NURSING PROFESSION

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 20, 24 July 1934, Page 4

NURSING PROFESSION

MEMORIAL FUND

■ .In the course of a short address delivered at-.an entertainmea't given by the nurses of the AVellington Hospital last evening in aid of the' New Zealand Nurses' Memorial Puiid, Dr. W. Young, a vice-president of the society which controls the fund, paid a warm, tribute to tho assistance rendered by active members of. the- profession to those nurses who-in their later /years are now-Hn'need of financial help.

- "This fund was started as a memorial to those nurses who lost their lives on active, service in the Great War," said- Dr. Young. : "It. must not be thought,';-however, that; it is only in war,that nurses do glorious woi'k. A nurse's work is a constant fight against death,and-disease, ana .it is well to remember that 'peace has its victories no less-renowned than war.'. The main object of the fund is the relief of trained nurses throughout tho Dominion who are in distress occasioned by sickness, old age, aqeident, or other misfortune. According to the constitution of the fund, the annual income derived from the accumulated capital is devoted to deserving cases. Reference to the last annual report shows that there are 28 annuitants on the roll. During the past year £1237 was disbursed in annuities and relief; yet interest received amounted to only £028. The. balance was made up by nurses, and mOre especially by nurses in training. I am very pleased to see that the nurses of the Wellington Hospital contributed .last year more than those of any other hospital. The bal-ance-sheet shows that, our accumulated capital now amounts to approximately £27,000,-the bulk of which is invested in Government stock. A further proof of the care .with which the fund is managed is the fact that the cost of administration was only £27—that is, one-tenth of one per cent, of: the total capital.; . Could •a, f uiyl. be. better and more; economically. managed outside Dunedin,-the; headquarters of the committee?" asked Di\ Young. '

Tho central committee which managed tho fvftul, of which Lady Bledisloe is ■ patroness, while gratefully acknowledging the support from the nursing profession, regretted' that the public had not responded more- liberally to the .appeal made to them. Contributions from the public of £53, of which £21 came from two individuals, did not indicate a due appreciation of what was owed to a profession on which ;|hey:reHqcl in;times of trouble.