A STIRRING APPEAL

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 43, 22 February 1915, Page 5

A STIRRING APPEAL

BELGIUM’S SAD PLIGHT.

PEOPLE CRY FOR BREAD.

WILL NEW ZEALAND HELP? , -f i RELIEF SHIPMENTS WANTED MONTHLY. , f United Press 'Association. (Received 9.25 a.m.) . Sydney, February 22. The Belgian Commission cables a long appeal asking Australia and New Zealand to continue their supreme efforts on behalf of seven million starving Belgians. The sum of £1,250,000 must bo provided every month. In Brussels alone 200,000 people daily Wait in the snow for bread, many of them in tears. In Liege 30,000 old men, women,children, and cripples wait for half a pound of bread and a litre of soup, which- enables them to live. Babies and children are being barely kept alive for want of milk. , ** l y.. The Commission expresses fear that • ■ * the amazing self-restraint of the people in suppressing their inevitable hatred will collapse under such impelling anguish. A hunger-strike would be ' I desperately tragic, as they are unarmed, and in the futility of such action against the invader, they would suffer the inevitable consequences and be shot like ravenous dogs. Will Australia and New Zealand stand calmly by and await such an end to noble sacrifice? Only a stupendous organised effort can avert catastrophe. Four good-sized cargoes of cereals must be shipped to Belgium weekly, or the Belgian Nation—to the world’s eternal shame—will perish. • The Commission undertakes to carry cargoes of relief supplies free. Wheat and money are chiefly required. It will take £75,000 to fill a 5000-ton ship with cargo to keep Belgium from starving for two days. Will Australia and New Zealand 4 give £75,000 or its equivalent in food monthly?

The effort must not only be super-

human, but continuous.