CANTERBURY BRANCH OF THE SOCIETY.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12404, 20 November 1908, Page 4

CANTERBURY BRANCH OF THE SOCIETY.

In connection with the annual meeting of the Canterbury branch of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children, held last month, some very interesting remarks and enquiries were made which ; have a specially ■ important bearing, not only on what the Society is doing and likely" to effect in the future, but on the scope and nature of its work as understood by the public.

HEALTH OFFICER'S OPINION. Dr. Finch, the District Health Officer, after eulogising the energy and devotion of the leading members of the local committee, and expressing his own opinion as to the gocd that the Society was doing, and would do in Canterbury, in the direction of lessoning the death rate and improving tho health standard among babies, said in effect that the Society's work was of a kind that could not'be as well carried out by the Government, because the great proportion of self-respecting women, however poor they might be, would not be' inclined for official advice or assistance in regard to intimate domestic matters in the same way as they would apply to tho nurse of a private; organisation, representing and embracing all sections of the

community, and working on lines of mutual helpfulness, without any trace or suggestion of class distinction, patronage or charity. This is precisely the opinion eutertained by their Excellencies the Governor and Lady Plunket, and entirely coincides with what may be inferred from the practical experience of the Society in Dunedin and elsewhere. ■■ While "exercising a charitable function, whore such is necessary, charity is not the essential role -of the Society. The central idea is an organisation of the most capable and sensible women in various centres leagued together for the purpose of mutual helpfulness in regard to all matters especially, affecting the health- of the mothers and children of to-day, and looking ahead to the conditions most conducive to perfect motherhood for the generations ahead of us. The'members of the Society feel and admit that they- have themselves much to learn and unlearn, but they are leaving nothing undone which can as.sist m perfecting their knowledge of the best tnat lias been ascertained or is ascertainablp, bearing on the welfare of parent and off-spring conception of the position than she did when visiting the home of a torlorn infant in Dunedin dying the- part of a young mother. Air,' XV losing, everything, had- been almost as bad as they could be. and the m pst natural feeling to arise was one of indignant protest against thp SifTl SuffGl £ lg t0 Si the her i it een sub J ected - However, JJhn lExce1 Exce ] lleyn °y touched a better chord, and one really f ar mro !S foi ll^ 3 ' t0 lead the niotSrjre! eS "YnTi When She said - 'n eirecT;.— _ you have certainly mnrin .many mistakes with youi baby but really we mothers We most of Is many positions in which ffi n?S md # nurses specially trained m the, needs of mothers and babies of e us 1S T r- longer r ex °^c fS any A MISCONCEPTION, ber" of^lf 1 qu « tio ». P«t by a mom . ing the maintenance nf i,«illwomen and children. health m