WONDERS OF THE RED CROSS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 211, 22 September 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

WONDERS OF THE RED CROSS.

"WOUNDED IX THE MORNING: IN A LONDON HOSPITAL BY THi; EVENING.'; By the HON. A. STANLEY, (Chairman of the British Red Cros3 ) I think it may fairly be said that of all the vast organised preparations foi tho British offensive none was mor* complete and re-ady for any emergency than the arrangements for receiving the wounded "n the field and at th-.« base? in France and at the hospital-; at home. Also 1 tlrnk it can be said that few departments of our armies were read\ so early for any demands that might bo mads upon them. The Red Cros* Society is reallv the handmaiden of thi. Royal Army Medical Corps, and live every day for emergencies. Tho result is that whenever and wherever the offens've might tal.'.place there was a certainty of not H moment's delay in dealing with th;. wounded. Our hospitals across the Channel have been of the greatest value to t'n» Army authorities, who send men to them as to their own hospitals, knowing that nothing tfill be Left undone r. the way of surgical skill and good nursing. It was the battle of Loos thai put the greatest strain yet experienced on our resources. The rush then was so heavy and continuous. In the present great offensive, which is on a much longer front, with manv more units engaged, our work is nat"rally spread over a very much wider area, and up to now the pressure his not, comparatively speaking, been sj heavy on any one individual hospital. Many of our gallant men wounded on the morning of the advance over tho enemy's destroyed trenches wer? comfortably ;n their beds in London hosp'tals the evening of the same da v. This reflects the greatest credit on thu Royal Army Medical Serv : ce, whoi* splendid organisation it is our object to assist in every way. Before the offensive began the patients in France who could be sent home were despatched so that every available bed was ready in France. In the hospitals at horn*men who could be dseharged were sent to ther homes to complete their re covery or to ordnary convalescent homes. All leave was stopped for the nurses at tho front, and those on leave were called back, and additional nursing staffs w, n re sent on and are still beim; despatched. There are tens of thousands of empty beds waiting for the wounded, and we can expand our accommodation to an unlimited extent. A striking indicaCon of the elaborate extent of our preparations is shown by the work of the motor-ambu-lance cars. Our pol'icy has always been not only to be ready for all the work that we know these cars will have to do, but also to have a force of reserve cars which we can rush into any part of tho front where they may be required. During the past week of the great advance we were called upon t.. supply thirty extra cars to France, in addition to forty extra cars that were required for the convoys and the tra'n services. We ran the whole of the ca>'s working on the communications. Five convoys or fifty motor-ambu-lances are now working actually on the. front lines exposed to the enemy s fire. All have the : r bases. Altogether since the commencement of the war we have supplied ov.-r 1500 ambulances and over 000 other types of cars lor suppl ; es, equipped wTth kitchens and workshops. They are now working night and day in England and France, the work in London be ng done by the London ambulance column.

FROM FIELD To SHIP. At Boulogne we have a huge workshop for executing repairs. Now, thii no time should be lost, spare parts are issued at once and fitted, instead or keeping the car waiting for repairs. These cars are dong marvellous work, running all day and night along roads which may have been damaged by the enemy's lire. It means circumventing huge shell bobs and avo'ding all delay in getting the men down to the bases. The wounded are be"ng brought from the trenches to the hold dressing stations. There the ambulances take them to the clearing hospitals. In each car there is room for four cams or as many as twelve sitting cases.

