RED CROSS WORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22839, 21 September 1937, Page 12

RED CROSS WORK

POSITION IN TAB EAST JAPAN BETTER EQUIPPED OFFICIAL VISITS DOMINION After leaving Shanghai only a little more than 21 hours before the SinoJapanese war spread that lar, Mr. L. 10. Gielgud, uiuler-seeretary general of the International League of Keel Cross Societies, arrived at Auckland by the Mariposa from Sydney vesterdav to assist the work of the society in New Zealand. From China he went to Australia, spending about three weeks there. Mr. Gi<*lgud, who is a brother of the well-known English actor John Gielgud, is accompanied by his wife, formerly Miss Zita Gordon, a Hungarian actress. His visit is partly due to the efforts made in Paris last year by Mrs. T. H. Lowrv, New Zealand president of the society, to obtain a visit by a member of the league s secretariat. A Sharp Contrast

Before lie went to Shanghai, Mr. Gielgud was in Japan visiting the junior Ped Cross Societies of the Far East, and in direct contrast with the position in China, he found ample emergency medical stores in the possession of the societies. The Japanese Ped Cross had been established for over 50 years and its membership was over 1,000,000, and might even., lie thought, bo about 2,000,000.

In China, however, where the Ped Cross organisation was very loosely knit, medical stores at the time of the outbreak of hostilities were quite inadequate for the demands likely to be made upon them. Seeing this, Mr. Gielgud discussed the position with the Chinese Red Cross and made arrangements for further supplies to be obtained from the best, source overseas. Refugees in Shanghai Mr. and Mrs. Gielgud arrived at Shanghai by the President Hoover, which later was attacked from the air, and the ship was the last to berth at the main Shanghai passenger wharf before the Chinese defensive measures blocked the channel. On the day Mr. Gielgud left Shanghai the French Concession, with others of the international zones, was receiving applications from refugees, already streaming into the city, for shelter. Up to that day the concession had received 100,000 such applications

Mr. Gielgud will remain in Auckland until to-morrow night, when he will leave for Wellington. Yesterday he was given a mayoral reception by the Mayor, Sir Ernest Davis, and later lie addressed members of the Auckland Potary Club at their weekly luncheon. He also met a number of members of the Red Cross Society nnd discussed with them the work being done in New Zealand.

INTERNATIONAL ASPECT WIDESPREAI) .M KMBERSHIP "The possibility of another crisis such as that in 3914 must be presentin our minds, and if for no other reason people should be interested in the Hed Cross. We do not want to bo caught unprepared as we were then.'' said Mr L. 10. Gielgud, speaking at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon in Milne and Choyce's Reception Hall yesterday. The possibility of international worl< being undertaken by the Red Cross, as it was in Spain and China, was due solely to the fact that people were interested and ready to support tinlU'd Cross, funds for international work being donated by people of many nationalities who believed it necessarv Patriotism was not enough. Emphasising tho non-partisan work of the societies, Mr. Gielgud said that when the civil war broke out in Spain the central committee in Madrid sent messages to the societies throughout the country reminding them of their obligations, which must be carried out no matter what authority was in power. The Spanish Red Cross had done pood work, but had needed outside aid. The international committee in Geneva, which consisted entirely of Swiss citizens, so that it could work smoothly during international wars, had sent delegates to both fronts of the Spanish war to distribute surgical supplies. One aspect of the delegates' work, the exchanging of hostages, was difficult because of the bitterness always associated with civil war. In the reuniting of families scattered during the fighting they had been vcrv successful, however. When he was in Geneva in .lune Mr. Gielgud saw four sackfuls of letters, received in one mail, dealing with this work.