28 MAY 1904, Page 2

An interesting summary of the work done by the Macedonian

Relief Fund appeared in Monday's Times. In all a sum of £30,000 has been collected throughout the country for the relief of distress in Macedonia, £25,000 of which has been dis- tributed by the agents of the Fund. Owing to the greater need and the greater devastation prevailing in the vilayet of Monastir, the work of the Fund was limited to that district, where over a hundred Bulgarian villages had been burned down, and where Mr. Brailsford and his wife remained in charge of the distribution of relief from October till April. His final Report shows that from first to last upward of fifty thousand persons were relieved with food, clothing, and money, with the result that after the arrival of the relief agents no single case of death from starvation occurred. Mr. Brailsford notes that relief was distributed without distinction of race or creed, and that the co-operation was secured of American Protestant missionaries, French Sisters of Charity, who showed untiring energy and splendid courage, and the Lazarist Mission. With regard to the surplus £5,000, the Committee has wisely decided to hold it in reserve. It was originally intended to devote it to the pur- chase of plough-oxen ; but in view of the risk of a further rising, such a gift would only have tempted marauders. Mr. Brailsford renders full justice to the courage and devotion of the ladies and gentlemen who assisted him,—Lady Thompson, Miss Bruce, Miss Durham, and the Rev. L. Bond and the Rev. E. Haskell, of the American Mission.