The Central Committee, at a later date, will call a conference of the active personnel during the Russo-Japanese War for the purpose of discussing the active work there accomplished, its mistakes and the improvements to be realized in future. Questions in regard to the convoys of the evacuation of the wounded, field treatment, etc., are among the most important subjects to be considered. The Society, which renders’ aid after calamities, pestilence, famine, floods, etc., has lately been asked to aid a leper colony at Yanburg. Its Central Committee decided that leprosy was too rare to be considered an epidemic and so declined to take charge of this institution, but to testify its interest in this humanitarian work it decided to appropriate for its support $5,000 annually. SWITZERLAND. Two delegates of the Swiss Red Cross, Dr. de Maval and Mr. Pluckiger, were sent promptly to Naples to take charge of the distribution of several carloads of supplies forwarded from Switzerland. They proceeded, under the suggestion of the Italian Red Cross, first to Melito, in Calabria, where they established headquarters. After the distribution in Calabria they continued this relief in Sicily, where, at Syracuse, they found the German and the American Red Cross at work. Besides the clothing and the supplies that were distributed, the material and erection of some forty houses at Reggio were provided. A total relief fund of $90,000 was raised in Switzerland. THE NETHERLANDS. The Red Cross of the Netherlands has suffered a serious loss in the death of the President of its Central Committee, Baron de Hardenbrock de Bergambacht. For forty-one years he had been a member of the committee, and during all that time he devoted himself with all his heart to the interests of the Society. In 1870 he went as chief to the First Dutch Red Cross Ambulance in the Franco-Prussian War. He represented his Society at the International Conference of 1887 at Carlsruhe, 1892 at Rome, 1897 at Berne, 1902 at St. Petersburg and 1907 at London. In 1899 and 1901 he was very active in the preparation and forwarding of six fully equipped Dutch Red Cross Ambulances for the war in the Transvaal. His delight was to work without ostentation for the Red Cross in its humanitarian mission. He merits well a place in the annals of the Red Cross of the Netherlands as one of its most worthy and noble supporters. _The Red Cross Needs Members—Will You Not Be One?_ Annual Membership, $ 1.00 Life Membership, 25.00 For address of your State Branch, see Third Page of Cover If there is no Branch in your State, send your application to the NATIONAL SECRETARY, Room 341, State, War and Navy Bldg., Washington, D. C. * * * * * Instantaneous