•344 Royal Colonial Institute. 



accepted this offer, and after temporary use of the two ground floor rooms for various 

 services, eventually installed there the Voluntary Assistance Department. It is the 

 duty of this Department to arrange for Volunteer Recruiters to attend the various 

 Recruiting Meetings in London and district. The number of recruits thus enrolled 

 for Lord Kitchener's Army through the efforts of this Department amount to some 

 twenty thousand^ men. From November onwards the work of obtaining recruits for 

 special trades in^Lord Kitchener's Army almost entirely devolved upon this Depart- 

 ment, and it has been carried on with great success, sojne three hundred recruits per 

 week being obtained through its agency. The Department has undertaken certain work 

 unofficially. Amongst other duties under this category it has collected over one 

 thousand parcels of partly worn clothing for the use of British wounded crossing 

 f rona France. It has collected funds privately for varipus entertainments in the Camps, 

 under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association, which included a most 

 successful series of concerts given during the Christmas season for the Canadian 

 troops encamped on Salisbury Plain. A scheme is on foot to enlarge the sphere of 

 good work in this direction. 



It was foimd that many men on leave from the front arrive late at night to catch 

 trains from London early in the morning. With the help of the Young Men's Christian 

 Association the Department is arranging for the hiring of empty houses to provide 

 accommodation for such men as cannot be housed in the various Soldiers' Clubs and 

 Institutions. 



The Council of the Institute have been informed that, were it not for the accom- 

 modation afforded by the Institute in such close proximity to the London Recruiting 

 Headquarters in Scotland Yard, it would be impossible for the Department to carry 

 out its work with the present satisfactory results. 



The Army Council has expressed its warm thanks for the help the Institute has 

 afforded. 



The following members of the Staff of the Institute have joined the colours : — 

 Mr. C. Parry Jackson (Library Assistant) has entered the Inns of Court Officers' 

 Tmining Corps, and Mr. C. R. Woods (Clerk) is a private in the R.A.M.C. 



War Services Committee. 



• 



16. A War Services Committee was formed mainly for the purpose of dealing with 

 offers of service made by Fellows at home and abroad. A large number of Fellows 

 and their friends, especially from Overseas, have sought advice from this Committee ; 

 and its Honorary Secretary, Mr. Coleman P. Hyman, has been instrumental in placing 

 in the various Branches of Military Service over one hundred officers and men, 

 while a certain numbe;: have found civil employment. The Committee has also 

 assisted in the provision of a motor ambulance for use in London, which is worlcing 

 under the auspices of the Institute. 



Supplies of games and magazines were collected from Fellows and their friends by 

 Captain F. Southwell Piper, and forwarded to the Fleet ; a movement for sending 

 papers and periodicals was also inaugurated by him, and these have since been 

 supplied at the rate of over 80,000 per wee^ through the instrumentality of thje 

 London Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, copies of the current War 

 Numbers of the Institute Journal, "" United Empire," were sent to the ward room 

 of every battleship in the North Sea. Letters of thanks have been received from 

 Admiral Sir J. Jellicoe, the Commander-in-Chief, and from the Captains of the ships 

 comprising the North Sea Fleet. 



