SIR TRUBY KING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 113, 16 May 1939, Page 10

SIR TRUBY KING

MEMORIAL APPEAL

LORD GALWAY'S SUPPORT

"The name of the late Sir Truby King is so well known to you all that it requires no tribute of mine to recall the : great work founded by him, to which he devoted so many years of his life,'.' said his Excellency the GovernorGeneral in a broadcast message last night, in support of the appeal for a national memorial to the late Sir Truby. King.

"When Sir Truby began his crusade for the improvement of conditions relating to infant welfare, the available medical knowledge on the subject was, judged by present-day standards, very limited. However, by the research and..practical work pursued by him,, the sum total of medical knowledge has been greatly augmented, and world-wide interest in the more scientific care and feeding of infants has not only been. aroused, but continuously sustained. His work in the direction of educating mothers in the correct and proper care of their children has had a wonderful and far-reaching effect. His influence, at first confined to New Zealand, has been recognised by eminent authorities in many other countries, and Sir Truby was invited to visit personally overseas countries so that the work to be undertaken there might be firmly based on the .principles which he advocated. Today we find his system firmly established in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Palestine.

"In New Zealand, Sir Truby was responsible for the formation of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (commonly known as the Plunket Society in recognition of the interest taken by Lady Plunket, wife of the then Governor of New Zealand), and through that society gathered round himself a steadily-growing band of enthusiastic workers. The society is now acknowledged as a national one of inestimable value.

"In grateful memory of the work done by Sir Truby the society desires to establish a national memorial to him which will not only perpetuate the memory of his work, but will fittingly mark the deep respect and affection with: which he inspired all those privileged to be associated with his activities, and, at the same time, lead to the furtherance of the society's aims. The memorial, for which it is now proposed to raise a fund, will take the fornrof an endowment for'the Truby King House, Wellington, which was bequeathed to the society by Sir Truby King-for mothercraft work, and the establishment of a post-graduate course for Plunket and Karitane nurses. "The aim of the society is to make Truby King House a place where members of the society, friends, visitors to New Zealand, and others may visit and where they may see Sir Truby's library—his personal possessions. In such an atmosphere it is hoped that visitors may capture something of the spirit which animated Sir Truby and receive perhaps some inspiration from the thought of the great work planned and executed in Truby Kl"lf S°with the greatest confidence therefore, that I commend this national Speal to you in the belief that your response will be a fitting one to perpetuate the memory of a great New Zealander and one of the most eminent men of his generation."