Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1940. THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 139, 13 May 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1940. THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY.

to-day a national appeal was. inaugurated to raise funds for tiie Order of St. John and the Ited Cross. The sum aimed at is £250,000, divided between the various districts throughout New Zealand. Palmerston North has a not inconsiderable share to raise for this great effort, but' a very energetic committee that will direct its activities is confident that so noble a cause will not lack the citizens’ most generous support. The title of the appeal fully explains it. It is for the sick, wounded, and distressed and the funds given will be used with the widest application within the scope of the work the two organisations cover. His Excellency the Governor-General and Lady Galway have given their patronage to the appeal. Both organisations have already done splendid work for the men u r ho have left for overseas, and Norway too has been helped in her pressing emergency. They are widely known for their excellent service whether in peace or war, and no matter liow great or small the call they are ready to respond when it comes. The noble movement of the Ited Cross originated many years ago in the efforts of Florence Nightingale : whose work was remembered yesterday in the special day set apart for this purpose— L and Henri Dunant to relieve wartime sufferings. It is a selfless cause which in the years since it commenced has become widely international in character. Throughout the years it has rendered inestimable service, its resources being at the disposal of suffering humanity whenever the call is received. The great Mississippi floods in the United States some years ago, the Anatolian earthquakes earlier this year, and'the Napier earthquake to bring the society’s work nearer to this country, -were all causes which proved the Ited Cross’s inestimable benefit to mankind.

The Order of St. John, founded little more than a hundred years ago in London, with its headquarters on the site where in past days monks in tlieir priory fed the poor and tended the sick, has its branches throughout the Empire, and the impress of its valuable work is to be seen in the many thousands of young people proficient in first, aid. Especially in the Great War did the Order of St. John prove itself, providing voluntary helpers for hospitals, sending in conjunction with the Bed Cross Y.A.D.’s wherever they wore needed, and men to the Royal Army Medical Corps. It had its hospital in France. Such are the two organisations which are appealing to the public for funds to carry on their beneficent 'work during this great war. In Britain a wartime appeal of both organisations was answered by contributions which reached to more than a million

pounds. That is an example highly worthy of emulation on a Corresponding scale in this country. The two societies must be called : upon in this war to do more than w r ould have been expected of them probably were the hordes of Hitlerism cognisant of the rights of humanity. They must minister to civilian victims of armed violence who may be many or few accordin g to what happens in the -war. Their work is a symbol of mercy in a dark world and it it is to be performed a,t the highest point of value then the appeal must be answered freely.