AUSTRALIAN WAR FUNDS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2646, 17 December 1915, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN WAR FUNDS

AN INTERESTING STATEMENT. j Mr. W. Gillanders, general secretary of the Sydney Y.M.0.A., arrived by the Moera-ki on Monday. Mr. an d 1 Mrs. Gillanders are visiting New Zealand specially to attend the summer s school of the Presbyterian Bible Classes J to be held at Palmerstou North at J Christmas time. a _ Speaking of the work of the Y.M.C.A, t in its military department, he mads o special rcfercncc to the splendid co-oper- ii ation between the Australian Red Cross a Societies and the various comforts I hinds, especially the War Chest Fund, b Ihe Australian Red Cross Association, o with Lady Munro Ferguson, the wife a of the Governor-General, at its bead, t: has done wonderful work not only in si raising funds, but also iii tlie reception t; of sick and wounded soldiers as they g come back from the front. Mr. Adrian ti Ivnox, K.C., and Mr. Norman Brookes Ii are a special Red Cross organisation in p Egypt, and they see to the right ex- a penditure of the Australian Red Cross tl funds- in Egypt and the advance base I hospitals.' jj The Red Cross has been deputed to b expend the larger part of the "Austra- fc ha..Day Fund," which amounts to con- 01 siderably over one million pounds ster- ii ling for the whole of Australia. It is I recognised that the Red Cross deals, si ouly with the sick and wounded w and all other organisations, such as the si 1.M.C.A., work quite harmoniously w With the Red Cross in tlie hospital lo work. For the "well" soldiers t'he w various battalion committees send com- hi forts to their own battalion, but the w War Chest Funds, which were promoted m by a number of business men, with a w ladies' auxiliary, is the central distributing agency for all goods, and they for- e,* ward to Egypt and the front. ni The War Chest and the Y.M.C.A. co- 11 operate fully, the War Chest using the pi Y.M.C.A. secretaries at the front/ to A distribute comforts to the men in the hi trenches and training camps. Th® in I.M.C.A. at present has secretaries it and equipment at Kephalos, Cape .sj Holies, Suvla Bay, and Anzac. At ICephalos t'he association Has a huge tent, and the last report Mr. Gillanders had from that, point bore testimony « to the wtinderful way in which the tf Y.M.C.A. work was appreciated by the men just out of tho trenches, Keplialos being one of the main rest camps near Si Anzac. At Anzac, Mr. W. Owens, t-e 8.A., the special military secretary from Sydney, has erected a Y.M.C.A. equipment in a specially constructed wood tl and iron dug-out. Here he runs re- le creational work for the boys, and con- p< ducts the canteen, all goods being sold w! at 'cost price; the fare provided by the sli canteen ; is a welcome change to the Tl food of tho trenches. Just recently E Mr. Owens distributed a vast amount tli of comforts sent through, the Australian War Chest. ' - The Y.M.C.A. has seventeen centres in Cairo, nine in Alexandria and sis centres at the front, including two at the Island of Lemnos. The Australian Y.M.C.A. have sent large contribu. tions to the Egypt Army Committee, wliioh controls ' tho whole of the Y.M.C.A. work in the Mediterranean, and is at present engaged in raising £25,000 specially for the work in Egypt and at the front, this in addition to tlie large work beuig done in the training camps in New South Wales. Speaking of the Australian soldiers, Mr. Gillanders bore testimony to their splendid spirit and to their great eagerness. He has had largo opportunities of knowing them thoroughly through the many metiengs he has had with them in the camps. The men were wonderfully open to the _ Christian message, over 2200 men having made decision for -■ the Christian life in the last few months in the NjS.W. camps alone. Mr. Gillanders did not. anticipate any diffi- " culty in raising its quota of 50,000 s men for expeditionary forces. The spirit of "Australia will be there"- is very evident.