MISS MACLEAN RETIRING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18533, 18 October 1923, Page 10

MISS MACLEAN RETIRING.

NURSING SERVICE DIRECTOR

.SEVENTEEN ! YEARS' WOEK,

An '< At Home" ;in honour of Miss H. Maclean, who will shortly retire from directorship of the New Zealand Division of Nursing, was held at the Nurses' Club, Mountain Road, yesterday afternoon. There was a large attendance \members, who welcomed the opportunity of taking farewell of their popular chief " on her 1.-st official visit to Auckland. >■ Miss Maclean has occupied the' position of director for 17 years, and in that time has guarded the interests of the service in a manner that has won for her tho affection and esteem of members throughout the Dominion.

As matron-in-chief of the New Zealand Army Nursing : Service,' she was responsible for the organisation of the nursing division in the military hospitals during the war, and, accompanied the first overseas contingent of nurses to Egypt in 1915. For hor war time services she was awarded the Nightingale Medal, the highest honour the nursing profession can bestow, and also the Royal Red Cross. Yesterday's gathering included a number of army nurses, and a happy hour was spent in recalling . [ memories of those arduous and difficult days of war time activity. '. t -- ■;--;..",- •'. "'The guest of honour was accorded a very hearty welcome by the president of the Trained Nurses' Association, Mrs. D. Tracey Inglis, who referred in terms of high appreciation to Miss Maclean's long period of service, which constituted a,,' record : for ; New Zealand.:-:-Nurses throughout the Dominion would; regret her retirement, and at the 'same time would ; wish her many years of happiness and well-earned rest. ■On behalf of mem-, hers of "'the association, Mrs. Inglis presented Miss Maclean with a! beautiful bouquet of white spring flowers, tied with red. white, and blue streamers. "V Mrs. '■ W. Oliphant in supporting v the president's remarks, paid a very high tribute; to the way in which Miss Maclean had always .'-; stood ; for the "advancement of the nursing profession, and r the upholding of its highest ideals. ; She had rawsponded ungrudgingly to every demand made upon ; her time and attention, and had been a tower of strength to the whole service.; I '''"'. ■ ;, '.'.'. : .l ---v-' ■';'•"''::?>';;:■';• -xV^

: In thanking members for their :; kindly words of appreciation, Miss Maclean said she regretted in many wayp the severance of old associations, but she felt the time had come or I her to lay; down her. work; The profession was a hard one, and ■ she wished it might be possible for alp nurses to retire from it, and to enjoy ; some years of leisure and ■ the comforts of private life before they ; grew too ' old* to enjoy them.