THE "MISSING" LADY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 78, 27 December 1918, Page 2

THE "MISSING" LADY

(By Charles Proctor.)

She carries a, grey-covered book, frequently well-thumbed, and she is one of the scores of women officially engagort in endeavouring to obtain definite news regarding men reported "missing" Regularly once a week she visits the wards of' t'iio military hospital, nnd speaks to every man who is well enough to answer. The wounded soldiers know her as "the 'missing' lady," nnd most of them recognise the importance of her work, and nrc eager to help. . She glances at the "diet.sheet" which hangs at the head of each man's bed, and on which full particulars of the patient's name, rank, number, regiment, and nature of his injuries are recorded; then refers quickly to her book. "I wonder if you knew any of these inen in your battalion?" she inquires, indicating a. printed list of names, which the wounded soldier generally studies carefully and with interest. , Timo and again the man interrogated fails to" recognise any of the names on the list, or, if he does eo, is unable to simply any information regarding the Vcimm" whose name he recognises; but occasionally tho "missine" lndy gets important. news. Twice while T was;irt hospital J. heard the "missing" lady get news, of a. missiing man. • • "K—? Tom 1? —said th? man occupying the l>stT facing iiiine. "Why, poor ,old Tom 11 was blown to bits by tho same shell that wounded me! There were three of ours killed—Tom I? and two others—and five of .us. wounded. Ves, I knew Tom, miss. He was my pal." "Where did that happen?" asked the "missing" ljndvi and proeeeded to make a careful note of the infonilStion supplied, together with details of her informant. ■ Within a few days the relatives of Tom I? —, nosted as 1 "missing." would be officially informed .that. Private. R- — ivtis "now reported killed." Their suspense would be at an end—and their hopes would die.

Tn another ense a. wounded man reported that a comrade whoso name Appeared in. the "missing" list had been wounded and loft behind in a raid. He himself hnd seen the Gernmns nil around his wounc-'d pal. That was all he knew, but .ns a result of the information ho gave to the "missing" lady another man would probably be transferred from the list of "missing" to that of the "missing, believed prisoners." And his relatives would be able to hope on.

After the Germans broke through ill March the lists in the book the "missing'" lady brings round lengthened .tremendously, liiit she still pursues her task with analmted zeal and thoroughness. Every fresh convoy of wounded means to her fresh hope of information regarding: missing men, nnd every item of inforinaion mean* an end to the suspense of some wife, sweetheart, sister, or mother somewhere—"iJaily Mail."

THE RED CROSS IN JAPAN

■ The Japanese Bed Cross Mission, which has come to us as the representative of the great society in Japan l"or tho purpose of studying tho work of tho Red i/in tiie war and of assisting the kindred European societies, arrived in London from the United States recently, writes a correspondent in the New South Wales "Ked Cross' Record." The mission consists of nine persons, three of whom aro medical officers of distinction and one a well-known jurist. Its head is Prince Tokugawa Yoshihisn. The Ked Cross Society of Japan was, until the present war, the largest of any nationality in the world.' It included, at tho end of last year, 1,798,835 members, Its annual revenue and expenditure amount to about .£600,000, and it has accumulated funds and property of the value of nearly ,£3,700,000. Its staff include-* 183 surgeons, 3060 fully-trained female and 1100 male nurses. It maintains a great hospital in the capital anil others in the provinces. It has rendered tho highest services in all tho modern wars of Japan—with China, in the Boxer outbreak, and with Russia —and its work of relief and chnrity in ncace time has been commensurate with its war services. In this war it has for tho first time extended its activities to Europe. It has already sent three nursing corps to tho Allies (one to ourselves), and given substantial gifts of medical appliances. The progress of tho society from its foundation, is symbolic of that _of the Empire which, starting in 1871 in insignificance and impotency, is now one of the great military and commercial Powers of tho world- 111 old days, in wars in Japan, the wounded were un. cared for on tho field, and it was not the custom to show mercy to the wounded of the enemy, who were either killed or committed suicide. It was an Irish doctor who, in the final stages of the Revolutionary AVar, first taught the Japanese to spare fallen foes, and the fruit of his teaching was yritsessed in the Satsuma rebellion in 1877, whin the Hakuaislia, or "Society of Universal Love," was instituted for the care of the wounded on both sides. This society, which/ numbered 3S persons, with funds of a few hundred pounds, sent a small medical corps to the front, by whom a temporary hospital on a very humble scale was organised. From this small beginning the great Red Cross Society gradually developed. In 1886 Japan was admitted to the Geneva Convention, and it .was then that tho badge of- the Red Cross was adopted. The cross, as the symbol of Christianity, was as such not acceptable in Japan, and the literal rendering of the title originally adopted and still retained by the society is "The Red Letter-Ten Society," the ideograph for tho word ten being in the form of the cross.

■ The society is under the direct patronage of the Emperor and Empress. An Imperial Prince is its honorary president! Its officials, councillors, and executive committee are all of high reputo and many of high rank. Ladies of the highest rank, from Imperial ■ princesses downwards, undergo its training that, they may be ready to serve in war, and the head of the mission, which is now visiting us is only one degree in rank below the Imperial-princes and is the representative of tho most historic family in Japan.