Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1916. A DESERVING FUND.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 11647, 15 August 1916, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1916. A DESERVING FUND.

AMONG the many funds for which appeals have been made in connection with the war there is one which it seems to us, has not quite received its share of the generous donations of the public. We refer to that of the New Zealand War Contingent Association. We do not desire to discourage the flow of benefactions to the Red Cross, or to any other of the splendid organisations which are ministering day and night to the moral and . physical welfare of our troops, but we do wish to commend the New Zealand War Contingent Association to"the generosity of our readers, The Association which, as* its name implies, has been founded for the special purpose of looking after the interests of New Zealand soldiers, both we'll and wounded, is under the presidency of the High Cpmmissioner for New Zealand, and includes in its list of members many well-known names, and it may be an additional inducement to people to supplement the funds of the Association to say that there is not the slightest possibility of the money finding its way into unauthorised channels/ A brief account of the nature of its services to our soldiers will suffice to emphasise the claims of the Association. On arrival of soldiers in England they are sent to warious hospitals. The authorities notify tho High Commissioner’s office the moment they arrive, and an officer is then despatched to see the men and ascertain their requirements. The High Commissioner’s staff attends to the immediate wants of tire soldier and the Secretary of the War Contingent Association is informed of the circumstances of the soldiers and the Association then attends to ibeir comfort and personal requirements. In fact, the Association becomes tbe father and mother of the soldier in a land to which at first he must perforce be *a stranger. It shepherds even the strong and healthy young man. Besides the hospitals established in England for New Zealand soldiers there is in London a kind of Soldiers’ Club, named “King George and Queen Mary’s Hostel, which takes [the place of home to those who are friendless in the city. It is recognised that traps for the unwary exist in plenty in the metropolis, and this building is specially design ed for counteracting the influence of harpies who might find,.the unattached soldier an easy prey. The building has sleeping accommodation for four hundred, luxurious reception and reading rooms, library, billiard . rooms and a gymnasium. Accommodation is provided for soldiers at three shillings per day, and a lower rate is charged to men who are unable to pay even that moderate sum. Arrangements have been made with the London police that soldiers needing accomodation shall he directed to this building in which no overseas soldier will be x-efused a shelter.

What we hare written does not by any means exhaust the record of the valuable services rendered to the men by tho Association, but it is sufficient to indicate their character and to establish a claim upon the contributions of those who are so generously giving of their substance. It seems tons that the special natuie of its operations, 'and one that appeals to the sympathies of the generous is the personal-—the individual treatment in its operations. Treating mop in the mass, however good and generous the intention, is generally devoid of the individual sympathy which more than sweetens the benefaction. But for a wounded man to bo sought but, his individual and personal needs to be supplied, and to find himself the object of sympathetic' care and 'concern at a time when lie needs them more than at any other time in his existence except, perhaps, when ho is called upon to pass through tho “Valley and the Shadow of Death,” must be extremely comforting and upholding, The High Commissioner is waiting for funds all the time for the Associ-

ation, and we least that this appeal on behalf of the Association and the men who are benefited by their kind care a’id attention may have the effecr of swelling their funds for the good work.