FOOD AND HEALTH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 193, 1 September 1937, Page 4

FOOD AND HEALTH

A spiendid advertisement is given New Zealaud foodstuffs by tlie final report of the League of Nations Nutrition Coxnmittee, which strongly advises against tariffs that would have the effect of keeping health-giving products of Ihe Doxninions out cf the reach of many people in the European countries. The recommendation is well-timed as it conies at a moxnent when the British Government has revived the idea of a levy on all imported dairy produce in an effort to raise the retail priee level and assist home producers, whose costs of production are higher than in the Dominions. The report points out that mortality in the poorer parts of large cities like London, Paris and Berlin is 50 per cent. higher than in the wealthier districts, this great and tragic difference being due almost wholly to the inability of poorer people to buy foodstuffs of high nutritional value. This vital need has been recognised by supporters of the "Fitter Britain" campaign, which is being assisted by the British Government. The fundamental truth that there must be a sound bodily basis on which to build physical fitness and that there can be no shortcut to this fitness has been recognised. Before Britain can beeome a truly fit nation malnutrition must be attacked and conquered and this cannot be done until protective and health-promoting foods — dairy produce, milk, eggs, meat, vegetables and fruit — are made available to all seetions of the community. New Zealand is one of the world's greatest suppliers of these protective foods and its potential production cannot yet be estimated. The League committee has issued a challenge to the European Governments, who are so intent on purchasing the sinews of war that they are neglecting the opportunity of building up the health of their people.