The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-03 00:00:00

THE ARMY•

A Horse Guards' order has been received at the
depot of the 91st (Argyllshire) Regiment, Chatham
garrison, announcing that her Majesty has assented
to its being in future styled "The Argyllshire
Highlanders," and clothed and equipped as a nee_
kilted Highland corps. The description of the
dress now prescribed is as follows :—highland
shako—blae cloth, with diced Highland border;
Highland tunic, as worn in all Highland regiments
tlewhite
of the Campbell tartan ; forage cap--Kilmar-
nock, with diced Highland border. The officers are
to
change, jackaest
supplied
w
ear
annually plaids
nu a llayn
todclaymores.hglianderegiments will not
. The l
n
be issued to the 91st Rt.,m
regards clothing, will not come into operation until
April, 1865, but officers hereafter joining the regi-
ment or requiring new outfits may adopt the new
costume at once.

The first division of the depot brigade of the
Royal Artillery in the Chatham district has been
augmented by 100 non-commissioned officers and
men, who have joined headquarters from Worley.
A party of non•commissioned officers proceed from
headquarters to Woolwich for the purpose of going

Srn,—As a letter in the Daily Telegrap4 of Friday last
from the master of the ship Fusilier, if left unpaplained, is,
calculated to do much injury to the National Lifeboat in-
stitution, I trust you will be good enough to insert the fol-
lowing remarks. Captain Carvosso states :—" It is certainly
rather hard to think, after having looked on the Lifeboat
Institution as being one of the most disintemsted which
we have, that, after all, it drops down to a matter or
pounds, shillings, and pence, and that, ' what shall 1
get by it?' is the principal thing though: of. How-
ever, without doubt, such is the case," &c. NOW, •
although in a previous part of his letter Captain Carvosso,
had stated that the Ramsgate lifeborit and tie steam tug
whicktook of the passengers from the ship when strand:4
on the night of the 3d ult., were the property of the
Board of Trade, yet many of your readers, unable to recoa-
cne these two conflicting portions of the lotter,will conclude,
as Captain Carvosso appears to do, that they are under the
supervision or authority of this institution, which is there-
fore responsible for any supposed extortionate or extrava-
vagant demands by their crews for payment for their ser-
vices on the above occasion.

It might be sufficient to state that the Ramsgate life-
boat and tug steamer are in no sense connected with this
institution, which is not therefore answerable for the
conduct of their crews; but it cannot be too dis-
tinctly made known to the shipowners of this country and
to the general public who are invited to aid the insti-
tution, on what principles its lifeboats' crews are paid,
and on what occasions, and in what manner, claims are
made on shipowners for services rendered to their vessels.
And this explanation is perhaps the mere necessary
since some cases have occurred where the owners of ships
and cargoes that have been saved through the instrumenta-
lity of the institution's lifeboats have comphined that any
claim should be made on them for such services, from the
supposition, or on the plea, that the lifeboats are provided
by the supporters of the institution for the purpose of cav-
ing their property, as well as the lives of their vessels•
crews.

Now, it cannot be too generally known that the one solo
function of the National Lifeboat Institution is to save
lives, and that for that object, and that object alone, it ap-
peals to the charity and the sympathies of the British
aeople; and accordingly one of the most stringent oblige-
ono which it enforces, as far as it is able, on the volunteer
kw who work its lifeboats, is that they are not to be used
'the salvage of property, " so as to interfere with private
Eerprise," but to be reserved for cases involving risk of

n behalf, however, of the owner of property—in behalf,
it ay be said, of mankind—in order that valuable property,
wrght and accumulated by the "wear and tear" of man's
bral and by the "sweat of his brow," might not be irre-
vocaL lost in the depths of the sea—in cases wben no

other 12% is available, or when the sea is too heavy Lc) admit
of the seice being performed by any other description of
boat, the nitation allows its crews to use their lifeboats,

after obtainh the sanction of its local represnatatives, with
the understantg-Ist, that every care is taken of the boats ;
2d, that they mtheir own risk of receiving adequate re -

