of Northumberland, amount to the
extraordinary number of two hundred and eighty,
many of which were included in those exhibited
in the Crystal Palace. Almost all of these
were good. The committee appointed to
examine the models were men of practical
knowledge and ability in maritime affairs; and,
after long deliberation they settled upon
no less than a hundred special points as
necessary to constitute a perfect life-boat. No
competition of this kind has ever occurred
before to call out the skill and energy
of our ship and boat builders; yet the
winner of the prize has succeeded in giving
to his model eighty-four of these special
points; fourteen competitors have
accomplished between seventy and eighty of the
points required, and, yet more surprisingly,
none are below sixty. The highest number
received the prize announced; and the two
next, we hear, prizes also. The Committee
give a list in their Report of the whole two
hundred and eighty models, with general
descriptions, and large folded drawings of
most of the best boats; thus showing due
appreciation, and giving due publicity to
their estimation. The forethought, justice,
openness, and handsomeness of the whole
proceeding is a good rebuke to our Government-
way of managing these matters. Would
it were likely to be a profitable lesson!

It is painful to think of the length of time
the people of any country, but especially
England, will remain apathetic to the most
dreadful evils, because they are "everybody's
business," but no one's in particular; except
that of the sufferers, who are seldom listened
to, if they survive. This seems to continue
until some startling event attracts public
notice—followed by a clear and alarming
statement of facts—and followed also (for all
these things are requisite) by the energetic
and well-informed efforts of some influential
individual. That there is a loss of property,
by shipwreck on our coasts, to the extent
of about a million and a half every year,
we leave to be discussed at Lloyd's. The
public is accustomed to regard all this as
matter for insurance calculations; but we
doubt whether the most stolid individual can
hear unmoved, that there is also a loss of life,
on our coasts, amounting to between seven
and eight hundred human beings every year
—few of which can be "insured," but most of
which leave behind them widows, mothers,
sisters, and orphans.

Last year, six hundred and eighty-one
English and Foreign vessels were wrecked on
the coasts, and within the seas, of the British
Isles. Of these, two hundred and seventy-
seven were total wrecks; eighty-four were
sunk by leaks or collisions; sixteen were
abandoned; and three hundred and four were
stranded, and damaged so as to require them
to discharge cargo. As nearly as can be
ascertained, seven hundred and eighty lives
were lost. In the disastrous gale of the 13th
of January, 1843, one hundred and three
vessels were wrecked on the shores of the
United Kingdom. In the gale of the 31st of
August, and 1st of September, 1833, no less
than sixty-one British vessels were lost on the
east coasts. In three separate gales which
occurred in the years 1821, 1824, and 1829,
there were lost on the east coast, between the
Humber and the Tees, one hundred and sixty-
nine vessels. In the single month of March,
1850, not less than one hundred and thirty-
four vessels were wrecked on our coasts, or
an average for the month of more than four a
day. The number of wrecks, be it remembered,
is only taken from official reports; no
doubt, many occur which never appear in
Lloyd's lists or other public records. They
are lost at sea with every soul on board.

We find, from the report of the Committee,
that the whole number of life-boats on
the British coasts was last year under one
hundred, and of these at least one-third
were in an unserviceable condition. In
Ireland, with one thousand four hundred miles
of coast, there are only eight boats, nearly
all of which are out of repair, although
the coast of Wexford is one of the most
dangerous and fatal of the whole frontier of
the United Kingdom. In Scotland, with a
seaboard of one thousand five hundred miles,
there are also only eight boats; but there is
not one upon the west coast from Cape Wrath
to the Solway Firth, an extent of nine
hundred miles; nor is there a single life-boat for
Orkney and Shetland. Of the English boats,
forty-five are on the east coast. On the
Northumberland coast there are seven boats,
or one for every eight miles; at Shields,
three; fifteen on the shores of Durham and
Yorkshire, or one for every ten miles; in
Lincolnshire, four boats, or one for every
fifteen miles; and Norfolk and Suffolk have
ten boats, or one for every five miles. There
are also boats at Broadstairs, Aldborough, and
Harwich. These are the parts of the island
best supplied. In other parts there is a
shameful deficiency, especially on the Scotch
and Welsh coasts. On the south coast, from
Dover to the Land's End, a distance of four
hundred and twenty miles, there are seven life-
boats, but none at Penzance, where most needed.
At the Scilly Isles there is one inefficient
boat; the same at St. Ives and Bude; and
little better at Padstow. "So that" (we
quote from the report of the Committee) "from
Falmouth round the Land's End by Trevose
Head to Hartland Point, an extent of one
hundred and fifty miles of the most exposed
coast in England, there is not a really efficient
life-boat! In the Bristol Channel, the North
Devon Association maintains three life-boats
in Bideford Bay. There is a new life-boat at
Ilfracombe, and one at Burnham. On the
south coast of Wales—from Cardiff round to
Fishgard, a distance of two hundred miles—
there is one life-boat only, at Swansea, and
that is unserviceable."