A GREAT WORK

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 27, 27 October 1920, Page 7

A GREAT WORK

' THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING HUMANITY RED CROSS AND ORDER OF ST. JOHN ' ' EVOLVING PEACE TIME MACHINERY •/ The great scope that the Dominion affords'for general humanitarian work in relation to sickness and disease was , strikingly evidenced at a public meeting held last night in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall under tho auspices of the New Zealand branch of the British Bed Cross and Order of St. John. The meeting signalised the inauguration of the peace-time activities of the societies in question, in keeping with a resolution passed at the recent conference at Geneva. His Excellency the Gov-ernor-General (Viscount. Jellicoe). who was accompanied by Lady Jellicoe,' presided. Their Excellencies were formally welcomed by the Hon. Dr. W. E, Collins, who also read apologies from tho Priipo Minister (the Eight Hon. W,. P. Massey), nnd tho Hon. G. J. Anderson (Minister of Internal Affairs), who eulogised the war-time activities of the Order, and expressed confidence in any work it might undertake in the future. His Excellency's Address. IHis Excellency, in the course of an address, said that the great importance and value of the. work carried out by the Bed Cross and the Order of St. John during the war needed no emphasis. It must be obvious to anyone that it would ' be greatly to the advantage of the community at large if at least a nucleus of this splendid organisation was kept , during peace, both for work during peaoe-time and in preparation for the 1 possibility of .future war. "That possibility," he adde\ "is one that we don't care , to face, but it is necessary to recognise that with all the good will in the world there is no certainty that war will not arise i»t Bome future date." His Excellency continued that the British Red Cross sent delegates to the Geneva Conference in March of this year, which was attended by representatives' of practically .every Stato except our late enemies which possessed Bed Cross organisations, i Under Articlo 25 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the league had agreed to encourage and promote the establishment and co-opera-tion of the dual organisation in carry-ins out voluntary Red Cross work. TJio appeals of the letitmo to Red Cross societies to carry out the work were as follow.—(1) The encouragement in every country of the establishment and development of Red Cross organisation to • carry out the work indicated in tho article ol the covenant quoted. (2) To give a medium for the dissemination of skilful medical research. (3) To give a medium for co-ordinating relief work in weal disasters. , His' Excellency commented that . il would bf) agi'esd that great benefit would result to humanity' if the object's set forth could be attained. If we considered only some of the great disasters in recent years—the Messina and San Francisco earthquakes and the .Halifax disaster in 1917—and if we considered also the possibility of future national disasters, it would be apparent how much suf : ■ fering could be averted if complete national or international organisation was available for immediate action. In order to obtain the desired end, two thirds were necessary—first, a largely increases membership, nnd secondly, funds sufficient to organise and carry on. He.Teferred to : tbe> great w<>rk don? (Miring the war by women of all ages .and men "beyond the fighting age;, Tho Great Opportunity. The services of these .voluntary workers should not bs lpst in 'time of peace. He had heard, many -persons who had performed voluntary service auxiliary to the war lament that they had not non; similar work with whic.i to occupy their time. Thefein lay the opportunity oi the Order. Considerable efforts would have to be put forward to supplement largely the membership of the Order, but they might well take heart from the success of a ,siKi» appeal in the United States of America. In that country the • organisation enrolled no fewer than 16.