SCHOOL LUNCHES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 9, 24 March 1947, Page 5

SCHOOL LUNCHES

MALNUTRITION DANGER IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH “The fact that malnutrition is to be found among New Zealand children is a sad disgrace,” said Mr G. S. Russell, president, at a meeting of the South Auckland Federation of Parent-Teacher Associations in« Hamilton recently. The problem had to be tackled immediately, he said. Hospitals were expanding at too great a rate and rather than expand, hospital accommodation and put huge sums into social security the people of the Dominion should reduce the sickness rate by ensuring that nutritious food and a well balanced diet was supplied to the younger generation. Although he realised that not all the foods required for a balanced diet were available today he felt that many parents required re-edu-cation in general health matters, particularly in regard to food.

Mr Russell said that it was disgraceful to see that many children attending primary and secondary schools depended on pies and dough nuts for their school lunches. He outlined how the federation had advocated the provision of improved school luncheon facilities. Cafeteria Scheme

Every school had scope'for a cafeteria scheme of some kind. Several schools throughout the Dominion were experimenting with providing school lunches at reasonable cost to pupils and a measure of success had been achieved, said Mr Russell. Lack of accommodation was preventing schools from developing schemas along desired lines but it was very necessary in the interests of health that suitable luncheon arrangements should be made in each school according to its needs. In view of the difficulty in procuring citrus fruits the attention of the Government should be drawn to the need for the easing of the import control to allow more foods of this type to come into the country, said Mr Russell.

Mr H. Brant said that parents were faced with great difficulty in securing suitable foods » for their families at the present time. Most of them knew what was suitable for their children, but were unable to get it. The people should endeavour to find the reason for the-absence of these necessary foods. It was decided to make representations to the Chamber of Commerce and the Trades Council towards the procuring of suitable and sufficient foodstuffs, including fruits, for school lunches.

A figure quoted in a recent New Zealand Educational Institute publication revealed that medical examination of school children had shown that about 33 per cent, required treatment or observation, said the president.

Bluff Oysters The Foveaux Strait oyster beds are the last of the large natural beds in the world, and the oysters they produce are admitted to be the best in the world. Many millions are dredged up each year, some for home consumption and some to be canned in the modern factory at Bluff for export. During last season —from mid-February to September 30—90,000 sacks were brought into Bluff. At a conservative estimate of 60 dozen to the sack, this represents a catch of 5,400,000 dozen oysters. The boat owners sold their last season’s catch to the merchants at 15/a sack, and at this price the catch represented £67,500. The oystermen each received 1/1\ a sack for the day’s catch, while the skippers and the engineers of the boats received a bonus of 2£d and lfd a sack respectively.