Sir Truby King

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 543, 21 December 1928, Page 7 (Supplement)

Sir Truby King

(By

V. MAY COTTRELL)

fjTRUE distinction belongs to the man who achieves something greater than a mere personal success, however fine and outstanding in quality this may be. It is earned by one who is able to confer a lasting benefit upon the people of his own country, increasing in like ratio as his Influence is felt in other parts of the world. In every community, large and small, there are outstanding men and women who are vital to the life of the town or district in which they live, but it is only the few whose work brings them before the country as a whole, and fewer still who achieve world-wide fame or international usefulness. Thanks to the newspapers, the radio, and the motion picture, many receive world-wide celebrity that may last for days, or weeks, or years. They claim the public attention for a season, but unless their work is of permanent value to the progress of mankind,, they, and the things they do, are soon forgotten. New Zealand has one distinguished son whose ■work and influence has grown from a small thing of local interest to something that covers the whole world, and that will have an all-important effect on the physical, mental, and moral development of the human race—white, black, brown, yellow, and red. Sir Truby King is indeed New Zealand’s most distinguished living son, and I can best indicate why this is so by giving some details of his work. These will reveal its immense importance, and will show, also, its scope and the real w r orth of this man’s influence both at home and abroad. As founder and organiser of what is popularly

known as the Plunket Society, Sir Truby King has already reduced infant mortality in New Zealand to a minimum. His commonsense method of treatment, both of mother and child, not only saves our babies, hut ensures for them a happier and healthier infancy than was usually possible under the haphazard methods employed in other days. This society, with its kindly, efficient, and fully-qualified nurses, renders to mothers a service that can scarcely be over-estimated. The nurses are the most comforting persons in the world to young, harrassed mothers, whose tremors at being left for the first time in sole charge of a tiny infant must be experienced to be fully appreciated. As a mother, I know whereof I write!

The careful tabulation of details concerning the weight and general development of each infant, week by week, enables the nurses to detect immediately any fluctuation in progress, or any abnormal conditions that may eventuate. These they can usually correct by simple means, saving parents much unnecessary trouble and expense, and the child itself discomfort, if not actual suffering and serious harm. The Plunket nurses are far more capable than the average physician when dealing with the digestive or functional disorders which beset young children. There are many parents to-day whose hearts are filled with gratitude to this great New Zealander as they look with pride upon their once-siekly, under-nourished child, now wellgrown and sturdy, and think “what might have been” had it not been for the work of Sir Truby King.

In writing his book, “Feeding and Care of Baby,” Sir Truby has rendered an inestimable service to New Zealand mothers. This book, which is fast becoming the world’s standard textbook, is full of valuable information for parents or guardians of young children. If the instruc-

tions it contains for pre-natal care are faithfully carried out, the health of both mother and child is assured. When mothers abide by the simple rules which Sir Truby has evolved, their children grow up strong and healthy, a credit to their parents and the land that gave them birth.

„ A glance through the current issue of the society’s annual report will clearly reveal the farreaching effects of Sir Truby’s influence. The number of Karitane hospitals is steadily increasing in New Zealand, while mothercraft homes, training centres, and child welfare leagues are coming into being in many other parts of the world as well.

In our own country, Plunket nurses are already in residence at over 70 centres, in numbefs ranging from one to four. These nurses visit outlying stations each week, making it possible for mothers in all parts of the country to avail themselves of the splendid public service which they are giving. If all the babies of the world were properly cared for during the first years of their lives, on these lines, we would have, in a generation or two, a world peopled with super-men and women. For in the train of physical well-being there comes a mental and spiritual development which, if shared by the masses, could not fail to speed up the civilising influences that are ever at work in the world.

The greatness and outstanding merit of any work depends upon its universality. The work which benefits the greatest number is the work which lives and moves forward in ever-increasing helpfulness long after its instigator has passed from view. It is to this category that the work of Sir Truby King assuredly belongs, for it will continue to gain in power and potency for good as time goes on.