AN OPPORTUNITY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 57, 29 October 1931, Page 2

AN OPPORTUNITY

The offer of the Department of Health to provide a dental nurse and dental clinic facilities for Rotorua, affords the parents of school children in this eentre and the surrounding district a splendid opporunity to obtain what is unquestionably one >ofi the most valuable social services which a benevolent Government has taken upon itself to provide. As indicated, however, by the departmental officer who outlined the scope of the proposed service to a meeting of school committee members, it is topen to question how long the Government will continue to extend its fatherly influence to the extent of a £2 for £1 subsidy on all money raised locally for the provision of dental clinic facilities. This subsidy is open at present, however, and judging from the present trend of departmental economies, Rotorua and its district would be well advised to make use of the! offer before it is withdrawn. The primary school dental service, although a young department, has distinguished itself by efhciency, and is a seryice which must inevitably ,have; the most favourable reactions upon the general health of the rising generation. Not only that, but it is a service 'which is designed to assist, and does assist parents in poor and moderate circumstances, to obtain the benefits of a dental service which' they might other wise be compelled to deny their children. Although, in an effort to reduce the cost of this department, the Government has lately given authority for the imposition of a levy of not more than five shillings per annum on each child receiving treatment, it can with justification be claimed that the New Zealand school dental 'service is a true social service in the best sense of a miSused term. In some quarters, agonised wails have gone up to high heaven regarding the imposition of this levy, but we can see no possible justification for these. The cost of this service in the past has been £50,000 a year; drastic retrenchments have now been carried out, and in imposing a very moderate levy, the Department has only taken reasonable steps to ensure some small contribution toward its outlay from those j who benefit. A yearly levy of five shillings placed only upon I those parents who can afford to pay, is no hardship, but a very | modest demand in view of the service which it covers. The value of dental clinic facilities has been eagerly appreciated in every centre where there has been any possibility of obtaining them and in many towns, long and energetic agitation has been necessary to make available the services of a nurse. This has not been necessary in the case of Rotorua and it is as well that the district should realise the fact that it is being offered som'ething which would be eagerly seized by many other centres in New Zealand. As explained by the officer of the Department, the service can be obtained for this district at the cost of comparatively modest effort. One hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds will cover the whole of the local contribution necessary for the setting up of a fully equipped "A" tvpe clinic with the services of two nurses. Greater sums than this have been raised for much less worthy objects and it remains with the people of the district to realise the opportunity which is knocking at their doors and lose no time in letting it in. j One thing is certain, if they do not do so, the opportunity will not come again and will pass somewhere else. The Department has curtailed the service to such an extent and so many other districts remain to be served, that there will be no dearth of aspirants to step into any vacant place. A public meeting to forward the matter has been called for Friday night and residents of the district have the matter in their own hands.