MEMORIAL FUND.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 412, 20 April 1937, Page 3

MEMORIAL FUND.

CHILDREN’S HEALTH CAMPS. Appeal By Director-General Of Health. An appeal to the people of New Zealand is issued by the Director General of Health, Dr M. H. Watt, who slates: t “It is my pleasant duty, both as' Director-General of Health and as a .iitizen to give my support to the King George the Fif.h National Memorial Fund which is being raised for the purpose of establishing, as a memorial to his late Majesty, permanent Htalth Camps in the Dominion. “None of us will ever forget the spontaneous sorrow which enveloped the Empire in January of last y<ar when the people lost both a beloved monarch and a friend, end it would be unthinkable if there were not an equally spontaneous personal re. sponse to the appeal tor a national memorial worthy of our affection. “I wish in this brief opportunity, as a worker’ in public health, to assure you that these camps will play a vital part in our public health system. I was very interested to hear Mr Forbes at the close of his broadcast remarks a few nights ago. refer to the health camp movement as a natural sequel of the Plunket movement. That statement is true.

■“The greater the 'development of these camps the greater will be the benefit to the Dominion. The funda. mental basis of public heath is prevention, and may I say here that these camps are just as essential to the welfare of country children as the children from the towns. The camps ha,ve catered for the youth” people; from both urban and rural areas, and I wish to clear up any misconception that may have arisen on that pointy Right Living Methods. “In the heaLh camp movement we have a link in the chain of measures for prevention of disease and active promotion of health. It takes the proper line of education of the young, while, .at the same time it fortifies them, and has the additional merit of showing their parents that always good results, and sometimes aston. ishlng results, are produced by simple methods of right living. "We have within our grasp very useful means for lessening the future inflow to our public hospitals, by taking children in hand before a constitutional breakdown occurs—before something has developed that the passing of years and even the best of medical treatment may fail to stem or eradicate. If only as a antituberculosis measure—and it i a very much more than that—health camp work fully justifies its existence. “If a child falls’ a victim to disease or infection it cannot be taken into a health camp, but is already a candidate for hospital treatment. It is most important, therefore, that means be maintained to enable timely selection of children requiring prior treatment in a health camp and that we have more of these institutions in order to widen their benefits. Grounding in Hygiene. ’’The time may come when al) children will be afforded an opportunity of a stay in a health camp where shey will receive ,a. proper grounding in. physical culture and personal lygiene, but for the present our chief concern is to ;get the movement; under way. The opportunity is now afforded citizens to contribute toward a national memorial to King George the Fifth,’and to assist in a practical way toward pioneering a movement that is certain to continue growing and gaining in momentum. “We are all united in two matters —first, in reverence for the memory of King George the Fifth, and secondly, in the earnest desire that the children shall have health and happiness. These two thoughts are combined in the scheme for our national memorial.”