The Press. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1914.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15163, 30 December 1914, Page 6

The Press. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1914.

Conveyance of the Wounded. On Saturday last- w e published a. letter -from Mr J. Sead-Gowing appealing to . the residents of Canterbury to subscribo £1000 for tho purpose of presenting a - motor-ambulance to the British Government. Ho mentioned that Hawko's . J*oy had already subscribed £1050 for iho samo purpose. On Monday wo published r. letter from Dr. A. B. .. O'Brien. President of tho local division . of tho British Medical Association, quofc- . ing a statement of Colonel Robin to tho effect that the Xew' Zealand Expe--ditionary Forco was already sufficiently supplied with motor-ambulances, and suggesting thafc the money would bo . better devoted to "somothing in the '• naturo of a base hospital in Now " Zealand." Wo ventured to demur to . this view, and Mr Sead-Gowing now ■ _ writes to us reiterating his original appeal for subscriptions for a motor- . ambulance, and urging that if a.basb -~ hospital is required in. Xew Zealand," it should be provided by the Government. A Iready we have recoived some subscriptions in response to the appeal, and it • .„ would bo a thousand pities if anything ■were done to check the springs of benerolence. which w o are glad to see are ' Will ready to fiW i n ottr m idsfc.

We did not understand that MrSeadGowing intended that the ambulance, if provided; should Tj 0 for the so! o iiso of the Xovr Zeabnd contingent.. We. ar c very glad to loam that the Force, has already been provided for in this respect by the forethought of the Now ♦Zealand Government. Of ono thing, however, we nro quite convinced, and that.is thai motor-ambulances and Red Cross requisites of every kind .ire still urgently needed in tho field. By yesterday's mail ivo received a letter from tho Dnko of Portland (Hon. President), iho British Ambassador in Paris (Sir F. Bertie), tho French Ambassador in London-(M. Paxil Cambon), and other members of the British Ambulance Committee of tho French Red Cross Society, making an urgent appeal to our readers for help in providing motor-cars for the French v.-ounded. Tho appeal, which, i≤ also being made in England, asks for the loan of cars and for the services of owners in tho field where possible, but a large sum of money is also, required to convert tho motors into ambulances and to maintain them in use, tho cost of tho latter being estimated at about £10 per week for each car. It is pointed ont that with less population than Great Britain, France has ten times more troops in the field, and holds a front at least sis times as long. Belgium and Franco are suffering all the horrors of invasion from which England is happily free. The importance of this quick removal of the mounded to a Wf.ital .can <inly. ha fnllv realiftfiJ hsr

thoso who havo had, actual experience on tho battlefield. Two instances supplied to Tis by tho committee aro sufficiently Two French soldiers were wounded on a Sunday, and loft htranded by the advancing tido of battle. One was temporarily paralysed by his injuries and could only move a little with assistance. His comrade* had had both eyes destroyed by shell fire. From tho Sunday on whicli they were wounded until tho following Friday, tho pair were never found by a French ambulance. The blind man. directed by his helpers companion, bad managed t-o keep both alivo with tho food and water found on the bodies of the .slain with "which they lvero surrounded; but, ho died of blood-poisoning in hospital, whero the other foldir.r. at the time nf writing, was being with difficulty nursed Lack to life. In another ra.se, a Frenchman had his ihigh badly, fractured by the splinter from n. shell on a. Tuesday, and lay under heavy shell/ire (which prevented earlier rescue) for Iho next three days and nights. Ho was then carried to the railway and laid in a furin?'e&s cat-tle-track which brought him, after many hours of agonising joltings and stoppages, to tho hospital, whoro ho was treated for acuto blood-poisoning on tho Sunday, and jt was not known when the letter wa*> despatched whether he would survive. That motor-ambulances aro still required at tho front, and likely to be until tho war is concluded, is sufficiently plain, and those of our readers who desiro to mitigate in some degreo the worst horrors of tho war cannot £o wrong in subscribing to ambulance work. "We hope, therefore, to receive further subscriptions in response to the appeal. "We have, however, a suggestion to make, in order to meet tho doubts which may have-been raised in tho minds of somo by Colonel Robin's statement. It is that whatever amount is raised shall bo sent to Lord Rothschild, who is receiving subscriptions on behalf of the "Fund for the Wound- " ed," for , which tho London "Times" is appealing. If sufficient money is raised for a motor-ambulance, it could bo left to Lord Rothschild to send it whero it is most required. If the sum should not bo sufficient, or in the unlikely event of no more motor-cars being required, his Lordship could bo asked to devote it to some other form of ambulance work in his judgment most in seed of assistance. Mr Soad-Gowing, to whom we have communicated this suggestion, has signified his. approval, and wo shall be glad if other subscribers to the Canterbury MotorAmbulance Fuiid will do the §ame.