NEW SUNSHINE SCHOOL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 759, 4 September 1929, Page 16

NEW SUNSHINE SCHOOL

STREET COLLECTION TO RAISE FUNDS FIRST IN NEW ZEALAND Several hundred workers will assist iin the street collection to be taken on Friday by the Community Sunshine Association to raise funds for building the new sunshine school and solarium in Nelson Street. A display has been arranged, in which Major G. A. C. Cowper, of the Auckland Aero Club, will take part. Plans for additions and alterations to the present school in Nelson Street have been approved by the City Council, and tenders are being called. It is thought the building w’ill cost about £2,000. Although this will be the first sunshine school and solarium in New Zealand, it will by no means be an experiment. These institutions have been approved in almost every other country of the world, and Mrs. N. E. Ferner, president of the association, is confident that shortly there will be a number of similar buildings in the Dominion. The school, which will conform to the latest methods of sunlight treatment, will provide accommodation for 72 children. Both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education are taking a keen interest, and have agreed to provide the services of an expert nurse and a teaching staff. “We are merely going back to the methods of the ancient Greeks, who put their sick on the roofs in the sun," explained Mrs. Ferner this morning. “We will be making use of nature’s great healing power, con- | trolled to suit our purposes." Sunshine and fresh air are acknowledged by doctors to be the best preventive and cure for illness. Children whose health has been affected through malnutrition, who are lacking in strength or are liable to frequent minor illnesses in spite of treatment, and the convalescent, will all be cared for. It is not proposed, however, to receive children who are actively tubercular, although helpful treatment will be given those who are liable to this disease. Increased rest is the greatest need of most children when ill, and this will be possible best at the sunshine school where resting groups, for two periods each day. may best be kept under strict supervision. The Auckland Savings Bank has donated £I.OOO toward the building, and it is hoped to raise the remainder of the sum at the collection on Friday. "It is everybody’s concern to develop a healthier and hardier manhood." said Mrs. Ferner in stressing the worthiness of the object. "The ! Dominion’s future depends on its i children." xi