THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1917. "OUR DAY" APPEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16674, 19 October 1917, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1917. "OUR DAY" APPEAL.

To many worthy appeals' sinco the war started Auckland has :, given a generous response. ;.' No appeal is more worthy than that made, to-day for the Red Cross fund. The city has given freely for the Belgians, for the dependants of naval heroes, for comforts for troops at the front, for the men who return to us incapacitated. It has given but little to the funds of the Red Cross, which succours the soldier when his need is most desperate, which cares for him.when life itself depends upon care, which is the first of the great voluntary agencies to carry to the_ soldier tho message of the nation's gratitude when he is I stricken in action., Auckland has ■ given comparatively little to the | Red Cross because of no base selfishness. The wounded soldier is no | less sacred to us than to communi- | tics which have given their, thoui sands. Wo honour his sacrifice | none the less. We.admit our debt to him as freely and as fully. We wish as whole-heartedly to afford Mm all the comfort and skill which can be brought to the battlefield. We are as anxious as any that everything that can be done to increase his chance of life and ultimate health shall be done. We have given little because no collective opportunity has been offered us. The opportunity is ours to-day. It is "Our; Day." ■ '■':•>/

The need of voluntary.: agencies for succouring the sick and,wounded has been demonstrated • in every modern war. There are some things no ■ army % medical service can do. No such service can be maintained ! in peace time equal to all the ;• re- J I quirements of war except at prohibitive cost, and in the very earliest stages of the world war• the Army Medical Corps ■■■ gladly welcomed voluntary V ; helpers. ;.; The .army organisation . did everything that modern knowledge,;, skill .and, complete devotion to duty could do. It had the assistance of experts in the prevention;'.-of disease and":in research, but there was still , room for civilian • workers, and: the British Red .; ; Cross 'i Society I .'supplied; the workers.^; The first voluntary 'effort to, : alleviate \ the ; distress V of;;.' the battlefield; was y made during /'the Crimea, war, and, when the FrancoGerman war of ; 1870 broke out the late Lord Wantage, who knew by personal experience how much supplementary \: was ; needed, 'formed the National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War. This [society; set an "■- example, which was :• widely followed, and with : increasing appreciation of the value of voluntary ;aid;; in ;many;;subsequent campaigns waged by. different nationalities. When the Japanese, 'established '"a; : Red ;• Cross Society .in 1894 as an integral part of ;their military equipment, the '? institution may be said to have received worldwide : recognition..; Our own British' experience was rounded off by the South African ? war. There was no lack of helpers, but there were too many. societies, , and the result was an unsatisfactory service and a great deal of "waste.-, The various leagues and societies were; accordingly amalgamated; as the British Red • Cross Society, ,which," with the Order of St.; John of Jerusalem, has been the official channel for voluntary help during the present war. \ The Red Cross : Society acts under the direction of the War Office 'and the Admiralty, and its efforts cannot therefore fail to be well directed.

The enormous work undertaken by the Ked Cross and the Order of St. John;is indicated ;by the:fact that during the first year of the war about ; £2,000,000 was subscribed ' in Britain alone to. the funds of the joint committee, and during the second" year of the war • about £3,000,000. These vast sums have been administered ;; in ;>the :: most careful . fashion and every penny ■ has contributed to the comfort , and succour of wounded men; and to bringing stricken men.': back .to health. : The need is still great, and it would be all but impossible to endow the organisation too generously,: for \ the .vast task which still confronts it, a task that will not be ended' when the last shot is fired, but only when maimed and wounded men have all been cared for to the utmost. vu, The fund to which Auckland ;is to-day asked; to subscribe is an -Empire, one. The New Zealand soldier has the same claim von the Red Cross :as 'the' Englishman 'or tho Highlander. Up to now Auckland has not contributed anything like a fair proportion to the funds of this. national work of succour. It has an opportunity to-day to redeem its name, and if the response to: other appeals is any criterion tho name of tho city and province will bo more than redeemed.