§ 5. That the Ministry shall give the necessary instructions in order that the provisions of this Decree, of which the Red Cross Society will receive notification, may receive full application. »

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA.

Results of Membership Campaign. Very satisfactory results of the Membership Campaign, which started during the last week of May, were announced at a meeting of members which was held at Prague headquarters in June. M. Groh, who has been in charge of the campaign announced a total increase of over 165.000 members, which, added to the 43,000 obtained earlier in the year, and the original members, brought the total membership to approximately 250,000.

Preparations for the campaign were begun immediately upon the return of the delegates from the Geneva conference in March. Owing to the elections for the National Assembly, which came early in May, it was decided to postpone the opening of the campaign till the end of the month. Pamphlets for propaganda purposes were prepared in five languages, namely, Czech, German, Slovak, Hungarian and Russian. This literature, containing information, appeals and blank forms for use in the campaign, was sent to all mayors of towns and villages as well as to the various Red Cross chapters.

One of the factors which most contributed to the success of the campaign was the meeting of chapters, or branch organisations, held at Prague on May 16, which was attended by over a hundred delegates, representing 99 chapters, or slightly over fifty per cent of the entire Red Cross organisation. Owing to the difficulty and expense of travelling, it was impracticable for all branches to send delegates. Representatives of national and divisional headquarters brought the total attendance at this meeting to over a hundred and fifty.

In order to make known the object and plans of the Red Cross of CzechoSlovakia to all present, General Manager Linhart explained the democratic lines on which the society had been organised and the broad scope of the work undertaken. He also made a report of the Geneva conference to show the worldwide character of this movement. Mr. Wyckoff, of the League of Red Cross Societies, then presented plans for the organisation and development of the Red Cross of Czecho-Slovakia, which had already been approved at a meeting at headquarters. Copies of these plans were distributed to the delegates, who were requested to send suggestions regarding a proposed manual on chapter organisation. The delegates also received printed suggestions for the impending membership campaign, the various aspects of which were freely discussed. Finally Dr Alice Masaryk, President of the Czecho-Slovakian Red Cross, addressed the meeting, urging the delegates to appeal to the highest ideal of the people during the campaign and to demonstrate by personal example the true spirit of the Red Cross.

In organising this campaign many difficulties were encountered, some of which could not be overcome. The plan of using posters, which had been very successful during the first membership campaign a year earlier, had to be abandoned owing to the scarcity of paper. The same difficulty was experienced in the effort to supply badges and buttons. Many samples were furnished, but the cost seemed prohibitive, so that the plan of presenting members with Red Cross insignia had likewise to be abandoned.

Difficulties due to national problems in Czecho-Slovakia had also to be faced. It was found, however, that wherever the peace programme and broad purpose of the present Red Cross of Czecho-Slovakia were lucidly exposed and clearly comprehended, all nationalities joined in large numbers.

The minimum membership fee was fixed at 6 Kronen, other grades of membership ranging from 50 Kronen upwards.

The experience gained by this campaign has proved the necessity of early preparation, the force of educational appeal to the people, and the fact that local success depends largely on the existence of a Red Cross branch.

The Fight against Epidemics. Details of Colonel Longley's mission to

Czecho-Slovakia will be found in the present Bulletin 1. In this connection the League has received a letter from the Chairman of the Czecho-Slovakian Red Cross, of which the following is an extract:

<< With respect to the task before us, we have the honour of informing you that your programme for the fight against epidemics in Slovakia and the Russian Carpathians has been approved by our Central Committee. Lieutenant-Colonel Jindra, representative of the Czecho-Slovakian Red Cross, of the Health Department of the Ministry of National Defence and of the Ministry Hygiene, has been charged with the execution of the programme. The Czecho-Šlovakian Red Cross has subscribed the sum of 1,000,000 crowns Cz. towards the campaign. »

Government School for Nurses. - The following contract has been passed between the Government, represented by the Minister of Health, and the CzechoSlovakian Red Cross regarding the administration of the Government School for Nurses at Prague :

Article 1. The Minister of Health charges the C.-S. R. C. with the administration of the Czech section of the Government Nurses for a period of two years from the date of the signature of this contract.

Article 2. During this period the Red Cross shall be responsible for the administration and direction of the School. As regards the maintenance of this School, the Government shall supply the necessary funds to meet the Budget of 1920, and shall also supply certain funds for the years 1921 and 1922.

Article 3. The subsidy for the maintenance of this School shall be paid in advance four times per annum ; namely, on October 1, January 1, April 1, and July 1.

Article 4. The School shall be placed under the control of a Committee appointed by the Board of Directors of the C.-S. R. C., which includes three University professors and Dr. Kulhavy, or his successor in the Ministry of Health. Article 5. The School shall continue to be called "Government School for Nurses".

Article 6. The programme of instruction shall undergo certain modifications which shall be submitted for the approval of the Government for directing and supervising the examinations.

