NOTES AND COMMENTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 87, 22 January 1938, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS

A NEW BREAK IN HYGIENE.

The eminent physician, Lord Holder, in telling a conference of the British Health Resorts Association to “cultivate the amenities,” explained what he meant by “amenities.” “I mean,” he said, “clear air to breathe; close contact with the eai-th and sky and sun; the sight of beautiful things ; quiet and leisure to enjoy all these. The intensive cultivation of the amenities."’ he added, “will prove to -be a new break in hygiene.’’ Physical fitness could not be separated from mental, and even from moral fitness. They would all agree that fitness, whether in the individual or the nation, was not a mere matter of “physical jerks.”

THE ADOLESCENT OFFENDER.

The adolescent is self-conscious, because lie wants to present the hearings of an adult, though he knows inwardly that he has not yet developed the knowledge or the confidence of a fullgrown man, writes Lard Hewart, the Lord Chief Justice of England, in his book, “Not Without Prejudice.” Probably at no time in his life does he stand in so sore a need of leadership and guidance, hungry for advice, and usually ashamed to seek it. The years hurry on with an almost tragic pace, and soon the irresolute adolescent, refusing to face many issues, shirking a definite decision, will become either a sound' citizen or an expensive criminal. In these quick years between 17 and 21 the die may be finally cast. A Court has few more momentous decisions to make than its choice of the right treatment for the adolescent offender.