THE BROTHERLY WAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 305, 26 December 1936, Page 5

THE BROTHERLY WAY

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE. JOHN NEWZEALAND. (V) Dear People, “When everybody is educated until they are 21,” demurred John Nezealand, “who will do the menial jobs?" “When everybody is educated until they are 21," echoed Mother Experience, "there will not be any so-called ‘menial’ jobs! Our present system of economic and social life was founded upon a past-and-gone non-locomotive age of hand-labour; and our present education system, again, was designed exclusively for a non-scientific and non-democratic age, now rapidly passing from us. Education, town-plan-ning, prevention of health and general legislation need to be brought up to date."

"You mentioned that New Zealand has 20,000 little backward and retarded children,” resumed John. "What has caused them to be like this?”

“Past ignorance and neglect, for the most part,” responded the mistress.

“We are the third and fourth generation of them that feared not to overstrain and to under-exercise themselves, in past days. The unhealthy industrial and domestic environments of our ancestors is partly responsible for the deteriorated physical and mental health of the present generation; and the majority of the present generation, in turn, appears to be determined to hand on, undisturbed, our disease-breeding conditions. Man is apparently bent upon perpetuating the evils of civilisation, along with civilisation itself.” "Can we kill those evils without killing civilisation, too?" asks John. Education Cannot Begin too Early. "One can but try, John," smiled the mistress. "I believe that legislation will in the near future be concentrated upon each phase of the present life-cycle, with such an end in view. To begin with the mothers, they will be encouraged to avail themselves of pre-natal scientific advice. Facilities for ‘perfect births’ will be provided by a scheme of motherhood endowment consisting of goods and services only, and by the following of the precedent created by the British Midwives' Act, under which every prospective mother whose baby is to be born at home will be entitled to the services of a trained midwife for at least 14 days. The baby will come under the care of the Plunket system; and following their marvellous eare and attenion, the child will go into the nursery school; thus coming into the hands of the school medical service from the age (say) of two or three years to about 16, when he will be taken over by the National Health Insurance scheme.”

“What are nursery schools like, teacher?” questioned John.

"At the reecnt British Association meetings in England,” replied Mother Experience, "It was made plain that nursery schools exert a favourable influence not only upon the children attending them, but also upon the homes from which they come. One of the chief advantages of nursery schools in New Zealand will be the opportunity afforded to our really admirable school medical service, with its augmented staffs of doctors, nurses, psychologists, gland specialists, dentists, etc. for attenion to the nutritional and other requirements of the little ones.” —and Cannot End Too Late! "But all the little children are allready being looked after by the school medical service,” reminded John. “To some extent, that is so," admitted the mistress. "However, we need a strong national policy of research into nutrition, goitre and infantile paralysis. The Government also has before it a proposal that, a chair of pediatrics shall be instituted. This means research into the cause and prevention of childrish ailments.” "Would all this help the little backward children?” asked the boy. “I don't like to think of them being left as they are!”

"Most certainly,' 'was the teacher’s answer. “All medical, psychological and nutritional health research will help to minimise intellectual back-

wardness, as well as the more serious states of mind into which such a condition eventually develops. By the way, up-to-date authorities are now merging their health and their mental hospital departments into one and the same thing. Oxford City is one of those centres which have already coordinated their mental health services under the administrative control of the medical officer of health, thus treating all forms of mental disability as questions of public health, and providing the same services (both preventive and curative) for the mentally ill as for the physically sick.” “How does nutrition help to bring down the numbers of the little backward children?" asked John, appealingly. His sympathetic imagination had been stirred on behalf of these helpless little ones. “It has already been shown,” replied Mother Experience, with comfort in her tones, “That measures designed to improve the nurishment and general welfare both of children and of adults have a marked effect on lessening the physical and mental disabilities of the race. The Health Committee of the League of Nations has gone very closely into nutrition and health during the past five years and has shown veryp plainly the effects of improper feeding on the physique and mental health of individuals and of communities. The League has proved that the condition of ‘poverty amidst plenty!’ still reigns supreme and is as yet in no danger of being obliged to abdicate in favour of a more humanitarian state of affairs!"—Yours as ever,