SAVING THE BABIES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 256, 23 July 1920, Page 8

SAVING THE BABIES

PLUNKET SOCIETY'S WORK

BIGGER SUBSIDIES WANTED

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS

The delegates to the Plunket Society's conference interviewed the Prime Mini's- '. ter (Mr. Mnssoy) au(l tlio Minister of , Public Health (.Mr.. Parr) yestoixiay, in ; order to ask for increased financial sup- j port from tho public funds, The deputation was introduced by Mr. T. IC. .. Sidey, M.P., who referred briolly to th* importance of the work that Was being done by the (society and to tho fact that a largo amount of money was subscribed voluntarily. Mrs. Johnston, national president of tho society, emphasised the national vnlu* of the work, Mr. J, A. Young, M.P., said that tho work of tho society was not charitable; it was humanitarian and national. All classes of tho community neded tile assistance that tho organisation tfas giving, and he "elt that tho society 'was entitled to ask for tho largest possible amount of support from tho State. Very 'much of tho work was done- by volunteers, but • salaries had to be paid to nurses and certain administrative officers, and ttw I upkeep of hospitals had to be provided ! for. The society was asking that the Government should increase the subsidy paid for each Karitane nurse from £~Z to .eiOO, nnd for each Plunket nurse from .£IOO to JEI3O, in order that the total salaries might be brought up to .£ISG and .£2OB respectively. The amount of salary in excess of the subsidy would be found by tho society. Then a salary of .£4OO was required for tho director of Plunket nursing, who was a woman of very special qualifications. Tin- Government W asked to provide .£2lO. Provision had to he made also for five relieving nurses and for subsidies to the Karitane Hospitnls at Dunedin, Ghristchurch, ana Wungnmti. Tho total amount asked of the Government by war of subsidy was .£10,020. Mr, Young added that the society was much gratified to learn that the "Government intended to establish! a Bureau of Child Welfare. A special subsidy of pound for jound. on building funds was asked. Dr. Truby King spoke of tho necessity of uniform, authoritative advice for parents in the care of children. The motliei was the person oh whom the fato of tho children, and therefore of tho nation, really depended, and tne object of tho society was to instruct the mothers. He had produced a Bmall book,, which had been printed by the Government for circulation among mothers, This had been done to somo extent through the registrars of births, but the shortage of paper had prevented the completion of the original scheme, which had included tht posting' of tho book to every mnrned woman under forty years of age, and to every newly-married woman within threo months of her marriage. It was of the. utmost importance teat tho motluTS should be taught how to provide the right pre-natal conditions nnd what to do during tho first mouth of the babies lives. Tho nurses found very often that damage had been done before they were nblo to reach the cases at all. ihe bookhad recently been' revised, and Dr. King thought it falso economy not to publish it on the scale originally arranged. Ihe cost probably would not exceed .£IOOO. and the benefit to the nation'would be reckoned in hundreds of thousands oi pounds. Tho amount of paper required would not amount to a single issue ot n daily newspaper. Mr Massey, in reply, expressed warm appreciation of the work done by the society and by Dr. Truby King. Ihe sympathy of the Government with tho move, ment was pro Ted by tho fact that the encouragement of elfort on tho lines ot tho Plunket Society's programme hnd been a plank in his last election plot r form. He was not going to plead pov. erty. Tho Dominion was prosperoun and money was plentiful. But tho demands that were being mado upon, the Treasury were enormous, and his difficulty as Minister of finance was to make the money go round. Ho could not toll t!«e society that it would get all- It Tiad asked t'oT. The final decision would rest with Cnbinet. But the delegates could be tussureu of the desire of the Government to meet their wishes and encourage their work. Ho would much rattier seo the work done bv a voluntary sooTety Wan by u Stato Department. Privato persons could bring far more sympathy to bear upon such an effort than wouW be possibts-* tho cose of Government officers. Mr. Massey added that he would do his best with the money at his disposal. Ha did not think that it would be necessary to increase taxation, which was high already. The Plunket Society would get its full share of whatever money was available. Mr. Parr also assured the deputation of his sympathy. The society was doing a valuable national work, and it deserved the support of the Government. The bill that had been presented by the deputation was substantially larger than a bill that hid been forwarded a month earlior, but ho felt sure that the Minister of Finance would <Xa his best for the society. His own feeling was that if the society could save only one hundred babies in each vear tho work would be worth what 'the Government spent on half a milo of new railway.