PLUNKET SOCIETY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16114, 1 May 1923, Page 8

PLUNKET SOCIETY.

The Gisborne IMunket Society held its annual meeting yesterday, ttiero heiny a fair attendance. Airs. A. M. t'utleil. presided in the absence oi -Mrs. Aitken, and apologies for nonattendance were received from several residents interested in the work.

In moving tho adoption of the report and balance sheet, Mr. \V. F. Cedcrwall pointed out that the financinc.- of the Society's work was a serious problem, hut couid be overcome if there were sufficient enthusiasts who woultt make regular subscriptions.

Mr. '.l. 'J odd endorsed Mr. Ce.derwaU's remarks, commenting that it was to the. interest, of the parents to keep the Society's work going. Mr. F. Ball commended the Society for its work during the year. A glance at the nurses report showed that over 4000 visits had been made during the year, while the balance sheet showed a credit of about £SO 'l'hc Society was to be congratulated or. its successful work.

Officers for tho ensuing year were elected as follows: President, Mrs. A. M, Puflett; vice-presidents, MesdametAitken, R. Robertson, and W. S. Smith, hon. treasurer, Mrs. F, J. Row ley j hon. secretary. Mrs. .J. Blair; committee, .Matron Walsh, and M'es dames D. W r . Coleman, Foote, Singer Nolan, Graham, Thomas, D< G. Robert son. Stewart, Packe, Cederwall, Wauc.hop, Sidebottom, Ross, Kirk, Matron Clark, and Miss Brooke-Taylor; Advisory Board, Messrs. Cederwall, Blair, Thompson, and Drs. Gunn and Singer. A highly interested address on medi cat science, as applied to child welfare, was delivered by Dr. Singer, who traced the growth of the science down to the present time, from its earliest crude development. In the old daymedical knowledge had been limited, and the practise of tho profession wa; in.such hands that a patient was often fortunate in not being able to secure a doctor. As the treatment of diseast on a scientific basis developed, the third phase came in sight, namely, the pre vention of disease. The old terror 0." recurring epidemics was largely overcome by the preventive measures do veloped. Now the medical profession wan turning its attention to a. new theme, not. the curing of disease, or the prevention of disease, but tho promolion of health. Health, the doctor pointed out, was not merely freedom from disease, but something that had a positive character, and was capable oJ promotion. Doctors had realised that the promotion of health must, start, with the child. Franco had, perhaps, started the modern movement for tin protection of infant life, after enquiries made in that country about the middle of last century revealed that, there wa.<a, tremendously high infant mortality. From France; other nations had learned the. benefit of baby-saving, and the measures had now a world-wide scope. The first influence on infant health, said Dr. Singer, was heredity. It was demonstrable that unsuitable unions often trailed a legacy of physical and mental disease. One of the .remedies offered was in the adoption of some system oi eugenics, a science which had vet to be developed beyond the infant stages. Its adherent."/ sought to bar unsuitable marriages, but so elementary was the science of eugenics thai it eould only be applied in extreme eases. They had yet to find out which were the more desirable' qualities to transmit, to children. In the fostering of physical qualities, desirable mental qualifies might, he forfeited. Ignorance among parents, which had been a menace to child life, was being wiped out by better educational work; poverty, with its attendant, evils of dirt and malnutrition, was still a serious handicap to infant, life, for where the wages were lowest there infant mortality was highest. The bet-tering-of conditions and doing away with poverty was a matter for the politicians, and it could not be expected that there would be any change in the general conditions during the next generation. Reform Mould have io he based upon the present conditions, and lie fissured his hearers that if was surprising what could be done even under tho present unsatisfactory system. Dr. Singer instanced the caso of a. French Alpine village, where the Mayor dis covered that the infant mortality was at the rale of 300 per 1000. By sweepim reforms, instituted by the Mayor with the support of tho ' townspeople, and carried on later by his son, the rate of mortality among infants was greatly reduced, and in 1903,' so successful were tho measures adopted, that, no children under one year died. The speaker urged that this spirit should be accepted by the people of New Zealand, and more interest taken in the health of the children. The beauty of enviroment was not more important than "the beauty and health of children.

pr. Singer was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address.