THE RED CROSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16677, 23 October 1917, Page 7

THE RED CROSS.

VOLUNTEER AID DIVISION. GREAT SURGEON'S APPRECIATION. Ik an appreciation of the Red Cross, the late Sir Frederick Treves, the famous surgeon, wrote in terms of high praise of tho work of members of the volunteer aid division. In the course of his appreciation, Sir Frederick said:— "Anyone walking down Victoria Street .is. the month of July, 1914, on the shady side of tho road, might have noticed, painted on a window-blind, a small red cross. If he had entered the place he would have found himself) in a dark passage which blundered into three small . Noms, occupied by a secretary, two '• 'clerks, and a boy. These were the headquarters of the British Red Cross Society. V. Tie staff were engaged—like pupils m a : : c class-room—over that vague, inconsequent work known, as office work. • The society in July, 1914, did not own a single ambulance, 'could not provide a single bed, had riot even a store-room of its own, nor any supplies at its disposal. It had indeed but one great wonder-working asset, the goodwill, of the people of Britain and the Empire. „ , . .'. "Now. in July, 1916, the society-Tin association with the Order of St. Johnhas expanded into an. amazing organisation. The joint societies can to-day number their ambulances in hundreds; can boast of battalions of nurses and orderlies; can despatch from their stores medical comforts to the value of many thousands of pounds a week, and have hospitals, hostek, rest stations, anoVconvalescent homes in England and abroad that are almost beyond the counting. "Those warm-hearted people of the Empire who have poured gold into.the treasury of the societies have the satisfaction 'Of knowing that not one penny has been wasted on red tape or parade, and that, since the chief Red Cross officials are unpaid, it has been spent as they would wish it to be spent, in affording direct ' relief to the sick and wounded soldiers.

" The work of the societies is not to be ■expressed in mere money. The wounded man estimate the service rendered m no known coinage, for it dispenses the gold of Havilah, of which it is truly said and the gold of that land is good.' It is said that the great war has produced no Florence Nightingale. That may be so; hut it has produced a much-esteemed and lovable lady, hitherto unknown in any war who has earned for herself a reputation' little less than that attained by the grpafc pioneer of the Red Cross work. She fs known by the curious title of the V.A.D.' She works as a volunteer. She is'quite a new being, yet she represents the womanhood of England, the tendorhearted. unselfish, capable woman, whose Bole desire is to help the wounded soldier. She seeks no glory. She has no name. She is merely a 7 V.A.D.' She will work as a cook, as a housemaid, as a kitchenmaid, end none will beat her. She will carry travs all dav and be proud of it. She will live in a railway truck and there keep a buffet for tired men. She will tramp to a station platform night and day,_ if only she can give some comfort to a sick man in a passing train. She will nurse as far m her abilities will permit, and her abilities are considerable. She will feel it an Jionour to be a ward maid, if only she can he Id to mat? things comfortable for the patients she scarcely sees. The men are devoted to her, and in that devotion she finds the Bole reward she seeks. One little episode that I 6aw in France will remain in my mind as the embodiment of the spirit of Red Cross work. A ' V.A.D.' was holding a cup to the lips of the dying man. Looking at her with a dim curiosity he asked faintly, 'Where do tot; come from?' 'I come from Home,' she replied. A smile spread over hi 3 face, and in a while he was dead. Such was the secret of his last pleasant thought —she came from Home."