LEAGUE'S WELFARE WORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23036, 13 May 1938, Page 8

LEAGUE'S WELFARE WORK

Although the League of Nations has been reduced to virtual impotence in the political sphere, that regrettable decline should not be allowed to obscure the very valuable work for human welfare performed by other of its agencies. One of the most beneficent is the League's Health Organisation, on behalf of which Mr. W. J. Jordan has just presented the annual report to the council. The organisation's main business is to co-ordinate internationally and give direction to national health effort. The description may sound cold, as of dead abstractions, but actually the organisation is alive with warm and practical effort. This year's report, for instance, deals particularly with the anti-epidemic campaign in China, a proper subject for international cooperation because epidemic disease knows no frontiers. The organisation was born out of the post-war fight against typhus and other epidemics in Eastern Europe, its work earning the respect of all nations at that time, whether League members. or not. From this beginning arose the extension of the organisation to guard the dangerous disease frontiers of the Far East, a branch being set up at Singapore to direct activities. The value of the work is attested by the decision of the Dutch and Dutch East Indies Governments to open credits in aid of the campaign in China. The Dutch are wise enough to prefer fighting disease germs abroad instead of risking an invasion. To give another example, New Zealand has cause to hope much from its co-operation with the League's Economic Committee in the study of nutrition in relation to agriculture. It would be a sorry day for social progress and welfare if this and other organisations of the League suffered eclipse along with its political activities.