Article 7. The Government requests the Red Cross if possible to keep its present personnel. Should the Red Cross desire to engage new employees for a period exceeding the two years of its administration, the Ministry of Health must be consulted.

Article 8. The Red Cross shall look after pupils of the School and allow them to live in the School provided their character and conduct satisfy the regulations of the Institution.

Article 9. The Red Cross shall authorize certificated nurses working at the General Hospital to live in the School until the Director shall have found other quarters for them; they must, however, conform to the rules of the Institution. Article 10. Should it seem necessary, the C.-S. R. C. shall require that pupils of the School serve a three-years apprenticeship in the state hospitals. The Director of the School shall send nurses to the different hospitals directed by the Ministry of Health.

Article 11. When certificated nurses are employed in state hospitals, the Minister of Health shall demand a report on their work, their qualifications and their character. These reports must be sent by the Director of the hospitals where they are employed to the Director of the School.

DENMARK.

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Meeting of the Board. At the last Meeting of the Board the Chairman gave an outline of the work accomplished by the first General Council of the League of Red Cross Societies held in Geneva in March, 1920, at which the Danish Red Cross was represented by its Chairman and Dr. Madsen.

The following Resolution was passed:

"The Board of Directors desires to emphasise the importance of what is being done by the Society in Denmark on behalf of nursing; despite the present 1 See page 28.

unfavourable situation, this work should be intensified. The Board will request a subsidy from the Government and has decided that if this is granted, a portion of the sum shall be devoted to helping needy sick people to obtain the necessary treatment."

The various sections of the Red Cross will have an automobile at their disposal which will be used acccording to special regulations on this subject.

The Board will pay special attention to the organising and training of a staff of nurses for Home Nursing; their collaboration in case of epidemics will be of great value. The Board has applied to Dr. Svendsen, Member of the Board of Governors of the League of Red Cross Societies, requesting him to draw up a plan of education for these nurses.

FRANCE.

« L'Association des Dames Françaises » (A. D. F.) and Child Welfare. - The « Association des Dames Françaises » did not wait for the termination of the war to take up the question of Child Welfare.

Already in 1918 an appeal was sent out to the Committees in the liberated districts advising them to help the inhabitants and especially to look after the children. Soon afterwards other reorganized Committees recognized the necessity of giving special assistance to newly born infants whose mothers on account of privations were unable to nourish them.

Numerous consignments of medicine, condensed milk, children's foods, layettes and even cradles were sent out. In addition to this, the Commission for helping the liberated territories decided to contribute a certain sum of money to each of the Committees in order to enable them to supply meat tickets to needy mothers. Dispensaries for infants, milk stations, etc., were created or reconstituted in many points of the liberated territories. Although often somewhat primitive, these institutions render great service. Furthermore generous donations made it possible to receive a large number of children in convalescent homes in the mountains or at the sea-side. The Committees make a point of helping municipalities whose financial resources are insufficient for reconstituting Child Welfare works.

In Paris a Central Committee accepted the offer of Dr. Ancelet, who has charge of an Infants' Home and has placed at its disposal a staff of its best nurses who are anxious to perfect themselves in Child Welfare work. Following the directions of the doctors, these nurses will visit mothers in their homes and will endeavour to help them in their work and to give them moral and material assistance.

One of the principal aims of this organisation is to encourage breast feeding which is too often neglected. A ration of sterilised milk is provided for children, reared on mixed or artificial milk feeding.

GREAT BRITAIN.

British Red Cross and its peace programme. Having terminated its war activities, the British Red Cross is to-day devoting itself entirely to its peace programme which it is endeavouring to extend as far as possible in order to meet all present-day requirements. This programme, the main object of which is to ensure the health and welfare of all the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, is summarized in a letter signed by H.M. Queen Alexandre and by H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught, Grand Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and contains the following passage:

« During that period (of the war) a vast number of workers, both men and women, throughout the whole Empire gave unwearying and devoted service to this cause, and it was natural that, when peace came, there should be a general feeling that an organisation such as this, founded on the voluntary efforts of those whose object was the relief of suffering and distress, should not be disbanded or allowed to disappear. »

At the beginning of the war the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem each worked separately; soon, however, these two institutions joined their efforts and resources and worked together under the general direction of a Joint War Committee. Recently by a formal agreement this Committee, which had been created solely for war work, has been replaced by a Joint Council. This Council possesses full power to act in all matters connected with the improvement of health, the prevention of disease, and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world.» (Extract from Article 25 of the Covenant of the League of Nations).

