BACKWARD CHILDREN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22225, 27 September 1935, Page 15

BACKWARD CHILDREN

Sir, —Having been engaged in social welfare work in New Zealand for many years, I read with great interest Mrs. Cluett'B letter of September 21, and can, from my own experience, corroborate her reference to "the low standard of mentality exhibited in an increasing number of children. I see urgent necessity also for steps to be taken to combat this evil which is tending to the gradual lowering of our racial standard. Provision has of necessity to be made for the care of the certifiably mental person, but no steps are taken to deal with the large number of feeble-minded persons in the community—these unfortunate people usually cannot provide for their own wants, and when they befcome parents are not only unable to provide for their children but also pass pn to them their own weak mentality. The feeble-minded form a large percentage of the permanent charges on hospital boards and other charitable institutions. We are all agreed" that persona suffering from incurable and transferable diseases should not marry and pass on their heritage to their children, and as tho feeble mind is said to be incurable, therq&arises tho question as to whether the State should sanction the marriage of the feeble-minded. I have known many largo families of such parents. With reference to efforts to deal with this problem, I would suggest that an attempt be made to put into operation Tho Mental Defectives' Amendment Act, which was passed in 1928. Among other important measures this Act provides: (a) For the compiling of a register of tho feebleminded in the community, and (b) for tho establishment of clinics for testing and assisting these unfortunate people. By normal parents, the sub-normal child is loved and given ample protection, but this Act would serve the interests of those children not loved and protected. Due credit must *be given to the Education Department for the good work done for feeble-minded children in its special schools at Otekaike and Nelson, and to the Mental Department for the recentlyestablished villas for boys and girls at Templeton, and to private work such as the After-care Association in Auckland, but let us also attempt to get at the root of the matter by asking that tho provisions of the Mental Defectives Amendment Act bo put into effect. A.E.