RED CROSS IDEALS

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 48, 26 February 1938, Page 2

RED CROSS IDEALS

Alleviation of Suffering

ADDRESS BY DR. GILLIES

From Our Own Correspondent, t NAPIER. Feb. 25. Ideals and aims of the International Red Cross, and the work of Red Cross societies in New Zealand and elsewnere, made interesting subject matter for Dr. A. Gillies, chairman of the Dominion executive, when he addressed a public meeting in Willard Hall, Napier, last evening. Mr M. S. Spence presided, and Mrs T. H. Lowry, New Zealand president of the society, was also present. Seventy-five years ago, Dr. Gillies said, the Red Cross movement was inaugurated to prepare for war in times of peace, but it had since been realised that it should be used to alleviate suffering of all kinds in all parts of the world, and now the International League of Red Cross Societies, with , headquarters in Paris, controls the Red Cross work of the world. “At no time in the history of the world has suffering been more widespread than it is today,” he said. “Wherever one looks there are wars and rumours of wars. It is tremendously important that we should help wherever suffering is. for the good cf our own souls as well as for the good of other people. And the suffering of other people, contrasted with our own comparative tranquility, should do much to make us realise the needs of humanity at large.” In Italy, where he had recently been, Dr. Gillies said he had been amazed at the efficiency of the Red Cross movement. In a huge Red Cross garage he had seen an indication o£ the attitude of the Government towards the people, in a placard, hanging like a text outside a Gospel hall, and reading, “Discipline should be voluntary and self-imposed. If it is not, it must be enforced.” However, the Red Cross was above the turmoil of politics. Its flag was the flag of all nations. It was outside local politics—there should be no Napier, no, Hastings, so far as Red Cross work was concerned. The basic principle of service to humanity was indestructible, and would go on as long as time lasted. Returning to Italy, the speaker said that there nothing was spared in the treatment of the sick but that, like everything else in Italy, gave the impression that the State was paramount. Certainly the Red Cross there, which was very closely associated with the Army, could not be accused of anything but the highest regard for the State. However, it could be said of the movement anywhere that it was always ready to help the Government of the country. Dr. Gillies gave Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury credit for always having their shoulders to the wheel, but said that the other branches in New Zealand had not yet begun to pull their weight in peace-time work. He was tremendously proud of the junior movement, particularly in the Native schools in the Dominion. “We should always be prepared to render assistance,” he concluded. “It is only by having a strong organisation that we will be able to have funds when we get the Macedonian call.”