WORK FOR HUMANITY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 177, 28 June 1937, Page 6

WORK FOR HUMANITY.

RED CROSS SOCIETY. ACTIVITIES OVERSEAS. “Too many people regard the Red Cross Society as a necessary agency only in time of Avar, but it has. an important mission to humanity in times of peace, too,” said Dr. Gillies, of AV'ellington, Dominion chairman of the society, in the course of a brief address at the annual meeting of the Palmerston North branch on Saturday evening. On his arrival at St. Andrew’s Hail, where the meeting ivas held, Dr. Gillies was met by a guard of honour provided by some’ 40 neatly uniformed nurses, and he took an early opportunity of stating liow inspired he ivas at the general appearance of the parade. The chairman, Mr A. J. Graham, mid that although Dr. Gillies was a ,-ery busy man professionally, he found dine to take an active interest in Red Cross work. “He is one of those men, and there are too feA\- in the tvorld to-day,” said the speaker amid applause, “avlio are happy in making sacrifices for the common good.” Dr. Gillies confined his remarks to the experiences he had encountered ibroad last year and his contact Avith I he Red Cross movement in other parts j,l' the world. He said that there Averc 34,000,000 nurses attached to the League of Red Cross Societies in the ivorld —l6,ooo,ooo seniors and 18.000,000 juniors—and the movement avas growing with the scope of its work. “In these days of ,var, rumours of Avar and preparation for war,” be declared, “added interest is being taken in tlie Red Cross, and an the Continent almost as much attention is being paid to tlie society as to the army, and that is as it should oe, because just as a strong army is essential in Avar so is a strong Red Cross dh'ision essential to allcvate the -suffering Avliicli must obviously folIoAV.” He said that in Italy the Red Cross was a particularly active force, and he AA-ent on to describe activities in other countries. But, continued Dr. Gillies, while the Red. Cross nurse was rightly described as the “Rose of No-Man’s Land,” she was even more; she Avas a poAver for good in times of peace. On the Continent. for instance, the Red Cross conducted institutions which were the equivalent of our Ncav Zealand health camps, and in a thousand other ways were easing tlie burdens of the poor and suffering. He did not think that in this country the Red Cross would ever develop on the same lines, as there would never be the same need; but it nevertheless had a big place in the community. He instanced occasions when the training of a nurse proved invaluable to the medical profession in times of emergency, and of the lives which were sai-ed and suffering alleviated in times of national or seminational disaster. Dr. Gillies ivas accorded a hearty A’ote of thanks for his talk.