OUR BABIES.

North Otago Times, 20 July 1917, Page 1

OUR BABIES.

(By Eygela.) JPnWlshed nniet the auspices, of tho Koyal Now Zealand Society for tie Health 'of''Women and Children, .:' ■ "It Is wiser, to put up a fence at the 'toy of a procipico than.to maintain an '. amhulance at the bottom." . OAMARU. Plunket Nurse Roy,' ' Rooms: Teer ;rcct; 'Phone No. 3671 ■ Secretary: Mrs L, E, Haines, o/oBank, of New Zealand, Oamaru,, SAVING THE BABIES IN ENGLAND.

Lloyd George's scheme for.n "Save the Babies Week" in the Old Country has done much to enhance interest in tho welfare of the mother and child—an interest which has already been quickened throughout the whole world by the appalling and continuous sacrifice' 1 -of life due to the Groat War. What tho London Times Says, Had' our infant mortality .been as • low as that of New Zealand; .we should have saved 100,000 babies during the first two years of the war-Vnumber nearly equal In oilr men killed at the . front.

Second lo Ihe lighting forces, child wastage is absolutely the most urgent national problem in .each belligerent country, Whatever the outcome of the war the future of each nation will depend on the quality and vitality of its citizens in the next two or three decades.

However, the championing of the mother cause and child at Home lias nor been limited to The Times and the Prime Minister. Lord Khondda lias also taken the matter up, as a member of the Cabinet, He has proposed that a Ministry of Health shall be established at once, not only to compensate as far as possible for the wastagc/>f war-time, but also as a * tardy, recognition of tho fact that the children of che race are the "Trustees of thclftitjirc," If the children are not better bom

and better reared from now onwards than they have been during our time, our successors will be in an even worse plight than ourselves with regard to "unfits and inefficients," both as regards Military Service and Motherhood. Some data for Lord Rhondda's plea are set forth in a recent issue of 'flic Daily Mail by a physician, who writes as follows under the heading SAVE THE BABIES. The Need for a Health. Ministry. "Upwards of 100,000 children under five years of age die each year in England, according to the most recent estimate of the best-informed medical administrators. For the four years 19111011 the exact figure was- !375,078—a figure which represents more than a quarter of all the deaths at all ages. "This is clearly an appalling state of affairs, for by far the greater part of that loss is avoidable Iqss. Since the war began we have suffered fearful depletion of our numbers on the battlefield, in the homes, our loss has been equally terrible.

"In the homes we have lost in theso two and n-half years, using the above reckoning, "00,000 children under fivo years of age. Moreover, the men wh(| died in France died gloriously, selling their lives for England in the supremo cause; but the children who died, died miserably, nnd there was nothing of' -lory or good in that sacrifice. No military failuro, however disastrous, ever spent life to less purpose than this toll of splendid life has been spent. Like a gambler, reckless in misfortune, has England cast away these pledges of her strength and greatness. "It ia evident tfiat this burning of the candle at .both ends cannot con-' tinue, In peace-time this annual sacrifice to Moloch was dreadful enough; in war-time it spells ruin. Oufbirt!l : j;atc falls and falls, the best prt lw\ est of our race are cut oh", nnd tho children who might have perpetrated their splendid qualities nve allowed to die by the hundred thousand. There is only one possible end to this progress, Saving of infant life is no longer a question of charitv, it is no longer a question of economic reorganisation, or even a question of man-power, It is to-day a question of national existence, tlie.gveatest of .all the questions bear-lug upon t-hjlt problem.

"It is for this reason Ihat evert man and woman in England today is personally concerned in the proposal which Lord Rhondda lift!) made that n Ministry of Health should forthwith be instituted. That is no new'proposal, for The Daily. Mail made the suggestion years ago, as the present writer remembers very well. At that time, however, the idea that saving'infant life concerned tho Govornment of the country wan not accepted, Now the suggestion nppears In a very different light, and Lord Rhondda's proposal is being, discussed on every hand with the greatest eagerness.

LIFE'S CRITICAL DAYfI, "Just reccntly.it was found at a great s military hospital that n Jiigh proportion ,of young men who broke down in health as the s result of training or' service' had been unable to play games ,nt tho schools,. They had been unfit in most ■ cases ever since they could rememher. That army "of unfits stands ill the same relation to the babies who die as tho j wounded on tho battlefield to tho killed, { ■ '"flint army, too," must bo. won for England in these .days, between tho crndlo'and tho schoolroom—which nro by far tho most critical days intho 'health; senso, in a human lifp. Lord, Khoh-dda'S-,scheme, ,if "it succeeds, may'mean the auhiial saving to the country,of as ninny .as-300,000 fit,!;men : and ;wp!hen': who iwoukl liavo:;been lost.or crippled. '■■'■■ That is its fuHinnd complete, justiilca- ;i ; tion■ r andf that ■ js, (lie .reason, wji)' ; : it; 1 deserves avjppprt : q| : ; . ; womaiiin; the countryil'/';;>';;