An Imperial British Nurses' Association

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume II, Issue 3, 1 July 1909, Page 85

An Imperial British Nurses' Association

At the risk of condemnation for egotism, we must here quote from the (i Canadian Nurse," just to show those readers who have not the opportunity of seeing many of the nursing journals from abroad, how much in touch with those of our profession elsewhere the possession of a paper brings us, and so to urge them to assist in every way by contributing to, subscribing to. and reading it, in ensuring the continued success of Kai Tiaki. We wish also to show to our nurses the cordial and kindly spirit in which this, one of the youngest daughters of the Motherland, will be w T e I comed when the New Zealand Trained Nurses' Association, fully formed, may become a branch of this great International Council. The humble wish thrown out by us in the January number has been taken up warmly both in England, by the " British Journal of Nursine," and in Canada by the " Canadian Nurse." The" Canadian Nurse " says : — 1 A recent allusion in Kai Tiaki, the New Zealand Nurses' Magazine, deserves more than a passing mention. Our contemporary, after alluding to preparations among New Zealand nurses to attend the Congress, re marks that of course New Zealand nurses will not wish to join the Congress as the nurses of a foreign country, but as a part and parcel of the British Nurses Association. That is right ! Good for New Zealand ! They were first on the wire with the offer of a battleship, and now they are first in type with the veryjthing we in Canada have been feeling, but did not know how to express We now have the honour of proposing, in order that the nurses of New Zealand, Aus-

tralia, South Africa, and Canada, and other Britons beyond these ar in our profession, nunbe part and parcel of the British Nurses' Organisation that the name of the latter be changed to the "Imperial British Nurses' Association." (t The Canadian Nurse " had had the honour of consulting some members of the profession in Canada privately about this matter, and they all thoroughly approve of the Imperial idea. Miss Snively, Superintendent of the Toronto General Hospital Training School, on her attention being drawn to the matter, at once agreed to this view, and intends to propose it formally to the British officers of the International Council of Nursing. As Lord Milner said more than once during his recent visit to Canada : "We must do things together, in order to promote and solidify the unity of the British Empire.'' Here is a thing, and a good thing, which we can all do together. L,et us do it so. Long live the Imperial British Nurses' Association ! The proper organisation of such an association will mean a great deal to us in years to rome." From " The American Journal of Nursing," June, 1909 : — " Interesting suggestions of an 1 Imperial Federation of British Nurses ' appear in the foreign press. Kai Tiaki first put forth the suggestion that England's colonies should not enter the International Council of Nurses as foreign state?, and Canada responded warmly. It is probable that an affiliation of all the Colonies of Great Britain may be made at the London meeting." How proud we shall feel if this great or ganisation should be formed as the outcome of what we have, without hope of such kind encouragement, advocated in our little paper.