PLUNKET SOCIETY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 40035, 5 December 1929, Page 2

PLUNKET SOCIETY.

VISIT OF DR. DERiRECK. Dr. Derreck, of Dunedin, Director of. the Blanket 'Society for New Zealand, was a visitor to the Lunch Club meeting to-day . and - gave members some interesting information in regard to the Society and its work. He said the object of his visit to Foxton was to settle a little

misunderstanding which had arisen -ever a proposed Plunket building locally. The law provided that no unincorporated body could hold funds and the Foxton sub-branch was an unincorporated body which had raised a certain sum for the erection of a Plunket room. Members who had not been aware of the position had not viewed with favour the proposal that the building should be vested'in the Palmerston N.

branch, an incorporated hod}’, as trustees for the local branch. The Junket Society generally had laid down that where an unincorporated body possessed funds they had to be vested in another incorporated branch to overcome a legal difficulty and that was all that was required of Foxton. There was no suggestion that' the local Society should lose possession of. their asset. It was their’s until the local branch became defunct and then it would be the duty of the Society as a whole to see that the branch was resuscitated in Foxton. In. the event of Foxton developing and the . branch becoming an incorporated Society, of course, the property \yould then be vested in it. \ Referring to the general work of the Society as a whole, Dr. Derreok said that the work was developing very rapidly, so rapidly in fact that it was hard to cope with it. Dr. Trilby King had done and was still doing a tremendous amount of work and there did not appear to be any chance of him relaxing from his arduous duties. He was nt present in Australia and within n few months would he leaving for England in the interests of the work.

The Society’s aim at present was (o extend its pre-natal clinics to fill lire, gap between the infant and the school child. At present the child was lost sight oif after it had passed out of the hands of the Plunket Nurse and this was not desirable as iir many cases it was found that the child at school age was -requiring attention. ‘ The Society - had commenced the work of bridging the gap last year and by March last- 52,000 children between the infant and school age had visited various clinics so the work was rapidly developing. It- entailed, however, considerable additions to ,the staff but the need was theire and he did not think the people of New Zealand would desire the work not to be done.