The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1907 INFANT LIFE PROTECTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3770, 5 September 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1907 INFANT LIFE PROTECTION.

The Hon. Dr. Collins moved in the Upper House on Tuesday; “ That it is desirable that the provisions, especially with regard to inspection, at present in force for the protection of infant life should be taken into consideration by this Council.” In supporting his motion the Hon. Dr. Collins dared that a child born into the world, full of possibilities for good health, demanded to live, and should not grow up a weakling, to become an inmate of hospitals or menial asylums, .but should be a useful unit in the state. when it arrived at maturity. Referring to the inspection of hoines he said it was a great flaw that the police had the duty of inspecting the homes. What did a policeman know about such a matter? No doubt, a policeman did his duty Conscientiously, but when he went to inspect an infant, he would probably be shown into a iront room, have the child brought to him, and be mote frightened than otherwise

over this part of his duty. Adequate inspection of > a home involved inquiry into its cleanliness and ventilation. The inspector should g<> into the room .where the children slept, examine the condition of the clothing and the bedclothes, and also take observations -as to where the food was kept, its quantity and quality, what proportions were administered to the infant, and the condition of tbe feeding bottles. A thorough inspection would not be complete without weighing and stripping; the child, to aice.tdu if theiewas skii disease or deformity, or anything interfering with , the child’s nutrition. He thought c hildren should be weighed fortnightly to see if the weight was keeping up. This .was the only possible chance, of seeing that the infant home-keeper was doing her dufjv Inspection should he made by,: qualified nurses, and this-would be a, great benefit to the infant home-keepers themselves. They would receive instruction, and -advice from the nurses,. apd would, feel the bond of the sympathy of womanhood instead of ..regarding, the visit of the- 'inspector as .the. visit of a representative of .the lawReferring to I tat e guardi in; hip cf children,, he said it was- possible, by ia healthy environment,, to' change to a large extent, the ireutal .condition of the cluld, rind bring it up in such a way that the taint of heredity -would he, lo'a large extent, -removed;'■ Having quoted statistics tb show-the mert dity in ; infant' ie- in ■Australia- an 1 at Horae,-•anl the : measures being adopted to minimise the evil, the speaker ■ went on to sa> r That the best medical authorities' estimated tbe mortality amongst illegitimate children as being- three limes as great as in the case of children born in wedlock. This was not to be wondered at, considering the "pre-natal’ conditions existing in the case of illegitimate children. Personally, his feeling - would be against the creation of institutions Tor the cave of infants. He considered that homes were infinitely better. It was impossible to bring up a child-to manhood or womanhood, if it never had any home life. It was. impossible for them to realise the full value of life without home life. In institutions children were huddled together, and were taken all the official care of that was necessary, but that was not the care an infant or a young child should have. He should be very sorry to see institutions where the poor infants would be officially guarded. The remarks in full of the Hon. Mr Collins should be printed in pamphlet form and scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land.