WAR VICTIMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 25, 24 October 1917, Page 5

WAR VICTIMS

BELIEF WORK OP THE SOCIETr OF FRIENDS. A. work of relief that should appeal to every mail and woman is that at present being carried on by the Society of Friends amongst the suffering victims of the war in France and Bussia, and amongst the thousands of Belgian refugees who, when driven out of their country, found a temporary haven in Butch territory. In France a large amount of good has been done by the society's workers. Over 500 cottages and wooden houses have been built, to provide temporary homes for the destitute people in villages destroyed by bombardment and fire, in addition to which about 12,000 packets of clothes, 2509 beds and mattresses, 10,000 coverlets or pairs of sheets, and 5000 cupboards, tables, chairs, kitchen ranges, etc., have been collected and sent out since the Belief Expedition was dispatched in November, 1914. In the Samara district of Russia, particular attention i 3 being directed to medical relief When the society's representatives arrived in April, 1916, it was found in one district that there was not one doctor in the whole 700 miles of its area, though thickly peopled with 100,000 souls, of whom one quarter are refugees from the Western frontier. At the medical centres which have been since established by the society, 4000 patients are now receiving attention, every month. In addition to the medical relief, workshops have been established, ] in which 650 refugees are engaged in ! spinning, weaving, and making clothes, | etc., under the direction of the society's i workers, and the people are thus in some j measure being helped to become selfsupporting. In Holland, as in France, many cottages and wooden houses have been erected by the society to provide shelter for the homeless refugees, but the chief work ■ at the present time is the organising ! of workrooms and the starting of local i industries, whereby the people may make i their own clothing, provide furniture •. for their new homes, and help their skill- j ed workers to revive their beautiful ua- j tive handicrafts. I

The amount already raised and expended by the Society of Friends for relief work during tlio war exceeds ■£140,000. Present commitments involve an expenditure of about .£ISOO i er week, towards which the public ai ! e earnfstl.y invited to send donations. As an indication of the urgency of the work, the society is now erecting- fifty additional wooden houses in the newly liberated villages in France, at the special request of the French Minister of the Interior. A sanatorium is also being organised foi victims of tuberculosis, due to overcrowding and privation and to the insanitary condition of the devastated areas. Contributions will be most thankfully received by Miss A. Ruth Fry, the lion, secretary of the War Victims Belief Committee, at Klhelburga House, M Bishopssiate, London, E.C.2, who will Kindly furnish any further information that may bo required.