OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1746, 10 May 1913, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

[BY Htgeia.] Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wisor to put up a. ff'ilco at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." government health campaign. In June, 1912, the Minister for Public Health, struck by the steady decline in the infantile death-rate, and recognising that the Society for tho Health of Women and Children was performing a beneficent public function wherever it had been established, decided that the work should be still further extended. For this purpose he arranged that Dr. I'uby King, the founder of the society, should bo relcasad from his other official duties in order' to undertake an extensive lecturing tour throughout the whole Dominion, with tho object of setting up permanent organisations ill every place visited, for the purpose of.carrying on the work. Local committees were to be formed in every township where a body of earnest women could be got together who would devote themselves to furthering the welfare of the women and children in their neighbourhood, in the direction indicated .by the aims and objects of the society, as set forth, REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEES. In the formation of committees special emphasis was laid on the necessity of members being as widely representative as possible, including all religious sects and all classes of the community. Prom one centre it was expected that a l'lunkot Nurse oould work the townships within a radius of 50 miles or so. The nuTse would" be resident at the centre, and would make periodical visits to the neighbouring towns and the outlying dis-, tricts, every week, every nonth, every quarter, or every six months or so according to circumstances. The local committee in each case would arrange matters before hand—visits to schools, mothers' meetings, demonstrations, homes to be visited, etc., —so that the utmost use could be made of the nurse's time Between the niuirse's visits the local committee would carry on the work. It is usually found possible in every community to secure one or two capable, large-hearted women who, having gained knowledge or received benefit themselves, prove able and willing to assist their neighbours. ' Besides the lectures and the establishment of committees and Plunket Nurses, the Minister for Public Health wished Dr. King to get into touch wtih the local newspapers in each centre, so that the circulation of tho society's "Out Babies" Column might be still further extended. LECTURING TOUR. Dr. and Mrs. King started on the campaign last July, and concluded it in December. Their idurneyings extended from Wharigarei and Dargavillo in tjio north to the Bluff and Orepuki in the south. Over 60 new committees were formed, making up the branches of the society to 70 in all. One hundred public lectures were delivered —most of them being illustrated irith lantern slides—and 26 committee . meetings were attended, where addresses were delivered, questions answered, and plans for working discussed. The newspaper editors were called on in the' various ; places visited, and, besides proving most sympathetic, practically all of them agreed to help on the work of the society by publishing the weekly "Our Babies" Column. In ■ localities where branches of the society already existed, meetings had bern arranged beforehand by the local committees. In order to-effect this, many of the members had gosne round tho country, at great personal expense and _ trouble, addressing meetings, arousing interest, and assuring good attendances by getting together committees to arrange matters ahead. This greatly facilitated the work of the lecturer, and added' much to tho success of the tour, as'most of the temporary committees formed the basis of the permanent associations. In districts where such preliminary .work had not been dona tho task was much harder, because leading people and those likely to be interested had to be sought out personally and interviewed, and all arrangements for lectures, etc., had to be made. However, in most places in' the Dominion the society already had. some ardent supporters, and many babies'were brought to the meetings who had been reared on the lines advocated by the Society for the Health of Women* and Children, or as the mother often put it. "He was brought up on the, Society's. Book." INCLINING AND TRAINING SCHOOL GIRLS FOR HOME LIFE. Every year more and more attention is ■being given by' the'society as a whole to co-operating with educational authorities with a view to kindling and quickening the interest, feeling, and capabilities of girls in the direction of ■ home life, especially in- matters affecting their own health and happiness and bearing on the care and nurture of babies and little children. In the course of their rccent tour of the Dominion, Dr. and Mrs. Truby King visited a number of schools, and addresses on "Health and Fitness" were given both to toys nnd girls. They found that by far the keenest interest and enthusiasm were manifested where girls were given a living demonstration oil babyhood, everything showp being referred directly or indirectly to a real live, winsome baby brought into the classroom for the purpose by-one of the society's nurses.' This has also been the experience where it has been tried by the Plniiket nurses themselves; and the master of one of our loading technical schools has assured us that tho influence, of a well-thought-out s.ym.pathetic- series of such talks' and practical demonstrations,' given by tho local Plunket nurse to the girls and young women of his own school proved, most welcome, attractive, and beneficent in its influence. Claw Builds Bomiv Babies.—Adrt.