Supported solely by Voluntary Contributions. THE PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY. THE MANAGEMENT VINDICATED AND JUSTIFIED. FOR several years past the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION has bec subjected, through the medium of the Press and other means, to the me serious and unfounded charges by a few irresponsible but perhaps interest parties. Attacks of a very virulent description, supported by altogether fals or misleading statements, have been systematically levelled and wide circulated, not only against the Administration of the Institution as ac ducted by the Committee of Management and their Officers, but against t Branch and Life-Boat Saturday Committees and their Honorary Officials, t Life-Boats, and the Life-Boat Crews, which latter have practically bee described as pirates. The Institution being entirely dependent for its existence and for the means to work the Life-Boat service on the voluntary contributions of the British public, it is manifest that the great life-saving work of the Institution which has been carried on since 1824, and has resulted in the saving 1 40,000 lives from shipwreck on our shores, has, as a necessary result, suffere very seriously financially, public confidence having been in a slight measure shaken. The Committee of Management, being thus persistently impeached felt they had no alternative but to apply to the House of Commons to appoi a Select Committee, to inquire fully into the administration of the Institu tion and into the adequacy of its organisation for saving life on our coasts. The Government having been communicated with, a motion for th appointment of a Select Committee was brought before the House on telia of the Institution on the 8th March, 1897, and notwithstanding the moti was on several occasions blocked by members of the Opposition, it was final agreed to, and the Select Committee having been appointed on the 17 March, held its first sitting on the 6th April. It subsequently sat to tal evidence twenty-four times, and on each occasion for many hours, besic holding five private sittings. It examined on oath witnesses from all part of the country, and went most fully, carefully and exhaustively into every detail connected with the management of the Institution and the working its life-saving service. Thus a series of questions dealing with the submatter of the charges was sent to the honorary secretaries and coxswaits the ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, to Lloyd's agents, to the a guard officers, and to receivers of wrecks at all stations round the east Great Britain and Ireland. The Committee received 846 replies to th questions from persons to whom the facts must have been known, and wi. could have no ground for concealing or misrepresenting them, and it was source of pleasure to the Committee that these answers contained so wide testimony to the general efficiency of management and usefulness of ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. The Chairman of the Sc Committee (Mr. C. J. DARLING, Q.C.) presented his Committee's Report 1 the House of Commons on the 15th July. It fully vindicated and justif the Institution, and entirely cleared the management of the serious charg made against it. The verdict was clear and unmistakable, and the Institut emerged from the serious ordeal of a Parliamentary Inquiry with-as t Times said "unsullied reputation." The Report concluded with the opinion that "the thank of the whole community are due to the Committee cl Management of the Institution for their energy and goo: management (often in very difficult circumstances i successfully carrying on the national work of life-saving BOOKS SUITABLE FOR PRESENTS. AN THE CHEAP EDITIONS OF HENRY WOOD'S NOVELS. or, in green cloth, price 2s. ELSTER'S FOLLY. 60th Thousand. JOHNNY LUDLOW. Second Series. 33rd ANNE HEREFORD. 45th Thousand. DENE HOLLOW. 50th Thousand. EDINA. 40th Thousand. A LIFE'S SECRET. 60th Thousand. THE HOUSE OF HALLIWELL. 15th Thousand. POMEROY ABBEY. 40th Thousand.' COURT NETHERLEIGH. 36th Thousand. THE MASTER OF GREYLANDS. 40th Thousand. 