£00,000 members during the war, and lafcr during the first year of peace, a further 10,000,000 'members were .secured. He could not. therefore, imagine Now Zealand lagging behind m 'the movement, when, the appeal was made. Soirie people might be afraid that the combination of the Red Cross and the Order of St. John might interfere with the efforts of other existing societies. Great stress', however, was laid at the Geneva Conference upon lha fact that it would be tho business of the Order to work in co-operation with existing societies. /Incidentally, His Excellency said that when the work of the New Zealand Red Cross and other patriofcic organisations was mentioned .at the Geneva Conference there was great applause. That applause was fully justified. In view of the Dominion's war rtcord, we should be encouraged in the thought that we would not be behind in starting this peace organisation for the relief of suffering humanity. As to the financial aspect, it bad to be borne in mind that the funds now available were not more than were .needed by the Order for tlie benefit of the sick and wounded Bailors and soldiers, and it was not possible, therefore, to divert this, money for .peace work. . Endorsad by the State. ' ■ The Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of Pub,lic Health) referred to the fact that tho audience, though small, was influential, ' Such a movement must be of great interest to himself, charged as he was with the 'direction of the public health of the community. There was a wido field open for the society's work. In this connec- i tiori he. said that Sir George Newman, an. eminent. British authority, had referred to the wastage of life that might ; bo prevented by the spread of medical education. The Government of New Zealand was interesting itself in tho i work, with the result- that next year I would see the institution of the Child ! Welfare Bureau under tho direction of i Dr. Truby King. He hoped the Red Cross and Order of St, John would link < up with this movement, and haud-iii- i hand spread the gospel of heal'-h through- i out the Dominion. They hoped that i by diffusion of this knowledge they i w'uild prevent many of the diseases which f to-day ran riot throughout the whole i .world. The Minister next made au.ap- i Ineal for domestic help in tho i ■ionics of expectant mothers, and 1 <went on to pay a tribute to the work of i P'the St. John - Ambulanoe Association, i ■There was really good, sound practical i work in New Zealand for both socie- < ties mentioned that evening.. If they I would lend the State tho necessary sup- i port and co-operation, he promised them i Officially to help in ever)' possible direc- ( tion, iiiul he felt sure that the Prime i Minister, with his well-known sympathy 1 for suffering humanity, would be only too plehscd to help the Order out of tho public purse. ' "In. Honour Bound." Dr. Collins followed with a short address, pointing out that the society was one of .the signatories of the League of Red Cross Societies and that wo were in honour bound to forward the peace time , activities which we had pledged ourselves i to do. This would involve a largo mem- ] bership as a fillip to the finances of ] the Order. The idea was to charge Xlfl • 10s. for life members and a half-crown | subscription for ordinary members. At | the outbreak of tho Great War thero < was no branch of tho Red Cross Society i in New Zealand. Tho country .was < rapidly organised in the required direc- , tion, however, with the result that dur- < ing the war the people of the Dominion contributed a tolal of over ,£7,000,000 in i money and goods for patriotic purposes, i The New Zealand Red Cross Society con- : tributed £1,318,876 in money and goods I and the cost of administering this fund : was only lj per cent. Dr. Collins out- i lined the many activities which lay t ahead of the Order ill the direction of < "keeping tabs" on the general health of the community by co-operation with the i Public Health Department and other De- i partments of State, by educative work, i and by stimulating public opinion as to I the need for carrying on human!- ; tariaa work in many direc- 1 tioM, particularly ae appU«d, to )

women and children. Tho need for some intermediate institution' between the public hospitals and the mental hospitals was also stressed by the speaker. Ha 'V emphasised that the great function of tho Red Cross was not to interfere, but to give help when it could and where it could. They did ni)t wish to interfere i with aiij- oilier organisations. They wished othor organisations to apply to thein for any assistance short of actual financial help, 110 quoted figures to show the enormous hold that the movement had recently obtained in tho United States and in Japan Ho believed that the combination of tho League of Na- • tions and the League of Red Cross Societies would go a long way to bringing f- about universal peace and the betterment n of mankind. Concluding, he moved the ,s following resolution:—"That widespread t- and popular membership of the > New i-~ Zealand Branch of the British Red Cross s- and Order of St, John is necessary for ie success in its peace time