The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1918.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4931, 26 July 1918, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1918.

The campaign which is being under-

' The Fund for [ French Orphans.

taken throughout the Dominion with a view

to raising a substantial fund in aid of the orphans of French soldiers cannot fail to evoke a very great deal of support. In this district a large number of ladies and gentlemen have already interested themselves in the movement and preparations are being made to secure subscriptions, take up a street collection, etc., etc. We do not believe that it is necessary to write at any great length with reference to this very deserving cause, i The public of this Dominion has been extremely generous in its response to numerous other appeals for funds that have owed their origin to the hardships brought about in many lands by the war. But it will be only too pleased to avail itself of the opportunity which is now afforded to show in a fresh form its high sense of appreciation of the noble sacrifice which the French people as a whole have undergone (and are still undergoing) in order to aid the Allied cause. We should say that everybody in this prosperous and fortunate Dominion have by this time a very vivid impression in regard to the extent of the sufferings which the French people have so cheerfully endured since the outbreak of the struggle. For learly four long years France has had the enemy within her northern gates, and, if it had not been that her people have all along been determined to forfeit their existence as a nation rather than bow once again to the will of the wicked Huns, all the military assistance which Britain and later the United States has assembled could not have prevented the Huns from overrunning France just as they have entered into occupation of Belgium. Serbia, Montenegro and Roumania, besides a portion of Italy and the western provinces of Russia. What awful mental and physical suffering must the French nation have undergone in addition to the appalling loss in lives and almost irretrievable loss in property! As for the French people, ever since that dark day when the Huns made plain their fiendish plan to wantonly attack them, their thoughts have had to be concentrated on the great problem of how best to obviate the loss of all that is dear to them. It is certainly one of the outstanding features of the great conflict that France has never wavered in the

slightest degree despite the ’.vv'fui drain that the war has involved in her case. There have, it is well known, been many occasions when utter defeat seemed to be staring the French people right in the face. But each reverse only served to act as a spur to greater effort, and happily to-day (with the great aid which has , been given by Britain and America) i France stands in a much safer posi- ; tion than at any earlier period m the history of the struggle. ”vVe may, indeed, all be justly proud that ! such a loyal, noble and self-sacrific-j ing nation as France lias proved her- ! self is on the side of the Allied

cause. The stout resistance which France has oil her part continued to make from the outset was a great inspiration to the other Allied nations which were unfortunately so ill-pre-pared to play their part in such a momentous struggle. To-day France mourns the loss of between two and three millions of her gallant sons, and provision has to be made ior the maintenance of scores of thousands of poor orphans who hut ior the uglj, militarism of Germany would be enjoying that happiness which alone comes to those who are permitted peaceful and prosperous surroundings and are not called upon to face the awful horrors of red- war in their very midst. No ■ doubt the people of this Dominion now fully realise how fortunate is their lot as compared with that of the peoples who have had to defend their own territory day and night ever since the outbreak of the struggle. This . is, we think, a ihost opportune time, for an appeal to he made on behalf of the innocent French children who have as a sequel to the war been bereft of parents and in so many instances of their homes. It is certain that the call for funds will meet with a ready response and at such a great crisis when the French armies are bearing such a heavy proportion of the brunt of the desperate battles that are now raging New Zealand’s action in this regard will be deeply appreciated. It is expected that Poverty Bay’s quota to this particular fund will be on as generous a scale as lias marked her monetary efforts in connection with all. the earlier war relief funds and, iudging by the enthusiastic manner in which the campaign has opened, there is. happily, ever likelihood that the final result will be most satisfactory.