TO SAVE THE CHILDREN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 137, 9 June 1917, Page 16

TO SAVE THE CHILDREN.

There was a large attendance at the ninth annual meeting of the I'lunket Society on Wednesday afternoon, which took place in the Council Chamber. Mr. Gunson, who presided, in his opening ad-d.e.-s t said that the infant lite oi the nation carries the future of the nation, and lie feared that in the times ot jieace we overlook the value of infant lile to the community. Women were coming more into the lif« of the community, and places not thought fit for them formerly are now thought right and proper lor them to fill. Mr. Gunson congratulated the Society and its president, Mrs. Kloomlield, on the gocd work done during the year. The work for tbe children was a successful undertaking, and one which he personally greatly appreciated. Mm. liloomticld, in her presidential address, referred to the great loss the society had experienced in the death of Mr. liagnall. The speaker also mentioned the work done during the last conference, when various important matters to the health of the community came up for discussion. Better legislation was needed in regard to the milk supplied to the city, and a closer inspection of cattle 6'iould be made for the purpose of eradicating tuberculosis. Mtb Blnomfield also referred to the great nerd there uus for more nurses to be engaged in the work, but a difficulty of accommodation at the training home in Dunedin had arisen. Also the war had somewhat depleted the ranks of qualified workers The society had been in existence for ten years arid had HIS branches Ten of these in the South Island and 11 in the North now employ nurses.

Bishop Averill in his speech congratulated the society on the increased eonfi dence the people were displaying in ite methods. He remembered the earlydays of its work. Twenty years ago ho was disturbed that so little was do'nc for the mothers by the Government, but he was thankful to say that things were better now. It was almost cruel to talk about race suicide when the mothers have _o little done for them by the Government and the community in -cneral. What we want in this country, said the speaker, is more population. If Australia is in danger from its *mall population so are we. The happiness of a people consists of the happine** of the children, and the happiness of the children consists of tho happiness of the mothers. It seemed a terrible thin? that children should start wrong in life on account of the ignorance of their mother.-, nnd on account of wrong foodinc. There could be no greater work than try-in? to save the children as the Plunket Society was doing. Dr. Elizabeth McDonald expressed her whole-hearted admiration for what the society was doing. After being engaged in inspection of schools for some years she found that improper reeding was at the bottom of nearly all the troubles of children. The root of the whole matter was proper feeding. The wealth of tbe nation was in its children, healthy children and happy children. The thinK that struck Dr. McDonald in her medical work was tbat often the chihlren were not happy. You do not get happy children without happy mothers, and you do not S>ot happy mothers without healthy mothers. She would like to see work of this kind extended to some branch that covered all tho period of school life. A lot of harm was done to childron about the third or fourth year, because of bad feeding. Children were allowed a choice of food. Mothers were too wilHng to

give the children all the good things on the tabic. The big problem in this country is being too well oil' in regard to food. Tbe children do not live plainly as they should, for the first six years of life are the testing point of a child's career. At the close of the meeting votes of thanks were proposed to the president and officials, and also to the speakers for their interesting addresses.