SCOTTISH WOMEN'S WAR HOSPITALS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 91, 10 January 1918, Page 3

SCOTTISH WOMEN'S WAR HOSPITALS

AN APPEAL FOR FUNDS

MES. ABBOTT'S LECTURE

Mrs. Abbott, who is engaged upon a lecturing tour in tho interests of the Scottish Women's War Hospitals, last evening addressed an audience in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall. Tho speaker was introduced by tiie Mayor, Mr. J. P. Luke, C.M.G. Among those who occupied seats on the platform were the Chief Justice (Sir itobert Stout), Lady Stout, the Minister of-Education (tho Hon. J. A. Hanan), the Hon. J. G. AY. Aitken, M.L.C., and General Henderson.

• Mrs. Abbott observed in opening that wherever she had previously madu her appeal for the Scottish Women's Hospitals it had been very well received. She described how from small beginnings tho movement which she represented had grown to large proportions, and gained a high place in tho estimation of tho military authorities— particularly those of the French and the Serbians. The hospitals (originated by the late Dr. Elsie liiglis) had grown in response to demands from tho authorities, and the work carried on "n them in no way clashed with, that of the lied Cross .or any other organisation.

Many, people, said the lecturer, while expressing their pity for Belgium, often forgot an equally brave little nation that had always clung unwaveringly to the Allies' cause. That nation was Serbia. Among the Serbians the Scottish women toiled to the sound of the guns, night and day. With the nation in retreat, they underwent terrible hardships, and made heroic sacrifices. They were able, as doctors and nurses, to do a great ileal for the poor refugees while the latter struggled over tho mountains; and they were content to forgot their own pains and miseries in the alleviation of others' troubles. )u .Rumania, the women had been under lire again and again as they performed their mission of mercy there, but after tho liussian collapse 'it had been necessary to recall the Rumanian unit. The late Dr. ltiglia was a woman who, when she undertook to do anything, never desisted from her efforts until it was done; and tho work that she had started, .and which death had prevented her from carrying on, must not be allowed to fail now for lack of support. Dr. inglis, "being dead, yet spoke." ' After the (reception she had met with in other parts of i-ho Empire, the lecturer did not feel that she owed New Zealand .any apology for adding one to the many v appeals that were being made. She hoped that a strong committee, capable of securing an adequate response from the whole of the Dominion, would be set up in Wellington to forward the work.

The Chief Justice (Sir Robert StoirfS expressed the opinion that if tho women had in this war done nothing more than the Scottish Women's Hospitals had accomplished, they would have proved sufficiently that they were 83 capable as men of organising for the alleviation of suffering. The record of the Scottish women was something that would last for all time, and he hoped that m its giving New Zealand would not forget the hospitals under notice. New Zealandors. were wasting their money just as if there were no war on. and it was his hope that they would by their response to this appeal show that they were capable of Creator self-sacrifice. He was sure that the causo would commend itself to everyone with any soul. The Hon. J. G. W. Aitken reminded his hearers that the first strolco of the war was directed by Germany and Austria against Serbia, and not against Belgium. Since we were so lato in coming to the assistance nf Serbia, wo should now make our donations the more generous. The cause had associated with it the names of Now Zealnndors known from one end of tho Dominion to the other, and New Zealand should show its appreciation of their efforts. l''ar more money had bean made and spent in New Zealand since the war began than had been made and spent in a similar period before the war. It was only by giving of that money that we could show wo worn alive to what tho war meant and to tho sufferings that our AUws ,vtro undergoing. The Hon. Mr. Aitken movafl: "Ti'at the citizens present endorse, the appeal of Mrs. Abbott in Now Zealand to raise funds for the Scottish Women's Hospitals for war service, and that a committee he elected to further the appeal, and to communicate with the mayors of cities and towns, in order to extend the appeal to other districts. Dr. Newman seconded the ooticy, which was duly carried. A vote of thanks to tho lecturer was carried with hearty applause. Money and promises totalling £155 --"e handed in.