IS NEW ZEALAND B GRADE?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 174, 25 July 1935, Page 20

IS NEW ZEALAND B GRADE?

Friends have asked mo in make a few comments regarding the allegation that we are a H grade nut ion. I will commence by asking: What is I! grade? 1 certainly do not know of any nation, that is, civilised nation, that could In' classed as A grade, which I take it means I perfection. In classifying even a small country, such as New Zealand, one could only strike an average. It' you were to stand at. a street corner in Auckland .during the lunch hour and watch the I crowd pass by, certainly not more than j Id per cent could lie cla'»ed as A -lade. lillt a very large percentage of the remainder could be improved greatly by say, six months' training and suitable food. These are not a menace to the future of the nation, but they are a present loss to themselves, their*families and, therefore, the nation because they are only capable of giving 75 per cent or less efficiency. There would not be any outstanding physical deficiencies — |it is general. If we journey further south —but remember, we are still in New Zealand—we lind a slightly different type in Wellington. The people move with rather more alertness, but again perfection has a very low percentage. We cross the straits and view the inhabitants of the Canterbury Plains. It is I a warm day. we are only casual; <)bscrvers and we think how healthy a | large percentage of the inhabitants look because many are plump and have a bright colour in the cheeks. Hut. on a cold day we lind their faces are purple .ind we come to the conclusion that they I suffer from more or less congestion and blood circulation troubles, which naturI ally involves the heart. There is also j much goitre. If we continue our journey' and view the inhabitants in, say, the Timaru district we lind that the physical; ; development has improved. Journey to Dunedin and view the crowd and yon do not lind much difference from Wellington. Journey towards Invercargill and again we get the thick set fleshy type with the brighter colour, as in parts of the Canterbury Plains. Therefore, j if one sums up the position it is very | apparent that one forms opinions from I those with whom one is brought in contact, and it has to be remembered that medical men, dietitians and other healers see the defects more readily than ; the lay man. There is also a decided tendency for us to listen and quote the foreign visitor's ideas. American scientists come along and tell us what we should do, forgetting that in their own ! countrj 14.000.000 school children out of I 22,000,000 have defects, that the teeth of the American school children are the worst in the world. Our hotels are (pioted as not knowing how to cater, and these statements are sometimes backed up by imported food scientists, yet the fact remains (and I have travelled) that the hotels in the Dominion compare more than favourably with any part of the world as regards the serving of good healthful meals. With the possible exception of the larger cities of Australia, nowhere in the civilised world can one obtain a meal of good food so cheaply as in the Dominion. As regards milk, the great feeding value of cow's milk when given to a growing child, largely consists in the fact that the cow's milk was intended by Mother Nature to quickly grow a large framed animal (a calf). As the growth of the human is slow we can take advantage of this fact by feeding such milk to children who show a deficiency in bone formation. But milk is sadly lacking iron and this must be supplied in some other form of food. The nutritive value of milk, in simple language, would be one pint of milk equals a quarter of a pound of mixed grains. But milk has other values in addition to nutrition as seen by gain in weight. EOBERT J. TERRY, N.D., M.B.A.N. (Eng.).