PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20958, 10 November 1939, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondent* whose letters are welcome, but tor whose views we have no responsibility. Correspondents are requested to write in ink. It is essential that anonymous writer* enclose their proper names as a guarantee of good faith. Unles* this rule is complied with, their letters will not appear.

WORKER AND FARMER

(To the Editor) Sir, —Do you know anything about farming, “Worker”? If you did you would not be running away with the idea that your kind, whatever that may be, are the only workers. Do you know that milking 20 cows alone by hand would take a man 42 hours a week? You seem annoyed that many farmers have good car*, but actually no farmer can afford to drive anything else. With a herd waiting to be milked, he can take no chances of a hold-up on the road home, and even you, "Worker,” would not wish to confine him wholly to his farm. Most of the farmers in New Zealand have got where they are by hard work and thrift. You get good pay for a 40-hour week, and I am sure if you worked at overtime rates for as many hours a week as the average farmer works over 40, and if, in addition, your wife kept a boarder, the equivalent of our farm help, and spent as many hours in some lucrative work as the farmer’s wife must spend in necessary farm work (occasional milking, harvest meals, care of poultry, etc.), you, too, would be able to ride in a superior car even if, like the farmer, you then had little time or energy left for using it.—l am, etc., A. SCALETe Rapa, November 9.

NUTRITION IN HOSPITALS

(To the Editor) Sir,—There seems to be a definite effort to improve the nutritional value of food in some directions, but surely there is no place where greater care should be taken than in our hospitals. I claim that Nature gave us perfect bodies and provided a perfectly balanced food to nourish them with, and yet in menus provided we find iron, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins A B and C materially decreased and in some cases completely eliminated. The doctor’s skill is mainly directed towards placing the patient in the best possibel position where Nature can complete the cure, and Nature’s main source Is through the food. If we accept the theory that the object of eating is constructive, is for the purpose of replacing wasted tissue, and not for the purpose of filling the stomach and utilising all the digestive organs lor no benefit, then every mouthful of food we take should be for a denite purpose. The main items of our food we wilfully destroy—sugar, all grain products, rice. When they are offered in the refined form we lose vitamins A, B, E, minerals, iron, calcium, phosphates. The position with sugar is very bad. Not only i* refined sugar without iron and calcium, but before the body can use sugar it must be converted into glucose in the body, and the system, which is often short of iron and calcium, i* further depleted in the process. With regard to vitamin B. one function of this complex vitamin 1* to stimulate the muscles—the heart muscles for regular pulsation, the stomach muscles to create hunger, and the muscles of the bowels tor normal functioning to avoid strain and constipation. We get vitamin B in the whole grain, but brown or unpolished rice is a very rich source of supply. I suppose calcium is the most important of all, such as for the retention of the blood in our veins, the controlling of our nerves, the building up of bone and teeth, and in many other ways. One of the many functions of vitamins A, B and C is to resist disease. A person whose body contains plenty of vitamin C will withstand an attack of influenza, and yet a person short of this wonderful vitamin instantly becomes a victim. The same applies to diphtheria. Although vitamin C is not cure, it is a preventive The vitamins A and B do the same duty for many other troubles, and of course vitamin D is ths cure for rickits. . . There is one thing I wish to say as regards our hospital—the attention rendered by the whole staff is wonderful. The cheerful service rendered for the 24 hours is almost unbelievable. Add a little constructive science to the menu, and I think the result will be noticeable. It is doubtful whether it is possible to get the community to realise the importance of natural food when it is not applied in our hospitals. For a start we could replace the present items with raw sugar, wholemeal flour, wholemeal bread, whole grain porridge and brown rice, at no extra cost. —I am, etc., INMATE. Hamilton. November 9.