RED CROSS FUNDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16964, 28 March 1917, Page 6

RED CROSS FUNDS

THE NEW ZEALAND SYSTEM: STATEMENT BY MR ELGAR. (Fbom Our Own Correspondent.) . LONDON, January 30. In view of the correspondence that has reached England recently from Red Cross Committees m New Zealand and from private sources, it is evident that there is some oonfusion of ideas as to what can be done bv the New _ Zealand Red Cross Society. In view of this Mr Charles Elgar (the New i6jf i . Cross Commissioner in England) has given me the following statement of the "position t0 & etter un derstanding "It would perhaps make matters clearer to those who are working for and subscribluf t0 fun ds, and also to the public of New Zealand generally (for all J.re interested in varying degrees in the welfare and happiness of our sick and wounwhit explained, as far as I am able, p.™, °S n ? n /? cannot be doun by Red Cross Societies. Ihe position of the New Zealand Red Cross Society and the Order oi tot. John of Jerusalem is. that, havine of t ?f h their .°! yn » the y are a brand nL I T n t ls £ soclct,cs - This want of a nnr W-A- u VO r Wlll be remedied when bodies can give the necessary attenhon to it, and we should then be ready oh ihn u' / a compete organisation on the outbreak of war, whether as neutrals or as belligerents, working our own form tA th r C r r ° SS Sociefc y "lust contoini to ths Geneva Convention, and to be a success it must worrk with the military uthorities, for little can be done without then consent and aid. The work to be done is often supplementary to what the military authorities provide, for the military \ rules and regulations are on strict Unes and ha\e their limitations. There are manv large hospitals that are entirely Red Cross institutions as wnll _as homes for convalescents and for special treatment, but they must be accepted and recognised by the military authorities The Joint Committee set up in New Zealand has never, anl w r,n d , any such institutions started here. Ihe funds sent to the New flff 1 t> j ntln ffent Association and No,, 7 i f Committee in England for w u m • ross Purposes have not been sufficient to do so. Red Cross » -* e erta, " l y, be€n subscribed to liberally in New Zealand, but. the bulk of , been sent, I believe, to the Butish Red Cross Society, and as a member of their War Council, I know they want every penny subscribed. It is only by money that the truly wonderful work can .done by the thousands of devoted women and men who are giving their time and energies to the colossal tasks that are sSy 0 ""' ° n th<s Bl ' itish Red Cross

<( NOTHING LEFT UNDONE. - Returning to New Zealand affairs—or, in other words, to the care of our a ;ck and wouudea, this has been carried out by the New Zealand War Contingent Association as tar as the funds at our disposal -vould EV- to f. 0 .- 1 must make "it perfect'y cleai that nothing more could have been done by a body of women and men railing themselves a Red Cross Society than h£, been done by the New Zealand War Contingent Association. Nothing, as far as I know, Ur,s been left undone in consequence Ox the absence of a separate Red Cross °. rsa ?u Sat -vT R . r?* 1 ? °nly difference is that we, the New Zealand War Contingent Association, deal with matters relating to tho tit and able-bodied as well as the sick and wounded. Ihe Red Cross Committee that has now been set up, consisting of Lord llunktt. Sir T. Mackenzie. Messrs Elgar, J. H. B. Coates, R. JJ. D. M'Lean, Sinclair .Lhomson, and. I<. Waldegrave, is working with and through the New Zealand War t.ont.ngent Association; but in order to conform to the Geneva Convention Red Cross moneys and stores cannot be used for tho well and able-bodied. This, is the reason tor having Red Cross committees or commissioners, who apply Rod Cross money and stores to the s.clc and wounded only and who conform to a charter that sets out what can be done under it.

men on the spot. •'My experience on the British WjuCouncil lias shown me the necessity of at once appointing such representatives, either commissioners or committees, or both wherever money and stores are sent. There oan be no continuity or proper surveillance ot work unless this is done. Stores axe lost and wasted, and money does not achieve all that it should unless there is someone who is the accredited representative ot the Red Cross Society to receive and deal with them. The necessity for this does not arise where Red Cross stores are sent 111 cases of emergency to military hospitals direct. I am sure 1 am justified in saying that both the New Zealand War Contingent Association and representatives of the Ked Gross Society have done all that we were able to do tor our soldiers, and my only object in writing this is to try to show that the work to be done by : a Red Cross faociety is limited to the money and stores it receives and to the acceptance of their assistance by the military authorities. The weliarc of the able-bodied must be a separate organisation. Probably the -eport which was made to the Prime Minister and Si>* Joseph Ward of the work done by the New Zealand War Contingent Association will appear in the press about the same time as this should, and will,' I,trust, shdw to those who have subscribed to patriotic, Red Cross and other funds that nothing has been left undone at this end to caxry out. the objects they have had in view when making tneii liberal donations to these many funds.

SUMMING UP. "The points to which I wish to draw special attention are as follow:—(1) Rec Cross funds and goods can be used only for sick and wounded. (2) The War Con tillgent Association has up to the present car ned out this work by the aid of funds from the Patriot.c and Red Cross Societies, (o; If the New Zealand Red Cross Society wishes to extend its operations in the direction of establishing hospitals in England or of starting a Red Cross/ organisation in France they must bo. prepared to face a large expenditure, always, of course, assuming the military authorities wish sucii undertakings carried out."