WESTERN AID TO INDONESIA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28491, 22 January 1958, Page 2

WESTERN AID TO INDONESIA

Maori Nurse Sees Deficiency (New Zealana Press Associations WELLINGTON, January 21. A 26-year-old Maori nurse who has just worked for a year in a hospital in Java said in Wellington today she was sure “Indonesians are very tired of being told by Western people what to do.” ' Maori people, in her opinion, could do much more than white people to bring harmony between East and West. “The Maori has a far more intimate relationship with the Indonesian,” she said. “Perhaps it’s just mainly a question of colour.” The nurse, Miss Hera Smith, of Rotorua, believes she is the first Maori nurse to have worked in Indonesia. She spent last year at the Solo Orthopaedic Hospital, north of Jakarta. “The Indonesians need more than just technical training—and that little bit more, I think, the Maori people would be able to provide,” she said. There were too few hospitals in Indonesia, but little could be done about that till staff difficulties were overcome, said Miss Smith. Equipment from Colombo Plan countries was welcomed, but there could be more careful preliminary inquiry so that even distribution and immediate use could be facilitated. .

Pan-Pacific Women’s Conference

(New Zeaiana Press Association > WELLINGTON, January 21.

The annual conference of the New Zealand branch of the Pan Pacific and South-east Asia Women’s Association will begin on January 25. The chairman (Dr. Mona Gow), in her annual report to the conference, will say that hospitality continues to be a feature of the association’s' work and the number of overseas students has greatly increased. Referring to the association’s aims for 1958, Dr. Gow states: “There is a great need in our organisation for the recruitment of younger people and of people who are willing to do some work for the organisation.”