THE Waihi Daily Telegraph. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1904.

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume IV, Issue 1062, 9 August 1904, Page 2

THE Waihi Daily Telegraph. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1904.

Hero sball the I'rois tho foupln'a Right maintan Uiwncd by inluonoo ami unbribut by giin j Hire patriot Truth her glorious prooojits draw Plediod to Roliirioa Liberty, tml Uv

The Premier's memorandum on cbild.life preservation has been attracting attention at Horn 3 as well as in the colony, and recently the editor of the London Daily Kxpivss cabled to tbo Premier asking him for a contribution on the subject. Mr SedfJon complied, and we are now in receipt of a copy of the lettor. Tho contribution is important and interesting. Wo quote a porlion. " Tho sound principle," S'iys the I'remior," that makes the individual responsible for dependent lif« by inferenco makes tho State collectively equally responsible. It true that philanthropic insliliiiions and good men and women have done much in tho past, and are doing much for the uplifting and saving of the race, but the present crisis is so grave thai it lias far outgrown the fell'orls and ability of private benevolence. In the younger colonies of the Ktnpiri! imputation is essential, and if increased from British stock the self-governing colonies will still further strengthen and buttress our great Empire. In British interests it is cl'-arly undesirable thai, tin: colonies should Income populated by the inferior surplus of peoples of older and alien countries. To pre. vent such a disaster is worthy of our bi'st thoughts and most stri'iiuous oll'orls." The Premier then gives in brief the particulars of his scheme for tho preservation of the lives of infa \ ,v 'ieyareasl'ollowa: i, O/ily t;.osfc.i,/;a,iJ. cutiflHtet should

be allowed to practise midwifery, but certain limo should bo given to any existing uncd'tilioatdil nurses nt present in prncliso to qualify, 2 In ench centre such qnn lied mid» wives, registered for tlm pnrp so, should bo supplied to tho wives ol tbo poor gratis.

8. Tho State should croet nnd incvenae tho number of maternity homos in the eontrcs of population, keeping tho sauio under Stato control, Willi such homes, conccalmont of birth and infanlicido would bo reduced, wbilo much sull'orhig and misery would bo avoided, 4. Foundling hospitals should bo established, iho Siato providing tho moans for their erection mid maintenance I the nimißgciiicnt might bo ontrusted to com mitteos or trmU-ej acting tinder Stale hi' iipjction, fi, Provision also might he initio for supplying free nurses lo the sick poor under certain conditions, and I believe it would be profitable to the Stato to do so, apart altogether from the humane side ol tho question. li. Tho training of nurses in tho hospitals, the Sluto paying lor their board and lodging, 7. Prevention of cruelly to children through neglect of parents in cases of sickness, For this purpose infant-nursing hospitals should be established. 8. Day horaci (or children, where they could bo left at a trifling cost in cases whore tho mothers are out during tho day earning a living, 9. Life-insuranco of children, ft should be provided that no chil 1 could ha insured for more Ihan i's until it reached ton years of age 10 Illegitimate children, The putative lather Bhould not bo allowed lo commuto (he monthly or weekly payments necessary to maintain tho child. The system (per inittcd at present) of paying down a lump srm gives rise to baby-farming, of which thore bio too many unfortunate examples. 11. Such homo should bo registered, and subject to State inspection. The training of women for this special nursing is a laudable idea, and does credit to the author. To within a short time ago there was none of this training in the Auckland part of tho colony, and there is only a little now. Nurses who wished to be taught thoroughly hud to go to Sydney or to some other part of Iho Australian colonies, so that if the scheme outlined is adopted the result cannot be other than a great improvemunfc on the present uncertificated system. The Premier is sadly at fault in one of the proposals. He stops short where he ought to go on. Wo refer to the proposal which states that inidwives, registered for the purpose, should be supplied to the wives of the poor gratis. This would entail a statutary set of questions as insulting and degrading as some which are put to applicants for the old age pensions, anil which tin i:; polity of the poor would scorn to answer. If there is gratis work at all let it be oll'ercd to all who need the nurses, without any regard to tho moans of the parents, and leaving it to parents whether payments are inado or not, The brand of pauperism is not very nice to look forward to in these cases, but this is what the Premier would impose on thousands in the colony who do not deserve it. We observe also that the Premier would confine the erection of maternity homes to the centres of the colony, In this ho might also go a good deal further. Why confine I hem to the four centres ? What chances would nurses in the smaller towns have of being trained ? Take Waihi as an instance, For obvious reasons cases of the kind are not admitted to tho general hospital, and this being so local mirrws have no opportunity of acquiring the special training. But a stall: could easily be trained if a hospital on the cottage principle, and used for maternity cases, were established. If managed as well as the present one there would be no lack of patients, not only from the town, but from Waitekauri, Waikino, Karangahako, Katikati, and other surrounding places. The cost would not bo great, and local ell'ort in towns like ours might well be encouraged by Government subsidies.