RED CROSS ENVOY

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1937, Page 2

RED CROSS ENVOY

MR GIELGUD WELCOMED. AUCKLAND, September 20. In the presence of a large and representative gathering at the Town Hall, this morning, a Mayoral welcome was extended by Sir E. Davis to Mr. E. L. Gielgud, Under-Secretary of International League of Red Cross Societies, after his arrival by the Mariposa from Sydney. Mrs. Gielgud was presented by the Mayor with a bouquet of flowers from the city reserves. Sir Ernest said that the organisation had the respect and admiration of all people. He trusted that Mr. Gielgud’s mission in New Zealand would meet with success.

The President of the New Zealand Red Cross, Mrs. T. H. Lowry, extending a‘welcome, said at the time of the Napier earthquake, they had received £4,000 from the International Relief Society. In America, they had a marvellous system, and she hoped New Zealand would develop much on the same lines. They particularly wanted young people to come into the movement.

Mr. Gielgud said that New Zealand was probably unequalled for its general social set-up, but probably there were some gaps that could be filled. The International Red Cross was now busy on the two sides of the line in Spain, and a delegate was on his way to China. It was a world movement, perfectly simple, human and kind, divorced from everything but the thought of giving relief to human suffering.

Mr. Gielgud, who will spend a month in New Zealand, is a brother of John Gielgud, the English actor. Mrs. Gielgud was a former Hungarian actress, Zita Gordon.