Savins the Babies,

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15917, 2 June 1917, Page 8

Savins the Babies,

Sometimes when New Zcalanders plume themselves on being in advance of the rest of the world, as they are supposed to be rather fond of doing, it turns out that they have been labouring under a misapprehension. But, in the matter of reducing the loss of and the teaching of mother-craft with that object in view, we believe that the Dominion, thanks to the energy and initiative of Dr. Truby King and the devoted work of the Plunket Society which he was instrumental in founding,

is decidcdly in advance of tho Mother Country. It is only quite recently that the subject has been taken up earnestly in Great Britain, and the example of New Zealand has been frequently quoted as one for imitation. Tho immense loss of life owing to the war, comprising, unfortunately, the flower of the nation's youth, has drawn attention to tho urgent need of saving some of the iSfant lives now lost from preventable causes, and so enabling the

coming generation to repair the ravages now being wrought in tho nation's best asset. So important is the subject considered that the Prime Minister, Mr Lloyd George, has himself taken *he matter in hand, and at tho beginning of next month a "Save tho Babies" campaign is to be inaugurated throughout Great Britain.

While the Old Country is bestirring herself in this matter, it is obviously not a time for New Zealand to bo resting on her oars, satisfied with what has been done already. Wo have sent away thousands of the brightest and best of our young men whom we shall never see again, and tho duty of ensuring that child-life, at all times so precious, is not uselessly sacrificed is now doubly urgent. The Christchurefc. Plunket Society has done good work in the past by means of the Plunket nurses, but their efforts have been restricted for the want of an institution like the Karitane Hospital for Babies in Dunedin. Tho Dunedin ;n----stitution, wo are assured, has saved innumerable lives, and had it been larger could have saved more. Many valuable lives, it is stated, have been lost in Christchurch for the want of a hospital to which ailing babies could be sent in serious cases, while such a hospital would manifestly furnish the means of training at present only offered by Karitane.

It is owing to these considerations that the Christchurch Plunket Society, simultaneously with Mr Lloyd George's campaign at Home, has started a movement hero to collect £10,000 to establish and endow a Christchurch Hospital for Babies. Very properly it is not intended to sink a large amount in bricks and mortar. Instead of building a hospital, the Society, wo aro informed, will seek to acquire a building suitablo for the purpose, so as to leave a sufficient sum, when invested, to provide for the upkeep of the institution with the help of tho Government subsidy which it hopes to obtain. The movement has tho support of tho medical profession, and wo hope tho Society's appeal will meet with a generous response. It is emphatically a patriotic movement, and the appeal is one which is strengthened by the fact that we are in the midst of war.