HUMANITARIAN WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 50, 28 February 1940, Page 6

HUMANITARIAN WORK.

A generation has arisen which does not know what it is to be without a Plunket Society, said the president of that society in appealing for funds to assist in filling a depleted treasury. Her claim is justified. For the past two decades the society's help to prospective and nursing mothers has been on a steadily ascending scale, until last year 85 per cent of the births were "Plunket babies." So high a proportion gives a fair indication of the value placed upon the advice and assistance given, and this is supported by the fact that New Zealand has since the foundation of the Plunket system saved a higher proportion of its infant life than any country in the world. Unfortunately, the availability and unremitting care of the society's members and staff have led to the assumption that theirs is a service which will always be available to anyone who calls upon their aid. That assumption tends to make the beneficiaries accept everything offered without realising that there is a particular as well as a general responsibility for maintenance. The Government gives generous support to the organisation, and its work is so valuable that under no circumstances can it be allowed to fail. But it would be a tragedy if it ever, because of lack of public support, became a State institution and if the voluntary workers gave place to another, branch of an overburdened civil service. Only by a generous response from the public will that possibility be averted.