REFUGEES IN OSTEND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15769, 18 November 1914, Page 9

REFUGEES IN OSTEND.

HI :') CROSS KOCIKTY'S WORK.

Ac ii,tere-,'. ; iig account of her early ex- ]..'!,. ■- 'ii Belgium s given in a letter wr:tti •» ! v .Mis* Beatrice K. I'. Maunder, N /..-voir hr. who i» now actively eng. u'-'i in I-.' .1 I n,-.-.- work with the allies. I- :( 'i i\ is written on September 27. i .'it ten day a after her arrival in Beli -in. i'i> idling her departure from England, Mi-s Hinder ...n's that with other Red ( :work -rs. -In; arrived at Tilbury at l l ' •*' ]' m From tl;« station to tho boat ■.< iy rtep was guarded by soldiers and "" ': 11 1-. ■ paity ha 1 to lind its way in ■ iarkii.'st over ropes and wires and among tri k- to the wailed and guarded entrance i.. 'he. wharf, where it was met by the. '■ipt.iiii of the steamer. Ostend was i' '■ led ii"M morning, and Miss Maunder immediately began her work of relieving in.- ll.'lp.m lei'ugeos, who had found temp, r;jrv .-belter ,n bathing machines on l !|.. 1..-L. ii. Heavy rain was falling, and a. high wind was driving it into the. I.'.eii 'i. s, in many of which, whole families w-re, crowded, though the boxes were only 0:1 long and 4U wide. The cele--I.riled Kursaal was placed at the disposal "t tin- Red Cross Society, and an army of workmen was employed to convert the ballroom into -dormitory, with bathrooms, a nursery for luO children, a refectory for 200 pcopK and other arrangements for their <-.iiif.,i't,

A hurried trip back to London was ni.nli- hy Miss Maunder, and on the return journey she travelled by a steamer carrying a cargo of ammunition and barlx-d wire, and menaced during the crossing hv tii« constant danger of ' floating mines A rran^imerits for the work at the Use liosp.-tal W.T., completed, and Miss Maunder Mated that, having finished this work | - '-'"'id hurry on to the line of amlni'C. a.-, near tho firing line as possible.