£250,000 WANTED

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 190, 8 May 1940, Page 10

£250,000 WANTED

National Appeal For Funds ORDER OF ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS Aid For Sick, Wounded, Or Distressed Under the aegis of the National Patriotic Fund Board the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the Red Cross Society is making an appeal for funds throughout New Zealand for those who are sick, wounded, or distressed as the result of the war. The object is to raise 000 as quickly as possible in view of expected grave contingencies of the near future. This was conveyed to members of the Wellington Rotary Club at its weekly luncheon yesterday by Sir James Elliott, speaking on behalf of the Joint Council., He said that the National Patriotic Fund Board was only fathering two national appeals, one by the Y.M.C.A. and Salvation Army' for soldiers who were fit and well, and this one for the sick, wounded, and distressed. The fund being raised by the Joint Council was a collecting as well as a spending agency, but bad no political control whatsoever. They bad already sent £GOO to be expended on the sick and suffering in Norway. He reminded his hearers that in the Great War of 1914-1918 £1,500,000 was raised for a similar purpose, money that was needed even now for men who suffered in that war, and said that this new fund would be needed for humane purposes for many years to come. Tlie balance, if any, would be devoted to the rehabilitation of returned soldiers. They were asking the public to help them do the godlike task of making war humane, or at least less devilish than it would be. The very least contribution to this noble cause would give tlie glory of sharing in the privilege of mitigating suffering caused in the defence of hearth and home, ami would convey to the soldiers that they were not forgotten or forsaken.

Ears Dull to the Call. “The war effort in this country,” said Sir James, “is too nattering to our selfcomplacency. More than a year after the war began we shall have one division in the field. There are, alas, people in New Zealand whose ears are dull to the call, and the scales have uot yet fallen from their eyes. Some desire most of all more and more pay and less and less work, and a good time. Those who defend us, the resolute forces of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the brave and chivalrous French, and the men of the Empire overseas leave us forever in their debt —a debt that is unpayable. “Wlia t need should there be for advocacy in an appeal for the wounded, .the sick, the distressed? What is money easily spared in comparison with tlie sacrifice of those who leave all that is near and dear behind, to enduro hardship and suffering, and wlr. are ready to offer life itself? We can so easily, through the Red Cross, stretch out our hands across the seas with comforts and supplies, bringing a message from homo to cheer the mind, strengthen the will, and relieve the sufferings of the sick and wounded. Do we need long casualty lists to open our purses? .Surely it is now clear that before long we may sup full of horror. “No effort on our part can be too much to check the ruthless power of our enemies, tlie mighty forces that are centred in tlie anti-Christ, Adolf Hitler. The women will not fail. They cannot serve in the army, but the Red Cross is peculiarly women’s work, and it appeals to their hands and hearts. Even children can supply small gifts, and learn that mercy is twice blessed to them that give as well as to those who receive. Collective Insecurity. “Tlie Rotary idea' of bringing together representatives of the various trades, callings, and professions can be used to induce people to work among friends and in their own particular circles for their country and for those stricken in this almost overwhelming struggle that threatens to involvb the greater part of the world. It may be a platitude, but none tbe. less true, that if our cause Is lost Europe may go back to the dark ages. Tlie people are not how so vocal who persuaded us to rely upon a dismembered League of Nations, and on what proved to be collective insecurity; and to throw away our weapons and defences, allowing our foes to prepare themselves against us. These people now have unquestioned scope for the practice of their ideologies. . . . The Red Cross is so great that it embraces all classes and ail beliefs. We need all the money we can raise to lighten the burdens of those who suffer to make us safe and free. It is one way—the great wayin which we can serve and honour them. It is a call to our common humanity.

“Our duty is to help the living and such of them who through wounds and broken health cannot do much to help themselves. 'Though the night seems very dark, ami the road perilous and long, let us hope and pray that, under Providence, we may before long welcome to our hearts the white-winged angel of peace, and that the brutal and pagan god of war may in the not too distant future be banished from this earth for ever.” Mr. Campbell Spratt, in moving a vote of thanks to the speaker, said that he had most eloquently linked the chivalry of the past with the grim realities of the present in making an appeal that must be responded to far and wide. Mr. J. Farrell, Auckland, said that already a start had been made to collect money for this fund in Auckland Only last'Sunday £2OO was.raised bv the' Ice Ballet Company, who would doubtless do something of the sort in Wellington if approached.

SHOULD NOT WAIT FOR CASUALTIES

Appeal For Public Help

••We should not wait till there are heavy casualty lists before we open our purses, or imagine, because we do give a certain amount, that we are doing anything comparable with the sacrifice of those who have given up their future prospects, jobs, businesses and left their homes and friends to face the unknown.” said Sir .lames Elliott, when he appealed to the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last night for support for the Sick. Mounded’and Distress Fund Appeal of the joint council of the New Zealand Bed

Cross Society and Order of St. John. Mr. J. W. Collins was associated with Sir .lames Elliott in waiting on the council. 'There was official authority for the sjiending of the money raised for the relief of those who might be called the wreckage of war, said Sir James. The credit, of 'Wellington would depend largely on the response made. In the last: appeal Auckland raised £20.000 and Wellington only £2OOO. This was not very creditable ami it was imped this time to raise £30,000 in 'Wellington. “It Is our duty to give and give till it hurts,” said the president, Mr. R. 11. Nimmo, in commending the appeal to the chamber and the business community generally. He added that this would probably be the last national appeal as in future it was likely that appeals for patriotic purposes would be made through the provincial councils who would pay a certain amount 6 into the national fund. The response to the last appeal in Wellington bad been anything but an inspiration.