FAMOUS DOCTOR PASSES

Grey River Argus, 11 February 1938, Page 7

FAMOUS DOCTOR PASSES

SIR TRUBY KING Founder of Plunket Society IN HIS BOTH. YEAR. [Per Press Association]. WELLINGTON, February 10. The death has occurred or Sir F Truby King, C.M.G. Sir Truby King is survived by his adopted dauShter, Miss Mary King, who is at present in Adelaide, where she is engaged in broadcasting work, on behalf of the Australian Mothercraft Society. A nephew is Dr. E. L. Marchant, of Lower Hutt.

Born in 1858, at New Plymouth, Dr. Truby King was educated at New Plymouth and Edinburgh, and held the position of resident physician at the Royal Infirmaries, Edinburgh and Glasgow. He was sur j geon superintendent of the Wellington Mental Hospital in 1888-89, and of the Seacliff Asylum for many years. He also lectured on mental diseases, at the Otago University. He was best known as the founder and organiser of the New Zealand Plunket Society, and was lent by the New Zealand Government to organise similar work in England. He also held the position of Director of Child Welfare, Health Department. SPECIAL BURIAL PLACE. The funeral will take place on Sat urday afternoon, with a service in St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral at 2.30 p.m. and the interment will be in close proximity of the Katitane Hospital at Melrose. Special legislation was passed in 1936, to enable this to be done, and the remains of Lady King were reinterred there. Tne cortege will pass through the principal streets. It is expected that representatives of Plunket Societies and child welfare organisations will be present from all parts of the Dominion.

A Fine Tribute BY THE PRIME MINIS'IER. WELLINGTON, February 10. “I deeply regret to learn of the death of Sir Truby King,” said the Prime Minister. “His passing, in the fullness of almost eighty years, removes a world figure from New Zealand life and progress. Not only has Sir Truby King’s fame gone far beyond the boundaries of his own country, but his most vital work has been taken up in many lands, and extends steadily wherever people realise the value of wise motherhood and child welfare. If it were necessary to give the life story of Sir Truby King in a phrase, one need only say that he was the greatest friend of little children. It can be claimed for him that in this country alone his knowledge and his resourceful enthusiasm for a vital cause has been largely responsible for saving the lives of 1,000 infants every year. It is not easy to find a greater service for the nation and for humanity anywhere. He was one of the most distinguished New Zealanders, -and gave all he knew to the great work that dominated the greater part of his active life. It is not too much to say that he was one of the most outstanding figures in the sphere of humanitarian progress, which has characterised the development of State activity in- New ■Zealand. Since the foundation of the Society for the Health of Mothers and Children in Dunedin, some 30 years ago, the name of Sir Trubv King has been a household word. Today, that original society is a did organisation in New Zealand, and has counterparts in many countries, while the written works of Sir Trubv King on mothercraft and infant welfare have been translated into many foreign ianguages. Like many other reformers of the kind, he dio not have an easy task in the beginning but now all that he advocated is almost a routine part of maternal and infant welfare, with the State supporting the splendid work as an essential activity in social welfare. This country owes a great debt of gratitude to this zealous humanitarian, to whom there can be no finer memorial than the continuation and extension of his life’s work.”

STATE FUNERAL. LABOUR PARTY’S TRIBUTES. WELLINGTON, February 10. The Minister of Health, Hon. P. Fraser, announced that the late Sir Truby King is to have a State funeral. Tributes to the late Sir Truby King have also been paid by Hon. P. Fraser; the Director-General of Health, Doctor Watt; and by the Labour Caucus of Government Members,, which met to-day to consider several policy issues, the chief of which were the national health and superannuation schemes. ONE OF WORLD’S GREAT MEN HON. P FRASER’S EULOGY. WELLINGTON, February 10. "If one were endeavouring to form an opinion as to who had been the most famous New Zealander, there are certain names that would immediately come to mind. Undoubtedly, one of the first would be that of Sir Truby King,” said the Minister of Health, Hon. P. Fraser, in a tribute "Observing the large wastage of infant life, due largely to the ignorance of parents, Doctor King, with almost a fanatical zeal, embarked upon what has proved to be a most, outstanding contribution to the public health of the Dominion, namely, the saving and the welfare, of young life. The reduction in infant. mortality which has taken place during the past thirty years is almost incredible. That New Zealand to-day can claim to have the lowest infant mortality rate in the world is the late Sir Truby King’s achievement. His influence,- of course, lives, and will continue to five, and he will undoubtedly be known, as one of the world’s greatest men—as one of mankind’s outstanding benefactors." AN INSPIRING LIFE. WELLINGTON, February 10. It can be said that the movement of which Sir Truby was the founder originated in his mind, was animat-

ed by his energy and enthusiasm, and its success was, in no small degree, due to his captaincy for enthusing others equally with himself,” said Doctor H. Watt, Director-Gen-eral of Health. "The Plunket Society," he added, “is a lasting testimony to this great New Zealander. Although he has gone, the movement of which he was the founder is firmly established, and in it his name will be perpetuated.” I Dr. Watt also paid a tribute to Sir Truby King’s work as Director of Child Welfare,, which position, he said, he had filled with distinction, (bringing further lustre to the name of New Zealand in the particular sphere of public- health activity to which he had devoted himself.