Otago

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume IV, Issue 1, 1 January 1911, Page 6

Otago

The President's Address.

I have much pleasure m assuring this, our third annual meeting that our Association continues to grow and prosper. At the date of our last annual meeting we had a membership of 112 ; a cash balance of

£18 17s. 2d., and 20 nurses connected with the Private Nurses' Bureau. We now have a membership of 129 ; a cash balance of £27 3s. 7d.; assets valued at £20, and 44 private nurses.

During the last seventeen months we have had twelve council meetings ; eight lectures,

and seven socials, at all of which the attendance has been good.

In order to bring the different branches into line it was decided that the various councils which should have retired last June should remain m office till the end of October at which date our financial year will end m future. To keep our finance m order we had to levy on the members for an extra ss. to provide for the extra five months m the past session.

The special thanks of the Association are due to the ladies and gentlemen who favoured us with most interesting lectures. Miss Kelsay lectured on " Browning's Heroines," Dr. Hall " Sleep/ Dr. Hunter " Nursing m Genitourinary Cases," Dr. Williams " Food poisoning," Dr. Sydney Allen "Immunity," Dr. Fulton " Rio de Janiero/' Dr. Truby King " Influence and Scope of Nursing," Miss Fraser, M.A. " Japan."

In February Miss Burton who has been our secretary since April, resigned, and Miss Griffiths was appointed m her place. Miss Griffiths now finds she is no longer able to attend to the duties, and Miss Hay will act as secretary. Miss Barclay, who has been our treasurer since the beginning, has also resigned, and her place has been filled by Miss Shackleford.

The next important event of the past year was the first meeting of the Central Council at Wellington m November, 1910, when I had the honour, with Miss Jeffreys, of representing the Otago branch. A good deal of useful business was transacted, an account of which has appeared m Kai Tiaki. The next Dominion Council meets m Dunedin m 1912.

It has been decided that while nurses with full qualifications may be admitted as members of the Association, those wishing to join the private nursing staff be accej^ted for six months provisionally, and a report be obtained of their work from patients and doctors during that time, so making it possible for the Association to vouch for those members sent out at the call of doctors or patients.

In future those who are admitted to membership six months after the beginning of the financial year shall be charged entrance fee and half subscription for that year, while those joining during the last quarter pay entrance fee only.

We have to record with deep regret the death of three members :■ Dr. Hocken, Dr. Blomfield, and Mrs. James.

Thanks to kind donations from Mr. Grinling, Dr. Siedeberg, and others, we have now assets valued at £25, so that we now have assets and cash over £50 ; a very satisfactory result after three and a half years existence.

During the year the private nurses sent out were 400, averaging over one a day ; and telephone calls average sixteen per day.

From a progressive and instructive point of view the last has been rather an uninteresting quarter. The numerous meetings that have been held have been to discuss the pros and cons of the continuance of the Private Nurses' Bureau under the control of the Council of the Association ; it having been decreed at the annual meeting that the private nurses should take over the management themselves, the movers of the motion wishing it to be understood still under the guidance of the Association as a whole. This motion, however, led to much misunderstanding, and many meetings were the outcome, the resolution finally arrived at being that the private nurses wished to have the management of their Bureau again placed under the control of the local Council. This necessitated the removal of the Association's Bureau from the Nurses' Home, Miss Griffiths absolutely declining to accept the terms offered her by. the Association. Mrs. Brew kindly came forward and volunteered to again take over the Bureau for the private nurses meantime, and manage it from her hospital (11 Clyde Street). The Association's code address of " Competent," and telephone number of 2252 still remain the same.

So Bureau affairs are just where Miss Jeffteys left them, or nearly so, after two years, only more members.

On 6th October the Nurses' Home was officially opened by .Dr. Valintine, m the presence of a large number of visitors and members.

It is with very deep regret the Association is saying farewell to Mrs. T. A. Fraser, a member who has taken a keen and loyal interest m all the affairs of the Association from its inception ; who has on many occasions been the genial hostess at our social functions, and m many ways proved herself an active and enthusiastic worker m the best interests of the nurses ; who, while

regretting their loss, extend to Mrs. Fraser their heartiest good wishes for her trip and stay m the dear Homeland, and to whom we promise a very hearty welcome when her sojourn abroad endeth.

There have been several " afternoons J given to Mrs. Fraser to enable as many of the members as could avail themselves of the opportunities thus afforded of personally saying farewell. Mrs. McGregor and Miss

Monson gave a delightful one at the former's pretty little home overlooking the Balmacewen Golf L,inks. Another was given at the Dominion Tea Rooms by the private nurses, when Misses Henry, Shackleford, and Barclay were joint hostesses, and Miss Hay shared with Mrs. Fraser the honours of the occasion (Miss Hay is also leaving m another month for England, the Continent, and Africa, but hopes to be amongst us again within the year).