THE FRENCH FUND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 247, 6 July 1918, Page 8

THE FRENCH FUND

4 AN ELOQUENT APPEAL WHAT AUSTRALIA IS DOING. Tho following letter, which wo have received from Mr. Neville Mayman, supports in moving terms the appeal that is now being made in this country en behalf of Prance, and also gives an interesting account of what New South Wales has done and is doing in the same direction:— Sir,—Reports from your issues of Juno 12 and 13 have been handed to me by Mr. A. de R. Barclay, of this city, who, I understand, is the son of Captain Barclay, president of the French Corele at AVellington. Mr. Barclay fell that as president of tho Prance's Day Committee in New South Wales, which last year raised ,£223,000 for the French victims of the war, I should be interested in the discussion now proceeding in *h6 Dominion. My interest in what concorns France is so vital that I crave peiinission to inform the people of New Zealand t'hrousk the columns of your journal what New South Wales has done for France, and what it hopes to be privileged to do in the near future for thai gallant but martyred nation. •Within a few weeks of the beginning of tho war there was stalled in Sydney the French-Australian League of Help. The initial . meeting was called by Mdllo. Sonbeirnn, w'ho became joint honorary secretary of&he society w:th .Mrs. Arthur Jewett. The patrons were Hor Excellency Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, Monsieur Ch'ayet (Consul-Gencral for France), the'Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor of Sydney, and the Lady Mayoress. The Hon. W. A. Holman (Premier of ~Hw South Wales) and Madame J. Playoust were the presidents. From the outset the league received substantial and widespread public support. Tn tho early days it wa.s helped liberally by tho State Government, which, thanks to the beneficent offices of the Premier, who from the beginning of the war recognised our immense debt to France, has never failed to take a deep and practical interest in (he work of siiecouiing the French victims of Prussian but--harlsm. The leacue has been.ablo to send many thousands of pounds to France, arid if has forwarded articles of clothing literally by the hundred thousand. In 19ta I had the privilege of conducting a public appeal for funds for some of our Allies. France, Serbia, Monte- ■ negro, and Poland participated in, the results of the campaign. Wo collected ,£17.1,000, and ' two-fifths of this sum was allotted to ■ France. A portion of tho amount wafl • remitted direst to France, and the 1c- • mninder handed to the French-Australian - League of Help in Sydney, which had by this time demonstrated convincingly the value of the work it was doing. The commemoration of Franco's Day (July H), 1916, took the form of a de- - mon'stration of sympathy and affectun for France. No attempt was made to raise rnnnov un this occasion, fc'it there was manifested in every civic centro m Now South Wales "a feeling of the deepest 1 gratitude for the heroism of the French ' armies and the courage and fortitude of the French people in withstanding so ' valiantly the greatest menace to civilisation the world has ever seen. : Last year—l9l7—a vast public moveI ment was started in the Town Hall on '! May 11, with the approval of the Governi ment and sanction of the War Council, ■ f to collect funds to assuage as far as ■' might be tho wounds of our great Ally. ; I The Lord Mayor was in the choir. The Acting-Premier (Mr. Holman) was absent from the State and two other Ministers spoke in support of the campaign. \--isiam-i' poured in from every quarter. All sections of the people were represented in the response to the appeal. The Red Cross Society in particular 1 proved to be a tower of strength. Tho [ executive of the N.S.W. Division sent a : special circular to every branch in the I State urging the various committees to I help the movement in favour of Franco ! to the fullest extent in their power. As I have stated already, tho amount ! rilleck-l reached the fine total of ,0223,000. i The money was handed to the Fronch- | Australian" Leasue of Help in the terms I of a resolution passed at the Town Hall I ineoting. and the league is now distribut--1 ing it through tne medium of a repre--1 sentative committee operating from In the Mareli number of "L'lllustrai tiou" the world-famous writer, Henry Itimlrnux. h'i:< it'i il'»"iiniiting and affect- ! ing article headed "T.e retour des Innocents." In the course of a touching and palpitating description of the thousands of child martyrs of the war coming from the occupied and devastated reiri..u. : i H»it'iinr'.'<m of prince stTl freo from the barbarian host, he says: Thero was once- a man named Thomas who was inclined to doubt. He was a disciple of Christ, and he loved ('hrß. Only he did not believe that Christ was risen. "If I do notsee in His hands the print of tho nails, and put inv finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hard into His side, I will not believe." Thus spoke he to the other disciples. And Christ came snd said to him: "Reach hither thy fingei. and behold My hands; and reach hither thv hand, and thrust it into My side;"and be not faithless but believing." And Thomas answerert nnd said: "My Lord and my God." Jesus sailh unto him: "Thomas, bocause thou hast seen Me, thou hast bMieved; blessed are thev that 'have not seen, nnd yet : have believed." To such as are not willing to believe. France stretches out to" 1 them her hands and her feet imnrinted with the marks of the nails; she presents to them her bleeding side. Let those who doubt come and see the marks of her martyrdom, and they will believe. A cry comes from France that must stir the hearts of all those whose ears are open to hear it. It is the blended cry of upwards of half a million war orphans. Any appeal that I could make either to the people of New Zealand or to its Government would be but a faint echo of tho agonised sob that is wafted across the seas from the stricken children of France. There ars to-day in France half a million orphans whose fathers havo given their lives in that most sacred of all causes, the cnuse of right, freedom, and civilisation. The tiny mites have been ■ left behind, in the keeping, thank God, of a race that knows its duty.' • But, because France finds it so hard to carry on with the noble task, it turns, to its friends for help. Can we listen with unheeding ears to that earnest nnd piteous petition?, Franco strives hard to maintain this army of orphans, the children of French soldiers who hove fallen in battles which are just as much ours as theirs, but its resources are depleted, end it cannot find ■ food and shelter for them all. There.are still scores of thousands of tender little children for whom room ' cannot lie found in the orphanages or 1 in private homes. These little children ; are knocking at the door of our hearts, nnd we must not lot them knock in vain. Shall we not open our hearts to the summons of these tiny taps? The henrt-touehing statement that 1 comes from France is that; these chil- ■ dren need fond. "They want food!" Who '. can remain unmoved at: the sound of ' that call? It is call as of a trum--1 pet, which must inspire us all to work unceasingly until the hunecr of these martyr children is appeased, and until ' their' little bodies arc clothed and comforted. These orphans nre wanted to help rebuild the French nation. Their dead fathers have been our comrades inarms. The immortal Anzacs. our fathers, brothers, sous, havo given up their lives on their soil. The brotherhood so sloriousl.v cemented on the field of battle will live through the decades of peace to fob' low. Shall we not help to perpetuate I hid: superb French race? Shall we not carry on the work of the Anznc heroes 1 with our pennies, our shillings, and our pounds? ' The cities, towns, and villages of 1 France have been laid waste; her lifeblood industries have bsen torn from her. the savings uf her thrifty peas- ' ants are exhausted. France has : only flesh and blood left, and she is giving that without stint. We, in debt tn her, nre heavily in debt. Australia and New Zealand must repay what we owe to those dead French fath-

