BABY WEEK.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17523, 5 July 1917, Page 7

BABY WEEK.

IN AH) OF HOSPITAL FOR CHRISTCHURCH.

THE CITY CAMPAIGN. Quietly tho Plunkot Society is adding to its total fclnds for tho erection of the Babies' Hospital at Christchurch.. Yesterday the collectors expected some windfalls from tho usual country visitors on market day and their expectations wero fully realised. The amount collected and donated at tho Cathedral Square table was £37 12s 3d and at the Cashel Street table £3B 0s sd.

Tho thirty-ninth £25 was received by noon yesterday, which came within tho extended time? agreed on to take advantage of Mr and Mrs Bloxam's offer to contribute the fortieth £2o and make up thte fourth £IOOO. Mr "W. Sarelius has presented a model yacht, which is on view in Hallonstein Bros.' window, the Triangle. It will be sold by auction in Cathedral Square at 3 p.m. to-morrow afternoon.

PLUNKET SOCIETY'S " AT HOME."

TO BABIES AND MOTHERS.

Some of the first fruits of the society's good work in Christchurch wero to bo seen at tho Chamber of Commerce Hall yesterday, when the Society was " At Home " to Plunkot babies and their mothers. Tho invitations were very gratefully accepted, and long before three o'clock there was a unique scene in the hall. Dotted around little white tea .tables were the young mothers and their bairns. Tho babies, even to the unimpressionable, wore an aggressively healthy aggregation. Mostly they were at the in-arms stagfe, still under tho advice of the grey-gowned nurses, but there wero many babies of an older generation. Of course, it would bo a mistake to imagine that Pliinket babies are drawn altogether from the humbler strata of society. This was evident from a very brief survey of tho mothers. There wero mothers from almost every rung of Fortune's ladder, but they were all chiefly blest in the possession of fine healthy babies. One little chap, whose hoso and doublet gave him the appearanco of a miniature Raleigh or Francis Drake, toddled cheerfully round the hall, and was made much of by the Plunket ladies. More and more babies arrived as tho afternoon wore on, an eloquent testimony to tbe extensivo nature of tho society's work. After tea had been served, Dr Truby King was introduced by tho president (Mrs Morton), and in a brief address remarked how inspiring it was to reflect that the thing that was engaging chief attention in the Antipodes was tho very thing that was atten. tion'at Home, in the shape of Mr Lloyd George's "Save the Babies " movement. Ho dwelt on the inspiring terms in which Lloyd George's appeal was couched. He was sure, he said, that those who had received benefit from tbe noble work of the Plunket Society must recognise its great beneficence. But the great benefit lay ahead, and what had been don o in the past was nothing to what would be done. Ho was sure that the greatest benefits would accruo from tbe Babies' Hospital, and the School for Mothercraft, and he wished them every success.

BISHOP BRODIE'S APPRECIATION.

In response to a question that ho would, if ho thought fit, commend the Babies' Hospital to members of his flock through the churches in his diocese, Bishop Brodie writes to the honorary secretary:—"l have been in tho Nqrth Island for the past fortnight, hence my delay in acknowledging your letter aiid annual report. The work of the Plunket Society has my fullest sympathy, and I will gladly avail myself of tho earliest opportunity to commend its work to my people. I have seen the practical benefits of the work of tho Plunket Society /and the movement you have now in hand should commend itself to the support, of the whole community. I enclose a donation of £5 towards the contemplated hospital, and I sincerely wish that your excellent society will meet with generous appreciation. Yours sincerely, t Matthew J. Brodie, Bishop of Christchurch."

SALVATION ARMY'S APPROVAL. In answer to a similar request to the Salvation Army, the following reply has been received: —"Dear Madam, —In the absence of Major New\iy, .who is away on the West Coas*,' I desire to acknowledge receipt of your favour, dated 20th instant, the contents of which are duly noted. The undertaking in connection with the Babies' Hospital certainly commends itself to the Army, and we desire to wish the project every. success, and endorse the same most heartily. God bless you! —Yours sincerely, A. Th'arkettlo, Divisional Secretary."

LATEST DONATIONS. The latest donations to the Babies' Hospital Fund are as follow :

Mr Marchall £l, Mr James Stevenson £l, Mrs Orbell £l. Nancy Maxwell Roberts ill, John Cunningham £'2, Mrs T. T. Bobson (Avonside) £1 Is. Miss Robson £l. Mr Bond I'CoalTOto) £l. Dr" Morkavne £1 Is, L. M. Isitt £1 Is, A. F. Writrht £2 2s. Miss M. Kivor 10s, Anonymous 10s, Mr and Mrs H. Overton £i 4s, Cyril Whalo £1 Is. The total amount collected to date is £3602 18s 6d.

