SERVICE THE following impressions of the Finnish Life-boat Society obtained on a recent visit to Finland are contributed by Lt-Commander The Hon. Greville Howard, VRD, RNR, a vice-president of the RNLI.

He writes: 'After leaving Tampere we visited Rauma, a coastal station, which has a new 40-foot boat of which the local Society is justly proud. She is similar to Dutch and German designs, but more like the latter, and she showed herself to be an efficient and easily handled boat, well planned above and below decks. The coxswain was an engineer, and in the crew was a telephone technician.

'The Society was set up in 1897 on the lines of the Royal National Life-boat Institution and is, like the Institution, a voluntary organisation. They have one interesting form of contribution. Shipbrokers collect a small fee—about £1— from ships calling at Finnish ports. I believe there is also some form of lesser contribution from smaller vessels. To me this sounds an idea worth looking into.

'There are 21 life-boat stations and 33 sub-societies with 7,200 members of the central organisation, to whom they pay their small membership fee.

'In Finland inland lakes cover a vast area and lifeboat coverage of these is increasing every year. Inland, their main co-operation is with the police, while on the coast they work closely with the coastguards. There is in Finland an Auxiliary Coastguard Service roughly on the same lines as that in the USA.

'The Society is carrying out an interesting educational project at the moment. In co-operation with the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, during the summer, the Society provides a weekly programme to the boating public. They also distribute leaflets to marinas and at boat shows.

'The Finnish Life-boat Society maintain shore stations equipped with 27 mHz citizen "band" radios. These are placed at pilot and coastguard stations, Scout centres and in their own stations.

The pilot and coastguard stations are manned night and day.

'This first-class service emphasises the importance of private pleasure craft being fitted with the appropriate R/T (in Scandinavia all yachts so fitted fly or should fly a yellow PDT with the letter R).'The Finnish Life-boat Society operates six vessels of the 57-67 foot cruiser class and 16 vessels of the 37-43 foot type of wood or fibre-glass, five of which have ice-breaking capability.

In addition the auxiliary lifeboat flotilla—at present about 30 vessels— continues to grow. Finally, air cooperation is provided by the Finnish Air Force. Private flying clubs are also ready and willing to co-operate.

'In Rauma a Finnish saying caught my attention. It ran: "Here we know that the sea is our father as well as our mother". . . . It was equally obvious to me that, just as in our own lifeboat service, the ladies, always there, ready to lend a hand with any job required of them, were vital to the success of the service.'.