TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays. Wednesdays, and Fridays. MONDAY, 19th JULY, 1937. ORANGES VERSUS MILK.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3928, 19 July 1937, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays. Wednesdays, and Fridays. MONDAY, 19th JULY, 1937. ORANGES VERSUS MILK.

THE considered opinion expressed by ( ten school committees in the Mata- ’ mata district that a supply of ’ oranges for children was preferable to milk is one that should provide the Government with much food for , thought, coming as it does from scores ■ of parents living in a milk metropo- t lis. It should not be thought that the '<■ unanimous stand taken in regard to this question is at all the result of i an antagonism to the free-milk plan. Far from it. Those concerned have , done, and are prepared to continue to 1 do, their very best to assist the Government in seeing that every child, in New Zealand has a sufficiency of milk, the supply of which it is recognised will result in much benefit to the present and succeeding generations of our population. Rather, the viewpoint is that in a dairying district the very great majority of children either already receive an ample supply of ; milk or have access to it in their homes, and that as the final aim is to improve the national physique, instead of “ carrying coals to Newcastle ” a known shortage of body-build-ing elements should be met in another direction by providing oranges, particularly in view of the almost insuperable difficulties in providing a supply of milk which can be delivered in bulk to some sixteen schools, embracing approximately fifteen hundred scholars, throughout the district. It is pointed out that oranges would be much more easily and hygienically handled, that the final cost would perhaps not be so great as that of milk, that oranges would be preferred by the country children, and that this citrus fruit contains vitamin and lime contents essential to the growing child. Indeed, so true is the latter point that many people believe that oranges would be superior to milk in dairying districts where the light soil has a known shortage of lime and mineral content. In short, the case for oranges as against milk in such districts as Matamata is so strong as to merit the immediate and serious consideration of the Government.