NATIONAL SCHEME NEEDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 277, 22 November 1934, Page 6

NATIONAL SCHEME NEEDED.

,To the Editor.) In spite of the Tact that unemployment stiil continues, there are probably fewer people actually in \yant of food, because of the work of societies organised for the purpose of helping poor people, than ever before, since the lean years came. Scores of people, however, have been going through a period of undernourishment when seeds of disease have been sown, which are hard to trace to their source. In a country with a favoured climate like ours why are our hospitals, private and public, so full, which means a serious debit in the country's balance-sheet of health. We are without a doubt suffering from the secondary effects of unemployment, the hidden dangers of which are apparent to all who study the question. What we need more than all else is a national medical service to combat the early onslaught of disease, and this leads us to the question of preventive medicine. Hand in hand with this is the satisfactory care of the poor, and this urges us to an attack 011 the causes of poverty. 'This all leads up to the question of a national pensions scheme, as advocated by a writer in your correspondence column recently, which was advocated in my iboyhood days, without result, 'by that great and far-seeing statesman, Sir Harry Atkinson. National insurance should be a part of the economic fabric and must be linked with all health problems, for good health should be the first consideration of any advanced coui.try or civilisation, alth'ough the mysteries of disease can never, of course, he settled by cold, actuarial figures. There is the fall in the birth rate and the prolongation of life with the reduction in the death' rate, all associated with this great complex question, so that in a letter of this kind only the briefest reference can he made to some of the details of what we should strive for. Some of us engaged in relief work and hospital work get weary and tired at the slow progress made in the directions indicated by the Government, That is why the Hospital Boards' Association, will deal with it at its conference next year. W. K. HO WITT.