Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1948 HEALTH STAMPS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 99, 24 September 1948, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1948

HEALTH STAMPS

This'year’s drive to sell £IOO,000 worth of health stamps will start next week and, when one considers that the full amount aimed at can be achieved if every family spends only 379,- the target seems not unduly ambitious. Nor can the value of its purpose be denied. Promoters of the Health Camp movement hold to the fundamental ideals of preventive medicine. Children selected to attend the ‘ camps are ones in need of, recuperation but not suffering from any physical disability; ones convalescing from severe illnesses or operations; and ones suffering from malnutrition. They are potential C 3 types who can be converted by clean, healthy outdoor living into A 1 physical material. We can all share in giving them that chance at almost unnoticeable cost to ourselves. All children of primary school age, regardless of class or creed, are eligible for the benefits provided by the camps. Only qualification is proof of their need of the treatment. First suggested in this country in 1926, by Mr G. Neilsen, of Hawkes Bay, on behalf of his mother to Sir George Hunter, then a Member of Parliament, the history of the Health stamp goes back 20 years beyond that. Forty-five years ago a young mail clerk in a small post office in Denmark was working far into the night of Christmas Eve, distributing holiday greeting cards and letters. He saw that, as a rule, they woull go to comfortable homes housing happy and vigorous families. But he knew, too, that where kind Christmas wishes and good Christmas deeds were most needed they might not come. Why not, then, spend some of this postage 1 money to alleviate the condition of the unfortunate? From that idea developed the Danish Christmas seal, issued in 1903. Einar Holboell, its inventor, obtained permission to sell the : stamp at post offices for the benefit of a fund to erect a hospital ' for undernourished and weakly children. The scheme was an im- ■ mediate success. , That also could be said of its i institution in New Zealand. 1 From the outset the stamps were <

in keen demand, and, since the first ones were issued, New Zealand and overseas philatelists have shown great interest in the sets. Last year’s first day sales totalled £39,135, which was £lO,000 more than first day sales in !?4 6This • year’s campaign starts next Friday and, as is pointed out in today’s news, Whakatane’s target is £258, on the basis of 3/9 per family. It will be amazing if th'at aim is not;achieved within a very short time of the opening of th§ campaign, and it is impossible to doubt that it will be substantially exceeded before the sales drive concludes.

WAGE INCREASES

A new general order increasing wages, is to be sought by the Federation of Labour. No doubt there is a case for it in the startling cost of living today. There cannot be many family-supporting wage-earners whose wages'have increased as much as their costs over the past few years. But, is a general order for wage increases the answer ? Would it not be better to aim at a reduction in costs to bring them into line with existing wages? Is it not time we stopped kidding ourselves that if everyone got paid £I,OOO a year and had to spend £999 to live decently we’d be any better off than if I we got £350 a year each and had to spend £3OO to live? Are we ever going to realise that what matters is not what is in the pay envelope, but what it will buy? The Federation now aims to approach the Government with a proposition that the Economic Stabilisation Regulations be'further amended to establish the right for the Federation to make application to the Arbitration Court foi* a general increase for wage-earners, based on the economic and financial condition of the country as a whole and related to the income of all other sections of the community. No-one can blame the Federation for wanting that right. With our present economic setup, there seems little chance of stopping the dog from chasing its own tail and carrying on the vicious circle of wage increases eaten up by increases in costs.,