PLUNKET SOCIETY
FOUNDER'S DAY TOMORROW Since the death of that great apostle of infant and maternal welfare work; Sir Truby King, the date on which the Plunket Society was founded, May 14 has been observed by Plunket committees throughout New Zealand as Founder's Day. On this day, Sir Truby's unrivalled services, not only to New Zealand, but to humanity are recalled, and the inspiration of his life of unsparing devotion to a great cause heartens those who are carrying on as far as possible in his footsteps. Such a work can never be called completed and the horizen 'ever widens. The war is taking a shocking tolll of infant life. Mothers, in helpless agony, watch their children dying of hunger and disease, struck violently out of life, or left suffering and maimed to continue a crippled existence. In this happy and much blessed land, the troubles. and difficulties, of the mothers caused by the war seem very small in comparison, but the background of the war, and the nagging anxiety for loved ones in the danger areas, especially in the case of the wives of soldiers, saps' the ability to face even minor trials with courage, and the Plunket Society has extended a herlping hand!here also.' Plunket nurses everywhere are helping to share the responsibilities of young mothers whose husbands are away 'fighting our enemies. The Society has been instrumental, too, in obtaining the sympathetic consideration of the Government, in relieving many shortages in children's necessaries, and continually surveys the position, keeping their needs before the proper authorities. When peace returns, New Zealanders will have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Sir Truby King after the last Great War, and hasten to the help of the suffering little children in the ravaged countries. "Only if we are prepared to make sacrifices for others in desperate need, will we be worthy of our sons and brothers .who have, by their great deeds in battle, raised the name of New Zealand to its present^ eminence," says a statement issued today on behalf of the Society. . As i showing the. growth of the Society, it is recalled that whereas there was only one branch and one Plunket nurse in New Zealand in 1907, there are nowV7o branches and 700 sub-branches, and 150 nurses.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1944, Page 8
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382PLUNKET SOCIETY Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1944, Page 8
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