TIMELY HELP.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17122, 18 April 1921, Page 8

TIMELY HELP.

, PLUNKET SOCIETY'S WORK. SALVATION ARMY'S PINE RECORD Evidence was given before the Hospitals Commission at Wellington on Friday" concerning the valuable work which is being done by the Plunket Society and the Salvation Army. The Karitane Hospitals, said Dr. Truby Ring, Director of Child Welfare, were rather in the nature of educa- j tioiial institutions than of ordinary hospitals. Our schools needed and rightly received more State aid than our . hospitals ; and "schoMs-for-mothers, though called "hospitals," doing hospital work, should do regarded largely m the light of education—education for parenthood and the care of children. The main part of the work of the Plunket Society was _of an educational character. He briefly reviewed the . history of the Karitane Hospitals, which, he considered, the most tar-reaching and beneficent part of tho work of the. Society. In Dunedin the hospital trained the .Domestic Science Students and Medical • Students in regard to infant welfari, besides doing the training for Plunket Nurses. At all times the Society welcomed visits by the public to the hospitals to receive instruction in regard to the care of children. Schoolgirls were also .welcomed .and taught. At" the Karitane Hospittdj Dunedin, they had at the momentv twenty-nine .nurses in framing, Bome of these being' for Australia, the Karitane Hospitals were intended in the,first, place as schools for mothers, the object being to show how best, | healthy, happy children could be. reared, with no more.equipment and expense than people in ordinary homeß could afford. The Society had three hospitals—-o*e at Dunedin, . one Christchuroh, and one at Wanganui—and the;grants to these lasVyear, Uicluding heavy capital" expenditure-for extensions,' totalled aboiit -£2760. They had in»all fifty-tbree branches employing over .fifty nurses. He knew that the Society woijld very strongly object to being brought under the control of the hospital, boards m the various "districts, as had- been suggested to the Commission. Indeed, v< though .8B general president he had great influence with' .the Society, it would he-beyond his power to get the committees to agree 1 to that, even if he thought'it desirable hiniaelf—which ho' did not—to agree to that. By its:nursing work, bv correspondence, and by its jffopaganda, he . thought the Plunket Society reached 'and influenced practically all the mothers in, the Dominion. He considered that five years from now. they would require, nearly 100 nurses in au to cover the ground; and that-would mean doubling the present subsidy. A hundred woaldbe the maximum. _lt might be only 76. Replying to Dr. Valintine, he said that the Society was asking" for a total subsidy of £IO,OOO for the next year, including new buildings and hospital maintenance. • Colonel James HI Bray, of the_ Salvation, Army, Baid that .the institutions thev chieflv desired to bring under the notice of the . Commission were the rescue or women's industrial homes, the men's' industrial Homes, .-the maternity homes,/and the children's orphanages.. They had, four rescue homes; one in each centre, providing in, all accommodation for 181-women,;.,three men's industrial homes, accommodating about 40 .men eachsix maternity homes (one each in the four chief centres and Napier arfd Gißborne), in which 378 children were born during.the 'past year, a considerable ; percentage of . the- mothers being unmarried;. and the .children's hemes for boys and girls—.Auckland (2), Hamilton f Putaruru, Eltham, Wellington (2), Teimika, Dunedin (2) r -supplying accommodation for between 400 and 600 children. In addition, they had their • Samaritan work—the visitation of the i sick , atid needy, and affording quick relief. The State subsidy they received Was £950 a year, covering , all their work. The amount of the subsidy fixed 20 to 25 years ago, since when tneir institutional work, especially, the maternity homes,' had more than doubled. Dr. Valintine, Director of Public Health, spoke in the highest terms of the work done by the. Salvation Army,' and especially drew attention > to their willingness to take in cases which , other institittions wera hot willing to receive. The Salvation-Army assisted the Health Department in every possible way, and in view of that he thought an increase of subsidy <}nite justified.

- (neon ouk omr odwbwiiwib.) LONDON, March 8. Ramming was the only method *vhieh was found at all effective.

Nets wero tried, but by 'themwlvaa they were not sufficient to overcome the' danger. Even the Channel net was soon passed by the Germans. The thing that settled the submarine ■ was the depth charge. Those four interesting pointe relat* ed to the warfare on submarines, aad they were mentioned by Mr Kerley, K.C., on behalf of Mr L. D. Newitt, ( chief electrical engineer of Chatham dockyard, whoso claim came before tin Royal Commission oh Awards to la- ' ventors this week. v , \ Mr Kerley mentioned that his dkafc had turned out a large number of |S> ventions, and during tho war £300,000 "was spent directly in carrying ottt ip» paratus devised by him. He pot for- : Ward claims in respect of 22 inventions, of which eleven were submitted to the Commission, and he was now proceeding with regard to only six of them. Ftor - his hydraulio gear for the release at depth charges lie wbb paid on account £IOO, and £250 on general account in respect of the others, and he also re* ' ceived £IOO from the United StltN 4 Navy for their u«e of the depth chugs apparatus, a*total of £460. His, Mlirr» 5 was £BOO a year, plus war bonus. In/ J respect of this invention, and also tht hydraulio . system of searchlights, nb> l stantial awards ought to be giveir t Dealing with the hydrauha -d«Ui * charge mechanism, Mr Kerley raid wnafc J tho moosce become nwrioiil great difficulty was found in -dealing 5, ?nth the danger. The essentials of the # depth charge were its instant release stS a given fc>bint; otherwise danger to following vessels. problem was successfully overootne tojs the applicant, and 2800 were cooptewl at a total coat of £116,000, , |§ Mr Moritz (for the Crown) paredto.admitthat this WasarwiWttO invention, and it had now become etfcß|t| yard practice. Hie real merit wsrjg| suggesting hydraulic release. ' TbeaHggl jnirolty were agreed that the dengffll was deserving or an award of i Mj stantial amount. , Dealing with improvements ln cireMSH breakti'B "for ,nse in gun-cijfCttits t Kerley said .the essence of this wftrmgO when filing a broadside or necessary that all thegund rapaHUgH 6ff at ( the.same instant, ana this HHbIM complished. Die suzh of about was speht on this BBEi miralfcy agreed that the ih'KAiti6tnHK|n considerable value, and thntJCßif»jll| ventor was entitled to &ome award.*Wßßi eequehtly "iniprovements in cienMH soldering irond" were mentioned. Mr Justice Sargent considered JjWj| matter to be so insignificant and and so much within the scope of jtXfll duties of the inyentor that it tbmudjgg noi have been presented-to the sion. 1 If they were to give hwaidl w| such casos they, would have hundreds thousands of applications from Wor*||| men all over the country. - Referring to another invention, Krj|j| Justice Savant remained: "UntiTa fs#M months ago economy n» a ifatN "{KM had entirely gone out of fashion, aad&|g| was .thought that most people _a]tfglji| carry on exactly as they «g§| without regard tb that considefantfw|l| but there is a different state of min^ °°With . regard to the hydraulic systtfiS of searchlight, Mr Kerley said k uiAt solved the important question of seaiw||j light control. . Commander firnf the invention was of real service (n tttll early part of the war, 'but it had leon superseded by a different foßQ,6i|||j control gear. ...