THE GREATEST ECONOMY.

SAVE OUR CHILD LIFE.

We women are asked to economise in food, writes Lady Forbes-Robertson in fcho " Daily Chronicle," and we are for the most part doing our best. To economise in lives is the more important matter at the moment, yet no big campaign has been made against thatenemy of the Empire, the heavy rate of infant mortality. Wo are losing more babies, potential citizens for the Empire, than wo are losing fighting men, even though this is acknowledged to be the biggest and most dreadful war the world has known.

Women are not encouraged to know much about Government departments, and so many women do not~know what I have recently learned, "that the public health is in the hands of fourteen or more Government departments. The result is a muddle, each department guards its rights and resents encroachments, and tiicro being no central authority each goes its OAvn way. 1 think if the women of Britain knew that it was for lack of co-ordination among fourteen departments that we suffered so much in health matters and losemany little lives they would set about educating public opinion. Lord Rhondda, President of the Local Government Board, a man who

has proved his administrative capacity and ability in commercial enterprises when ho came to the Local Government Board, saw at once what was needed. The Local Government Board and the National Insurance Commission are the two v chief departments concerned in the care of the public health, and the Local Government Board deals with so many aspects of this work that it is an ideal authority for health matters. Lord Rhondda, realising the heavy losses of child life, urges that there shall l>o a Health Ministry, a knitting up of all these departments" The idea has been admitted to be sound by high authorities. AVhy is not something done? A MOTHER'S APPEAL.

I. as a woman and a mother, urge that there should be no delay in this matter. That even one child should die from preventable causes is a. disgrace to us, and we lose thousands. If there is a remedy,- and it seems to me, who have no expert knowledge, and many others who have, that a Health Ministry would begin to put things on a proper footing, then we should at once establish a Health Ministry. Delay is fatal in war, and it is in this matter.

We shall need our new^little citizens.

We women are proud to be able to be of service in this war by saving food so that the Hun may not defeat us, in spite of our men's gallant work in battle. But to those of us who have a sense of proportion—not so few—the cry of " Save the food " is a oompara-! tively unimportant one to "Save the babies." "Save the babies" and "Save the food" is the oi-der we would like observed, and the men in the trenches, who are singularly clear-sighted on big matters, now they are raised above their fellow-men and have a wider vision, uphold all thoso who would save the country from being bled white. From some officers in France not very long ago came cheques which they wished spent in providing milk for poor babies. "Go ahead with the Schools for Mothers," wrote a soldier man to a friend of mine.

Let us all give one pull and a strong one together, so that we may have a Health Ministry, and quickly. This will, it seems to me, be the finest economy wo can effect dining the war. One central authority instead of fourteen.

CAMPAIGN IN BRITAIN.

APPEAL FOR BETTER CARE.

By Telegraph—Proas Association— Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, July 3.

Lord Rhonnda, speaking at a Baby Week meeting, said that two thousand babies under twelve months, and three thousand under five months were lost weekly owing to want of knowledge and the necessities of life. Thousands might be saved. Cleaner and healthier homes, better food, and greater care of mothers would have prevented the rejection of a million men for the army since the war began. Mr H. A. L. Fisher, Minister of Education, deplored the fact that there were a hundred thousand stillborn children yearly; this was equal to the casualties in a great campaign. Urgent housing reform was needed. Every cottage should have a hot water system and a gas stove.

£ a. d. Amount previously acknowledges . 5538 12 1 Oathodritl Square table . . 33 8 5 Anonymous . . • 23 0 0 ft. H. N. Helmore . . , 25 0 0 T. G. Russoll . ■ . , 25 0 0 Cashel Street table . . . 23 19 5 Anonymous . . < , . 20 0 0 Bowron Bros 20 0 0 11. H. Rhodes (Bluecliffs) . 20 0 0 Collected at Addin?ton Yards, per Mrs Steeds and party 15 6 7 SpirUialistic debate, per C. b! Morris .... 11 17 0 Mr and Mrs H. 0. D. M'eares . 10 0 0 5 5 0 Anonymous .... 5 0 0 Mrs Vernon .... 5 0 0