OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3467, 24 August 1920, Page 50

OUR BABIES.

By Htgeia.

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children.

"it Is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY.

Last mouth the Sixth General Conference of tho Society was held in Wellington, and was attended by over 70 delegates from all parts of the Dominion. Mrs W. F. Massey, C.8.E., wife of the Hon. the Prime Minister, occupied tho chair, and the proceedings were opened by the Hon. C. J. Parr, Minister of Public Health and Education, who spoke as follows: THE MINISTER'S ADDRESS.

"I am interested in the Plunket movement as Minister of Education because it concerns the child in its earliest years. A new era has dawned for preventive medicine. I wish you would all read the report of Sir George Newman (Chief Health Officer for Great Britain) to Dr Addison on this subject. What do I mean by preventive medicine? In a word, I mean preventing disease by education as opposed* to curing it with a bottle of medicine. No modern State system is of any use unless it has a branch for educative and preventive medicine. We must aim at giving our children strong, healthy bodies, capable of the strongest possible resistance against disease. If we can do this we can largely eliminate our medical school inspection and free dental treatment. These things then would not be necessary. Neglecting Our Best Assets. ''l say I am interested as Minister of Education. If you were to see the'reports that I get from the school medical officers you would be surprised at the large percentage of children—oven in this. favoured community—who are suffering from bad teeth, and all sorts of disorders, due largely to malnutrition and neglect in the earnest years. Not one in seven children in some schools have sound teeth. This evil is almost entirely due to malnutrition in infancy. These .are the children who survive the infancy period. What about the children that die? Do von know that durinothe vvar period nearly 15,000 children died in Now Zealand; just about as many aa we lost in men. on the battlefield? Out of this 15.000 50 per cent, died in the first year after birth. I am sure that many of these deaths arise from preventible causes. Asrain look at it another way. Wo spend three million pounds per annum in educating the children from the ages of six to 16.' We hardly spend a pennypiece on tho period from one to six, when wo ought to be looking to the health of the child Wha+ is the result? From the figures of the inspecticnal reports we see that a largo number of our school children are not "in a fit state of health to get the fullest benefit from the education we give them at so great an expense to the State. The figures in England are even worse. A recent census showed that over one million children in Great Britain were physically unfit to benefit adequately from State education. I am afraid that the pre-school period is treated as a period of ignorance. Many young mothers do not know how to bring up children. Many others are careless and indifferent, and the results are seen to-day in having so many young people who are only fit for a C 3 camp. Department of Child Welfare.

''Now I come to the remedy for these evils. The remedy is the creation of a bureau, or department, of child welfare. This is not an expensive matter. It is a matter of education and lectures and propaganda Wo wa.nt a capable man to go through the country and preach the gospel of health to mothers and expectant mothers and voungr people. We want the halls to he filled with fathers and mothers of youngchildren, to be told the simple truths and principles of physical health. After all, the health of our young people is the greatest of all our interests. Now can we get a man with the necossnry enthusiasm to direct this camnaicrn and launch this Department of Child Welfare? I think wo can. The man is with us, as well as the hour. Dr Trubv King is the man for this iob. T should toll you that I have already asked Mr Massoy (the Finance Minister) to spare him from his present work so that he may become director of this Denartment of Child'Welfare. _ It rests with the Prime Minister. He will decide. I believe he will help us. We must conquer ignorance by implanting the knowledge of mother-craft and infant development in the breasts of our orirls and womenfolk. If we can do this I feel assured that you will achieve important results. '

First—We will sensibly reduce the present death-rate by saving the lives of hundreds of children who now die from ignorance Second —Wo will decrease and minimise the cost of inspecting and treating our

school children for bad teeth, adenoids, rickets, etc., from which to-day they so prolifically suffer. Third —We will reduce the huge cost of hospitals, because fewer people will need them.

Fourth—We will double the working power and effectiveness of every citizen.

Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I make no apology for introducing this great question to your notice, because it is an opportune time for me, as Minister of Education and Public- Health, to indicate that tho policy of th. 6 State must be directed much more intimately and forcibly to the preservation by preventive medicine of tho welfare of tho child and its mother."