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

THE ARMY•

daiesea follows :—Highland
—Highland
shako—blue
Horse Guards' order has been received at the
depot of the 91st (Argyllshire) Regiment, Chatham
border;
garrison, announcing that her Majesty has assented
to its being in future styled " The Argyllshire
Highlanders," and clothed and equipped as a non-
kilted Highland corps. The description of the
dress
Highland tunic, as worn in all Highland regiments;•
trews of the Campbell tartan ; forage cap—Kilmar-
nock, with diced Highland border. The officers are
to wear plaids and claymores. The white jacket
supplied annually to Highland regiments will not
be issued to the 91st Regiment. The change, as
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 Warley.
A party of noncommissioned officers proceed from
headquarters to Woolwich for the purpose of going

..°''e''.—.

?It
fif
a,,

N KW SPA:

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-

through a course of laboratory instn cti s
to embarking for foreign service. , ' ;I's
ft
Lieut.-General Sir Alexander Ken 've 441,4
Kennedy, K.C.B. and K.H„ died at Wirtri
terrace, on Saturday last, at the advanced f
-81"''71"1".:V.-*"
S
years. He entered the army as cornet September
8, 1802, became lieut, December 15, 1804, and
cerved in the Peninsula with the Royal Dragoons
frcigi Oeptember, 1809, to October, 1813. At the
battle of Fnenteii d'Onor, he had his horse struck
down by a shell,- and he was selected to command
a party of cavalry advanced to watch and report
the enemy's movements during the siege of Bad.. .
joz ; he was thanked for his services by Lord Lyn?.
doch. He served also in the campaign of 1815,
and at the battle of Waterloo had two horsca
killed under him, besides himself receivi og two
severe wounds. While leading his equadron in a
successful charge against Count d'Erlon's corps at
Waterloo, perceiving an eagle to the left, he chfmgcd
the direction of his squnalron, ran the efficer through
the body who carried it, and cap:urea the eagle,
which belonged to the 105th F 1 Regiment, of
infantry, and is now in Chelsea ,Hospital. By his
death the coloneley of the Scats Greys as become
vacant.

PAYMENT OF LIFEBOAT CREWS.

--a-

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—As a letter in the Daily TeleyrapiL of Friday last
from the master of the ship Fusilier, if left unexplained, 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 disinterested which
we have, that, after all, it drops down to a matter of
pounds, shillings, and pence, and that, ' what shall I
get by it?' is the principal thing thought 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 Itamsgato lifeboat and the steam tug
which took off the passengers from the ship when stranded
on the night of the 3d ult., were the property of the
Board of Trade, yet many of your readers, unable to recon-
cile these two conflicting portions of the letter,wili conclude,
as Captain Carvosso appears to do, that they aro under the
supervision or authority of this institution, which is there-
fore responsible for any supposed extortionate or extrava-
vagant demands by their craws for payment for their ser-
vices on the above occasion.

It might be sufficient to state that the Itamsgate life-
boat and tug steamer ace in no sense connected with this
institution, which is not therefore answerable for the
conduct of their crews; but it cannot be tee 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, clams aro
made on shipowners for services rendered to their vessels.
And this explanatiou is perhaps the more necessary
since some cases have occurred where the owners of ships
and cargoes that have been saved through the instrimenta-
lity of the institution's lifeboats have complained .hat 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 sav-
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
people; and accordingly one of the most stringent obliga-
tions which it enforces, as far as it is able, on the volunteer
crews who work its lifeboats, is that they are not to be used
for the salvage of property, " so as to interfere with private
enterprise," but to be reserved for cases involving risk of
life.

In behalf, however, of the owner of property—in behalf,
it may be said, of mankind—in order that valuable property,
wrought and accumulated by the " wear and tear" of man's
brain, and by the "sweat of his brow," might not be irre
vocably lost in the depths of the sea—in cases when no
other help is available, or when the sea is too heavy to admit
of the service being performed by any other description of
boat, the institution allows its crews to use their lifeboats,
after obtaining the sanction of its local representatives, with
the understanding-Ist, that every care is taken of the boats;
2d, that they run their own risk of receiving adequate re-
muneration for any services they may render, the institu-
tion having no funds available to pay them for saving pro-
perty; 3d, that they do not on any account make exorbitant
demands for payment in proportion to the service rendered;
and, lastly, that they pay to the institution two shares,
i.e., an equivalent to the share of two of the.uaselves,
of any salvage award received, to cover risk of damage
to the lifeboat. This last clause is added with the object
of preventing the men from using the lifeboat when-
ever it would be practicable to perform the service in any
of their own boats, and also in justice to the supporters
of the institution, who have net aubscribel to it fbr the
preservation of property, but of human lives. In point
of fact, the lifeboats are, on such occasions, lent to their
crews under certain stipulations, and we are acmstomed
to think that all parties are benefited by such an arrange-
ment. Valuable property is saved at the cost of a smelt
per tentage 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 acerue 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 object
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-
elude. 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 Ber-
-1 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 lOs or
£1 has given entire satisfaction.

On the latter head—saving property—it is to be re-
qtouoes low question,
on
dg
er emt taenddsthat o
suer,.
vz
eass t r
ebnoda
et mr
eedn
boften e
mmake s h
i,
xgo r bte
sums
of twice or thrice the amount which they expect to get, and
aensiu
which they will subsequently gladly accept, There are,
Thehow esvheipr,oowntherer,
ist
aspects from hi
to
measure
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
pr t
have
, a n
theird of thecha r
ancatteirosn ,v a r
iTehde,
circumstances. Their lives, like ours, in the language of
These
ef
not men,
f rmlikeed,tbhye
raensdt opfr °lse,
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 de
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, ecc.,

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

MIDLAND RAILWAY.—The directors of this ci:zia
pang have decided to recommend to the proprietors a divi-
dend on the ordinary stock for the half-year ending Deccolber
31, 1863, at the rate of seven per cent per annum.

MR. GLAISHER IN LIVERPOOL.—On Monday
evening Mr. Glaisher lectured in St. George's-hall,
Liverpool,
Improvementonbehalf osfeetiheteyrainnede'
Prince's
yesterday Par kYo
afternoonu ng l'je
he
Mutual
delivered a lecture, also in St. George's-hall, for the benefit
of thetu "rising generation" of the town. During each di"
l
course Mr. Glaisher narrated the history of the balloon to
his hearers, remarking that it had never formed part of his
plan to seek to effect an improvement in balloons. but that
he had simply used them for purposes of science. Slme
time since ho was induced to give a pledge that ho 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, he could not of course consent to
be beaten. The lecturer was most enthusiastically received,
and was respectfully recommended not to attempt such high
ascents on account of tho extreme danger to whichwhichhe
posed himself.
la

y
eljt - 4.4