SIR TRUBY KING MEMORIAL

Southland Times, Issue 23817, 15 May 1939, Page 8

SIR TRUBY KING MEMORIAL

Appeal For Funds

FOUNDER OF PLUNKET SOCIETY

An appeal for funds for a national memorial to Sir Truby King is to be inaugurated today by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) on behalf of the Plunket Society. The Governor-General (Viscount Galway) and Lady Galway have consented to be patrons of the appeal. The society has decided that the memorial to its founder is to take the following form:—

£2OOO to be set aside as an endowment fund, the income from which to be handed to the Wellington branch committee to assist with the upkeep and maintenance of Truby King House. (This was the home of Sir Truby King, and was bequeathed by him to the society for mothercraft work). £2500, or more, to be invested for the purpose of providing a post-gradu-ate course for Plunket and Karitane nurses. £3OOO to be expended on a suitable bronze plaque or other monument to be erected above the burial ground of Sir Truby. , £lOO to be set aside for a portrait of Sir Truby to be hung in a suitable place in Truby King House above an appropriate inscription. The sum of £5OOO is required to carry out these projects. MR SAVAGE’S MESSAGE “I am very glad to associate myself with the appeal for a national memorial to Sir Truby King. Few men have been more deserving of honour and remembrance,” states a message received from the Prime Minister. “Today is the anniversary of the founding of tire Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children—now known as the Plunket Society. Its work is a household word.

“Sir Truby King was a most extra-® ordinary man, possessing genius, dynamic energy and enthusiasm. Moreover, he had the rare quality of being able to communicate to others his own unbounded enthusiasm, with the result that the movement he founded and fostered rapidly expanded. He was blind to obstacles that would have deterred lesser men. Misunderstanding and opposition only acted as a spur to further efforts. Nothing was allowed to stand in the way of the cause to which he devoted his life. And no one can say today that the end he served did not justify all means. “The memory of Sir Truby King is honoured, not only by his fellow countrymen, but by humanitarian movements the world over.

“A man who can justly claim to have, reduced the death rate among infants in this country to the lowest in the world deserves the greatest honour - and respect. “Every New Zealander knows the bare fact of Sir Truby’s achievementhow he set out to save the wastage in infant life by education in motherhood, by introducing methods of feeding in accordance with the fundamental laws of nutrition and not least of all by founding the Plunket Society.

LOWEST MORTALITY RATE “As a result of all these efforts the infant mortality rate in New Zealand dropped from nearly 89 a 1000 in the year the Plunket Society was founded to round about 32 a 1000 at the present day—the lowest in the world. “No greater tribute could have been paid to Sir Truby and to his country than the widespread adoption of Truby King teaching and methods throughout the world. He was indeed a true benefactor of mankind. It is pleasing to reflect that the men of world renown that this young country has produced should be honoured for their contributions to the constructive cause of science. We would be failing in our duty as patriots in the true sense of the term, if we did not give all honour to those who have served their country in so outstanding a manner.

“I trust, therefore, that the appeal which is being sponsored by the Plunket Society for so worthy an object will meet with wide and generous public support. On behalf of the Government I wish to express my warm approval of the appeal.” Messages of support have also been received from the Minister of Health (the Hon. P. Fraser), the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash), and the Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. Adam Hamilton). Mr Fraser states:—“There is no doubt that human progress marches only where the needs of the mother and child receive proper consideration and where it is realized that they are entitled to the best that medical science and nursing care can provide. The inspired leadership and guidance of Sir Truby King in founding the Plunket Society has been a great force in this direction. The results achieved through his work are seen in the saving of the lives of thousands of infants and placing of them on the highroad leading to healthy life. They signify also better maternal health and so less sorrow and more happiness. “I sincerely trust therefore that the people of New Zealand will respond most generously to this worthy appeal for funds to perpetuate the memory of one of New Zealand’s greatest sons,” concludes Mr Fraser. Mr Nash states. —“Since its foundation by Sir Truby King and Lady King 32 years ago, the Plunket Society in New Zealand has achieved wonderful results. The proud position which New Zealand enjoys as the country with the world’s lowest rate of infant mortality, is due in no small measure to that devotion to an ideal for which the name, Sir Truby King, will always be remembered. It is hard to realize that .those principles of mothercraft, today so wellestablished, were, not very long ago, so little understood. For his work in establishing and, above all, in teaching those principles, Sir Truby has earned the gratitude of countless thousands of New Zealand mothers. It is fitting that the national memorial appeal that has now been launched should have as one of its main objects the strengthening and extension of the work of the society. I hope that all citizens will respond generously in recognition of the very great debt which this country in particular, and humanity generally, owes to Sir Truby King.” SERVICES TO INFANT LIFE '“Few people in New Zealand, if any, have earned the sympathetic consideration of the public as has Sir Truby King,” says Mr Hamilton’s message. “To honour his work in the form of a national memorial is the least a grateful community can do to show their appreciation for his great services to infant life not only in New Zealand but throughout the world.

“Although he was primarily a professional man of medical science, he was able to apply his scientific knowledge in a wider and wonderfully practical manner. He also had the valuable faculty of claiming the attention and support of able business associates. He was not only successful in the practical application of his medical science to infant life.

but before his death he was also able to see his work so well established as a business that its fruitful results would continue long after he as the founder was gone. “Memorials that remind us of men of this type are an inspiration to us all, but especially to men of science to apply their knowledge to solve practical human needs.”