RELIEF OF DISTRESS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 4 March 1932, Page 4

RELIEF OF DISTRESS

HEROIC MEASURES BY RED CROSS The latest figures from the headquarters of tlie New Zealand Red Cross Society show that in Wellington alone during the past month (February), 00,000 garments have been distributed and just over a thousand pairs of boots and shoes. At the moment the Red Cross Society has nurses Working in conjunction with well organised committees throughout the Dominion, their work being to investigate and report immediately all bona fide cases of distress; and in all genuine cases relief in the form of food,, clothing, footwear, medical supplies (and any other special requirements incidental to treatment) is afforded without delay. Total figures for New during the past twelve months are enormous—even excluding the. special relief required by the Hawkes Bay earthquake. On this latter count alone, a total of 20,000 persons and an expenditure of £18,500 lias already been reached. Being non-sectarian and undenominational the Red Cross' Society finds its organisation and resources much in demand. Thus the thousands of calls on the Red Cross branches made every week afford a close index of the present social and economic position. So great in fact has been tlie demand’Hn recent months that heroic measures have been needed, both to cope with the work and to supply the necessary relief. Captain M. S. Galloway, secretarygeneral for the New Zealand Red Cross, reports that but for the growing number of people who prefer to subscribe to the Red Cross rather than give indiscriminately, the organisation would find it necessary to curtail its activities. .