BED CROSS SOCIETY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 137, 6 December 1930, Page 11

BED CROSS SOCIETY

A NATIONAL BODY

As the result o£ a resolution passed at a largely-attfehded meeting of- Bed Cross workers on Thursday . evening, a national New .Zealand Ked Cross Society is to be formed, and all necessary steps are ' to' be taken to constitute properly and establish firmly that body in the Dominion. The Hon. Dr. W. E. Collins, C.M.G., M.L.C., and Messrs. C.. H. ..Chapman, M.P., L.' O. H. Trip)), 0.8. E., -.D. G. Clark, C.8.E., and C. G-. White were appointed a committee to secure official recognition of the society by the Government, and to draft a constitution,' to be submitted to a further meeting. . j» Mr. Chapman, :who presided, referred*to the world-wide ■work of the Bed Cross Society, which most people now associated with peace-time work. Thousands of students, were, being .trained by nurses, and there was also the Junior Eed Cross movement, which took . the children at very tender ages, and trained them in the spirit of the Eed Cross. Apart from the educational activities, wonderful work was performed in the' relief of suffering and distress ajid in the care of the blind. Following the incorporation of the New Zealand Society in 1920, continued Mr. Chapman, advice had been received i'roni the British Red Cross; that,' owing to its in- j corporation, the society could not be regarded as a branch, and the means _of overcoming this ..difficulty, was the actiou at present being taken. When this was completed, New Zealand would be entitled t,o a vote in the International Council Chambers at Geneva. Mr. L. O. H. Tripp expressed the opinion, that the peace-time work would progress still better under the proposed national body. Lady Luke emphasised the work that had been done by the society when it started in New Zealand in 1915, and mentioned that the men had not played a very prominent part in its work, although during the war period their, services.had been badly required . elsewhere.. Three weeks from the beginning of the war five hampers had been made up containing every requirement of the medical men. It would have been a very sad.day for Wellington, indeed for New Zealand, if the women had not joined forces and worked as they had done for the Bed Cross Society. Mr. C S. Falconer, Dominion secretary of the Order of St. John, expressed pleasure that the meeting was being held, saying he thought therobught to be a national body, in New Zealand. Dr. Collins, said he was delighted that a national organisation was being formed; His only regrnt was that it had not been formed in 1917. ' ' ■