UNKNOWN

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14711, 28 July 1921, Page 3

UNKNOWN

EUROPE’S STARVING CHILDREN. WITHOUT FOOD Oil CLOTHING. CONSUMPTION AND RICKETS RIFE. There is still a very pressing need for food and clothing for the millions of children in European countries who are on the verge of death by starvation. While the great British imperial effort, of about twelve months ago, was very noble, and did much to relieve the tremendous misery and suffering, Hie funds Unis collected were sufficient to last for a time only, and a ft filler appeal is now being made, this lime ehielly for clothing. A committee of ladies in Wellington lias undertaken to renovate, repair and pack old or worn out clothing, and doubtless a committee will shortly bo established in Hamilton to undertake similar work on behalf of these millions of poor, ■suffering innocents. In the meantime any donations of either money or clothes may be sent to Mr F. A. dc la Marc, solicitor, Hamilton.An idea of the condition of Germany, which is probably suffering less than some of the other countries of Central Europe', may be gained from an article in the Graphic by Mr Scotland Liddell, who speaks about the sad conditions in Germany, especially in the closely populated towns and industrial centres. According lo his report Hie figures in connection with tuberculosis and other diseases, resulting from under-nourishment, arc ap railing. In Solingen, for instance, he saya, one-third of all children entering schools are consumptive. In ' Saxony the figures are even worse. The school board m Dessau reported that one-third of the children had no underclothing. In a Berlin school half the boys were found to have no shirts and half the girls had no decent underclothing. Many children cannot go to school for want of clothing.

The great Catholic organisation, Carilas Vercin, to which all Catholic charitable insUitulions belong, reports (hat 800 of lliesc institutions with 17,000 children dependent on them ai’c in danger of bankruptcy. Good work is being done, the whiter goes on to say, by the Salvation Army, the Society of Friends, the German Children's Aid Society and others, but much more needs to be done and further help is required. “If help for Germany," says Scotland TJiddcil, “were a mere' mailer of charity, I do not think I would have written tills article. Not because my memory is very good,-—-I am very fond of little children, and them I cannot hate—out because I not only believe, that charity should begin at home but should stay there so long there is any need of it. But the saving of these children is something more than charity. It is a question of economics. It is a matter of great international importance. “In the commerce of the world Germany lias to play her part—Germany must buy and Germany must sell. For the moment Germany is down and out. One can still cite the arrogance of the few, but against this there is the suffering of the many. And children are—just children. When one considers all these innocent consumptive miles, thesc rickety and deformed youngsters one sees how very dreary is Germany’s outlook to-day. For tlic sake of Europe, for the sake if I lie world, for the sake of the future of our own country—lt is vital that Ihcse German children get the chance to live."