Health Notes.

Most of us are looking forward to the summer months with pleasurable anticipation. Old and young have their own ideas of what constitutes the enjoyment obtainable during the hot weather, and there is probably not one person here who would like to sleep through the summer and come out as a Rip Van Winkle next June.

The winter games are put aside and the young folk are all ready to indulge in tennis, swimming, etc., while the older ones seek less strenuous forms of enjoyment. The housewives—old and young—are glad that there are no more fires, cooking is easier, and life generally seems to have taken on a brighter outlook. The children are looking forward to the longer days for outdoor play and also to the holidays which are coming alarmingly close for the adults.

How are we at the end of the season? Have we taken too much advantage of the hot weather and been reckless in regard to sun-bathing and games during the hottest hours of the day? Are we tired and languid and looking forward to the invigorating winter days to build up our depleted vigour? Have we benefited by the wonderful climate that New Zealand enjoys, or have we been reckless, and all our swimming, sun-bathing, etc., been a liability instead of an asset? Adults must balance their own accounts, and if we come out at the end of the season with a deficit in the matter of health, well, we ourselves have to draw on our own reserves—if we have any—to settle the account.

It is a different matter with the children. They are not in the position to realise that it is dangerous to go out in the sunshine without their hats, or to play around during the hottest part of the day. Summer sickness, sunstroke—or even the dreaded infantile paralysis—can be attributed to the effects of the sun's rays on the unprotected skin. We need a “Hats On” brigade, and it would be a pleasing sight to see the youngsters fully protected against any possible harm that could come to them during the forthcoming summer months.

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