BRITISH RED CROSS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 12

BRITISH RED CROSS

PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT PRISONERS' CHRISTMAS PARCELS LONDON, Aug. 18. Every day in Oxford street voluntary workers of the Red Cross and St. John War Organisation are packing 3000 Christmas parcels for British a:id dominion prisoners of war. Somr; of the 72.000 to be sent will be received by New Zealanders. When the Prime Minister, Mr Peter Fraser. visited the centre in the course of a morning devoted to seeing the organisation's centres in London, he expressed his thanks on behalf of the people of New Zealand for the " very fine work " the volunteers were doing. Mr Fraser was accompanied by Mr W. J. Jordan, the High Commissioner, Colonel Bernard Myers, London commissioner of the New Zealand Red Cross and St. John Organisation, and Mr C. B. Burdekin, of New Zealand House. He was received by Majorgeneral Sir John Kennedy, vice-chair-man of the London headquarters, and Sir Ernest Burdon, deputy chairman. Before going to the packing centre the Prime Minister inspected 16 ambulances drawn up in Belgrave square. It was a rain-washed summer morning, and the long line of khaki-col-oured vehicles, each with neat Red Crosses, was backed against a treeshaded pavement. In front of eacn vehicle stood Red Cross Ambulance drivers, all women, in their smart blue uniforms, grey stockings, white-banded hats, and immaculate white gloves. The first vehicle the Prime Minister saw was a mobile X-ray unit. His left hand was X-rayed; by the time he had >:nded his inspection the negative was ready for him to examine. He was interested to learn that the unit was the only one of its kind in London during last winter's blitz. It dealt

with 800 cases all over London, and proved its value when the apparatus at St. Thomas's Hospital was put out of order temporarily by the effect of bombing. This same unit was also taken to Coventry after the severe raid on that city, and there again it was needed at the • hospital. Mr Fraser learned that these X-ray units cost some £ISOO to £IBOO, and that there will soon be 20 at work throughout Great Britain. Mr Fraser walked down the line of ambulances, and was interested tohear that each was a gift. One had been bought by funds subscribed in San Diego and another was a present from Brazil. Some had room for two stretchers, others for four. A "Flying Column " unit included a canteen for the wounded. This is even stocked

with babies' food, a soup tureen and a kerosene stove. It was complete to every detail —a dustbin, a broom, a mop and dish towels. Another vehicle contained medical stores. It had neat rows of bins, and Mr Fraser was shown how 50 blankets were stored in the smallest possible space. He noted that some of the vehicles had left-hand drives, and was told that some were American and Canadian,-- and others-Ergiish-built. The Prime Minister talked with the drivers, and heard that the Red Cross women ambulance drivers numbered 200, while 150 are attached to the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Pie also chatted to one of the girls who is a motor cyclist. Her uniform differed from that of the drivers; she wore navy blue riding trousers and black gaiters.

Before going to the packing centre in Oxford street, the Prime Minister inspected the Red Cross and St. John Medical Stores Department. There he saw medical supplies that will be distributed to hospitals and convalescent homes in all parts of the world He was also shown a packing case full of cigars, sent as a present by the Cuban Red Cross to Mr Winston Churchill. At the Dacking centre Mi Fraser was met by Lord Revelstoke who is the general manager for thv organisation's 15 centres throughout Great Britain. Together, they walked down a corridor of piled cases into the packing room. There he saw women volunteers at long tables working on " mass production " methods.

Each completed parcel he saw contained packets of chocolate and rye biscuits, Boz of chocolate, a tinned Christmas pudding, tins of jam. margarine, roast rjork. steak and tomatoes, and condensed milk. Also included were a 4oz packet of sugar, 2oz of tea, and a Christmas fruit cake. Every parcel contained a sprig of imitation holly and a greetings card stating: "Best wishes and Christmas greetings from the British Red Cross Packing Centres "

There was an air of cheerfulness in the large room, and gramophone music sounded above the clicking of the tins of food and the rustling of coloured straw-cellophane paper with which each bpx was lined. The Prime Minister saw every "department" and followed the boxes from the time the first tin was placed in them until they were neatly tied with binder twine and stacked into canvas bags. One of the volunteers was Mrs Porritt (formerly of Wanganui). the wife of Lieutenant-colonel A. E. Porritt, the Rhodes Scholar and former Olympic Sprinter, who served with the R.A.M.C in France and is now in the Middle East. Mr Fraser was able to tell her that he had met her husband in Egypt and that they Lad enioyed a talk together

In expressing his admiration for the work thev were doing. Mr Fraser told the volunteers that they were working for New Zealand boys as well as other British boys. and. speaking for the people of New Zealand, he said that the Dominion was very much indebted to them. "I will carry back with me as adequate a picture" as T can." Mr Fraser told them, "of the verv fine work you are doing here, and I should like to congratulate you on your very fine organisation."