HELP FOR THE ABYSSINIAN WOUNDED [To the Editor of THE
SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—Since the Foreign Office has now withdrawn its objection and authorised an appeal in the Press, we lose no time in asking for funds for the purpose of equipping a Red Cross Unit to afford medical aid to the wounded in the war in Ethiopia. Though equally at the service of any Italian wounded or prisoners it will be primarily needed by the Ethiopians, who have no field ambulance and practically no medical aid at all.
The " British Ambulance Service in Ethiopia " has been accorded formal " recognition " by the Ethiopian Govern- ment and by His Majesty's Government under Articles 10 and 11 of the Geneva Convention, and His Majesty's Minister at Addis Ababa has been so informed. It is working in consultation with the International Red Cross at Geneva, and the British National Red Cross has given an assurance that any steps which they may take to help the Ethiopian Red .Cross will he taken in conjunction with the " British Ambulance Service in Ethiopia," which would be glad to be absorbed in Any such National movement.
The Executive Committee has already made preliminary arrangements so far as funds privately subscribed have permitted. It has secured a tentative panel of medical men, though further applications are invited. An officer has been despatched to recruit native personnel in Kenya and Uganda, for which the Colonial Office has given every facility. Another has gone to Addis Ababa to open communications with Harrar and Beibera. The Committee is represented at the capital by a missionary with some thirty years' standing, who is understood to have the complete confidence. of the Negus.
• It is estimated that the cost of a properly equipped Ambu- lance Unit, consisting of one Casualty Clearing Station and one Field-Hospital, with seven .medical men and the necessary native dressers, &e., including vehicles for transport, and maintenance for a period of three months in the field, will cost • about .£85,000. Each additional Casualty Clearing Station would cost a. further £10,000. There is no need to emphasise the extreme urgency now that war has actually broken out. • _
Funds will be under the control of British Committees in England and Ethiopia. Further particulars may be obtained from the Secretary, 33 Alfred • Place, South Kensington, S.W. 7. Cheques should be drawn in favour of the " British Ambulance Service in Ethiopia " and sent to A. W. Tuke, Esq. (Hon. Treasurer), Barclays Bank, 54 Lombard Street, London, E.C. 3.—We have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servants, COSMO CANTUATh, GEORGE LANSBURY,
LarnIAN, LUGARD.
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