CHILD WELFARE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 254, 21 July 1920, Page 7

CHILD WELFARE

NEW, DEPARTMENT PLANNED

DR. TRUBY KING TO DIRECT CAMPAIGN

GOSPEL OF HEALTH FOR THE YOUNG

In opening the conference of the Royal New Zealand Society for (he Health of Women and Children yesterday afterJwon, the Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of Public Health) said; "I am interested in the Plunket movement as Minister of Education bcciuise It concerns the child in its earliest years. A new era has dawned for preventive medicine. I wish you would all read the report of Sir George Newman (Chief Health Officer for Great Britain) to Dr. Addison on this subject. What do I' mean by preventive medicine?. In a word, I mean preventing disease by education as opposed to curing it with g bottle of medicine. No modern State system is of any uso unless it las n branch for educativo , and preventive medicine.. We must aim at giving our children strong, healthy bodies, i.apablo ef _ the strongest • possible resistance egainst disease. If we can do this we can lately eliminate our medical school inspection and free dental treatment. Thee® things then would not bo necessary.

"I say I am interested as Minister of Education. If -you were to see the reports that I get from the school medical 'officers, you would he surprised at the large percentage of children—even in ; this favoured community—who are suffering frctmbad teeth, ami all 6orte of due largely to malnutrition . and neglect in tho earliest years. Not jono in seven .children,-in 6omo schools ■liave pound teeth. This evil 19 almost entirely due to malnutrition in infancy. ;These are the children who survive the ■infancy period. What about the children that die?. Do you know that during .the war period .nearly 15,000 children .died in- New Zealand; just about on many men as we lost-on tho battlefield? Out of this 15,000, 59 percent, died in (he first year after birth'. I am sure that many of these deaths arise from preventible causes. Again look at it another way. We spend three million pounds per.annum, in educating tho : children from the ages of G to 10. We hardly s)>end a pennypicce on the period from 1' to G, when we • ought, to be looking to the health of the child. What is the result? From the figures of the jnspectiona-1 reports wo see that a large jilimber of our school children are not in a fit state of health to get the fullest benefit frem the education wo P've tb»m fit so great an exnenso to the State. The figures in England are even worse. A Tecent census showed that over one million children in Great Britain were physically unfit to benefit adequately from Stnte education. I am afraid that the pre-school period is treated as a period of ignorance. Many young mothers do not lc'now 'how io bring up children. Mimy others are careless and indifferent, and the results are seen today.in having so many young people who . are only fit for a C 3 camp. "Now I.come to-the .remedy for these wits. The remedy is the creation of a .bureau, or department, of child welfare. This is not an expensive matter. It is a .matter of education and lectures and propaganda. We want a capable man to go through ■ the country and preach the . gospel of health to mothers and expectant mothers and young people. We .want the halls to bo filled with fathers and, mothers of yonngi children, to' be told the simrfe truths and principles of physical health. After all, the health of -our young people is the greatest of all our interests. Now, can we get. a man with the necessary enthusiasm to direct this campaign and launch this Department of-Child Welfare? I think we cnn. The man is with us, as wel-1 as the hour. Dr. Trilby-King is the man for this job. I should tell you that I have already asked -Mr.'-.Massey (the -Finance Minister) to spare him from his present work' so that he may become director of this Department of Child 'Welfare. It Tests with the Prime Minister. He will decide. I believe he will helj> ns. We must conquer ignorance by implanting the knowledge of mother-craft and infant development in the breasts of our girls and womenfolk. If we can do this I feel assured that you will achieve important fesult?.

First—Wo will sensibly reduce the present death-rate by saVing the lives of hundreds of children who now die

from ignorance,

Second—We will decrease and minimise tho cost of inspecting and treating our school children for bad

teeth, adenoids, rickets, etc., from which to-day they so prolifically suffer.

Third—We will reduce tho huge cost of hospitals, because fewer people will need them.

Fourth—We will double the working power and effectiveness of every citizen.

Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I make no apology for introducing' this great question to your notice, because It is an opportune timo for roe, as Minister of Education and Public Health, to indicate that the policy of the State must be directed much more intimately and forcibly to the preservation by preventive medicine of the welfare of the child and its mother."

A report of tho opening proceedings at the conference appears on another page.