third silver medal that afternoon.

Admiral Woods, in introducing Mr, Hugh Cudlipp, O.B.E., chairman of the Mirror Group, who presented the awards on behalf of the Institution, recalled that immediately after the Longhope disaster the Daily Mirror launched an appeal for funds for the life-boat service, starting this appeal off with a cheque for £1,000. 'We are truly grateful for this wonderful gesture and, indeed, to the news media as a whole for their careful and sympathetic coverage of the Long- hope tragedy', added the speaker. Final result of this appeal was over £10,000.

At the invitation of Admiral Woods, Mr. Cudlipp 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.' Mr. Cudlipp, who admitted to being 'a part-time week-end salt water sailor', said: 'What is different about these men of the life-boats, these weather-beaten men suddenly called in a crisis from a desk in a bank, a bench in a pub or from their nets, is that they are all volunteers and that they are expected to volunteer and to voluntarily put to sea in treacherous weather whilst men in other ships are sheltering.

COURAGE 'In the House of Commons, Mr. William Rogers, Minister of State of the Board of Trade, said it was an act of singular courage for the crew of the Long- hope boat to put out in the prevailing conditions. In my own acquaintance of the life-boat service I know that gallantry is not singular among the life-boat volunteers.

'What the Royal National Life-boat Institution lacks is cash resources, but it makes up for that in an inexhaustible fund of courage in its 5,000 volunteers who stand by to man the boats. Coxswain Kirkpatrick, Coxswain King, Coxswain Jappy and Coxswain Scott and all their crews are proof of the courage.

Nobody has to order life-boatmen to put to sea; they do not have to risk their lives; they can stay at home in safety. They certainly do not do it for the money,for the 30s. which is the standard allowance for the first two hours, or for the 7s. 6d. for every hour after that, and not for the £100 a year coxswain's allow- ance. This surely must be the only task in the world where overtime payment diminishes in value as the hours grow longer and the danger increases.

'There may have been room for argument in the past about whether the R.N.L.I. should be voluntary or not. I take the view that on this 150 years of experience, tradition and achievement have settled that argument once and for all. The voluntary principle has been tested and proved', added Mr. Cudlipp.

THE AWARDS Mr. Cudlipp then presented awards for gallantry to the following Life- boatmen: Coxswain John King, Bridlington—bronze medal (THE LIFE-BOAT, March, 1969, page 417); Coxswain George Jappy, Buckle—bronze medal (THE LIFEBOAT, September, 1968, page 416); Coxswain Derek Scott, The Mumbles— bronze medal (THE LIFE-BOAT, March, 1969, page 546). The late Coxswain David Kirkpatrick, of Longhope, who was to have received a second bar to his silver medal, had his medal service described in THE LIFE-BOAT, December, 1968, page 531.

Gold badges for long and distinguished honorary services were awarded to the following: Mr. W. Ashton, Arundel; Mr. R. N. Crumble, Orpington; Mrs.

L. M. Frazer, Antrim; Mrs. B. A. Golby, Kenilworth; Miss G. M. Howey, Bishop's Stanford; Mrs. M. P. Maslowski, Bathgate; Mrs. V. M. T. Morice, Malvern; Mr. D. F. O' Donovan, Baltimore; Mrs. N. Simpson, Fraserburgh; Mrs. G. Townend, Bridlington; Miss E. Williams, Mumbles.

After the presentation of awards Lt.-Cmdr. P. E. C. Pickles, M.B.E., R.N.V.R., a member of the Committee of Management, proposed a vote of thanks..