THE PHYSIQUE OF NEW ZEALANDERS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 552, 6 July 1909, Page 9

THE PHYSIQUE OF NEW ZEALANDERS.

BRITISH AND COLONIAL BOYS. (By Telegrap'h.-Special Correspondent.) , CHrlstchuroh, July 3. A local doctor, speaking to a reporter regarding Commander Blunt's criticism of tho physique of Now Zdalanders, remarked that —" that officer had probably been for some considerable time in Now .Zealand. His stan- ■ darda of physical fitness had been raised a ','' groat- deal. Candidates for tho Navy at S Homo were so diminutive that' they woro often mistaken for Japanese, , Thoy wero good mon, strong and hardy, but where tho J English youth grow inches between the ago / of, twelve and twenty-two the colonial boy \ grew foot. Tho colonial childron wero not , uovelopod symmetrically. Thoy WTote 'with 1 tho'right hand, and naturally leaned towards ■' the right , when writing. The school desks j were the same aizo for tho' youngster in tho infant class and the growing lad of fourteen, ■ and a oortain amount of, lop-sided dovelop- \ ment was inevitable. Curvature of tho spine caused in this way, however, was easily cured \ by proper physical exercises. The introduction of single adjustable desks in tho schools should provo a remedy for all defects of this kind. To say that tho young Now Zealander j. compared unfavourably with his English "■ 'brother was ridiculous. The race that could i produce such mon, as the""All Blacks," and < wilding and ArnsX - .waa not behind Britain in the matter of physical fitness. The stamp of man that was sent to fight in South Africa / i stood out wonderfully over tho Homeland , X soldier physically and montally. /' A physical culture instructor said that 'though Captain Blunt'was right in saying, that tho carrying of heavy woights was a t cause of spinal curvature, the present nonadjustable, school .desks woro a very much 'more frequent cause. It was likely that the Tejectod candidates were citv men. There were a great many lads in Christchuroh who failed to como up to tho normal standard in to chest measurement and expansion ' and lung capacity. Tho cause of this was that in tho schools there was no proper sys(tern of physical education. Field games, such as crickot and football, wero all very i well in their way, but thoy could not take tho'placo of a systematic physical training, ' "even if that training woro given on military v lines, Children should he classified in the schools, and given tho exercises which wore most suitable for thorn. There was no proper'physical test for those who enrolled in volunteer corps, and what tests wero applied were made in a desultory and slip-shod way, a man's chpst being frequently measured over his coat. If a volunteer corns insisted on a high standard of phvsique so that membership would' imply' physical fitness, tho cause of " physical oulture would bo greatly 'advanced'. »' ' '■