AMBULANCE BRIGADE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28129, 19 November 1956, Page 9

AMBULANCE BRIGADE

APPEAL FOR PUBLIC SUPPORT

UNIFORMS AND NEW HALL NEEDED

An appeal for publit*support for the St. John Ambulance Brigade was made by the Commissioner for the Canter-bury-West Coast district of the brigade (Dr. W. Gordon Rich) when he addressed the annual parade of the Christchurch corps in Cranmer square yesterday. . . Dr. Rich referred to the rising cost of uniforms and to the brigade's need of a new hall. “I think the general public should know we rely very largely on building our funds from the house-to-house collection we carry out every year,” Dr. Rich said. . “In the United States, except in the case of street accidents, if you want to move anywhere by ambulance it costs £7 before you’re out of the gate and 7s 6d a mile after that. You can work that out for yourselves. “There is a move by the Government to bring in charges for ambulance services. We don’t want, to do that here, but we can prevent it only if the general public gives generously at times of appeal.” y Tribute to SerVidte The brigade in New Zealand did a service to the public that was second to none, Dr. Rich said. The ambulance services compared equally with those in the United States. “This must be one of the few places in the world where a voluntary worker goes out to every emergency call, night and day. I must thank you for the great service you do in this direction.” . , , After paying a tribute to the work of the brigade’s clothing officers, Dr. Rich said the brigade’s uniform problem was not made easier by the difficulty of finance. “To get more space at our headquarters for training work we also want to get a new hall.” Dr. Rich said. “But this is tied up with the amount of money we can raise in our collections and in the legacies left by people who pass on.”