Youth and Physique

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 375, 8 June 1928, Page 8

Youth and Physique

IS STANDARD FALLING ?

Rejections from Territorials

CONCERN has been occasioned in Christchurch because one third of the senior cadets under transfer to the territorials have been rejected through so-called physical deficiencies. These youths did not meet the standard set for territorial service in the Southern city. Their rejection opens up a big question: Are the physical standards of New Zealand manhood falling ?

Candidates for the territorials are classified, in their medical examination, into a series of different categories. Category A includes the big men, with proportionate chest development, and the scale runs right down to category G, which includes men between sft 4in and sft 6in in height. This year the annual medical tests of senior cadets, conducted every May, were slightly tightened all through the Dominion because several of the units had grown so bulky, in numerical strength, as to be cumbersome. Creation of new units would bave meant increased staffing, a costly Expedient, so the department set out to keep the units within limits by applying slightly more rigid standards to the senior cadets coming up for examination.

In Auckland this was found to have unexpected results. With a larger number tban usual transferred to the

reserve, and more than usual of the oncoming drafts weeded out by the stricter standards, the battalions were left below working strength, and many cadets, previously passed over, had to he re-examined and admitted. In Christchurch, the same principles as were tried in Auckland have been applied, but the later relaxation has not been found necessary. Consequently it is on record that onq-third of the boys have been officially rejected. The standard which these rejects failed to reach was that normally applied to N.Z.E.F. recruits, height, sft 6in, and expanded chest measurement 33Jin. As applied to territorials, however, these standards warrant closer attention.

The boys examined for admission to the Territorials are 17 or 18 years of

age—never more. Under the circumstances, it is a lot to expect that more than two-thirds of them, with still two, three, or four years of growth left to them, should reach the standards that in war-time were considered satisfactory in grown men. One Territorial officer believes that orders sent forward for uniforms, from year to year, show that not so many "out-sizes” are required now as formerly, but he would uot infer from this that the type to-day is inferior. Of the physique and bearing of Auckland’s young manhood there was no better testimony than the impressive King’s Birthday parade, in which some of the older senior cadet platoons showed file after file of sixfooters, while the general standard was good to the last man. Furthermore, there is a fairly general belief that, except in an eightoared crew, where beef and brawn are paramount factors, or in a Rugby lineout, where height is a commanding asset, the big man as the definite superior of the small man can be ruled out. Officers at Defence headquarters in Auckland recall that during the war the little man almost without exception carried his weight better than his bigger comrades-in-arms. In open warfare and other forms of strenuous campaigning it was the tough lightweight who won out nearly every time. LOFTY FOOTBALLERS As to whether New Zealand can claim to own a race of big men—and the big fellow undoubtedly takes the honours if an external judgment only is applied—there are interesting comparisons available in the records of international Rugby teams. New Zealand has never met an Australian or Brtiish team that was taller in average height, but she has never, on the other hand, equalled the average height of the 1921 South African team. The Springboks were very big men, averaging sft lljin, and with two particularly big forwards in J. M. Michan (6ft 4in) and R. Morkel (6ft 3in). But the 1913 Springbok team in England eclipsed even these. The tallest man was T. Van Vuuren (6ft 4Jin), and there were 13 other six-footers among the 28 men. Among noted New Zealand teams, the latest is the largest, its average height being 5.10 J, with C. Brownlie and G. Alley, the tallest men, each 6ft 3 inches, followed by B. Finlayson (6.2) and E. Snow (6.1 J). There are 12 six-footers among the 29 in the team, compared with seven of that height among the 27 men who comprised the 1905 team. These figures do not suggest that New Zealand’s manhood is deteriorating. But there is one feature, according to the Defence authorities, that must be viewed with real concern. This is the presence of bad teeth among increasing numbers of the cadets who come up for examination. Except for its teeth, New Zealand seems to be holding its own.