RED CROSS EMBLEM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20569, 31 May 1941, Page 5

RED CROSS EMBLEM

USE IN NEW ZEALAND LEGAL POSITION (Per Presß Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Questions have been raised with regard to the use of the Red Cross emblem in New Zealand in time of war, and the Attorney-General, the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, issued the following statement to-day to explain the legal position: — “The New Zealand Government was a party to the international convention held in Geneva in July, 1929, and the Geneva Convention Act, 1936, was passed by Parliament to ratify on behalf of New Zealand the terms thereof. Under the articles of the convention the emblem of a red cross on a white ground and the words ‘Red Cross’ or ‘Geneva Cross’ shall not be used in time of war, except to indicate medical formations and establishments and personnel and material protected by the convention.

“In wartime the emblem may be used only by the medical personnel and transport of the military forces, and by approved voluntary aid societies engaged in the relief of sick and wounded combatants under military law. The emblem may be used only on hospitals, establishments, formations and transport and material thereof that arc recognised as coming within the privileges of the convention by <a competent military authority. “The use of emblems on shops, buildings, or articles for sale, or brassards, or flags, or on street advertisements, or as stickers on motor cars is contrary to the articles of the convention, unless these buildings or articies are being used for the purpose of attending sick and wounded combatants and under military law or subject to military authority.”