MALNUTRITION

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2159, 27 May 1914, Page 6

MALNUTRITION

DR. GUNN'S REPORT CRITICISED '■':. BY MEDICAL MAN. (By Tfllesraph.-Prew AseoolftttoiU ■ Auckland, May 20. Oonsidorablo interest has been aroused \ by » report furnished'last week to the Wellington Education Board by Dr. . ■ Elizabeth Gunn, medical inspector, regarding tho health of .children in various city, and country schools. Jn particular .milch, surprise Jins been, expressed at Dr." .■.G.uiin's; statement that in some schools'no less than 50' per cent, of tho children were- suffering from malnutrition. " Some interesting criticisms of the report; iyore:.given by Dr. G. L. Cawkwcll, who recently retired from the servico or tho Hoalth Department, in order to commence private- practice. ■ Dr. Ca\yk•well was- engaged , in medical.inspection of schools in tho Auckland provinco from October, 1912, to July, 1913, when ho was removed from the- work, and Bent to fight \tho epideinio in North Auckland. During his term of office Dr. Cawkwoll personally examined 1736 children, and presented a series of four re- ■ ports to the Auckland Education Board on -the subject of the health of scholars. .; ■

v Degrees in Malnutrition. ','1 am quite sure," ho said, "that Dr. Gunn's statement regarding the pre-' yalenco.of malnutrition in some schools . is duo to a misunderstanding as to classification. In Auckland we agreed that-tho terms 'good, , ''medium,' and 'bad , should be used in classifying tho malnutrition of children, but Dr. Gunn appears to have lumped all cases of inferior malnutrition under orfo head, which is manifestly unfair. Personally, I found that the cases of marked mal- ' nutrition totalled ■ 6.7 per pent., and those of "modium malnutrition. 14 per . cent., malting nearly 20. per cent, altogothen Theso figures include both city and country schools, but I can.safely. say that "not even, in tho worst schools which'! yisited did the cases of'malnutrition amount to 50 per cent'., or'anything like it, though,'of course, such a state of affair! might he .found:in the slum sshools of London, Edinburgh, or any other of the "-big-cities at Home. I have worked in the English slums; , arid from iny knowledge- of. the # .conditions, there Lean say that thore is no comparison .with anything to. bo'.foundl inNew Zealand. In my inspections here I have -found- that the new arrivals; from English! towns are almost invariably ill- • ' nourished, and much helow ;the. averago physique bftho local schools.'-.'.. '. . .-'

. Children Who Eat Pastry, Eto. ..'.'l am '.sure, also, that-not one por cent, 'of the , ill-nourished children in our schools owe ■ their condition, to sheer ]ack of fond. • Unsuitable food, decayed •teeth, and undue hurry in eating are the most common caii&s. Too many children ,eaf nothing hut pastry, bread and jam, and starchv food of that sort for their■ .lunch,'- and that in'a hurry. This is chiefly due'to. carelessness or ignorance- on the part of the parents. There are very few- New Zealand families' 'which cannot' nfford to buy good 'food.'and plenty of it, but the trouble is that mothers do not give their children,; the right food, prepared in/tho right way. \ .'. . ■■' . i The Unknown Toothbrush. "Dental 'decay, is undoubtedly rife in this coutry. Ninety-five per cent, of the children whom I inspected had it.in various dogrees, and tho care of the • teeth , seems to bo very generally nefileoted. One woiiders if parents ever look at their-children's'.teeth until toothache calls their attention. Many of the boys in the schools, I found, knew nothing of a tooth brush, and preferred to havo a tooth' out rather than (ret it filled. The elder girls very often ' had a neat gold filling in their . front teeth, evidently hecauso they were afraid-for their beauty, but nevertheless the molars were often badly decayed." .