The latest type of ambulance is fltte J wtli electric light. Badly wounded men lind the light very comforting. From tiio clearing, hospitals the men ar-3 taken on the ambulance to the ra ; l-head for conveyance to the base. From the base the wounded are again taken up by the cars to the hospital 6h : p. Forty-eight of these cars carried over 500 wounded men, doing 12,380 miles, in the week -ended June 30. Our statistics about the individual performances of the cars are so exhaustive and kept so up to date that whenever the donor of one of them writes asking how the car is getting on, we are able to tell him the number of wounded, s'tflog or lying, it has carried snee a given period, the mileaa* covered, and the expense incurred for repairs. Wo have rest stations at various raihf&y stations, where the wounded are being cared for while waiting for tho ambulances. In addition to all this work with the British Army, we are rendering assistance to the French, and some of our un ts are working at Verdun. Hero are some typical reports that have been sett in to me:— '•No 2 M.A.C.—There are 50 ambulances attached to this convoy. During tho fortnight 694 lying and 917 sitting cases were carried, the estimated mileage lieing 5687." "Main Stores, Headquarter?. Week ending June 2, 695 cases received, 27,000 articles issued, 110,000 c'garettes issued." The total number of hosptals accepted by the War Office la'-t month was 12G0. After allowing for those which have been closed or withdrawn, tho hospitals with sick and wounded solders still under treatment number 1017, containing beds for 39,318, distributed among the Army commands n.s follows: London. 3835; Eastern. 10,0*1; Western. 7*14; Irish, 937 Southern. 10.523: Northern. 4962 .ildnrshot, 1166." I haw? iu>t had a letter from one of our commissioners who was at Verdun. He says: "You may, I th'nk, l>e glad to hear shortly as to my inipressoPs wtan down with Cofonel Harry's conwhen down with Coloney Barry's convoy at Wrdun last week. "Motoring down from Paris I fount No. 17 convoy 'en repos,' that is '« say. refitting. They are eagerly await ing some new cars which 1 undcrstan ! are on the way for them, on wli'c'u they hope to get back to the front an 1 resume active duties. Nos. 16 and 1* 1 found about four miles back from Verdun, bringing the wounded bark from what I presume we would call casualty clewing station to railhead*, or to first line hosp'tals. '•The system on wheli they work is that they are on duty for twentvfour hours and then off for twenty-four hours. During the daytime about 't tlrrd of the section is actively at work,

tho whole section being on dun ng the night. 1 was very well impressed with all I sa. There is no doubt ths-t thj» greatest keenness exists among officer* and men. Altogether the experience M * was an extremely pleasant one and :i was very satisfactory to find a Joint Committee Unit doing such excellent work for our gallant Allies." AMBULINCES UNDER FIRK. frequently our ambulance cars bar* gone right up to the first-aid posts even into tha must of shot and she'l. and been badly damaged. At Verdun one patient was actually wounded wiu!e sitting beside the diiver. It is a great contrast to the state, of affars it tho outfct of the war, when arrange* ments for transporting the woundel were found to be both obsolete and insufficient. The old horse ambulances wero still employed. Soma of th* wounded were collected and conveyed to the base by lumbering motor wagons which had brought up stores—an agon ■ ising mode of conveyance, especially over the rough roads of northern France. Wo have now working three hospital trans which we gave to the Annr and equipped with our own staffs surgions, luiises, und otderli.es. Over £40,000 was spent on these trains. We iiavo a fourth train, which recently completed its hundredth journey. Ik less than a year it carried over 26,000 patents and travelled 26,000 miles. The train s made up of old French railway cariages and is more than 30 f > yards long. Some of the wounded are brought along in barges on a canal to Bergues,'. We save a vast amount of tim?, trouble, and expense through the six depots that have been established at various places, to which articles fo: the wounded are sent in bulk. There is nothing required for the equipment of a hospital or the comfort of a sick man that these depots do not contain. The Army hospitals, when they want them, get their supplies as weli as the society's hospitals. Some of the articles received recently at the main stores in one week included :—3200 handkerchiefs, 9031b. of sweets, 300 cushions, 296 Japanese umbrellas, 43 tooth-brushes, 1003 Japanese fans. It should be ia great satisfaction to the public who have 60 generously suported our organisation, that now our armies have begun to advance and that heavy casualties are :nev:v able, our heroic men who ar.e pushing back the Germans and sustaining grievous injuries are being and will be promptly and carefully looked after, by what must be the most perfectly equipped organisation that has ever been created in war for the care of tho wounded.