The Wanganui Chronicle "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY DEC. 21st 1916. THE STEWART BEQUEST.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 16852, 21 December 1916, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY DEC. 21st 1916. THE STEWART BEQUEST.

Beyond all question, one of the most solemn duties imposed upon the nations is to endeavour to their utmost to make good the manhood wastage of the war by the- conservation of infant life. It is at all tim&s the■ duty of the State and of the individual to do this; but the war, with its frightful toll of human life, emphasises, as nothing else could, Cue necessity for a full realisation oi our obligations in this direction. It is therefore, a happy coincidence that the generous bequest of a gentleman who was one of Wanganui's mosfc esteemed citizens—a bequest designed for this very purpose—should be just becoming available at the very time when it is most needed, and1 most certain to bear good fruit. We publish in another column a communication from Dr. Truby King, m which that gentleman commends to the citizens of Wanganui and the settlers of this district the scheme of the local Plunket Society for making the best possible use of. the splendid gift of the late Mr. J. T. Stewart. There is in this Dominion no more competent authority on the subject of infant mortality and its causes than Dr. Truby ; King. For years" he has been earnestly striving to educate the people, and especially the mothers, in the knowledge necessary to the preservation of the young lives which Providence has entrusted to their care. Nobly and unselfishly he has devoted himself to this good work, and at the risk of being regarded by the unthinking as a crank or a fanatic, h 6 has courageously persisted in his endeavours to spread the gospel of infantile salvation. Those who have been privileged to come into close contact with Dr. Truby King and his work know full well that he is no brank; but that he is, on the contrary, an experienced, level-headed medical man, imbued with a high sense of duty, and possessed of a thorough knowledge of the problem which he has so much at lieart. Naturally, he is delighted with the prospect .which the Stewart bequest has opened to Wanganui. And it is indeed a pleasing prospect. We are justly proud of our educational institutions. They have won for us an enviable reputation from on.c end of the Dominion to the other. And here, ready to our hands, provided for us by the generosity of a good man who has gone from us, is an. opportunity to establish a kindred institution of incalculable worth to the entire coast. Once the sclieme of the Planked) Society has been consummated, we shall have in Wanganui an ideal and thoroughly equipped Babies' Home—or, as Dr. Truby King puts it, " a local centre for the work of the Plunket Society, where its nurses can b e located, and where infants and little children, who for the time being are foiling or who cannot be got on to the right track, can- be taken in hand and looked after on the lines cf the Karitane Baby Hospital at Dun,edin." Those who read Dr. Truby King's impressive letter will see, too, that the proposed institution is by no means a merely parochial conception Not only is it to be the local centre for the Piunket Nurse's work, but it is also to be " a standing object lesson and school for mothers from all directions/ As Dr. Truby King says, a properly equipped and efficiently managed sanatorium and hospital for babies—such as cannot be restored to health in their own homes—established in Wanganui would serve not only for local require^ ments, but would also meet the needs of the whole Taranaki province and serve as far as Palmerston and Taumarunm. Here, surely, is a goa l worth striving for, and to the attainment of wh;:h it should be to all of us a pleasure as well as a privilege to contribute. Th a financial scheme which has been devised by Mrs. Hope Gibbons, the president of the Plunket Society is one which in Dr. Truby King's cVI timation will adequately meet the case and we feel sure that it only requi^ to be submitted to the public in order to receive that practical endorsement which our people are ever ready to give to a good cause.