THE PLUNKET SOCIETY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIII, Issue 193, 15 July 1943, Page 4

THE PLUNKET SOCIETY.

In Palmerston North the Plunket Society has come of age, and its officers and all who have been associated with its care during that time_ deserve the community's heartiest congratulations upon reaching this milestone in its service to mothers

and children. The pioneer days now seem . far away and the Plunket Society is firmly established as a force of good in this city, rendering inestimable service in the care of motherhood and the rearing of healthy infants who will one day be the parents .of their own lieplT-y children. Indeed, quite a.'.u .••

ber of former Plunket La Dies must have already reached that stajye in Palmerston North. The earlier days of the Society were beset with difficulties. Finance was not always easy, but the public responded generously and the branch to-day rejects the careful guidance of tiiose who have built it to its present excellent position. When Sir Trilby King founded the Plunket Society in Dunedin in 1907 he brought to the people a new conception of parenthood and the welfare of . children. At the time the Palmerston North branch was formed deaths under one year per 1000 live births were 41.89; in 1940 the rate had fallen to 30.21. It is common knowledge that New Zealand has the lowest rate of infant mortality i" the world, and while our climate, virile race, few densely settled areas, and educative measures have contributed to this result, much of it is due to the Plunket Society's work. It is a tribute indeed to the organisation that other countries are copying its methods. The Palmerston North branch will be Wished all success in its splendid service to the community.