The Daily News. FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1903. PHYSICAL CULTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 187, 21 August 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1903. PHYSICAL CULTURE.

THBf'p'endid 6uce?iß of the New Zealand footballers in Aus r illi is na' urally a matter of pleasure and pride to every New Zailauder, as it shows the marked pb.ysic.il superiority of our fellow countryman over the Au9tr.«lian, L J further shows to what perfection the team, which went from N»w ! h»s been brought by careful trainirg. j What the col'ny hss to to caieful about, is that the master is rot overdone, and other and b''ghcr things neglected. We »v* «Ud to see that there is a growing failing th it greiier care should be taken to ei.sure that the gams of football, so useful ai it has provad in the past, ehili not ha allowed to degenerate into a mere trial of brute strength. The p'-rfeo'ion vi physical oulturo is th 9 mutual development cf boththe mental and phyeicil powtr.". Unless this ia done man degenerates into a dim biu'e. Whil> in the colony the danger lies in too much attention being paid to muscular,.development, at Home it is the othor way about, and the Press is engaged in a very interesting discussion en the subject. There can be no question, says ti,e London limes of greater importance than that of the physical ooudition of the population. At the s»me tima hardly any question is more oomplex or less susceptible of adequate treatment by hasty generalisations or by easy reference to unexamined and unsifted statistics. Of the many statements which it is easy and obvious to m .ke on tha strength of same collation of figures there is scarcely one which does not require careful examination and extensive qualification, if wo wish really to get at the truth of tho matter. When the Inr.p.ctor General tf Recruiting speaks of " the gradual deterioration cf th? physique of fhworking classes from v?hich tlia bulk tf the recruits must always ba drawn," he speaks amb'guously. The bulk tf his recruits are not drawn from tho working classes at large, bui fiom a stratum upon which tho genuine industrious wotkibg mm looks down with no little contempt. That stratum, we have little doubt, circulates continuously through the hands of the recruiting officers, m&ny of its numbers being off<- red and rej e'ed over and over again. If these men were physically and morally fit for regular civil employment, most cf them would nevßr c me to the recruiting officers at all. Tha' opens up a military probkm of great gravity, but it dots not jus'ify any general conclusion co.ojrning the physique of the population, When it is said that the population ie deteriorating, one reply is that the expectation of life has increased and is increasing. That looks very wel l , until wb reflect that the increased expectation of life may co-exist with dioiin'shed vigour and vitality during life. It may be due simply to reduction of the accident that terminate life. Take a district in India overrun by tigers and snakes, ex tirpate tt;ese creatures and tha expectation of Hfo would improve, but it would not follow that tho fitness of the survivors for tho dufcifcs of life had been correspondingly increased. The ohi ssying m fortunately stands trip: The people perish for lack ot knowlodgp. The rapid expansion of our industries which so many point to with urqmlified eatisfac'ioo, has Dot been an uumis'd Wsssing. It was carried cu with reckless disregard cf many things m-re essential than morjey to the building up of a State, and v.e are no* laboriously trying to roo!f good wha' : was, in fact, a disruption of"the soci-d life and habits of the English people. Our population no longer kcows how to feed itself, and it will take a great deal of teaching in cookery of a more practical kind than school boards as a rule yet give to make up to them for < the loss of the traditional domestic Jo; 9 1

pe-t ] i;:-*:- j i' '■■.• ov-iy Frsnch \ V'-o children of tho poor, u;:d o!' . i of j II ) well-to-do, are staved, they have plraty to eat, or at :0.1s!; have ae much spent; upon thei" aitit.i; as would s.i!cq" I'ely feul half as many a»ain in a FlOl. c';i Lou:-; hold. Ignorft.c.; is the iiv -my ;.hys cally ks Will r.s morally, find tho key to the improve-; nieiat of tho p pnl atioo. phy-.ic-i.liy and i o h<-rwi»>; Is i 1 practical <ducaioo, riot)

in book knowledge or in legislation.