THE STORKS' NEST

NZ Truth, Issue 1203, 20 December 1928, Page 5

THE STORKS' NEST

Sir Truby Still King of The Karitane Castle The , first , thing to strike one concerning the7 Wellington Karitane Home is that it is the sort of place which Sir Truby King would build. .' /

ROCKY, picturesque, and exposed to daintiness, kept m a box tied with: pink all the winds of heaven, it pays no ribbons.

regard to the conventions. Is it conveniently situated? It Is very frankly not. A forty minute ..bus service helps one up the hill, but m between times,, the Storks' Nest has to be' attained by climbing which makes many a mountaineer scant of breath. . . • _„_'■ Thousands and thousands of tiny pansies, purple, blue and golden hrown, swarm around the low brick arches and steps. There is the Wild sweetness of broom, and nasturtium's make a flare of color along the paths'. Nature and art have been thrown together carelessly and charmingly; , And on the crest of the hill stands the Home where the motto: "Help the Mothers and Save the Babies" is printed even on the pepper-pots which the nurses use ' at meals. 7 • . Built of dark brick and looking over a Avonderful sweep of city and sea, it might well be some Scottish castle of the feudal days. A big open balcony, ■ decorated With wicker chairs ahd lounges, and mellow with the afternoon sunlight, shows where most of the mothers spend their" leisure hours. There are two sections to Karitane — the Mothercraft, and the care of the babies themselves. In the first branch, five young mothers are taken m and trained m; the sometimes gentle, but always difficult art of bringing up their infants. s Usually, a mother perplexed with the numerous problems which a : first baby inevitably brings, vis . given precedence; the other cases are mothers whose children are not taking their food according to . Hoyle. . " The little. "Mothercraft" bedrooms look out over the blue Wellington harbor, and are furnished with comfort and color very remote from the ordinary hospital. Each mother has her own color scheme of eiderdowns, wallpaper and curtains, and doesn't have to feel that she is just One of an exactly similar group of cases. ' Passing along .corridors -where blue delft "bowls filled with flame nasturtiums adorn every ledge, we. come to the nurseries. It would be hard to lose one's way, for the lions, round about feeding time, have nothing on a sixweeks' old baby for sheer noise and enthusiasm. Dainty eggshell blue or green furniture is used for the room where shawl-wrapped armf uls are weighed, bathed and fed. v Each baby has his own dressingbaslcet, "labelled ';'. proudly With his name "Tommy" or "Augustus" and here are folded the soft 'trousseau" garments which the young mother takes such pride m making. , But the daintiest things* m the whole hospital are the tiny glory-boxes kept: ready for the babies'. who 'have been iri' a desperate hurry to get into the world. There- are two at Karitane . now, one only three pounds m weight— -but a pink and pretty young lady, for all that. Her blue bonnet would look small ori a fair-sized doll. All her clothes have been specially ma.dcv by one of the Plunket nurses, and are marvels of

There is a big, blue playing-pen where the young man who is getting -on m life is allowed to kick to his heart's content. Sunbathing is ahbther item of treatment, but is done ;:yery gradually m the warm, riiorning air. -,■ „ The 'nurses' bedrooms, upstairs, axe air dainty as those of -■ the mothers', with quaint peaked ceilings and a door cut away at -the top to let fresh air enter the rooms.. Outside is probably the most unique tennis court m Wellington, built, with much hard labor, right on the side of the hill, and banked up with" high brick walls. The nurses get their exercise here when off duty. A' little- emulsion factory, down be-, low, exports several tons of emulsion per month. This is one of New Zealand's special products and Is sent for from* Australia and from Plunket branches all over the world.