St John And Red Cross Council

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 6, 12 December 1947, Page 5

St John And Red Cross Council

Reports On Auckland and , Wellington Meetings

At last week’s meeting of the Whakatane Committee of the Joint Council of the Order of St John and N.Z. Red Cross Society Mrs W. Sullivan was in the chair. Also present were Mesdames James,, Armstrong, Hannah and Winstone (secretary), Messrs Canning, Carling, Drube and Ramson, an apology was received from Mrs F. Prideaux. The Joint Council is the organisation incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1938, whose Council, Provincial Committees and District Sub-Committees' are formed of an equal number of representatives ffom the Order, of St John and the N.Z. Red Cross Society. The chairman of the Council is, on alternate years, a member of the Order and a member of the Society. The Council’s work is care of sick, wounded and distressed servicemen, including control of the Red Cross Homes “Evelyn Firth”, Auckland, “Mowai”, Wellington’ “Rannerdale”,. Christchurch, and “Monticello”, Dunedin. Mrs Sullivan who is representative for Whakatane, Opotiki and Tauranga Red Cross Centres on the Auckland Provincial Council Comjnittee, reported on meetings of the committee she had attended in Auckland—particularly oif woi’k done at the “Evelyn Firth” Home of which her sister*is matron. Mrs Sullivan read from the Auckland annual report giving lists of pyjamas made, socks knitted etc, and sent in from various parts of the province—of their distribution to soldiers hospitals and wards. Figshowed that in . Auckland alone' there gre over service" patients ■still in hospital. The Auckland committee has, also done a great deal for the Rotorua Convalescent Hospital.-' •• •' !=

Mrs Winstone who is a Red'Cross hiember of the Joint reportf ed on the annual .naeetihf ,;, lh lington in August last. Sir Bernard Freyberg who, with Lady Freyberg, attended and addressed the meeting had spoken with real understanding of the problems of rehabilitating the sick or disabled soldier. Lady Freyberg handed the chairman a cheque for £617 from the funds of the Kiwi Club in Cairo. This had since been increased by the Patrio-

tic Fund Board to £IOOO and was to . be used to purchase books, and the equipment for distributing them in hospitals to soldier patients'. The Joint Council is taking over all previous Y.M.C.A, hospital huts and is renovating and re-equipping, (where necessary), arid staffing them as welfare huts- for service patients. Mrs Winstone said the Joint Coun- * cil had, over a period, been trying to obtain sale control of the £400,000 Sick and Wounded Fund but the Patriotic Fund Board had refused i this. However the Joint Council is the sole expending agent, and if the £400,000 were ever exhausted the Patriotic' Fund would supply a, further sum-. Mr Carling moved a vote of thanks to Mrs Sullivan for her report and considered this area was fortunate in having direct representation on the Provincial Committee, Mrs James seconded, and Mr Dillicar also expressed thanks and appreciation of Mrs Sullivan’s and Mrs WinstOne’s reports. On the motion of Mrs .Sullivan, seconded by Mr Canning, Mr Carl- * ing was asked to continue visiting soldiers in the Whakatane Hospital as representative of the Joint Committee. Mr Carling agreed to do so. The question of differentiation between soldiers of the 1914-18 and the 1939-46 wars came up but Mrs Winstone assured the meeting there should emphatically be no differentation —the only difference was the source from which funds for comfort was drawn.