In England for nearly twenty years the supervision and instruction of expectant mothers has been an integral part of the work of midwives who are trained, registered and controlled by government authority. Of late the work among mothers and babies has been so extended that during the war, always a destructive period for babies, the infant death rate was reduced to the lowest figure in the country’s history. This was accomplished partly through a maternity benefit which helped the mother to pay for obstetrical care, and partly through indirect government aid, in the form of: compulsory notification of births; a great increase in the number of “health visitors” and welfare centres, and government grants to local authorities which defrayed half the expense of giving prenatal, natal and postnatal care and of instructing mothers in the care of themselves and their babies. Especial effort has been made to help the mothers in rural sections; more small hospitals being maintained, more physicians being provided and assistance given in caring for older children, during the mother’s absence, if she was obliged to go to a hospital at the time of delivery. New Zealand also has made marked progress in its work of saving the lives and promoting the health of its mothers and babies, having at present the lowest infant death rate in the world. This has been brought about largely through the efforts of the “Society for the Health of Mothers and Children,” an organization employing visiting nurses, called Plunkett Nurses, in honor of the family by that name which has greatly aided the work. The outstanding features of this work are educational and preventive; the mothers being instructed from early in pregnancy about the care of themselves and the preparation for, and subsequent care of their babies. Prenatal clinics are maintained and the facilities for hospital care are being steadily increased and improved. One is impressed by the spirit animating this organization, as expressed in a statement of its “functions,” one of which is as follows: “To uphold the sacredness of the body and the duty of health, to inculcate a lofty view of the responsibilities of maternity and the duty of every mother to fit herself for the perfect fulfillment of the natural calls of motherhood, both before and after childbirth, and especially to advocate and promote the breast feeding of infants.” Work based upon such idealism could not but be effective. The New Zealand undertaking is regarded as patriotic, rather than philanthropic, and mothers who are visited and cared for are accordingly encouraged to pay for this service, if financially able to do so. The Government supervises and warmly supports the work of this Society and also aids by enforcing the most perfect system of birth registration in the world, without which the results of the work could not be accurately gauged.