AMBULANCE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 961, 31 October 1910, Page 8

AMBULANCE DAY.

AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC £126 COLLECTED.

Among the numerous appeals now being made to the public for funds, that of the St. John Ambulance Association has very string claims". Without any aid from the Government the association is gradually assisting a large' section of tho community to the acquirement of a knowledge which is most valuable in case ,of accidents. How often is the result of an accident, in which poople have been injured, made doubly distressing because there is 110 skilled aid immediately available 1 This lack the St. John Ambulance Association will probably almost entirely dispel in course of time. Everywhere the authorities controlling great i services are realising what a good thing is a knowledge of first aid to the injured, and so we .have the police, the railway employees, the seafaring men, and'other sections of the community taking up tho studies, and fitting themselves to be of tho greatest service to their fellow-men.' 1 Funds are necessary to carry on the good work, and Saturday last was declared to be ''Ambulance Daj'" 'for the purpose of making a collection in tho highways and byways of thecity. Some thirty ladies, wearing their best smiles, and dressed in pleasing harmony with the perfect summer's day, undertook the collecting work. They stationod themselves on street corners and crossways where the people were thickest, and with winning smiles and jingling boxes coaxed the passersby to give for the relief of the sick and maimed. ■ . It is gratifying to know that the-public did give fairly freely, bait it is reasonably argued that the result would have been greater had there not been so many' appeals to the public of lclt-0, ' \

Tnat s what a man told me," said one collector to a Dominion reporter. ' He says one can't come down town nowadays without having a box jingled under the nose. First it was the Children s Hospital, theii tlio Boys' institute, then the Salvation Army self-de-wal Hospital Sunday, and now the Rev. Mother Aubert is calling for money. We all know that this is so, and there are some who. have not come out this time' for that rea;Son. : They say it's 'too strong' altogether ; but the St. John Ambulance Association has a good claim, so you'd better pay up and look pleasant., . Better 'have a badge I" -'What do you mean?" asked our reporter.

."Oh, if you give me a shilling I'll givo you a badge, ■ and you won't' 'be worried any morel" ■ It was a good bargain,,tha writer thought, and at-once struck it. • There was a good deal of activity during the afternoon. Several of the collectors' left the streets and advanoed upon the sports grounds. Two ladies made a round of the''bowling greens. rhey were told that thoy would not be allowed on"th© playing greens in their .boots, awl for a 'moment the bowlers imagined they were safe. But the ladies were not so easily abashed. Tliey secured 1 old rubber shoes, slipped them over their boots, and were soon 1 among the bowlors. The Basin Reserve was also visited, with -some -measure' of success.- - During tho - afternoon the ambulance- .wagon paraded the streets', manned by several, collectors, who missed no opportunity of capturing the elusive sixpence. 1 Among the ■ hardest workers was Mrs. S. A. Rhodes, - who takes the liveliest interest' in : the .affairs of the association. Tho secretarial work was oonductod by Mr. ,T. D. Avery, who, with a staff, of assistants; directed operations from No. l Committee Room in the Town. Hall. --- .With' two; boxes yet, to be. counted, wjal amount collected was . £126' 15s. ,ld. When ,the money': was,.finally! counted .it was found that tho total was made up as follows:—One cheque tor £1. Is.; seven sovereigns, five -halfsovereigns, 96 half-crowns, 115 'florins, 875 shillings, 1026 sixpences, 940 threepenny pieces, 2689 pennies, and 168 halt-pennies.