work." Jl . War's Lessons. e In seconding the resolution, Brigadiera General Richardson dwelt on the invalu- > able assistance Tendered by 'both organisations in the Great War. He also point--0 ed out that during the Franco-Prussian s War tho British lied Cross Society did much good work, but at the conclusion of hostilities it allowed its work to lie 0 dormant. The result was that when the • South African War broke out tho British 11 Red Cross Society was not equal to tho '* occasion. At the outbreak of tho Great War there were thousands of women y rushing around desirous of lending, a helping hand with the sick and wounded, but who lacked the necessary training to be of any practical use lie went - on to appeal to the various organisations! 1 to co-ordinate with tho Order to ensure e greater efficiency to prevent over-lap-i ping. Let them have fewer "our days," t "mothers' days" and the like, and let them 1 be just one clay—the lii-nl Cross Day, em- - bracing the whole lot. (Applause.) If n c s had learned anything from the war, it t was that we should unite to form all our smaller organisations into one. Following i on this, it behoved us to organise pro- - perly and see that everyone in .the Ut minion as thoroughly trained, so at • tho women as well as the men would i know tifiir job when war broke out, and ' would know how to go about- ii^. The motion was carried. i Joint-Organisation. ; Sir Heaton Rhodes then moved: "That ' it 'be a recommendation to the four oen- ; tres, that tho tonus of the ogreement . made between the Order of St. John and : the British Red Cross Society on Septoaiber I, 1910, should be approval ard adopted for the' present." Speaking to the motion, he pointed ! out that if it were found that this joint " organisation did not work for; the benefit " oi either society, then either wquld be at ' liberty to withdraw from, the arranze- ' ment after giving six months' notico. Personally he had full belief that in the ' end they would work out their destines | ' better under joint control. Keprreeiva- [ fives of the Wellington, Christchurcli. and Dunedin centres nipt in Wellington 1 t'lial dav. He did not ask them to bind ' themselves, but- the delegates undertivV to place tho issue outlined in his motion ' beforo their respective centres, and l'<: hoped that as an outcome of tins w- ' rangmnent it would K> adopted. He ad.l- ---' cd tliat the Auckland centre had alreaJv approved of the joint organisation. The .resolution was seconded by Colonel Barclay, Coinraissiom-.r of the St. Joim ' Ambulance Association, who said he felt sure that.'its 'adoption would lead to it : continuation of the good work of bow Orders in the cause of suffering humanity on efficient lines. 'The .resolution was earned unaul. mously The Children's Part, A further\ resolution was moved by Di. Truby King, « follows—"That ihe New Zealand braieh of the British Red Cross and. Order of St. John should organise auiilh.rv society of junior members. /Jr. King said that it was universally < recognised abroad that the most important aspect of the peace-time activities of the joint order was wrapped up in the incidence of child welfare. The immun- . ity of the very young from disease-wm ; the most effective'barrier against disease of any kind. Dr. King elaborated i the point made by the Hon. Mr. Parr as < to ihe necessity for instituting a form of i domestic service for women both before ] and after child-birth. He commended ■ this proposal to the earnest consideration < of the Order. He felt sure that with ■ the active support of the Public Health ; <md Education Departments promised by i the Minister, nearly all the children of < school age in the Dominion would join i up with the proposed junior league, i Dr. Wilkins, of the Education Depart- ; ment, :had promised his support in this i connection, and had expressed' the opinion that the school teachers would fall I readily into line! " : In seconding the resolution, tha Mayor- 1 ses (Mrs. J. P. Luke) said that the Wo- < men's National Reserve had already in' 'i stitnted a very fine system, aiming at i providing help for expectant mothers, i Mrs: Luke also spoke of the apathy of the community, and" urged the necessity for a more general measure of prac* j ticul support. c i The resolution found unanimous fav- < our with ihe audience. _ s On the motion of Mr, T. Young (presi- e dent oi' the local branch of the Red • Cross Society), seconded by Mr. H. H. 1 Seed (assistant, commissioner) of the Order of St Johri). Their ExcellenciM were, accorded a hearty vote of thanks for s presiding, and the gathering was brought e to a close. «