15th Thousand. THE NOVELS OF . JUST PUBLISHED UNCLE MAX. The following Volumes can also now be had, price 3s. 6d, Heriot's Choice. Queenie's Whim. Mary St. John. For Lilias. Not Like other Girls. The undermentioned Volumes will appear in 38. 6d. form on the dates stated below; they can in the meantime be obtained in crown 8vo. green cloth, price 68. each. December 14. 1898 Sir Godfrey's Grand-daughters March 15, 1899 April 13, May 16, ... 99 7tes 9 IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION IN THIRTEEN MONTHLY VOLUMES. Large crown 8vo. cloth, gilt top, 68. each. THE BIOGRAPHICAL EDITION OF W.M.THACKERAY'S COMPLETE WORKS, THIS NEW AND REVISED EDITION COMPRISES ADDITIONAL MATERIAL and HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS, SKETCHES, and DRAWINGS Derived from the Author's Original Manuscripts and Note-Books, AND EACH VOLUME INCLUDES A MEMOIR, IN THE FORM OF AN INTRODUCTION, By MRS. RICHMOND RITCHIE. Contents of the Volumes : 1. YANITY FAIR. With 20 Full-page Illustrations, 11 Woodcuts, a Facsimile Letter, and a New Portrait. 2. PENDENNIS. With 20 Full-page Illustrations and 10 Woodcuts. 3. YELLOWPLUSH PAPERS, &c. With 24 Full-page Reproductions of Steel Plates by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, 11 Woodcuts, and a Portrait of the Author by MACLISE 4. THE MEMOIRS OF BARRY LYNDON; THE FITZBOODLE PAPERS, &c. With 16 Full-page Illustratious by J. E. MILLAIS, R.A., LUKE FILDES, ARA, ADI AUTHOR, and 14 Woodcuts. 5. SKETCH BOOKS: THE PARIS SKETCH BOOK, THE IRISH SKETCH BOOK, NOTES OF A JOURNEY FROM CORNHILL TO GRAND CAIRO, &c. With it Full.page Illustrations, 39 Woodcuts, and a Portrait of the Author by MACLISE. Restite 6. CONTRIBUTIONS TO • PUNCH,' &c. With 20 Full-page Illustrations, 26 Woodcuts, and an Engraving of the Author from a Portrait by SAMUEL LAURENCE. [ 7. THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND; and THE LECTURES With 20 Full-page Illustrations by GEORGE DU MAURIER, F. BARNARD, and FRANK DICKSER, BAS 11 Woodcuts. (Arsa 8. THE NEWCOMES. With 20 Full-page Illustrations by RICHARD DOYLE, 131 11 Woodcuts. (On Norrada 9. CHRISTMAS BOOKS, &c. With 97 Full-page Illustrations, 122 Woodcuts, and & Facsimile Letter. con Devender 15 10. THE VIRGINIANS. With 20 Full-page Illustrations. 11. THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP; and A SHABBY GENTEEL STORY. 12, DENIS DUVAL, ROUNDABOUT PAPERS, &c. 13. MISCELLANIES, &c. The BOOKMAN.-'In her new biographical edition Mrs. Richmond Ritchie gives us precisely what want. The volumes are a pleasure to hold and to handle. They are just what we like our ordinary everda Thackeray to be. And prefixed to each of them we have all that we wish to know, or have any right to be about the author himself; all the circumstances, letters, and drawings which bear upon the work." The ACADEMY.–Thackeray wished that no biography of him should appear. It is certain that world has never ceased to desire one. Hence the compromise effected in this edition of his works. Vrs Bites his daughter, will contribute to each volume in this edition her memories of the circumstances under which father produced it. Such memoirs, when complete, cannot fall far short of being an actual biography." The DAILY CHRONICLE.-We shall have, when the thirteen volumes of this edition are issped indeed, a biography of Thackeray, but something which will delightfully supply the place of a biograpdy. a regrettable gap in our literary records.' A Prospectus of the Edition, with Specimen Pages, will be sent post-free on applicata London : SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. : NEW ILLUSTRATED STORY BOOKS. By G. A. HENTY. UNDER WELLINGTON'S COMMAND: Tale of the Peninsular War. With 12 Page Illustrations by Wal Pagst. Crown 8vo. cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s. BOTH SIDES THE BORDER: a Tale of Hotspur and Glendower. With 12 Page Illustrations by Ralra PEACUCK. Crown 8vo. cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s. AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE: a Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt. With 8 Page Illustrations by WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I., and 3 Plans. Crown 8vo. cloth elegant, olivine edges, 58. Mr. HENTY'S PREVIOUS BOOKS. 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