A CALL FOR HELP.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2619, 29 September 1909, Page 3

A CALL FOR HELP.

ADDRESS BY LADY DUDLEY. ‘‘Two suggestions have come to me from what i have seen in the country districts of Queensland and elsewhere,” said Lady Dudley, speaking before the National Council of Women at Brisbane, “and I mention them because it seems they are peculiarly part of the work which women do best, and for which they are most fitted.’ The two things suggested by Her Excellency are both movements in which the city must help the country. One —for its physical benefit— is country district nursing; the other a plan for helping mentally and intellectually those who are.cut off from the refinements of city life by the illimitable distances of our vast continent.

Tho first suggestion, country district nursing, is the one on which the proposer jays the 'most stress, for the hardships encored by the women and children in the bush have appealed very strongly to the softness of her heart. We, who have grown up in a land where endurance and difficulty are merely part of the day’s work for a vast number, are apt not to think very much of the troubles and discomforts of the people in the bush ; when hash fires rage or floods inundate wo think with compassion of the people on the land, and congratulate ourselves that we are safe in the shelter of the city If w r e are asked to help the settler and farmer in time of drought wo respond readily, for great misfortune never appeals in vain to an Australian heart. But it needs someone from afar to see with clear eyes the dreariness and hardships which are the daily lot of so many of our countrymen and women throughout the year. The visitor to our land has not become blunted through usage to the sights around her, and she not only sees the ill. but is read • with a remedy. Ami it is in the hands of the women that Lady Dudley considers the remedy lies. “'I be question 1 would desire to see considered by the women of Australasia,” she says, “is that of the hardships entailed upon women and children in times of accident or illness, who, living in remote bush districts, are far removed from medical or skilful assistance. If it were an established fact that to such as these the ministrations of a trained nurse resident in the district would be a boon and an assistance then we need only concern ourselves with tho recognition of the fact, and set to work to meet the need, regardless of all difficulties in the way.” That there are difficulties every Australian knows, for the very conditions which cause the crying need for the country district nurse are the ones from which the difficulties arise. Distance is the great obstacle to all work of reform in the country parts of our continent, and in many places it may be days before help'can reach an unfortunate sufferer in ease of accident or sickness. But Lady Dudley is not to be daunted by any of these lions in tho path. She sees the need for action, and means to find a way past all obstacks. She does not belittle the stumbling blocks before her, but intends to boldly face and surmount them. • . “I know this whole question or country district nursing in Australia is surrounded by many and great difficulties,” she admits, “and even were a practical scheme formulated it. would not be easv to carry it out. But few reforms which need a widespread organisation are easv of accomplishment but with courage, common sense, and perseverance difficulties which appeal insuperable axe eventually overcome. Her Excellency, we know, is possessed of all these necessary qualities, and to these she is prepared to add time and work, so that all that remains to carry the suggestion to accomplishment is the co-operation of the women of Australia. Tho call to arms has been sounded, and it is for us. one and all country as well as city women, to rally round the leader and help her all we can in her brave scheme for linking .up the, outposts of our land, and carrying help to the farthest corner. —Sydney “Morning Herald.”