NEW ZEALAND WOMEN PRAISED

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24329, 7 August 1944, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND WOMEN PRAISED

DR. EDITH SUMMERSKILL’S IMPRESSIONS

“It is not surprising that this small country of New Zealand has such a big reputation abroad,” said Dr. Edith Summerskill, Labour M.P. for West Fulham in the House of Commons, in a broadcast talk on her impressions gained while in New Zealand with other members of the British Parliamentary delegation, which was heard last evening over the national network. Dr. Summerskill said that she left New Zealand with much reluctance, and with many happy memories of the Dominion and its people. “You are a people so like ourselves, with a common ancestry, a common tongue, and a common understanding that it was difficult to remember I was 13,000 miles away from England,” the visitor commented. "Nothing can sever the links that bind us.” “Your standard of medicine and surgery are high," continued Dr. Summerskill, “and your hospitals are well run.” The low rate of maternal mortality she attributed to the high standard of> training of medical students and the care of mothers and infants taken in the hospitals. While in Auckland, she said, she had learned with'" much interest of a proposed post-graduate hospital for women which, she believed, would be of greatest importance not only for the women of the Dominion but in the rehabilitation of young doctors now serving in the forces. The visitor said she had been particularly impressed with the care of mothers and babies in the Karitane homes, also t by the work performed by the Plunket nurses. The dental nursing service, she added, had no parallel in any other part of the world, and for the first time she had seen nurses trained in fillings and extractions actually at work among children. Before her arrival in New Zealand, continued Dr. Summerskill, she had been informed that women were not politically minded in the Dominion. “This is far from being the case,” she commented. “Women are just as politically minded here as they are elsewhere, and there is certainly no dearth of women with good minds. However, while there does not seem to be the same militancy here among women as there is in England, I bebelieve that in inheriting the spirit of the pioneers they cannot be said to lack courage. The fact that New Zealand women are not militant is probably because they were granted the suffrage without having to fight for it.” , New Zealand women were advised by Dr. Summerskill to gain more representation on local bodies, also in Parliament itself. "I have met your one woman member of Parliament, Miss Mabel Howard," she said, "end I was impressed by her moral courage. The women of this country certainly have a fair share of moral courage. New Zealand women possess it because they are not shackled by the old traditions.” Dr. Summerskill said she would have liked to spend more time in New Zealand. However, as her constituency had suffered severely of late from the German flying bombs, it was her duty to return to her own people as quickly as possible. _ 1