PLUNKET SOCIETY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23501, 16 May 1938, Page 4

PLUNKET SOCIETY

THIRTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY MESSAGES FROM PUBLIC MEN The Plunket Society has received the following messages in connection with the establishment of “ Founder’s Day The Prime Minister (Mr M. ,T. Savage}, It would be difficult to find in' New Zealand or anywhere else, indeed, an organisation that has done better work than the Plunket Society. Its earnest efforts' have been devoted to the welfare of mothers and children. .The fame of the society’s success has, gone far beyond the boundaries of the Dominion and actually has been an inspiration to other countries. For many years I was a member of, the Auckland Hospital Board and other local bodies in that centre, and during that experience I learned a great deal about the services of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, which is now known in practically every household as the Plunket Society. It is now 31 years since the society was founded in Dunedin by Sir Truby King. The gifted founder has been taken away, but his ardent and beneficial work lives on. Every year since the society’s foundation has added proof of the value and growth of a noble service. For many years New Zealand has had the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, and last year a new low record' was created. Much of that success is '••directly attributable to the work and influence of the Plunket Society. Both on behalf of the Government and myself as Prime ,Minister, I can assure the society that it may rely on bur sympathetic support and best wishes for the continued success of a splendid movement. I hope that Founder’s Day, on May 14, will bring to the serVice of the Plunket!Society a full measure of public support, which is well deserv.ed.

The Minister of Health; (Mir P. Fraser): In the' march of human progress the rights of the mother and her child must surely receive first consideration. Both are entitled to the very best that medical and nursing care can provide. I deem it a privilege on. the, thirty-first anniversary of the foundation day of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children to express my appreciation of the great humanitarian work of this organisation and of the signal success which has attended its efforts to “ help the mothers and save the babies.” The society, under the inspired initial leadership and wise guidance of its distinguished founder, Sir Truby King, has with unflagging zeal spread its beneficial influence into countless homes in our own and other lands. It was in 1907 that Sir Truby uttered the plea that “ a general diffused knowledge and recognition of infant requirements and maternal duties would save the community one life per diem and would correspondingly increase the strength and , vitality of. the rising generation.” That year, when the society was inaugurated oiir infant death rate was 88 per 1000 live births. To-day the rate in this country stands at the astonishingly low figure of 31 per 1000 live births. Such a result speaks for itself. On behalf of, the Government it gives me' the’ •greatest pleasure to commend to all the aims and objects of this society. I sincerely hope that the appeal now being made to increase the membership will be rewarded with The success it so well merits. !

The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Adam Hamilton).: That New Zealand’s infant fneftality is the lowest in the world.is a record, of which we are, extremely- -prohd, and’ it is with extreme satisfaction that we realise 'We are the -envy of other countries in thjs important social service. But many of our people are apt to forget that this happy position has not been attained by chance or happy circumstances, but is largely due to the mangificent work accomplished by the Plunket Society. In practically every part of our Dominion—in the cities, in the country towns and even in the backblocks. will tafe found the local branch of the Plunket Society complete with its Plunket nurse and Plunket rooms, ever ready to assist in maintaining the health of our little ones. Further than this, there are Karitane Hospitals enquipped to give the most modern and proved treatment to infants whose state is so serious that hospital attention is necessary. There are few men who have done a greater public service for New Zealand than the founder of the Plunket Society, Sir Truby King. His name will ever be honoured by the citizens of this countrV as one of its greatest philanthropists, and the Plunket Society has every reason to be justly proud of their founder and his great work for children. It would be impossible to estimate the number of healthyyoung men and women —to say nothing. of growing boys and girls—who to-day are taking their part in • the development of New Zealand and who, but' for the advice and skilled attention given by the “Plunket” in the days when they were very young and, perhaps, sickly children;-would not now be enjoying their robust health. Perhaps many of them would riot even be with us. Our Dominion owes a tremendous debt to this splendid organisation which is carried on as a result of the self-sacrificing work of its professional officers, and which is kept in existence and -.guided by public spirited men and wor.*m who, without hope of material reward, guide its destinies gnd supervise its administration. In every place where there is a local branch of the Plunket Society, there v/ill you find the Plunket workers who are part of a Dominion-wide and excellently administered organisation. Their task is not easy, and were they not imbued with the highest ideals they would not.be doing this work. They get a measure of State assistance, it is true, but much more than that is required, and one of their major tasks, is the procuring of the necessary funds to enable the great work to go on. This is not an easy matter by any .means,, for the services rendered by the society, and which are available to all, whether rich or poor, demand an ever-growing supoly of money. It is with the greatest confidence that I recommend the society’s appeal, and I am quite sure that the people of New Zealand, realising the purpose for which their donations will be used, will be generous. Anything that is contributed can be regarded as an investment in the .welfare of our nation, arid also an investment that will bring a return which is so great that' it cannot be assessed in the terms of mere money. No organisation in New Zealand is more worthy of support than the Plunket Society

MEDICAL ADVISER TO COUNCIL A TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT At a meeting of .the Dominion Executive of the Plunket Society, held last week, Dr E. H. Williams, senior honorary physician to the Truby King Harris Hospital in Dunedin, was appointed medical adviser to the council of the society in a temporary and part-time capacity pending the appointment of a successor to Dr Martin B. M. Tweed, who recently resigned from the office of full time medical adviser. Dr Williams has been closely associated with the work of the society and its main training school in Dunedin since the foundation of the society here by Sir Truby King.