WHERE GERMANY SCORES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 29 September 1915, Page 5

WHERE GERMANY SCORES.

HUMAN EFFICIENCY

The Hon. J D. Fitzgerald, president °t the Health Society of New South Wales, and vice-president of the Legislative Council, delivered a most interesting and instructive lecture on' ''Health, Human Efficiency, ana the War, at the Health Society's meetin" at the Sydney Town Hall* He said that at the present time the physical j defects of our population were remarkably numerous, as proved by the num- i ber v of men enlisting who fell below the sliandard of health demanded. Efficiency in the war depended on efficiency of the units, and efficiency of units depended on the statesmanship exercised for at least 40 years before. These defects were mainly due to the blindness** and ignorance of human nature, and human hygiene, shown by those in authority. * j

The eyes, and teeth of this young virile democracy ought to be as sound as elsewhere, yet the recent medical ex- j amination of tbe school children show-' ©d that both these important adjuncts to iieaitn were in many cases seriously i defective. In the case of military volun- I teers it was discovered that many young fellows, trained athletes, who looked specimens of perfect health, had. to be turned down on account of de- \ fective toes, varicose veins, etc. We had heard a great deal of the preparation f*or war begun by Germany 40 years ago, the making of armaments and shells, the reserves of gold and food, but we heard little of the other and more important preparation on Germany's part, for the highest efficiency of the men.

Tne public health had nowhere been so highly prized and carefully guarded. Though civilisation demanded that Germany must be down and out, and aTnew pattern of German was evolved, yet as a nation they must not be despised, as people were apt to despise them now. In Germany the health of the workers, who were the basis of every nation, interested everyone from the Emperor down. The whole effort of the nation was devoted to securing health, and combating the great diseases, and in every souse Germany had realised the value of the man-power of the nation. If We could not admire the motive, we must admire an-1 ought to imitate the system and the result.

In Germany a scientific fight was conducted against poverty. Again, the motive behind had to be remembered, yet it went for the comfort of the individual. Whereas in England, where there were more charitable institutions than in any other part of the world, individualistic ideas were carried out to such an extent that the nation had no care whatever for the welfare of the people, as the appalling poverty and misery of the slums proved. The time would come after the war when the wastage of human life must be replaced, and we must carry on a still more strenuous campaign against the scourge of disease. AYe must give greater care to child and mother life. AYe must devise means by which unhealthy working conditions- must T>e eliminated. We must! abolish the present system of cramming in our schools, by limiting the number of subjects, so that the child would have a thorough grasp of a few, instead of a useless smattering of many. We should introduce a system of personal care and responsibility of the richer part of the community towards their poorer brothers and sisters. We must begin by educating the Board of Health, and the people who recently went to Liverpool Camp and said itwas all that was to be desired. The campaign must not only be against military rules, but against the cruele municipal rules that were responsible for the bad housing, bad sanitation, and the dust nuisance. Garden cities properly planned were as healthful to live in as open country places, and" to support this Mr Fitzderald rend pome extracts about ihe beautiful jrarden cities of England. Ho concluded his address by remarking that if the effect of the war was to produ^ft a sYstem of State organisation and better of the national welfare generally, we could, instead of wastage, have in time measureless wealth to dlvida amongst v.s all.