BABIES' HOSPITAL.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15929, 16 June 1917, Page 10

BABIES' HOSPITAL.

The third thousand pounds is coming J in -well in sums of £50. The following have been received to date:— £ Mrs Clark and Mr O. R. Clark ... ... 50 Mr and Mrs Leonard Clark . ... ... 50 G. D. Greenwood ... *50 T. Teschemaker... ... 50 F. I>. Kesteven... ... 50 H. Cottc-rill ... ... 50 Mr and Mrs Geo. Rhodes 50 Mrs Geo. Gerard ... 50 Mr and Mrs P. L. Hallenstcin ... '... 50 The twentieth £50 has been received from Mr H. A. Bruce. Tho twenty-first £100 has been received from Mr and Mrs Godfrey Hall. CONCERT AT DARFIELD. OVER £250 REALISED. On Thursday evening Mr O. T. J. Alpers's concert party gave a concert in the Memorial Hall, Darfield, in aid of tho Plunket Society. An excellent musical programme was provided under the direction of Madame Ottlee. During the evening Mr Alpers gave an address on the objects of the So- | ciety. He quoted figures to show what had been done, and how, since ihe commencement of the efforts, tho infantile death-rate had dropped to 5 per cent., the lowest in tho world. Tho following donations were received :— £ a. A.

A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr Alpers and party and also those who motored the party but. At the conclusion of the concert a dance was hold, Mr S. Dunn supplying the music. At a meeting of ladies held yesterday afternoon, a committee was formed to canvass the Darficld district. Arrangements are beinjr made to obtain a Plunket nurse from Christchnrch to a lecture on Plunkofc work to ladies of the Malvern county. A subcommittee W3s elected to carry out a basket social during the Plunket week. An innovation will be "surprise packets."

TO THE EDITOR OF "IIIE I*KESS." Sir, —The Minister of Public Health recently announced his intention of advocating and aiding hospitals for babies throughout the Dominion, Kantano to bo the type. Yet your correspondent, "Experience," thinks it would be wrong to establish one in Christchurch. to serve the needs of Canterbury.

In the five years preceding the establishment of tho Plunket Society in Christchurch, 1903-7, the infantile death-rate averaged 10 per cent. For tho four years 1912-16 the average has .been only 6 1-3 per cent. The Plunket Society has never claimed the credit for the reduction, but that credit has been frankly and generously thrust upon it by the doctors. Thus, over six years ago, the Chief Health Officer, Dr. Finch, drew public attention to the rapid fall in tho Christchurch *nfantile death-rate, which he attributed mainly to tho Society's work—while Dr. Crooke, speaking at the Society's ;.nnual meeting, testified to the great diminution in the number of cases of wasting diseases of infancy brought to the outpatients' department of the ! Christchurch Hospital, of which he iras Superintendent. Later, on ine occasion of my giving a professional address on the care of tno baby at the lequest of the Christchurch branch of tho British Medical Association, members spoke glowingly of the remarkable way in which the Plunket Society bad almost knocked out infantile diarrhoea and improved tho health of babies generally—Dr. Orchard, the president, generously remarking that they had come to recognise the Plunket Society not only as a valuable asset for 'Christchurch, but as a great asset for the whole Dominion.

Wo have always pointed out that tho reduction of tho infantile deathrate is a small matter compared with the enormous benefit that improved mothering and mothcrcraft confers on some 27,000 new baby immigrants who survive every year. j It seems to me that the Christchnrch committee of the Plunket Society has established a claim to the assumption that they would not ask for funds to found a baby hospital if it were not urgently needed—especiallv when this step has boon taken with the concurrence of the medical advisers of the Society in Christchnrch and Dunedin, of an able Advisory Board of and professional men, and with the* hearty approval and entire confidsnce of the Central Council of the Society. \

The opposition of your correspondent "Experience" "ia based mainly on the fnet that your city has already a children's ward in the General Hospital available for babies^—why i.ot make this do?

The answer is, that for the most part babies are unwelcome and out of place in wards for older children. The incompatibility is obvious, and even where separate wards are provided, the recoi-ds of babies treated in peneral hospitals cannot compare with the results obtained in sucli an institution as tho Plunket Societv has established in Dunedin. Our death-rate at Karitane was only 4 per cent, last year, by far the lowest recorded mortality in the world.

No Gnnoral Hospital, or what is callcd Children's Hospital, that I have over seen was at all suitable in structure, equipment, or nursing provision, for doing justicn to babies, or to mother arid child. Such institutions have nc»f bearing on the main objects for which -the Plunket Society stands, viz., "to help the mothers and <save •the babies." and to serve as centres for the education and training of mothers in breast-feeding and the rearing of infants on the simplest and most homelike lines.

The Ch'ristcburch Babv Hospital w : ll bo visited by thousands of women overv year as the Dunedin Karitane Hospital is visited, for the sake of learning the lessons of mothcrcraft which the Society's nurses are ever ready to teach. "niere never a time when practical schools ' for mothers were so urgently needed—indeed, not merely schools for mothers, but schools where girls can be shown the primary essentials for future national efficiency, in so far as the health of the race must depend mainly on them.

The war ha 3 brought into special prominence the fact that, even in our young country, the reject-rate for the Army is not far short of that of England, while decav of teeth is more universal in New Zealand than at Hocn<;, and adenoids and other avoidable cisabilities are equally prevalent. We can only restore racial fitness by dispelling ignorance and rearing our human stock to b" what Herbert Spencer called "healthy animals." To business men I believe that no-

thing more suggestive of the_ beneficence and success of the Karitane Hospital can be adduced than the fact that, '£ the midst of war. some £2500 has been added to our endowment fund, without any in sums varying from £25 to £1000. Otago people are generous donors, but thev don't back what they don't believe in.—Yours, etc., F. TRT7BY KING. Seacliff, June 12th, 1917.

g i. 6. d. •Tno. Dear.s, Coalrato .. 50 0 0 Wm. Deans, Sheffield .. 50 0 0 Mrs A. Deans. Sheffield .. 35 0 0 Jas. Deans, Coalgato .. 25 0 0 K. Murchi°on, Selwyn .. 25 0 0 Mrs D. Gillaiiders, Darfield 25 0 0 D. Mulholland, Darfield .. 10 0 0 J. 0. Redfern, Divrfield .. 10 0 0 Miss Knislit, Daifield .. 5 0 0 Miss N. Kniebt. Darfield .. 5 0 0 C. Jarman, Darfield .. 5 0 0 Mrs C. Jarman. Darfield •• 5 0 0 Mr? \V. Clinton, Darfield .. 3 3 0 J. H. Judd, "Waddington .. 2 2 0 Robt. Reid, Darfield .. 2 0 0 F. Cav-e Archer .. .. 110 Mrs Jarman, senr., t)arfiold 10 0 Mrs Selby, Aylesbury .. 10 0 S. Wrstwcwd, Darfioid .. 10 0 Mrs W. Manson, Kimberloy 10 0 Mrs Clements, Jlimberley 10 0 Mrs ■ Riordan. Darfield .. 0 5 0 J. ToTangi, Darfield .. 0 5 0