"Taranaki Central Press" THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1937. TO-MORROW’S HEALTH.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 386, 18 March 1937, Page 4

"Taranaki Central Press" THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1937. TO-MORROW’S HEALTH.

In a speech delivered to the National Council of Women on Monday, Dr. K. Dean made a strong plea on behalf of the children ‘hat they be taught anatomy, physiology and hygiene in schools, and quoted many alarming facts with regard to national health. In short, Dr. Dean’s speech calls forth the questions: ( 1 ) Are we physically fit to carry the future of a nation on our shoulders, and (2) is the stock from which we sprang sufficiently strong to withstand the ravages of human dis ease?

We have in this country an abundance of health-giving properties, freedom, space, fresh air, ventilation and, moreover, food in quantities that would be amazing to some race more obscure and poverty-stricken. Yet with all this wealth, we are slow to produce, unable to use it to its best advantage and jealous of those who can. Moreover, the most vital aspect which confronts us, despite our natural wealth, is our apparent apathy towards the reproduction and prolongation of our race. We must ask ourselves, as did Maeterlinck, when he viewed the ant’s nest as an onlooker, Is there some incipient power at work beneath the surface creating limitations and restrictions upon our existence? The only answer is our apparent failure to adjust ourselves to the conditions in which we live.

England, Germany, France and America, too, are all poor in nutrition. Does not this suggest that the Western races are gradually dissipating their vitality in a fruitless quest for sophistication, in preference to a simple mode of living?

It is most probable that the white race brought disease to this country. We do not wish to reflect discredit on our ancestors, the pioneers, for we are thankful to them for our endowments, but, at the same time, we must ask ourselves, is it true that the Western races are physically unfit, or as that scion of pessimism, Spengler, avows, “on the decline." Is our national heritage to pass from our hands and we ourselves to sink into oblivion as cycles of human predecessors have? Or shall we survive and immunise ourselves from the conflict without?

And this brings us to a new idea—the infusion of another blood with our own, as advocated by the champions of immigration. But so much for to-day. We must look forward to to-morrow and the future of civilisation, which will only make progress upon a systematic and balanced plan of campaign against racial unfitness if it is to survive at all. We must begin to prepare the foundation for that scheme by making ourselves physically fit to-day. As Dr. Dean said. We cannot legislate for health, but we can legislate for education.’’