PIECEMEAL POLICIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23115, 13 August 1938, Page 19

PIECEMEAL POLICIES

Sir, —In your leading article of August 10 on the subject of animal husbandry you rei)eat your frequently-published appeal for a quadruple scheme of coordinated research into soil, plant, animal and human health. It is not only a sane and practical recommendation, but an evolutionarily inevitable step in the direction of comprehensive national health and welfare and whoso more rapid approach may be facilitated, as you mention, by a wider recognition being made of the value of publicity, i.e., by the direct diffusion of relevant knowledge in a form easily assimilable by the public. The moulding of an informed and alert public opinion is indeed an essential factor in the scheme proposed by you. Without this factor even the most enlightened leadership in health matters would be doomed to frustration and failure. So far as the public is concerned the feasibility of establishing your scheme lias already been generally conceded. What, then, is your next move? You have pointed the way to tho only satisfactory solution of our inter-related health problems. Are you prepared to offer practical suggestions to paving tho way to the actual establishment of a co-ordinated National Board of Health Research, from soil to intellect? In a situation and a crisis which all vanished civilisations have known, but not appreciated, a lead to the authorities, the farmers and the public would be more than welcome. Physical and Mental Welfare Soo.