ers, and we must, do it in memory of the Australians and New Zealanders who fought by their sides, and, like them, gave the most they had to give. Another appeal for funds will be made to tho peoplo of New South Wales as soon as the necessarv arrangements can bo made with tho Department of Repatriation, which, now controls these mattors. In tho meantime a public meeting has been convened by tho Lord Mayor of Sydney for Monday, July 15, when His Kxcellency tho Governor will 3 movo ,and tho Hon. tho Premier will ' second, tho following resolution:c "That we, the citizens of Sydney, as--1 sembled in tho Town Hall, by invitation " of tho Lord Mayor, desire upon, this, 'the | national festival of, our gloi-io'is ally, '' to Tccovd our deep Eense of the immeasurable sacrifice made by tho French | people in withstanding the greatest men- ' acb to liberty that ever threatened civil- ' isntion; our" admiration for the matchr less valour of her armies, nud the irresistible determination of her civil popu--3 lalion, which shows no sign of faltering " after four years of tho bloodiest war in r history; and our profound conviction of s the ultimate success in which the arm--1 ion of tho -Allies will bo crowned with a glorious and imperishnblo victory, for ever removing the danger of the free dc- ' mocracies being crushed by Prussian militarism." ' That resolution wiil bo carried by ac- , clamation. And when we again ask for : money it will be given. The stupondous work'which tho French have so quietly , undertaken and so heroically borne is : thoroughly understood in this State. Our 1 own soldfers have spoken in no u/ncer'l tain terms about the kindness nnd hos- [ pitality'of tho French. The notion has ; yielded up all its vnlunblo manhood; its I liion from all ranks and occupations from every town and village have gone cheeri fully to their duly. Its ordinary avocations have necessarily shrank. lhe „ drain of the mere war expenses has been ", enormomV Tho wounded nre being count-. t ed by millions. Tho wido.red and tho fatherless nre being counted by the lum--1 deed thousand. The French, with their noted warmth of heart and patriotism, , will make some superhuman effort to provide for all these But the strain I is really too great 'or them to. tew- unaided. We must all recognise that. ' Their men have been wounded for us as well as for their own country. We have ! wounded of oiw own of course, all too . many. But our casualties are many .. fewer than theirs, and we can afford to 5 help the French in order to make the disparity and the sacrifice less marked, f Let us remember, in the words of lung 1 George, that the Entente is to exist, for always—Yours faithfully, NEVILLE MAYMAN. e