RED CROSS ACTIVITIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24070, 15 September 1941, Page 4

RED CROSS ACTIVITIES

Sir, —May 1 draw attention to a statement made by the secretary of the National Patriotic Board at a recent meeting of the Waikato Zone Patriotic Committee. Tliis statement, "That the public should know that when they gave money to the Red Cross Society they were not giving it to the sick and wounded soldiers" is not only absolutely incorrect but is certain to arouse suspicion in the minds of those generous people who have supported the Red Cross Society. As an active committee member of a sub-ccntrr of the Red Cross Society, 1 can assure this gentleman that although the money in itself does not go to the sick and wounded, the garments purchased with or made from materials purchased with the same money most emphatically do. Every penny collected by the subcentre 011 which I work (and every other branch of the Red Cross Society) is spent on wool, and material from which our members make garments for distressed civilians in Great Britain, knit hundreds of socks, scarves, balaclavas, gloves, pullovers, etc.. for sick and wounded soldiers and airmen, both in New Zealand and overseas, and also make many bandages and general hospital equipment for our military hospitals both here and in Egypt. Any doubt of the practical worth of the Red Cross activities is easily dis- | polled by the many grateful letters re-

ceived not only from individual soldiers and airmen, but also from people connected with the magnificent work of relieving distressed civilians in London. The fact that the Red Cross Society is not allowed to make any street appeals, and that its funds are derived from voluntary donations, weekly sales of cakes, fruit, vegetables. flowers. etc., in the various local Red Cross shops, and occasional functions arranged by different committees, such as bring-and-buy fairs, etc., hardly seems to me to merit such a statement that "in some cases patriotic funds are suffering through the activities of the Red Cross Society to such an e.xtent that they may cease to function." Surely such a noble work as that done by the Red Cross Society should be above petty jealousies and such criticism ? Disgusted.