The Waipa Post. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1926. THE PLUNKET SOCIETY.

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1784, 20 July 1926, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1926. THE PLUNKET SOCIETY.

WHILE the Royal New 'Zealand Society for the Health of "Women and Children, popularly and happily called the iPlunket Society, is already an organisation of which the ramifications extend not only from one end of New Zealand to the other, but far beyond, it is only necessary to glance at the statistics dealing with its activities to realise that its work is still increasing steadily from year to year. The Society has grown 'enormously since it had its beginnings in Dunedin nineteen yearls ago. There would however, appear to be almost no limit to the possibilities of its growth at tlra rate at which it is expanding its operations to meet the increased demand upon its services that is clue to an enlarged recognition on the part of the public for its helpfulness. The Society's work is primarily educational and humanitarian. Its aim is to help the mother and the child—to 'teach mothers the rules of hygiene applying to their own health and that of their children. There was a time when the Society had to face ridicule and opposition, and when it had. to struggle hard to combat indifference end to impress upon the parents of the community the fact and the significace

of itls very existence. To-day the Society can be regarded! as having come, so to speak, into its own. It has no need to advertise and justify its existence in the old way. The propaganda has 'had excellent results. The parents of New Zealand,, or at least a large' proportion of them are glad to avail themselves, where opportunity' offers, of the ever-ready guidance and assistance of the Society. This result, the, importance of which c'an scarcely be over-estimated, is a great testimony to the perseverance and wisdom with which the campaign on behalf of the Society has been carried on. The Society can rightly point to the success of its home mission to parents as due to the intrinsic value of the sound, well-thought-out instruction and practical training given by its nuirs.es, and conveyed in its publications; and also to the ease with which this instruction can be had " just for the asking." The whole field of New Zealand is still too large for the Society to cover, but the chart, illustrative of the distribution of its branches and sub-branches, furnishes in itiself an impressive indication of the remarkable progress that has been made. There are now some sixty branches in existence. These require the services of a hundred Plunket nurses, apart from.those employed at those important institutions, the Karitane hospitals. The number of outlying stations visited is very large. The Society's records repay scrutiny, especially in a comparative relation. The number of babies ujnder the supervision of Plunket nurses during the last twelve months under review reached the total of 41,655. That figure alone might be accepted as bearing witness in a most convincing way to the truly national scope of the Society's ministrationls. Next year the Society will have been in existence for two decades, and 'the attitude of the general public towards it and, its work in 1907 and «to-day is in sharp contrast. At the outset there was a good deal of tolerance, some scepticism, and a little antagonism. It was even said that the enterprise was merely a " squib" that would soon fall to the ground; that the medical fraternity was opposed! to it, and would soon crush it into oblivion; and that its foundation was based on insecure premises. 'But Dr (now Sir) F. Truby King and his little band of advocates kept steadily onward,, until to-day the Plunket Society is a very lusty infant. In those days the burning enthusiasm inspired by the founder of the organisation had to take the place of the present-day record of results and recognition. But that enthusiasm was the mainspring of a campaign which gradually forced itself upon the attention of New Zealand, and so long as it is maintained —and there is no evidence of its decline—th'e Society should go from strength to, strength. A tremendous asset of the Plunket Society—indeed, an indispensable asset—has been the splendid voluntary work undertaken by the devoted band of helpers upon whom it has been able to rely from the beginning; and, although the national character of the Society's work Js fully recognised to-day by the Government of the country, there can be no question that it is in support and, guidance of private enterprise, with a measure of .financial assistance from the State, that such an organisation can most effectively be carried on in the future as in the past. We have not julst at hand the figures bearing on the activities of the Te Awamutu branch of the Society, but in its few short years of life it has already accomplished much good, and it certainly has gained the goodwill of a large section of the community. One could wish that its calls for financial help had! evoked a fuller response from the town' and district, but doubtless that will be forthcoming in the near future. The effort made last Thursday was largely hampered by reason of the stormy weather conditions, but we think that partial failure will not d.aunf the small band of workers operating in a worthy cause. It is to be hoped not. The figures supplied by the district nurse, showing the number of babies being reared under Plunket guidance, were distinctly encouraging; and so it is, year by year, in each centre of the Society's activities.