HOSPITAL WORKERS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 125, 22 November 1935, Page 17

HOSPITAL WORKERS

LADIES' AUXILIARY !

INCREASING NUMBERS

The affiliation ot thirteen societies! and of five individual members is re-|J\ corded in the annual report of the i Wellington Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary, c "The new general superintendent, j Dr. Thome, was welcomed at the end | of the year," states the report, "and has' \ attended two meetings of the auxiliary. ,s giving very helpful advice. In June i the auxiliary met Miss Gordon, the}, newly-appointed almoner, and dis- j r cussed ways of co-operating with her I i in her work when needful." c The report expresses gratitude to a member of the Hataitai League of j Mothers for giving the use of her car i one morning a month to assist the j almoner in.her visiting. The visiting . of the hospitals by the affiliated societies had been carried out faith- ( fully. Much happiness and comfort j had been given to patients through the j thoughtful kindness and generous gifts ( of the visitors. The beautiful flowers this year had given great pleasure to 7 all. i "Several gifts of clothing to ex- 1 patients have been much appreciated," i states the report. "The sum of thirty : shillings was donated to Victoria Hospital for books for their library. For , the children's wards fifty bed-jackets I were made and fifty handkerchiefs | given. The Nursing Guild of St. John have given after-care to a very large number of patients on leaving hospital. The St. John Ambulance Brigade attend patients in their own homes, and supply, lour nurses for weekend duty in the wards of the hospital under the supervision of the sister-in-charge." Mrs. O'Leary, the librarian, and her helpers had, it was stated, coppleted seven years of most useful work. The weekly distribution of books throughout the hospitals had proved a great benefit and joy to the patients. A generous donation of £5 to the library from the Red Cross Society had enabled the librarian to add forty-nine new books to the catalogue as well as another fifty which had lately been donated. The Victoria Library also had had a few new books added. Mrs. Eollison and Miss Edwin had been instrumental in collecting books and magazines suitable for the patients there. Thanks are expressed to the Hataitai League of Mothers, the Karori W.C.T.U., Mrs. E. A. Wright, and Mr. Hart for books and magazines sent in. At the Ewart Hospital the patients themselves carry out the work of distribution. They have about 900 volumes, and so far it has not been necessary to supply books from the general hospital library. The sister-in-charge appeals for books, and quite recently the Newtown Library sent them a goodly number. The interest of Mr. Wright, of, the hospital staff, in the welfare of the library is unceasing, and the sincere thanks of the auxiliary are tendered to him for his untiring efforts. The following officers were elected: —President, Mrs. Webb; vice-presi- ~ dents, Mesdames O'Leary and Pow; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. Watson; librarian, Mrs. O'Leary.

LUNCHEON PAItTl'

ROUND TABLE CLUB

Miss Amy Kane was the guest of honour at the v Business and Professional Women's Round Table Club luncheon on Wednesday. The luncheon was held in the Blue Triangle Hall, the speaker being introduced by Mrs. Harris.

Miss Kane spoke chiefly on tne franchise of women, and gave a most interesting account of some of her experiences at Stambuli, where she represented New Zealand at the Women's International Conference. Two of the most important questions for . discussion, so far as New Zealand were concerned, were the civil status of women and the nationality of married women, reports concerning which had been forwarded to the committee o£ the League of Nations. The conditions of work for women was another question of great importance, for women had undoubtedly suffered injustice I during the depression through lower salaries than men and by being blamed for taking men's jobs. An interesting and unusual viewpoint was that of a Frenchman, who stated thathe did not think the depriving of women of their jobs would help the depression, or that I the greater use of machinery in production had greatly affected unemployment. In discussing war and peace the conference unanimously came to the conclusion that the private manufacture of arms constituted one of the greatest dangers to peace in the world today. The attendance of Turkish men at the conference, and particularly at the open sessions, was most noticeable, a' very real interest being shown. It was noticeable that the women who attended were mostly of the younger generation—the older Turkish women apparently not having quite the same spirit of modern progressiveness. A report of the Pan-Pacific Women's Association was given under the title, "Women Under Various Forms of Government," and the conference also paid special attention to the problem of assisting women in countries under dictatorships, where they were being pushed back to the conditions of over 100 years ago. It was definitely found, as an outcome of the discussions, that countries were most progressive where women had the franchise. Dictatorships always reacted against women. No woman representative had been sent from Italy, the reason given being that their society was at present "in abeyance." Germany also had not been represented.

Miss Kane said that she felt that women needed to guard the liberty they had already gained, and to realise how precious to them was the democratic form of the British Constitution. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the speaker.