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Weir House

Miss A. E. Lorimer, the author of the article on "Malnutrition in New Zealand," was asked to comment on a specimen Weir House weekly diet submitted to her. Weir House was chosen as a typical example of the New Zealand boarding-house.

"In the first place," said Miss Lorimer, "there's not nearly enough milk, and secondly there's far too much meat—often, apparently, you have it three times a day! Then there are too few vegetables—one green vegetable only once a day; and the potatoes are rarely cooked in their skins, which is essential if their goodness is to be preserved. Fresh fruit is provided only once a week, and salads only occasionally—both should be on the menu dally. Fish should be eaten at least three times a week, and should be steamed or baked, not fried in white flour batter. The bread should be whole meal—real whole meal and not just "brown" bread, which is merely white bread coloured brown."

"Salient" pointed out to Miss Lorimer that Weir House had to maintain a certain reserve fund, and the management had to be very careful in matters of finance.

Whether or not a radical improvement in this diet could be produced at no extra cost depends largely upon the price of vegetables, and whether vegetables can be grown on the premises.

It is so essential that our youth—and especially our University students —should be scientifically fed, that the management of establishments such as Weir House should consider the food question as one of paramount importance.

With proper instruction in the relative nutritive values of the various foods, a great improvement could be effected at no extra cost.

Weir House apparently supplies plenty of butter and cheese, and cooked fruit, and the requisite amount of liver. But the diet on the whole is unsatisfactory.