HEALTH MEASURES IN SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 964, 3 November 1910, Page 2

HEALTH MEASURES IN SCHOOLS.

BACKWARD, NEW ZEALAND. ' One matter, in, '.which New...Zealand! does not lead the' ! world~is the torganised-f caro of the health of pupils; in the pub-; lie schools. ■ lii.England a compulsory, system of medical examination of children in public plementary schools was.established by the Education .(Adminis-: trativo Provisions) Act, 1907. A school ,, medical service;was set upland now* in-the opinion of Sir Lauder Brunton, M.D.,..England, possesses "a machinery for the supervision of the. physical:", needs of its coming citizenswhich, in;, spite of its -limitations "and- deficien-'. cies, js probably, unsurpassed,"by. any ■other country ,\ '..;{;.-.■,.';.. : ,..'--.1,,-.■■'.,. .■>;.;. ". The beginnings of the movement , are traced back as far as 1891, but" in some other countries it originated much earlier: France and.Sweden, seem to hare been the pioneers. As.long ago aa 1868 all the higher.public secondary schools in Sweden had medical-.officers attached to their staffs, and to-day every secondary school in that country has its medical officer uppoiuted and paid by the Government; In the ele-; mentary schools the system.is much more.recent, and is not yet complete. These facts are gleaned from a,newlypublished book on "Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars." Thirty-, six experts, with Dr. T. N. Kelynack as general editor, and Sir Lauder. Brun-t-on as tho writer ■of an introduction, havo .contributed chapters on different aspects of the wide- subject indicated by the title. The chapter on "Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars in New Zealand," by Dr. J. Malcolm Mason, is, very much like Goldsmith's famous chapter on "Snakes in Ireland." "The matter has been under consideration at. various times," says Dr.. Mason, "but 7 -so far. nothing has been done." _■ He describes approvingly the scheme which' was prepared in 1904, under instructions from the Hon. J. M'Gowan, for a systematic inspection of State school pupils, and notes the efforts of some private practitioners and the Dental Association, and the regular examination at the Wangariui and "Wellington Colleges and tho Girls' High School, Dunedin. AfeaJ tnre of tho 1904 scheme was that the teacher should lighten the work of the medical inspector by making a list of the children who apparently needed special examination. This plan was intended *to - keop downtho cost. The medical inspector -would -only report, leaving the treatment to the local practitioners or the hospitals. "Now Zealand is markedly behind her conservative, slow-moving Mother in this respect," concludes Dr. Mason, "and it would gladden tho hearts of all, those interested in the best interests of. the young Britons growing up in that beautiful island if some more concern was ovidoneed by thoso in authority in this department of public health."'