The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1912. HEALTH.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 8, 3 September 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1912. HEALTH.

Under the direction of the Chief Healtl Officer, the Government is desirou; that the work which the Society foi the Health of Women and Oiiiidrei has been carrying on in the main cen tres of the Dominion, be extendec

along similar line;; through tin whole country. In order to brim this about, Dr .Truby King lias been specially selected and, for the nexi few months, will be associated with the Public Healtlh: Department, and will deliver a series of lectures mainh

in country districts. This evening Dr. King will give an address in the Stratford Town Hall, and we hope to see a very large attendance of both men and women. The aims and objects of the Society above referred to are briefly (1) To disseminate accurate information of matters affecting the health of women and children by means of lectures, demonstrations, newspaper articles, pamphlets, correspondence, teaching in the home, and otherwise; and (2) To uphold the sacreduess of the body and the duty of healthj to inculcate a lofty view of the responsibility of maternity and the duty of every mother to iit herself for the. perfect fulfilment of all the natural calls of motherhood, both before and after child-birth. Witlhi a view to the permanence of the work started by Dr. King, Local Committees are set up, wherever a body of earnest people can be got together who will devote themselves to furthering the welfare of women and children, and such a committee was formed in Stratford yesterdaj. The Department is convinced that the present campaign will do mudhi good, ami that- it will be instrumental in bringing about a further great lowering of the infantile death-rate throughout the Dominion, while :it the same time exercising a potent influence with regard to health,. It has been competed that in the next ten years a quarter of a million children will be horn in New Zealand, and it has been wisely said that these will he our best immigrants. Every healthy young adult has been estimated as worth (;.'!(>() to the country; every un-

healthy dependant Who is n charge mi the- public purse is a grave liability. Hospitals, asylums for the insane, charitable aid institutions, and even places of detention for criminal aHs, are, it is sad to ponder, largely made necessary by our failure to take that regard for health that we should in justice to ourselves and, above all, in justice to the little ones who are row helpless to resist whatever is done to them. Dr. Yaliniine, Clhjef Health Officer, emphasises this when in a recently issued communication from bis Department he says: "We < v rt what we deserve. . Every country has just as many unfortunates, invalids, and criminals as it deserves,

no more! 111-health means unemployahlonoss; uneniploya-hleness means morbid thought and feeling; and mnrhid thought and feeling mean loafing, vice, and crime.” Surely ILo question is important enough for everyone to give it some little attention.

THE VVAtm STRIKE. Yesterday the Wailii strike commonced its 'sixteenth week, and the end is not yet. Principally owing to tl e efforts of the Federation of Labour, New Zealand now watches a hitherto thriving town drifting into bankruptcy. In the fifteen weeks that the strike has lasted, the gold output has dropped something like a quarter of a million, and the miners have lost in wages £70,000. The Borough Council’s revenue is rapidly being exhausted and it is feared the Hospital will shortly close its doors for want of funds. Distress, misery, and all uncharitableness prevail—and that is about all the Federation has gained or is likely to gain by its blind folly | in demanding and fostering the cessa-; tion of work. Sureh Waihi’s plight should be an example to workers else-' where to pause before taking such ex- j treme steps.

NAVAL RIVALRY. Commenting on tlhie naval rivalry between Great Britain and Germany in an article suggested by Mr CHrurcbill’s speech introducing the Supplementary Naval Estimates in the House of Commons, the “Novoe Vrcmya” says England is too self-confident with regard to German arming. Germany systematically corners England, causing shipbuilding expenses to lie doubled and the cost of manning ships to lie quadrupled. The lie tier chances are on Germany’s side. The United Kingdom’s wealth may lie put to an extraordinary test, hut men willing to sacrifice their lives do not grow after Acts of Parliament like ransJV rooms after rain. The time is not far off when there will he no more volunteers for the English navy, and Dreadnoughts without men will become useless. The new German naval programme will support the efforts of the English Imperialists to establish compulsory service in England.

PARCELS POST. Speaking at the Wellington LetterCarriers’ annual dinner on Saturday night, the Hon. R. H. Rhodes, Post-master-General, dealt with many subjects and outlined a further progressive policy in that most progressive and exceeding important Department of the public service, of which lie is the head. One branch of the business, the Hon. Mr Rhodes said, which was becoming very popular was the parcel post, and I he considered ' that the time had come to make some reduction in the charges. Satisfactory arrangements had been made with the, Union Steam Ship Company, and equally satisfactory arrangements were on the point of conclusion with the Railway Department which would, he hoped, enable Ihdm to announce at no distant date a reduction in the rates. Broadly 7 speaking, it was hoped to effect a reduction of 25 per cent., thus reducing the cost of a parcel weighing 111 b from 2s to Is 6d. An approximately similar reduction was proposed for lesser weights, but there was considerable diversity of opinion | as to the exact method in which the' reduction could best lie applied. In ■addition to the regular work of the I parcel post branch, he was considering a scheme for bringing country j fruitgrowers into direct touch with j town consumers, and he would pro- j bably he in a position to make a definite announcement on the subject I within the course of the next few i weeks. j