WILSON HOME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22820, 30 August 1937, Page 11

WILSON HOME

OPENING CEREMONY

GRATITUDE OF THE CITY LARGE CROWD ATTENDS MORE MONEY REQUIRED Showing, as one of the speakers said, their practical sympathy and public appreciation of such a magnificent gift, a very large number of persons attended on Saturday afternoon the official opening of the Wilson Home for Crippled Children at Takapuna, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Wilson. The ceremony was held overlooking Rangitoto Channel and the back lawn was crowded with people. It had been hoped that the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, would be able co perform the opening ceremony, and after he had found that pressure of official business would not allow him to make the journey te Auckland, the Minister of Health, the Hon. -P. Fraser, was asked by him to represent the Government. However, indisposition prevented Mr. Fraser's attendance and letters of apology from both him and Mr. Savage were read by the Rev. W. C. Wood, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, who opened the home. An apology was also received from the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, who was indisposed, and from Mr. G. L. Taylor, president of the Auckland branch, of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society!; Mr. W. R. Wilson was forced by illness to remain at home, but Mrs. Wilson was present. In addition to the many members of the public, representatives were present from a number of local bodies. Mayor's Speech Read Mr. W. T. Anderton, M.P., represented the Mayor and read a speech which Sir Ernest had intended to give. The day, said the speech, was one which might well be marked with a white stone in the history of the welfare of the crippled child in New Zealand, because it had brought to those of them who lived in the Auckland province the dawn of a new era of hope and health and the means of entering a fuller and more useful life. "Magnificent generosity, wholehearted co-operation, and untiring endeavour on the part of all associated with the gift and the establishment of the home," said the Mayor, "have combined to convert the dream of this haven into a practical reality and to ensure the functioning of the home and its maintenance and management in terms of the deed of trust in a manner which, I am sure, will reflect the noblest conception of citizenship." After voicing wholehearted appreciation of the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, the speech expressed the Mayor's thanks to the business men's committee which had assisted in the effort which brought the total of the endowment fund to £25,000, to Lord Nuffield, for his initial gift of £IO,OOO, to the Auckland Hospital Board, and the citizens who had contributed to the fund. Government's Support Mr. W. J. Lyon, M.P., said the home represented a necessary part of the hospital facilities of Auckland. Ho had often thought it was a pity that the establishment of such homes had so often to depend upon the generosity of private citizens, but he felt sure that the Wilson Home would always have the sympathetic and ready attention of the Government to its needs. Representing the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society, Mri A. L. Spence said the home provided ideal surroundings for the necessarily long convalescence of crippled children, who could so easily suffer a setback in their progress if perfect conditions did not exist. The home would greatly increase the chances for their recovery to normal health. He also appealed for further funds so the endowment fund could be enlarged sufficiently to reduce the charges being made for treatment there. ». Urgent Improvements Mr- Wood expressed the thanks of the Hospital Board to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson for their tremendously generous gift. He emphasised, however, that further money would be needed if the. home was to attain its full potential usefulness. He wished to make it plain that the home was to be open to any crippled children at all and that the present inmates had been taken from the hospital*merely because the opening of the now home came providentially at a time when the hospital had many infantile paralysis patients. A solarium, for the building of which the Auckland branch of the Crippled Children Society had given £6OO, and a massago department were two of the immediately projected improvements to the home. The estimated cost of the second would be about £7OOO. Toys, particularly* mechanical, and about £SO for the provision of wireless for the children were also needed urgently. After Mr. Wood had declared the home open the visitors were allowed to make a brief inspection of the interior. The Takapuna Brass Band played on the lawn throughout the afternoon.