THE TEST OF AN A1 NATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE TEST OF AN A 1 NATION.

EDUCATING THE PEOPLE. BY SIR W. ARBUTHXOT LANE, BART., C.B. (President, of the Now Health Society.) It was not very long -ago since all civilised nations accepted the figures f of their birth rates as, at, least, a crude test of their virility and an index to their standing in the world Even now the anxiety shown by many persons about the steady decline in our birth rate is an indication that the idea of " quantity" dies hard. We are only very slowly learnjng that what really matters is the quality and standard of health of the average individual. • Even the death rate is .a better test of a nation's well-being than the birth rate, especially when it shows the number of infants saved compared with the awful mortality that prevailed a few decades ago. By these tests the Dominions of New' Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Canada,, in the order named, stand easily highest in the world. Though their birth rates have fallen, that of England has fallen much further, while their general death rate and infant death rate are very much lower than those of England. . r These facts point us clearly to what is going to be the true test of the AI nation ,of the future. People who think only' of quantity should look toward Russia, whoso recent figures show that her birth rate is more than twice that, ol England. But her general death rate is also nearly twice that of England and her infant mortality over three times as great—a truly appalling state of things. ' What guidance does all this offer ( US for the future? Nothing could be clearer. The people of the British Dominions live nearer to nature both in their work and their food. Their high standards of social welfare are known to the world. In addition to what alert intelligence and natural fortune have brought them, they have the boldness to accept, without question, the latest teaching in matters of health. lessons from the Dominions. In his latest report the DirectorGeneral of Health for New Zealand proudly claims that " there is probably no country in the world to-day where the fundamentals of healthy growth, fresh air, sunlight, food of the right type and amount, adequate sleep and rest, wholesome exercise, are readily available than in New Zealand.'* But he is. careful to add that these benefits should be more fully utilised: Sphool. medical officers report that " tea, white bread and meat pl.'iy the chief part of the dietary in many homes." In Naw Zealand eggs, milk, cheese, better, and fresh fruit and vegetables should be available in such abundance and at low enough prices to take the place of the excessive use of meat in many households." , .. Our kinsmen overseas realise that it is not enough to save the babies, but that health education must proceed right through the school period until the right habits are ingrained in the minds of the people. Through their health camps and nutrition classes the New Zealand authorities have transformed the physical land mental condition of many thousands of their, people. ' Wo have abundant proof that the same splendid results can be achieved in Great ' "Britain. •. Tho magnificent phvsique and handsome appearance of 1 Wellington's soldiers can be repeated in our rising generation by following a similar dietary of natural, unspoilt foods. As a race we should be enjoying the great physical inheritance of our heroic ancestors. During a few, generations the universal adoption of manufactured'and de-natured foods has poisoned the whole of the nation until ill-health has increased to an alarming -degree. - The latest report of Sir Georgo Newman shows that 25.000,000 weeks,of work were lost to the nation last year through temporary illnesses—a loss equivalent to a year's output of halif a. million workers. Not only do> disorders of the digestion constitute a considerable percentage of these • cases, but such illnesses as influenza, colds, lironchial' troubles, boils, avid other septic conditions are closely related to the- lack Df resistance due to faulty diet. Fighting off Disease. In the winter months it becomes more essential than ever that the people should be taught) how to build up within then systems the powers of resistance' to the onset of colds, bronchial troubles, and ill-health generally. The micro-organ isms which convey various infections, ■ carried by insects or present in dust and dirt, cannot wholly be avoided by anybody, But it is quite a mistake to suppose that when they are encountered they must inevitably cause illness. For everything depends upon the fight-' img capacity (Of the body, and that almost entirely depends upon the habits of the individual—the way he dresses, the amount of fresh air with which he sur rounds himself,, the exercise he takes, arid, last and most important of all, the diet upon which he builds up the forces of that wonderful mechanism, his body If he tries to build upon the shoddv itiilff of white' bread and manufactured and tinned foods from which all the vital substances have been extracted, he will become a victim to the worst ills of . civilised life. We ourselves, and not the germs'waif •ng to attack us. prepare the ground fm the frequent temporary illnesses that ■nfllict the vast majority. When the end cornea it is the final stage of a long trail - of • bodilv disorders which should never have happenedThe remedv lies in the great trilogv I of healthv living—right food, fresh air j and sunlight * Wholemeal bread fresl frnits and vegetables, milk and other , dairy products, these are the ideal fnel ■ Cn >' the human engine. > Many years- ago Herbert Spencer nenned -a renroach that is unhappily sti!' '■rite to-day: To tens of thousands that .are killed | 'idd hundreds of thousands that snrvivr with feeble constitutions, and million* f h;iif. grow up with constitutions not sr strong as tbev shonld be: and vou wP' somp idea of the enrse' inflicted or »hi?ir offsnn'ner by. parents ignorant o f ; '*»» Taws, of life. '( education" of the peonle so as to -r.'imntp freedom from disease and th" r Teatecf decree of happiness and pros i ->e:rft,v lies nfcnvp all in tbe> health : Coaching wbiVT> T h 3V p outlined.