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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 80a

Protection of Infant Life

Protection of Infant Life.

The chairman had referred to his memorandum on the protection of infant life. It was true that it had been prepared under difficult circumstances, and if the scheme was not as complete as he would otherwise wish, there certainly was a great drawback at the time it was conceived and given to the colony. It was, however, a question in which life itself was involved, and it was his duty to place before the people that which he conceived should be done to remove this necessity and this suffering, and to preserve the infant life of this country. Nursing, as they were aware, was essential to recovery. Physicians might do their part, but it required skilful nursing to bring back the patient to health. There was only a given number of nurses in our hospitals. The Hospital Trustees simply kept as many as were required, and very few nurses left the hospitals to go into private nursing. To his mind, if the State were to pay the cost of the board of, say, a dozen nurses in the Wellington Hospital, say £6 per week, to have annually one hundred nurses being trained, would cost only £2,500 per annum. Two years would be sufficient training, and a certain number of trained nurses would then always be available for the benefit of the sick. What benefit would not the State gain by having them for the benefit of the country and of the sick of the country? If our local institutions could not make the necessary provision for'nursing, he suggested that the State might have its nurses' homes in various parts of the colony, and its nurses under regulations and conditions duly safeguarded to attend to the sick poor; and he thought it would be money wisely spent. Yes, he held that the State had an interest in the lives of every soul in the country. (Applause). We had admitted this, inasmuch as we paid for doctors in sparsely settled districts, and, if the system were sound, he contended we should do more in the way of providing nurses, Let them regard all the misery and suffering and lives lost that would be saved. In a young country like this we had not the philanthropists who donated large sums for this purpose, as in the older countries; and where that was not possible, funds should be donated by the State. A little had been done, but more was required. At the present time there was more spent upon funerals than was necessary. Let the weeping be stopped and the children be kept alive. (Applause.) If next session the Government were able to carry those proposals, it would be a memorable session in the history of the colony. The other parts of the world the question was often asked: What next will New Zealand do? If that were said and New Zealand were in the van, let the credit be given to the people of this country, who believed in doing what was right. (Applause.)