The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 19, 1919.

Evening Star, Issue 17047, 19 May 1919, Page 4

The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 19, 1919.

The Otago Mctor Club are making an appeal to the community A Good that should meet with a Cause. quick and generous response. Dunedin is never Jotmd lagging in the cause of patriotism >r in generosity when a- call is) mads for fcicney for a good object. In the, present rase there is no room for doubt or hesitancy, as will appear when the nature of the appeal is explained. There are in the Dnnedin Hospital at the present time over • hundred soldiers who are suffering from •wounds or sickness, the result of service in the great conflict so recently ended. The courage and cheerfulness of our soldiers on the rield of battle or in the other arduous and trying duties of the wrioua phases of war work in iha countries invaded by tho Hun and his allies are tho theme cf general admiration. An old chronicler, -writing of -our campaigns in Hlb Low Countries three centuries &%d. says: " Our amy swore terribly in Flan"dem" Tsa denbt tho British soldier in the Great War did *onrtething in this line also ; but the most striking characteristics of our fighting men were their unconquerable cheerfulness and sei-se of humor, and this, no doubt, was an import-ant factor in our triuarph over ill? enemy. The rain-uoaked fields of France and Flanders, with, the miserable accompaniments of mud and alush and bitter cold, the intolerable heat, oi .Mesopotamia with Its dies and other peats, and the distressing conditions expfrienced on Gallipoli had no detrimental effect on the spirit of oar troops, and, tfc-jush occasionally individuals got- worn cut. asd dispirited, the great mass of the jn;n endured bravely to the end. So it is is their wounds and their sickness. The ▼irtues of courage and cheerfulness arc always apparent, and anything that can be done to lighten their lot should be a privilege to be eagerly accepted. The Ctago Motor Ctob have done much gocd and unselfish work in the war periol Among their many activities they have arranged for the soldiers in the pubii feoejpitai outings that have been much a;

[jaecinted by those who have taken part in them, and groat benefit has also accrued I from the medical point of view. Some of jfbe men have been in..the institution for I a iong time, and unfortunately there is no prospect of their discharge in the near fnture; so th-at it c.in easily be imagined that pleasure is derived by the.se invalids from a trip into the country on a bright I sunny day. Soldiers axe arriving home just now in large num!>ers, and the raera- | hers of the Motor- Club and other private : car owners—mostly business men -with their timo fully occupied—find ttujy have as much as they enn do in these short winter day? in meeting these men and •conveying them to their homes. Tho club have therefore d-ecided t-o raise a, fund so that outings may bo provided without any difficulty for the side and wounded soldier;. It is felt that people who do npt possess motor cars would consider it a privilege to help in this way, and that being so, there should be no difficulty in raising a substantial sum for the purpose here outlined. It is hard to imagine any a-ppeal more deserving of support. W-e know that the money will be wisely and judiciously spent, and we cordially commend the project to the sympathetic consideration of our readers. Dr Falconer, tho medical superintendent at the Hospital, gives the proposal his heartiest suppoza: He oxpresses the opinion that the benefit tho convalescent patient'; derive from these outings is incalculable.