muneration for a-aervices they may render, the institu-
tion having no funowailablo to pay them for saving pro-
perty; 3d, that they dot on any account make exorbitant
demands for payment in ?portion to the service rendered ;
and, lastly, that they pa>, the institution two shares,
i.e., an equivalent to the 5,,0 of two of themselves,
of any salvage award receive to cover risk of daniatre
to the lifeboat. This last clause added with the obj,ct
of preventing the men from usinthe lifeboat avia:i-
ever it would be practicable to perfornhe service in any
of their own boats, and also in justice tahe supporters
of the institution, who have not subscribeta it tor the
preservation of property, but of human iives.rn point
of fact, the lifeboats are, on such occasions, lend, their
crews under certain stipulations, and we are ac:t)gned
to think that all parties are benefited by such an arm.,
meat. Valuable property is saved at the cost of a smut,
per centage on its value ; the hard-working boatmen, on
whose goodwill and cordial co-operation the institution is
entirely dependent for the efficient working of its life-
boats, are kept in good humour with the work by the
little advantage that may occasionally thus accrue to
them through the means of their lifeboat ; whilst the in-
stitution is sufficiently benefitted to cover risk of damage or
loss. Surely no liberal owner of ship or cargo can obj,et
to such an arrangement, which, after all, benefits himself
more than any one else.
The question of payment for salvage of property, whether
by the aid of lifeboats or ordinary boats must always be
a difficult one, which will be often matter of dispute, and
not unfrequently of litigation, since the Merchant Shipping
Act only requires that a " reasonable compensation" shall
be given. In cases, however, where an agreement cannot
be come to by the two parties immediately concerned, any
two local magistrates can settle the point, unless the parties
at issue appeal from their decision to the Admiralty Court.
With a few brief remarks on the subject of payments
for saving lives and property on our coasts, I will con-
clude. On the former head the National Lifeboat Insti-
tution have established a uniform rate of payment for such
services by the crews of lifeboats, varying from 10s. to £2 per
man according to the nature and amount of risk of the ser-
vice, and whether performed by day or night; and it is only
in very exceptional cases, of rare occurrence, that their
crews are allowed to ask for any further payments from the
owners of ships or property. Indeed, this institution even
deprecates the raising of large amounts to reward such ser-
vices through the medium of the public press by enthusiastic
or talented writers, as tending to stamp them with a merce-
nary character, to make the men depreciate all ordinary
payments at other times, and as being, in a certain sense,
unjust to the crews of lifeboats at less fortunate localities,
where as noble and self-denying services have been quietly
performed, with none but the inhabitants of a rural or fish-
ing village to commend, and where the payment of 108 or
£1 has given entire satisfaction.
On the latter head—saving property—it is to be re-
gretted that our coast boatmen often make exorbitant
demands for services rendered by them, asking sums
of twice or thrice the amount which they expect to get, and
which they will subsequently gladly accept. There ure,
however, other aspects from which to view the question,
The shipowner is apt to measure such services by too low a
standard—to look on them in the same light as those per-
formed on the wharf or in the store, to be adequately
remunerated at the rate of a daily wage—forgetting that
these men have often large and valuable boats to maintain:
(sometimes costing £3OO or £400); that they must live all the
year round, and support their families on the fruits of their
labours at sometimes long intervals of time ; and that unless
on these occasions they receive sufficient to keep up and re-
place their boats, and to support themselves, they must dis-
appear from our coasts, to the loss of the owners of ships
and property, and of the nation. These men, like the
rest of us, have their characters varied, if not formed, by
circumstances. Their lives, like ours, in the language of
our great poet, " are of a mingled yarn, good and ill to-
gether." Shabby or heartless treatment on the part of a
shipowner or master will produce the natural result of
ill feeling and extortion on theirs. Let us endeavour to do
anything that may be within our province to improve
them; and, in the first place, by showing towards them a
spirit of justice, of forbearance, and of sympathy, instead of
denouncing them for faults which may be only the natural
results of treatment they may have received.—l am, sir,
yours, &c.,

J. R. IVA.nn, Captain R.N., Inspector of
Lifeboats to the National Lifeboat InttilutiuL.
14, John-street, Adelphi, Feb. 1.

MIDLAND RAILWAY.—The directors of this e -
pany have decided to recommend to the proprietors a divi-
dend on the ordinary stock for the kalf-year ending Di:cc:111)a
31, 1863, at the rate of seven per cent per annum.
MR. GLAISHER IN LIVERPOOL.—On Mond9y
evening Mr. Glaisher lectured in St. George's-hall,
Liverpool, on behalf of the Prince's Park Young ;Fen's
Mutual Improvement Society ; and yesterday afternoon he
delivered a lecture, also in St. George's-hall, for the benefit
of the "rising generation" of the town. During each
course Mr. Glaisher narrated the history of the balloLli
to
his hearers, remarking that it had never rmcg part of his
plan to seek to effect an improvement in balloon:7. but that
he had simply used them for purposes of science. Some
time since he was induced to give a pledge that he would
not again ascend, as he had previously done, to a height of
six or seven miles, unless a native of some other country
ascended to a greater height than he had done, in which
case, as an Englishman,
ho could not of course consent to
be beaten. The lecturer was most enthusiastically raelved,
and was respectfully recommended not toatteinpit.st:ch high
ascents on account of the extreme danger to w..11e.1 he e:.-
posed himself.