"A GOOD AND GREAT WORK."

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2199, 11 July 1914, Page 14

"A GOOD AND GREAT WORK."

THE PLUNKET SOCIETY.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS;

AN IMPORTANT PROPOSAL.

Bequests for further Government assistance to the Plunket Society for the Health of Women, and Children were laid before the Prime Minister by a deputation from the society's conference which has-been' sitting in Wellington for some days past. . . . . Mr. T. IC. Sidey, M.P., in introducing the deputation, said that the value of the ■.society's work was recognised not; .only in New Zealand but in other countries. •■...■■•'■ .".- '. ■■■■ • Di\ Truby Kingr Mrs. Paikcs'said-that she was there at the request of the 40 delegates to the conference of -the' society nt Wellington, particularly to: place before tho Prime Minister a resolution which had been carried unanimously. It was that Dr. Truby King should be freed from his duties.at..SeacHff Mental Hospital, >and bo. allowed to devote himself wholly to the great work for the health of women and children. They believed that this would. be in the best interests of every woman ami for thogood of future generations. .This application was based on general requests all over New Zealand from .parts of the country where they had not yet. societies, and .would'like to have the. help-of the society. As showing the successful, results already l attained. Mrs. Parkes■ mentioned that the death-rote ofinfants in New Zealand: was the lowest in the world. They , were not satisfied with this, and were determined that every woman in the Dominion should pos-, s'ess the knowledge, which'was absolutely essential for.-herself, the well-being ofher child, and tho well-being of the race. This was decidedly.a patriotic movement. Fifteen hundred women were working on the society in New Zealand, and: the forty, delegates, represented these 1500 women. They .knew that it- was a' tremendous thing toask that Dr. Turby King should be enabled to devote himself wholly to the .work of the society, and if this were not .-possible," the Government would perhaps allow. the> society to havo him for three months in the year:" The.St. Helens hospitals' in , .many cases, .would benefit by -lecture? from -Dr. King, 'and. the nurse's 'from ..these institutions went all over: the' cities and in .many other, places. ■.■:•'■:',-":•.'■: '.-■'■: Pure-Milk Supply, , '■'.-'. ■ ■"Mγ.'.'lTy.ers. raised, the question' of milk supply' from' -the;, point: of■•. view. ; of . the effects . of:. germ'-laden; -milk" on.in fonts. They.desired-that the. Government should do everything, possible to : ensure a pure' milk,'supply..' Reports .received.by the' (society from' many parts of th'e Dominion, particularly from' districts with ' a warm climate, demonstrated the. harmful effects ol impure milk. The Auckland milk supply, Mrs. Myers stated, was very bad.. : ■■■ '■■- ■'■■ .;.'■;.. .■:'.■'■.. .- ■ ... : -, :: ' ,Th» Karitane' Hospital. ; ■ Mrs.' Theomin spoke ' on ■ behalf.- of ; the. Duriedin branch of the society, and the Karitane' Hospital. ■'.' She said that sis J ears previously she had applied., to Sir .:.<>.-Ward) .then Prime Minister,' foT an annual, grant. of ,£soo' for Karitane., Ho haij said that no'.. man with . a heart in him could'refuse, to help them in their, ■\vcrk, . -arid eventually the , grant was ' made. They were now going to ask the' Urime Minister, to ■ double the erant.-i The work' had grown tremendously." For tho year ended -April. 30, 1908, their exSenditure at Karitane totalled ,£7G7. For ae ' year . ended March 31,. 1914, it auidunted to' i>2274. . Kyery penny that was expended was; thoroughly .'well','considered,- and;nothing was wasted. The number of, babies at the .hospital .had increased -from''. 34 in' , the? first'year' : to. 128, and. they could have- accommodated a great many niore, but that they~<»ould not allow:the.nurses.to have.too-much to do. If they had many babies to : loot after it interfered with -their studies; Last year they the: hospital.47.nurses, ■14 '■•■'■ of .whom- r qualified -~ as ;■ Pluhket nurses, and 9 . as- -K-aritane -nurses They had 700 subscribers in: Dunedin, and everything was-done in an honorary way ■excepf.the;work of the nurses-at the hospital. They paid for nothing, and did their own collecting, and everything connected with the work; - She 'doubted, whether there was any other institution in the-Dominion where so much of the work was done voluntarily and with the greateat pleasure to those,who were doing it; The £5 baby bonus in.the Commonwealth, Mrs; Theomin mentioned, cost over j31,000,000 anmially, whereas in this country the financial assistance rendered by the Government averaged about , half-a-crown per baby. . Karitane, 1 Mrs. Theomin stated, was the only. training . institution for nurses throughput tho Dominion. In concluding,. she expressed a fear; that her persistent collecting in Dunedin had made people say when they saw. her, "Here is Mrs. Theomin', let us get out of the way." ■ '-Mr. Massey: You lara following up the bad habit this ■': morning, Mrs. Theomin. (Laughter.) : : ■■■'<;. ;.. . '■ - - .Mrs. Theomin. stated finally that their at Karitano - had ■ , more than trebled, tat if the- Government provided the additional grant asked for they would find the rest! .'-■'.•. .- ... -> : , Mrs. Carr;thanked the Government for the recognition Accorded to the .Society in the Governor's Speech. ''• PRIME MINISTER'S APPRECIATION. ■The Prime Minister said that the Government thoroughly appreciated the good and great work that the Society was doing and anything that it could do to assist the Society would, be dono readily . and willingly. The request with regard to Dr. Truby. King was oiio about which he must consult the Minister of Public Health. He , would suggest to that Minister that he should, consider the request, and that he should come along to Cabinet with a recommendation either to allow Dr. Truby -Kiiig.to.give the, whole of his -.time,-to..assisting the Plunket :Society or, 'in accordance with the suggestion .which .had been made, that he should give part of his time to. that work. If Mr. llhodes could see his way to como: along with such a .recommendation to Cabinet, then he had not the very slightest doubt but that Cabinet would agree'to it. Amongst several other points raised; one very important one was with regard to tliemilk supply. The milk supply in centres-of population was-, as they knew, rather a matter for .-municipalities , than ,for the tieneral Government. Still, the Government and its Departments had their duties, and had been endeavouring' to carry them out to the best of .their ability. The Agricultural Department was particularly concerned, and as head of that Department he had been looking into , what was going on v The present system of milk distribution 1 was far from perfect, but it pas-very inndi better than most people imagined.'■ Mrs. Myers had mentioned Auckland, but which he had received from that city indicated that the milk-supply was , better controlled there than in any of the other large centres. The animals vere inspected regularly by competent men—very often veterinary surgeons—and the inspectors also inspected the, food supply of the animals, the water pupply, : premises, milk sheds, and so on. Every possible enfleavonT was made to Iwep the nrilk supply up to the mark. He would be-glnd to be.able'to say that the,-milk supply was . as satisfactory ,in other centres as it was in Auckland. At the , same time Mr. Bhodes and himself proposed to do everything they could to get Hie milk supply up to the'-highest possible standard,' and any improvements suggested would receive their.most-seri-consideration. As to Karitane ■ he had had an opportunity.of visiting that libsnital;. along with Mrs. Theomin, andcould bear testimpii.y to the. very good wprlc that, was being done down there. In asking parliament to make an additional erant fliby \y.ould have to boar in mind that similar institutions would presently be established in other centres. He understood that a.movement having this object was on foot in Wellington at tho present moment, •;. \ Mr.i. Theomin said that: the. Wellington institution and other? would not lio devoted to -training, hut would: simnly he lioincs for :the nursps. toerther with acco'irmO'lntion fo' , a few bnbie;. - - Mr. -Massey; Then Karitane hns a special., claim. .-.■'.": ' Mrs. Theomin-Ba.'r'. that.it would remain

