NURSE’S MILITARY FUNERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 9

NURSE’S MILITARY FUNERAL

COUNTRY HONOURS MISS MACLEAN

FINE RECORD OF SERVICE.

fey Telegraph.—Press Association.

Wellington, Sept. 3. A full military funeral was aebdrded Miss Hester Maclean. The Rev. H. E. K. Fry, chaplain to the forces, conducted the service at St. Paul’s ProCathedral, and at the' crematorium. Captain D. H. Donaldson, .New - Zealand Staff Corps, represented the G.O.C. New Zealand Military Forces. ■ The pall-’ bearers were supplied by 'm’bihbbrs of thePermanent -Staff and the N-.-Z.iN. A. The Wellington fifing part Whs under .the command of Stuff-Sfergrtint-Mfejof BaUfer, and Was selected from the permanent staff .atTrenthfein. The funeral was largely attended by all sections of the community, and . i.n the body, .of the church were 50 military nursing sisters who served with the forces during the war.

Miss Maclean, who was born in New. South Wales, Was the daughter of Mr., Harold Maclean. Cbntrbller-General Of' Prisons bf that State. In entered the Rbyfel Princb Alfred Hos“ pitftl, Sydney, tod pasted her professional examinations in that ifistitutiom She Was subsequently appointed matron of-the Melbourne Women’s Hfepit&l. Miss Macleto Came to .NOW Zealand in ITO 6, sutefeeding Mrs. Gtace Neill i» th® position of assistant inspector of hospitals; devoting Special attention tbthe Uufsing part of hospital Work. Tlte supervision bf St, Helen’s hospitals tod. th® duties in connection with th® Stat® resistrfetidn of nUrses were also carried out by her; , for a period, she was, In addition, assistant inspector Of mental hospitals. , .... The growth of the nursing service made her position a buSy bite, and it Was no doubt dub tb Miss MaclOan’s fine work that the New Zealand torses Were so Well equipped wheii the call came for them tb go on active service. Among her mafiy activities prior to the Great War, Miss Macleafi Was directly and indirectly engaged in bringing about th® atealg“matiOn Of the nursing associations in the four chief Centres. Her Work brought into being the New Zealand TrshneaNurses’ Association, and the first publication, in 1909, of “Kai Tiaki, the New Zealand Nursing Journal,” of which-jour-nal she retained the editorship until, her death. — r .

WORK DURING WAR?

When the Great Wat broke out in 1914 Miss Maclean started organising the New Zealand Army Nursing. Service, and she left New Zealand with the first' contingent of nurses in the following year. The work of the New Zealand nurses in the various arenas of war is a matter of history, and is one of which the countrymight Well he proud. After some time hi the wat Miss Maclean was recalled to New Zcaland to organise military hospitals aiid to arrange for further contingents of nurses to go on war duty. The years of the War and those immediately following it were arduous <ye&ts id? Maclean. During the influenza epidemic of 19'1819 she had also to bear an unexpected burden of responsibility. In 1930 the honour of the Royal Red Cross was con-, ferred omMiss Maclean. In that year. Dr. T. H. A. Valilitine, Director-General of Health, referred to the award in the following terms: “It is largely, if not entirely, due to Miss Maclean’s untiring efforts that tho iiatnO of the Now Zealand Nursing Service Stands SO high in the opinion of those competent to judge, and when Miss Maclean received her well-merited decoration, the honour conferred on her was greatly appreciated not only by her colleagues in the New Zealand Amy Nursing Service, (but also throughout the nursing world. In 1933 Miss Maclean retired from the Public Service, but the laying down of official duties did not mean that her work was completed, for she continued her work as editor of the Nursing Journal, and in addition took an active interest in the affairs of the nursing profession. “Miss Hester. Maclean, states Dr. Valintine, ox-Director-General of Health, “Was in every way an ideal officer for the position she held so long and so honourably. Apart from hei ability, her kindliness, sense Of humour, and devotion to duty were an example to all.”