BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY AND ORDER OF ST. JOHN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2768, 11 May 1916, Page 3

BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY AND ORDER OF ST. JOHN

/w if- >lOlUGn.sI OlUGn .s Ked Cross Committee (Wellington district) has miicli pleasure ill -presenting tho folloiviinr report lor Urn year euned May 7, 1.31U:— 'This committee began'its work as the Citizens Military Hospital Guild, the loiyn -Hall being its headquarters. The , a r, ,vo . r - k undertaken was the equipping ot the A'o. 1 i\./,. Stationary Hospital, which was carried out in ton days. This was u small equipment, and consisted ot' lUpyjama suits, 200 bed jackets, i!CO pairs bed socks, 10 uoctoi-s' operating aprons. (7 pillow-slips, and -iS laee-clotiis. On May 10 His Excellency the. Governor nn. flounced there was to be a New Zealand hospital ship. The committco set to work and with the help they received from the Wellington area, equipment for Bo beds and patients was soon ready. At tins time it was iouiid difficult to re ceivo all the cases of equipment at the town Hall that were arriving from Iho country. The Consolidated Dental Company was approached, and kindly lent the committee one.of their buildings in Mercer Street, which was occupied until thu , end of. September, when i.lie premises were required by the company. We then had rooms for packing and storing at No. Si Wakefield Street. The cutting out and'distributing were doiio at the Town Hall, but this method of wnrkiiig ivas found to bn vqry inconvenient. The - Women's Committee were very grateful when (i Men's Committee was formed, and they leased a building in Mercer Street, which is tho Central Depot lor the Wei- ' lington branch of the .liritish Red Cms.?, ' and where tlu-y axe able to do sill their ' •work under one roof. ' ! "In June.a special meeting was called I to consider how-help could bs given to the medical authorities at Trentham during ' the outbreak of sickness th«ro. in emergency equipment was agreed upon, circulars were . issued throughout New Zealand, to the different sewing committees aud guilds, and a wonderful response came in answer to the appeal. T'at.-o goods were received at the depot, ano were sent out to the hospital as quisitioued"Every month cases of hospital equipment have boon sent by the transports to Lieut.'-Colonel M'Gavin, 0.C., No. 1 N.Z. Stationary Hospital; in all. H,l7(i garments have been sent, besides old linen and many thousands of bandages. "The Eed Cross Committee equipped (15 beds on the hospital ship Maraina; 70 cases and L'ii bales of goods were put on board by the Central Depot for the Wol- i lington . Military District. Although i Wellington equipped the fame number ot' j bods on both hospital ships, yet tb» i equipment required (or the Mamma was i double that of the Maheno, as there were ■ as many 'temps' or hammocks as thorn were beds, aud these bad to bo equipped"Tim O'-iental Way Kiosk was equipnefl to hold 50 patients; this building has since been closed, so it was' voted thai the equipment be sent to tho Victoria Ward of tho Wellington Hospital for tho us 1 ; of the rvounded «nd sick, soldiern. "In Jannary, the King George V Convalescfcirt Home was opened at JJotorua, %i articles of clothing and bed linen were sent from the depot; while to tho Tailntaru Convalescent Homo at Lowry Bay 01)1 garment's were sent. ' "At the beginning of April, a call was made, kbrough His Excellency the Gov-

ornor, from the Viceroy of India, for hospital qcjuipment for the troops in Mesopotamia. This branch, supplied 500 pyjamas, 250 cholera belts, over 12,000 bandages, and .£IOO worth of Glaxo, meat extract, and condensed milk.

'When the Maheho returned to New Zealand waters in Docember, several lines in the equipment were falling short. 4mo.\ig utlier garniouls replenished by the depo.t were 250 pyjamas and two largo cases containing MOO bandages. Cases of goods have been sent to the P.M.0., N.Z. liuse Hospital, Cairo; to Br. Agnes Ben. noil, Infectious Diseases Hospital, Chub, bi-o, Egypt; to Dr. Harvey, Punt do Koubbeh Hospital, Cairo; and to the lied Cr<>ss Depot, Cairo, cases of Glaxo, condensed milk, and meat extracts. Hoa. pitals in the Wellington Military District, having sick soldiers in their wards, havo been supplied with bed linen and patient's outfit on requisition. Forty, four thousand nine hundred and thirteen garments and 35,447 bandages havo passed through this depot during the year. "There are 350 members, many of these being monthly subscribers;. while our country branches number 73. The cornlnitteo specially desires to express \U appreciation of tho splendid work done by the country branches in the Wellington area. Thanks are also due to the many sewing guilds and working parties, both in the suburbs and Wellington itself. It is very satisfactory to know that the Wellington Women's Red Cross Committee has, sinco December, 1015, been affiliated as a branch of tho British Bed Cross Society.

"The committee acknowledges, with thanks, the courtesy of tile Wellington papers for finding space for their weekly list's of .acknowledgments and notices.-"