NEW WAYS TO WASTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20623, 23 July 1930, Page 12

NEW WAYS TO WASTE.

A plausible but entirely unconvincing statement has been made, by the Minister of Health to justify an early extension of the Health Department's medical inspection service to the secondary schools. Mr. Stallworthy says the proposal has the approval of headmasters, though of how many is not disclosed ; that the Director-Cieneral of Health regards lit, as desirable, and his opinion is j endorsed by the chief physical in | struct or. This is certainly not sufli- ■ cient evidence ,0 justify the coriclu--1 sion that regular medical inspection I by State officials is even desirable, , much less necessary. The Minister | himself does not pretend that it ! would be of any substantial national j value. According to his statement, the purpose would be to enable a ! candidate for entrance to the teach- ; ing profession or the public service j to produ.ee a record card showing •his medical history from the time of j his beginning school until the day of his sacking employment. Mr. Stallworfhy does not explain what value such a card would have in discovering the qualifications of the candidate; he is silent on that, important point for the obvious reason • that it would not lie of the slightest, j practical use. His .proposal is just | another example of incapacity to ■ understand that economy cannot be I achieved merely by increasing taxation, but demands the elimination of non-essential services and the rejection of all suggestions for introducing new ones. Xo doubt, periodical medical examination of children attending secondary schools is desirable, but that, is not sufficient reason for the State's undertaking it at the expense of taxpayers generally. The parents may be presumed to have sufficient intelligence and sufficient interest in their children to take as effective care of their health as would be given by casual official inspections. The cost may be only a few more thousands, but it would be another step toward inspection of school teachers, of all public servants, of factory employees and ultimately of the whole population. A limit must be set to the responsibilities undertaken by the State—it cannot support everyone in idleness from the cradle to the grave—and Ministers will be serving the public more faithfully by devoting themselves to the legitimate functions of government than by sponsoring such thoughtless suggestions for wasting public money.