THE HON. J. ALLEN SPEAKS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14978, 27 May 1914, Page 10

THE HON. J. ALLEN SPEAKS.

The" Minister of Defenco and Education, lu-tho course of a short interview, ■was cheerfully optimistic as regards the financial aspect of affairs at th© present juncture. He said that New Zealand had established herself in the good name of the English money marKet, and that there would be no difiS£3,ooo,ooo which would b© obtained at ir 6 &i n |^ f r-^ lS i yoar ' Mr fare's loan ct , became payable on the Ist ©f Jply next.;but he (Mr Allen) had already made; preparations to, meet it. THE CHILDREN'S HEALTH. ,'. b '™?"?r_<>f.th© -report presented to the VVellmgton Education Board regarding the result of a medical inspection of certain schools was referred to .by.the Minister. He said"that he had expected''to:get the full report on the medical inspections, conducted through^ -. out :„tho~ Dominion -on Monday,, but it had not yet come,to hand. , .He admitted that it was possible that tho report to the Wellington Education Board might' be a fair -sample of the complete ; Dominion .report, but he felt that there; was no. necessity for the . general public to get alarmed at th© disclosures already made. It" was an undoubted fact that a fair proportion of the children were shown to be suffapngiitom, phy sical defects of some

kind or another, but he thought it reasonable to point out that a similar state of affairs must have obtained for generations without much apparent national harm resulting. Nevertheless, it w;is plairi that if any physical defects, slight or not, could be remedied, it would bo desirable to do so. He felt that the action of the Education Department in instituting the.medical inspection had done good if it drew the attention of parents to the state of "their children's health. The question of the treatment *-of the children was a very large one, into which he could not go at present, luit.it was tbe_ obvious and natural duty of all parents to make sacrifices for the preservation of their health. Tithe great mnjority .of cases parents in the Dominion were well able to take the necessary'steps to secure treatment for their children, but those cases where it was financially impossible for the parents to do their part, otlier measures would have to be instituted. The physical culture courses established by the Department had already created a marked improvement in'alarge pert-entase of ca=es. and no doubt further good would result. HON. JAS. ALLEN'S MOVEMENTS. Mr Allen goes to Lawrence to-day to the ceremony of unveiling a statue to Gabriel Read, of "Gabriel's Gully' fame, and ho sneaks at . Lawrence tomorrow pvenine. A tour of the outlying districts will be made subsequently, and he will return to Wellington at tho beginning of next week.