the only institution devoted to the training ,of nurses.

Mi: Massey said that he could not make a definite promise, but when the.Supplementary Estimates were being prepared, due consideration would be given to the claims put forward by Mrs. Theomin on behalf of RarHane. "If there is at any time," he stated in conclusion; "during the session, or during the recess, any matter in which the Government can assist tho Plunket-Society in connection with tho objects for which it is working, then , I cin as3ure you that you can depend upon our assistance." The Women of tho Country, The Hon. Jas. Allen said that the request for another .£SOO would receive careful consideration. "There is another aspect of the work," he continued,"which 1 do riot think is as fully recognised as it ought' to be by the public, it is tho influence that the work, has, not upon the mothers and children only, but upon the ladies who are interested in the work. One thing that I have realised in the last half-dozen years—may 1 bo permitted to say it with, all humility—is the enormous change that is. coming over some of the women in. this country because of the interest they take in this philantrophic work.' ' In that way' it is one of the most valuable asseste that this country has got." '..*'' 1 The.Minister of Public Health. . The Hon. R. H. Rhodes said that, he did not want to lose Dr. Truby King who was doing very valuable work where he was. Still,: lie .was prepared to fall in with their wishes if Dr. King was willing. Ho believed that Dr. King would be reluctant to fall in with their first suggestion'and that the proposal that he should devote three months in each year to the work of the Hunket Society would be more agreeable to him. He would go into the matter and submit proposals to Cabinet. He was glad to hear that the society had taken up the question .of milk supply. Personally he had always been in favour of municipalities controlling the ■ milk supply. Wellington was dealing with; the matter and Mr. Ell was bringing in a Bill dealing with Christchurch. The Health Departrient, through its inspectors, was doing a(l that it'could, but so far the fines inflicted by Magistrates had not been sufficient to deter some suppliers from adding water to the milk. One individual had been prosecuted for adding no less than forty per cent, of water. He hoped that the society would' continue to use its influence and bring pressure to bear on municipalities to : take this matter up. ' Mr. Side'y thanked the' Ministers, on behalf of- the deputation,' for their encouraging replies. .