THE KING'S TRIBUTE TO BRAVE WOMEN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 308, 22 September 1908, Page 8

THE KING'S TRIBUTE TO BRAVE WOMEN.

"UNSELFISH DEVOTION." Some 2000 nurses wero assembled in the Embankment Gardens 'on Saturday afternoon, July 4, when, the King and. Queen, with whom was Princess Victoria,-drove up for the opening by her Majesty" of the. new offices of the Koyal National - tension Fund for Nurses at the foot of Buckingham Street, Strand, on the site of Peter the Great's house.. '- A number of nurses lined ,the' carriageway from the Embankment 1 entrance to the platform, thus forming a guard of honour. When the King and Queen arrived tho nurses saluted them by raising the right hand above the head, their blue, brown, red, and whito uniforms making a striking and picturesque scene. : . Sir E.Hambro presented the. Queen with a gold key as a memento of ..the occasion, and in an address said that the fund now amounted to £1,265,000, arid is paying annuities of £21,000. . • His Majesty roplied on behalf of the Queen as follows': — "On behalf of the Queen and myself, I thank you sincerely for your loyal and dutiful address. We havo always. taken the warmest interest in the Royal National Tension Fund for Nurses, and it- has given the Queen great pleasure to open the new building which will contain' the offices of tho fund. It has now happily, long • been re-: cognised that in the alleviation of pain and sickness good nursing is of-supreme importance, and that it is in. tho intw»sts of the community that measurbs- should bo taken to obtain skilled and efficient nurses in increased numbers, and to procure for them such advantages and prospects as will rotain them in tho profession. "In no careor has more unselfish devotion been shown than in that of nursing; and it would indeed be hard if those who spend the. best years of their life in acts of selfdenial, - in attending the sick bed, and administering to the wants of those unablo to help themselves, • should' bo condemned," when age has diminished their capacity for work, to poverty, : if not actual' want. "Wo- are much gratified to learn lio'w largely nurses have availed themselves of the facilities for saving afforded by tho-Royal National Pension Fund, and how. liberal has been the support which has been accorded by tho public.

"I oaniestly hope that such . support may be continued, that tho 'fund may find in tho future, as it has in tho past, .many gonerotis contributors, and that its usefulness may be extended and its prosperity increased." ! (Applause.); ■ •■ ':

Dancing is only a pleasant pastime, but it develops courtesy and good maimers, and. if only for that reason, should bo encouraged. —"Gaulois," Paris.