£10,000 WANTED TO AID SUFFERERS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 22, 21 October 1937, Page 10

£10,000 WANTED TO AID SUFFERERS

Doctors And Supplies For War-Torn China NEW ZEALAND-WIDE JOINT APPEAL Money to send doctors, anaesthetic and medical supplies for the relief of appalling distress wherever it may be needed in the Sino-Japan-osc conflict is the subject of an urgent appeal, launched throughout New Zealand by the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society. Representative committees are being Set HP, and a Red Cross stamp sale is being conducted by interested V.A.D. helpers. The amount aimed at is £lO,OOO. Thousands of people in China to-day are destitute and wounded, many, dying because of the shortage of skilled help and supplies in their hour of need. “No matter whose the fault,” says.a statement issued yesterday by the joint council “condemnation has Jio part in the activities of the two co-operating organisations, and action immediate and executive is called for throughout the Dominion. Doctors Volunteering. “Mr. Lewis de Gielgud, under-secre-tary General for the Red Cross Society vouches, from recent personal experience, for the dire need and his firm belief that the people of New Zealand will answer.it. The special call for surgeons and supplies has been allotted to the New Zealand and Australian Red Cross Societies. Doctors are volunteering, but they must have their supplies. “In a letter received from HongKong recently, the drugs needed for only one month for a unit of 500 wounded were listed. Details of only a few will give some idea of the gigantic need. They include (monthly) 501 b. chloroform, 501 b. ether, 1001 b. bleaching powder, 1500 aspirin tablets and a long list of special drugs. Multiplied by thousands, some idea of the imperative need can be gained. In addition, there are all the necessary instruments without which skilled help is severely handicapped. “Can we, in New Zealand, secure at the moment, afford to ignore the call and the need of suffering humanity, a call that we hope will never be quickened by experience in our own fair land? Shall we be deaf to the cries of helpless sufferers? The Call of the Wounded.

“Will New Zealanders attune to the call of the wounded, stand together and raise in the allotted month, the necessary £10,000? While we hesitate, lives are being lost and those lives matter just as much as ours in a world as small as this to-day. “Get in touch at once with your local Red Cross, Order of St. Johmor your newspapers. £lO,OOO in the next month is needed, as our quota to the International Red Cross call.” “Arrangements have been made to communicate with the mayors of cities and boroughs throughout New Zealand, and with the various branches of the Red Cross and Order of St. John so as to spread the appeal throughout the whole of the Dominion. The committee would rather 'a very largo number bf small donations than a few large donations. “With the approach of the Christmas season of goodwill and kindly thoughts the frightful suffering of thousands of our fellow-human beings in China should make a strong appeal for even the smallest sum to relieve their urgent distress.” Donations for this fund may be sent to “The Dominion,” Wellington, or to any of “The Dominion.” branch offices. All donations will be acknowledged in our columns.