The Joint Council is now making an earnest appeal to the public for a continuance of the generous support given to the Joint War Committe. In this connection the letter above referred to contains the following passage:

<< It is our earnest hope that those who in peace time are in suffering or distress will learn in the same way to look to the White Cross of St. John and the Red Cross for comfort and relief, and will feel, when helped by the Order of St. John and the British Red Cross Society, that they are not receiving anything in the nature of charity, but only the just and proper tribute from those who are enjoying health and strength to their fellow men and women who are less fortunate than themselves. >>

British relief organizations intend to continue for a certain period some of their war activities, such as, for example: the treatment of tuberculosis, particularly as regards demobilized sailors and soldiers, whether they have contracted the disease on active service or otherwise; financial and other support of voluntary civilian hospitals which, on account of the war, have had to multiply their efforts; institutions of which the object is to supply essential equipment to hospitals and nursing homes, child welfare, support of all forms of nursing, etc.

The Joint Council will also continue to distribute the funds at its disposal to all these various organizations; at the same it considers that it is necessary to make an immediate appeal to the public for funds to support its new activities. The well-known generosity of the British public makes it certain that this appeal will not be in vain.

Conditions of membership.

Ist

The Council has decided that from June, 1920, the conditions of life membership and membership of the Society shall be determined as follows:

Life members shall be those who make a payment of £20 to the Headquarters Fund of the Society.

Members shall be those who pay not less than 4/4 annually to the funds of the Society, either direct to Headquarters or through one of its recognised Branches.

Members of Volontary Aid Detachements raised by the British Red Cross Society who were elected Honorary Members and Honorary Associates of the Society prior to the above date in recognition of five or two years' service respectively, will remain Members or Associates of the Society without payment of subscriptions so long as they remain enrolled as Members of a Detachment raised by the Society. Members of Voluntary Aid Detachments who had on the above date completed one year's service, will be entitled to the same position on the completion of five or two years' service as they would have held under the original scheme for the recognition of service by enrolment as Honorary Members and Honorary Associates.

Red Cross Sunday. The Joint Committee of the British Red Cross and St. John of Jerusalem have decided to make a special effort during October and November for funds with which to carry out the work among the ex-soldiers and sailors who are still in need of treatment, and also to assist the home civil hospitals and curative institut ons.

It is hoped that the collections on one Sunday throughout the Kingdom will be given to the Joint Societies and an appeal urging this has been signed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, by Cardinal Bourne and by the heads of all the free churches. The date chosen is Sunday, November 14th. The money

from these collections will be shared with the Imperial War Relief Fund, which, in connection with the League of Red Cross Societies, is dealing with the typhus scourge.

Death of Lady Maria Welby. - The Red Cross cause has suffered a most serious loss by the death of Lady Maria Welby, president of the South Lincolnshire Branch. She has been responsible for Red Cross organisation in South Lincolnshire ever since 1907, when the Lincolnshire County Branch was first started, with the late Countess Brownlow as its president, and Lady Maria Welby as deputy-president for the Southern division of the county. In April 1916, South Lincolnshire was given a separate and independent county status, and a year later, on the death of Lady Brownlow, Lady Maria was formally appointed its president. During all these years, both of peace and of war, she laboured with sustained enthusiasm and energy for the furtherance of the Red Cross cause in the county, and achieved remarkable success.

GREECE.

Red Cross Workshops. — The Greek Red Cross has informed the League of the manner in which its workshops are organised. Though not in constant use, they are always ready for work and are at the disposal of the League for making clothes. In agreement with the Patriotic League of Athens, the Society has decided to supply 15,000 garments made with the cloth sent by the League and following the latter's instructions.

ITALY.

New Articles of Association of the Italian Red Cross. As already stated, the Italian Red Cross initiated its peace work by a complete revision of its Articles of Association, the former Articles, dated February 1911, being no longer suitable to the existing situation. The new Articles, approved by royal decree of May 9, 1920, have recently been published and were approved by the Ministers of War and Marine on January 21 of the current year.

Without going into questions of detail, we will here quote the most important amendments.

The principal objects of the Italian Red Cross are the following: in times of war, in its capacity of auxiliary service of the Department of Health of the armies by land and by sea, to render assistance by every means in its power to the sick and wounded; in times of peace, to render assistance in all cases of public disaster, to develop its welfare activities for the benefit of the inhabitants, in all cases acting in harmony with the official authorities; to co-operate with the various humanitarian and social activities dictated dy the requirements of public health.

The new Articles of Association define this part of the programme, suggesting that the Society should:

Render assistance in case of earthquakes, floods, epidemics, etc.

Organise and direct permanent and provisional welfare activities in favour of the urban and rural populations, more especially with regard to the needy classes. Combat the spread of malaria, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, trachoma etc., by encouraging scientific research and educational methods of prophylaxy and treatment through the creation of special Welfare Departments, and by founding Hospitals and Ambulances.

Intensify all Child Welfare activities (a special Chapter of the Society, as well as of the various Committees, is reserved for this activity); at the request of the authorities, to help in improving conditions in crowded districts.

To co-operate with the International Red Cross Societies of other countries in the Campaign against epidemics.