HELP FOR THE BELGIANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15749, 26 October 1914, Page 7

HELP FOR THE BELGIANS.

ACTING-CONSUL'S FUND.

SUM OF £2467 RECEIVED.

ADDITIONAL DONATIONS.

CITY COLLECTION ARRANGED.

The fund opened by Mr. Robert Burns, Acting-Consul for Belgium, in aid of the many thousands of Belgians who have suffered through the war, wa6 further increased on Saturday. The fund now totals £2467 Is 3d.

With a view to further augmenting tin fund, collections are to bo taken up from the shops, offices, and warehouses in the city. Sections have been allotted as follows :—East side of Queen Street, from the Harbour to Victoria Street, and including intersecting streets, Messrs. W. H. Pountney and J. Milne; East side of Queen Street, from Victoria Street to the Town Hall, including intersecting streets, Messrs. H. B. Morton and A. N. Snedden; west side ot Queen Street, from the Harbour to Wyndham Street, including intersecting streets, Mr. Wesley Sprang and the Hon. George FowJds ; west side of Queen Street, from YVyncTham Street to the Town Hall, including intersecting streets, Messrs. Stewart Milne and J. F. Ewen. The Ponsonby Boys' Drum and Fife Band has arranged a special Belgian dis- i play in connection with to-day's Labour ! procession. Some 150 boys are to take part in depicting Belgian village scenes. About £20 has been collected by the Ponsonby Bowling Club. When the collection was opened it was intended that the proceeds should be handed to the trustees of the Patriotic Fund, but it has now been decided that the amount shall be placed to the credit of the Belgian fund. The latest subscriptions to the ActingConsul's Fund are as follows :— £ s. d. Employees John Court, Ltd. ... 32 13 0 Gold Miners Executive ... 10 0 0 H. Stanfield 10 0 0 Misses Twiss and Toulcon, St. Aldan's Kindergarten Entertainment 9 16 5 City Council Power-station Employees 5 16 Duty to Belgian 5 0 0 Miss Maye Cameron 4 4 0 Members and Employees New Zealand Saddlery Company, LV., 2nd instalment ... 1 18 6 G. A. Cruickshank 1 10 0 E R. Shorland 110 W.A.B 110 Fred. Kinsey 10 0 APPEAL FROM PULPIT. ( HEROISM AND SACRIFICE. WHAT IS OWED TO BELGIUM. "Bleeding Belgium" was the subject taken bv the Rev. R. Inglis for his sermon in' the Knox Church, Parnell, last evening. Mr. Inglis based his remarks upon the words of David to the three men who brought him water from the well of Bethlehem : " Shall I drink the blood of these men. who have put their lives in jeopardy?" He said that these words had been sngeested to him by the terrible events that were now taking place in the I theatre of war in Europe. People in New Zealand were so far from the scene of conflict that they could scarcely realise I the horror of war. They read in the [ newspapers of bayonet charges, cruisers being sunk, and hundreds of thousands of lives being lost, and felt it in a meacure, but they "did not Know what it meant to th.> fathers and mothers who had lost their children. The Empire owed a great debt to its soldiers and sailors who were shedding their blood in the cause of liberty, but it owed the greatest debt of all to Belcium, that brave little country which had been turned into shambles by the ruthless German soldiery. How easy it would have been for Belgium to stand aside and let the other nations fight their own battles. But she was too brave and too honourable to do that, and so with her handful of soldiers she faced Germany's millions, saying : " Death for liberty is better than life without it. If you do march through our territory, you must do it over our bleeding bodies." Words failed to describe such incredible heroism and sacrifice. Her sons had been slaughtered, her women outraged, her children mutilated, her towns razed and her ancient university, with its accumulated treasures of past ages, had been given to the flames. Her temples had been desecrated, her ministers of religion murdered, and the ragged remnant of a once prosper-

oas nation was now wandering about homeless and starving. It was all so fiendish that it would be a foul libel on human nature to call this human -warfare. The house of Brandenburg was branded to all eternity with the indelible mark of Cain, who slew his own brother because his own' ways were evil and his brother's ways wore righteous. The only thing that helped to explain the enormity of the crimes committed was the remark of Mr. Copland, of the American Embassy in London, who said : " The German soldiery, maddened by alcohol, fell upon Belgium in a frenzy of rapine, rape, mutilation and lust." For whose sake had these terrible sacrifices been made? Unhesitatingly, he replied, for our sake. Were they 'going to take it all as a matter of course and let the widows and orphans of these heroes starve? Would they drink the blood of these men who had put their lives in jeopardy? Next Sunday an opportunity would be given to all Presbyterians throughout the district to put a valuation upon Belgium's sacrifice. Thousands of pounds were required and garments were needed. No money or gifts could ever repay Belgium what they owed her, but he urged on all the necessity for generously responding to the appeal.

HERALD BELGIAN FUND

A STEADY INCREASE.

SUM OF £336 RECEIVED.

ADDITIONAL DONATIONS.

Contributions amounting to £40 13s 6d were made to the Herald Belgian Fund on Saturday. The fund now totals £336 12s. Tho new subscribers are as follows : —

£ s. d. Employees of Hancock and Co., Newmarket, 17 0 0 Miss Ralph 5 5 0 Mrs. A. M. Hellaby 5 0 0 C. R. Robson ... 2 0 0 JMJ '.' 2 0 0 Ef.M.T. 110 £: s - 10 0 The Rev. John Dykes 10 0 Crimean Veteran" 10 0 Miss M. H. ... '" 10 0 Mrs. C. T. Stewart " '" inn e - a -c ::: I ° c S A Sympathiser. M.M., Rangiriri; EG