ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18013, 4 March 1924, Page 10

ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION.

Since 1884 the St. John Ambulance Association and Brigade have been carrying on their humanitarian work in this city and surrounding districts, but it is a work which requires money. The committee have to depend on donations and subscriptions to make their annual income meet the annual expenditure, which last year totalled nearly £2OOO. The income from classes, amJ bulanco transport fees, and sundry other sources is not quite £800; conj sequently it is necessary to collect a ! sum of £IOOO to keep the work going. Class fees do not cover all class expenses, but the fees are kept low in order to encourage a large number of people to receive instruction. So that the steadily increasing number of people qualified to render first aid may have the means at hand to do so, it is necessary to supply and replenish public first aid appliances and depots in places inhere the traffic demands same. All the invalid transport >vork of ; the city and surrounding districts, excepting infectious cases, is done by the Association. The ordinary running expenses of the two ambulances, cuch as petrol, oil, driver, and cleaning, amount to approximately £SOO per annum, which is just about covered by fees received, but additional to this expenditure they cost £350 per annum for tubing, tyres, repairs, and renewals, and there are also a number of necessitous invalid people who must be provided with free ambulance transport. Members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade gratuitously attend public gatherings for the purpose of rendering first aid in cases of accident, and are prepared to give their services free in private cases in special circumstances where skilled nursing or lifting and carrying are required, but they must be provided beforehand with appliances and the material to work with.

■■ The 1924 appeal is being made this month.