6 OCTOBER 1923, Page 3

We feel proud of the work that is being• done

by the Imperial War Relief Fund. The winter in the Near East wilL be full of suffering, famine and unnecessary death if help is not quickly forthcoming for the refugees, and this help is being organized by the Fund. It has always been the custom of Great Britain after a war to help those who are stricken, and to bind their wounds. When English- men have been the victors they have felt it not less, but rather more, of a duty to render this service. Distin- guished soldiers are among the most ungrudging workers in the Imperial War Relief Fund. We know that this is a most unfortunate time at which to ask for money ; the public is simultaneously being ordered to shoulder huge national' debts and being invited to help those in foreign countries who are threatened by destitution and mortal disease ; and all the time they may well be discouraged by the spectacle of other countries actually repudiating their just debts. None the less we feel it a duty to make this. appeal. Whatever we may think of the policy that brought the refugees of the Near. East into their present terrible condition the refugees themselves, who are for the most part ignorant peasants, women and children, had no part or lot in that policy. The offices of the Fund are at General Buildings, Aldwych, W.C. 2.