AN APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2632, 1 December 1915, Page 6

AN APPEAL

FRENCH RED CROSS SOCIETY.' 'An appeal—the first since the beginning of the war—is being made to tlia people of New Zealand by our French Allies, and_ the French Consul, official representative of France in this country, has placed the matter in the hands of tho Auckland French Club. The club has issued a circular in which it sets out that .the appeal is made in aid of a most deserving work—the. French Red Cross Society, which society, besides performing the work for which it is, primarily, intended, is at the same time minister* ing to the needs of wounded British sol. diers, and constantly showing its ardent sympathy for ihe Allies as a whole. During the last twelve months the sot ciety has carried out • ambulance work on a fighting front of over 350 miles in length, and maintained hundreds of hospitals in..inland' towns away_ from the fighting line. Besides this it is 1 looking after a large number of refugees from Belgium and the northern part of France still in Gorman occupation, and lias' also undertaken the task of .repatriation, through Switzerland, of the civilian population deported by the Germans to -their' concentration camps at the time of the invasion of Belgium and the north of France. It will thus be seen that the French Red Cross Society lias a very large amount of costly work to perform, and although France, is a very rich country, the magnitude of tho work is enough to tax the resources already at its disposal, and it is there l -' fore necessary to appeal to all friends able and willing to offer help. Mr. J. Macintosh, French Consul in Wellington, has opened a subscription list, and' will be thankful to receive contributions..

A patriotic concert'is to be held on Friday as a means of raising money for the fund, the Wellington French Club taking the lead.