WARNING ISSUED

Southland Times, Issue 20664, 20 April 1929, Page 8

WARNING ISSUED

THE FEEBLE-MINDED

PROBLEM IN NEW ZEA-

LAND

NECESSITY FOR PROMPT ACTION (Special to the Times.) Wellington, April 19. “Unless we deal with the problem of the feeble-minded with energy and confidence we arc likely to arrive at the same conditions which rather appal one when visiting the older countries,” said Dr. Gray, Direc-tor-General of Mental Hospitals, in an address at Wellington. We had reached a critical stage in social welfare work in New Zealand, particularly where the mentallyafflicted were concerned. We had nowreached the stage where we should refuse to let matters drift any longer and refuse to content ourselves with making pious expressions of pity not altogether unmixed, he was afraid, with good-natured contempt for those who suffered from this affliction. He sometimes wondered if people of this Dominion had any idea of the extent of the problem of the feeble-minded and its many perplexities. It was a problem which affected every family' and every individual in the country if not directly, then indirectly.

“If this problem is not dealt with, if the proper commencement is not made here and now, we may be very certain that in years to come we will land in the position of older countries and the solution, if there is one, will be beyond us,” said Dr. Gray. The greatest opportunity of advance did not lie with the recently constituted board but with the community itself. The board recognized its limitations and its obligations and looked to the community for assistance. The feeble-minded person depended on others to shape his course and those in charge should study’ what communities were safe for the feeble-minded.