PLUNKET SOCIETY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12139, 29 December 1933, Page 3

PLUNKET SOCIETY

• TROUBLE; ! OYER . NEW APPOINT- ;■■■' : : '^y;vMENT^y! j ;; : ; h; V. u :

BRANCH AND . COUNCIL rAT LOGGERHEADS

- . (Press Association) . ; : • v \ WELLINGTON; .Dec.. 28/ ’ . Tlie secretary of . the Wellington branch ,of the Plunkeb Society has handed to the, press,' on behalf of the Wellington committee, a statement shying that the appointment of Mass N. Fitzgibbon as nursing adviser to the council of the Plunket Society has come .as; & complete ‘surprise to the Wellington ’ branch. ■’ The .statement that slio had > been appointed to succeed Miss Pat-trick, isl equally sur prising, for the -latter was Director ■of (Plunket Nursing, whild -Miss Fitz,.adviser:’,?’. v N- '; ■*

, Jtocontly, the , council sent a circular, to- all branches advising that, Miss Pattrick had resigned. The. Wellington branch immediately held a, special. meeting' and passed, a resodutiou! .protesting against' the .motion of the council in accepting the resignation, and .the council iwaS ' duly advsedl that ■ Wellington (would take ithe necessary .steps-':-for convening a special conference of the society to consider . the whole . .question, and Since 'then.-had circularised all other ‘branches A . formal', requisition, for n conference;; wduildl ;be ' sent to ‘the couricil early in the new year. "/

" Wellington ..(and' other branches.’ arc very; dissatisfied with the action of headquarters .in Dunedin, which has not given-what all branches' have the clearest right to; - expect —reasons far what, it has done. With a view to having ... the , position fully disclosed. "Wellington is moving for a, .special' conference-' : ' ' •

: In the absence of 'Those-reasons,•'it. •is" impossible to' make any ’ iurthe-r comment iust'now beyond expressing: profound dismay at the prospect of the:-soe'ety .losing'Miss Pattrick’s : services. : For many years; sho-has ;heon .the whole, soul, of the .PJunkot movement on the nursing side,-; and Las- an 'honored name beyond New ;Zealand-.. Her outstanding -. ability, and the confidence "she enjoys-, not only with nurses; byt, .also with, various branches -who have learned to realise the inestimab’e value of her advice, have .made her. one,-of the few almost indispensable officers . of tlie movement. That headquarters should l , not only accent her res-jpna-‘von, hu+ slight the various branches by appointing a successor (while, an .offrn't va« l)°’iig made to retain her services is almost ''unbelievable,. and mar be fraught with serious consequences for " the society at a. time when unanimity is ' most necessary. ■ \pt--9 Wellington branch has received • letters from at least 12 "branches •expressing approval of its action in moving for a" special conference, and dismay at tlio prospect of losing M ss .Pattrick.

After remarking that-the appointment came as- a surprise, ’ Airs Brown, president of the Wellington branch, si-ys she was not consulted and could only assume that the council executive, .which, under the constitution, consists of the executive of the branch of the society at the hendonnrters town, acted on its oiavu initiative-