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THE RED CROSS -x ENQUIRY BUREAU. The ited ,Crg?p.ss .lapga;'rutlraip. at.. tnagnificent ihumanitarian service :by maintaining its lnquiry Bureau for Prisoners of War. Missing and Woun ded, and so ending uncertainty and heart-breaking worry for hundreds of relatives, who through the Ilureau, hiteve been Dut in touch with " their menfolk who are interned In prisoner of war camps In enemy countries, are wounded or are missing. This ser vice is all the more -remarkable be cause the Red Cross makes alsolutely no chargo for any enquiries made through the Bureau. In addition there is no charge for postage of letters sent through the Bureau to prisoners of war, unless the sender wishes to send the letter Jty air-mall, In which catse there is a charge for the air-mall postage. Naturally there Is tremendous ex pense incurred by the prisoner . of war service which includes the main tenance of searcher units overseas, which explore every avenue in an on deavour to trace missing or wounded men; but this expense Is borne on tlrely by the Red Cross Society and not by the relatives or friends who wish to have nien traced. And, once a man has L~eo located ias a prisoner of war, the lied Cross, with no cost to relatives immediately I despatches an initial clothing parcel and a food parcel to him, and there after a food parcel is sent every week to each prisoner, and medical noteos sitles when needed. It costs the Australian Red Cross Society £1 a week to maintain tills prisoner of war parcel service, and as the Society has already received notification of more than 4,000) AnR trallan prisoners of war, the annual cost to the Society is now t208,000 a year, aind this figure will automati cally increase as more Australian l'i soners are notified. To meet this enormous expenditutre the ICed (t'ass launched its Adopt a Prisoner of War sctheme, which is receiving nntgnlfi cent support. By tills scheme ndillv Iduals or groups of peoplle adopt a prisoner of war for a week, a month, a year, or for the duration, att a cIHt of I. per week. So far Vitorltns have adopted 444 prisoners for tile duration, and 101 for one year, which means an Income of £31,112 to the Victorian Divilion of theI AuLstraltitan Red Cross Society for tile ensuliig year and an annual incomle of £23,140 guaranteed for tlhe duration to this branch of Red Cross work. But more than double that amnolnt is needed, for Victorian Divislon hats to provide 27 per cent. of the ex penditure of £200,000 to which the Australlian Red Cross Society is al ready committed for its services to prisoners of war, which means that Victorian Division has to provdlo ?50,100 annually until such time Ius all Australian prisoners of war ren safely back in their own country.

Digitisation generously supported by
State Library of Victoria
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