PLUNKET SOCIETY

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 October 1932, Page 5

PLUNKET SOCIETY

> STATEMENT BY FOUNDER. t t The following statement in connecJ tion with the policy of the Plunket 1 Society was issued by the founder and ■ general president of the society, Sir 1 Truby King, a few days ago: — “In. a public address given by the present Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A., Young, he appeals to me as founder and general president of the Plunket Society to support him in his contention that it would be utterly wrong to make any charge whatever for the society’s services, in view of my original pronouncement that these services would be gratuitous to all classes. However, changing circumstances during the course of the last 10 years have forced upon me the conviction that what was right and necessary 2G years ago had become more and more inexpedient, and is now wrong and 1 demoralising as a policy for the Plunket Society. “In the past, generous and munificent donors (including, for instance, tlie Rotary Society) have almost entirely supplied the capital needed for providing Karitane hospitals’ central premises for Plunket nurses, and the paying-off of overdrafts, etc., and we cannot expect similar provisions in the future if we alienate sympathy by persisting in a wrong policy. Moreover, if we continue in our present course, I am of opinion that we shall cause discontent among the vast mass of the community, inclusive of the poorer classes, and tend to alienate sympathy all round. “Just ten years ago I took Mr Justice Blair (then Mr Blair) up the roadway leading to the top of the hill on which the Karitane Hospital now stands. I mentioned my intention of completely levelling the site, which was then more than half finished, and giving ample grounds for the erection of an ideal Karitane Hospital. I may mention I hat nearly ton years previously 1 had completely planted the nor’-western slope, and the pines and

other shelter trees had already made great progress. Mr Blair said: “If that is your ultimate intention ,it seems a great pity to delay five years, seeing that a Karitane Hospital is already urgently needed here. If you give the site now, I feel sure that the public will do the rest; especially if some man of means, keenly interested in the

Plunket Society’s work, can he induced to contribute a substantial sum towards the erection of the necessary buildings.’ He said that a client of his, of strong humanitarian tendencies, bad expressed the desire to donate £lO,OOO for founding an institution for the benefit of women needing a rest. Mr Blair felt that the proposal was something impracticable, and said he would gladly advise his client to offer to build a Karitane Hospital instead of the proposed institution for women. He gave me a note accordingly, and I explained to his client the boon that such a Karitane Hospital would be not only to the ’whole of the Wellington Province, but as far as Nhpier and New Plymouth. “I had a long and earnest interview with the potential donor and formed the most favourable opinion of Iv'm, He said that he would give the matiSr bis earnest attention at once, and devote a whole month to careful investigation of the merits of the scheme. He asked me to call on him again at the end of the period, and that he would then let me know his decision.

“To my chagrin, when I returned a month later, he said he was dead opposed to the proposal, because the weight of evidence was utterly against it. He had been informed by a number of friends whose opinion he valued and respected that many people who were earning an ample livelihood, and some of whom had their motor-cars, accepted the services of the Plunket Society year after year and contributed nothing towards the expenses; and that the same obtained' with regard to a considerable number of people of independent means. T’his man had every .sympathy with the Plunket Society, but in his opinion the time had arrived when people who could well afford to pay should be obliged to make reasonable contributions for the services rendered. He said that as things were shaping we were causing people to regard the society in the same way as they regarded the State and the Civil Service—that is, as bound to provide for them, because they paid rates and therefore were entitled to all they received. Of course, I pointed out to him that 90 to 95 per cent, of our capital expenditure was derived from generous donors from the North Capo to the Bluff; but I knew also tluii. at every biennial conference oi the ITunkot Society an increasing num)',er of (ho delegates deplored the fact that people had got into the bad Labit oi taking everything as a right and giving nothing in return.”