RED CROSS IN ITALY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17144, 25 April 1919, Page 5

RED CROSS IN ITALY.

0» • HAZARDOUS EXPERIENCES. ' NEW ZEALAND MEMBER. j Voluntary service as a Red Cross worker ■I ; in Italy was performed by Mr. A. E, • Moore, of OhrisJtchurch, who arrived in i ! Auckland by the lonic yesterday. Mr. | , Moore was rejected in New Zealand for war service, and went to England to offer his services to the authorities there, but with no better result. He therefore volunteered for work with the British Red a Cross, and was selected for special service , r in Italy. For over two years lie was en- ! . gaged with the motor ambulance division .' l in evacuating the wounded on the various J fronts. The cars were taken right up to j - the front line, and the hazardous nature of j ? the undertaking will be realised when it <'e j - remembered that the Austrian trenches in , ■ the Piave region, for instance, were only' a few yards away. In the Trentino the i fighting was waged at a height of 4000 ft. j The difficulty of manipulating the cars in . • such circumstances, particularly in view of' >, the fact that the ice was feet thick, and , i chains and spikes had to be attached to i ) the wheels, can well be imagined. Mr. | i Moore was alb Caporetto at the time of ! the debacle in October, 1917. The British | i troops saved the situation. Their quick i arrival, smartness and brilliancy put new . heart into the Italian so'diers. The British . Division, the Twenty-third, which attacked i on the Asiago front in March, 1918, was , ! commanded by Major-Gencral J. M , I Babington, a former cammandant of thp j ' forces in New Zealand. j After the signing of the armistice Mr. ( Moore went to Trieste, to inquire into the , condition of the Italian prisoners of war. ; j The lack of food in Austria waa appalling, i ( There were 120,000 Italian refugees in - Trieste starving, and in a most pitiable J state. The report that the price of suite , , in Austria was £100 and more was qute ( ti'ue. The streets in many places were < ruined, owing to there being no rubber for j the tyres of motor-cars. Instead, steel. 1 bands, fitted with little springs, wero ( used. For his services in Italy, Mr. Moore was 1 awarded the Italian War Cross. i i i