The Red Cross.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15536, 11 March 1916, Page 8

The Red Cross.

"The Red Cross Society has been " wonderful. We have only to ask "for a thing and wo get it." In these words a nursing sister in. a big British base hospital in Franco summarised the accomplished purpose of that wonderful organisation which, springing out of the heroic work done by Florence Nightingale and her band of helpers in the Criema, was given shape in the year of the Franco-Prus-sian war, played no small part in Britain's various campaigns in the latter part of the last century, and has achieved its fullest growth and widest usefulness in this greatest of all wars. Its field of work lies in what is described by the military administration as tho third part of th e care for the wounded, namely, the "distributing " zone," which officially consists of "stationary hospitals, general hospi"tals, convalescent depots, hospital "ships, and military hospitals outside "the theatre of war." Into these various institutions is bronght the wreckage of war, passed down to them by th 0 medical officers and field ambulances in the "collecting zone"—the actual fighting front—through tho "evacuating zone," which comprises clearing stations and ambulance trains. There tho wounded come within the beneficent sphere of the, workers of the Red Cross —"they arc ours," as one of the latter said —and everything that sympathy and kindness, backed by clear-headed businesslike organisation and the xtneeasing efforts of all who labour under the sacred symbol, can do for them, is done with the thoroughness and tho' generosity that havo distinguished the Red Cross work throughout the war. All this is made possible only by tho continual activity of a vast army of hotpcrs. whoso ranks must include a largo proportion of tho population of tho Empire, and of theso a majority arc certainly woriien. They might not have boen able to do much if it had not been for the cheerful way in which their mon-folk have subscribed big cheques and nimble shillings to the Red Cross funds, but in tho end it has been the women Upon whom has fallen most of tho work, from knitting socks to packir„-j cases. This is the case in the Red Cross headquarters in London, just as much as in tho Society's rooms in Christchurch. There are plentv of men helpers at Pall Mall, of course, but in the great medical stores department, and in tho department to which go all the blankets, underclothing, socks, towels, etc., that are sent in, women spent laborious days in sorting, arranging, and packing. It is one of tho dories of the Red Cross that it has found work for everybody who will take it, even the" "idle rich"; it is to the credit of many of tho latter that they have long ago forsworn idleness and have given, and are giving, tho Red Cross time and money, and a great deal more brainy activity than some of their detractors thought they possessed. With them, of course, aro many busy, hard-working people, who can always find time for some more work, and here and there a man like the medical director, who has left his practice for the time, and the King's Counsel, who applies his trained mind day after day to the discovery of missing soldiers and news of the wounded for tho benefit of anxious relatives in England. There is no money in it, no fat briefs, and big retainers; his is only one case out of a number in which the Red Cross can command, without price, services for which the public would have to pay heavily.

Much of the work undertaken and carried out by the Red Cross Society would be impossible, or at the best, quito futile, were it not for the official t>osition which the Government has conferred upon ,the Society. We have referred very briefly to the early history of the organisation. It is sufficient to add here a short sketch of its subsequent growth. In 1898, at the instance of the Secretary of State for War, representatives of the National Society for Aid to the Sick, Wounded in War, the St. John Ambulance Association, and the Army Nursing Service Reserve,' met in conference, with the result that in the following year the Minister accorded official recognition to tho Central British Red Cross

Council, as the only body authorised

to . deal with Red Cross matters throughout the Empire. The Admiralty and the "War Office consequently agreed that "in war time all voluntary officrs "of assistance made in the United " Kingdom should reach them only " through the channels of the iSociety," with the exception of those coming from the St. John Ambulance Department and the St. Andrew's Association. "We may refer readers who are interested in this matter to a notable little book. "The Way of the Red Cross," by Messrs Vivian and Williams, who were, enabled to study all the activities of the great organisation from headquarters to the hospitals of France. To this book, in which is told, in moving language, the self-sacrificing work of the Red Cross and the heroism and uncomplaining endurance of those to whom it ministers, we owe some of the facts dealt with in this article. One passage is worth

quoting in full:—

"The more one sees of Red Cross work, tile more one appreciates its magnitude. "Without blare of trumpets, without advertisement or evc n an average amount of notice, there has grown up in time of peace an organisation which has been found fitted to cope with the colossal and utterly unexpected problems of this war, and whether one considers the supplementary aid that is being rendered to the military medical services on the Continent or the voluntary aid work in this country, the extent to which such aid has made itself felt and the co-ordinated efficiency of the workers bespeak aim and purpose such as has perhaps never before been shown in the history of nations."

It is one of the most heartrending features of the lied Cross work that it shows no sign of slackening, but that as the need increases the response becomes still fuller. Of how many organisations working at high pressure for eighteen months could this be said? The Red Cross lias never known that dangerous crisis, when the first glowing enthusiasm was dying down and cold indifference threatened to follow it. But the work is great, and calls every month for greater exertions. There may bo those—there are all sorts of queer people in th<\ world, and New Zealand has its share of them—who argue that it is the duty of'the Government to do what the Red Cross does. We believe however, that tho writers of tho book we have mentioned better express the views of most people when they say " If, in any measure, a nation fails in "the maintenance of voluntary " effort for the care of the sick and "wounded in war; if sufficient support " is not forthcoming to ensure adequate " provision being made for this noble "work, then tsst nation will havo " failed in one of th© greatest trusts " ever reposed in it, failed in that ten"derness and sympathy which ovcr- " comes the wrath of war." There is. happily, no fear that that reproach will be laid against Britain and her Dominions.