AUSTRALIAN PHYSIQUE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9714, 9 February 1910, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN PHYSIQUE.

Height and spareness ol figure are regarded as characteristics of the Australian, but one does not think of him as deficient in chest measurement and lung power. However, a sub-committee of the British Science Guild has been investigating the New South Wales chest, and has made what it regards as disquieting discoveries. It reports that the average chest measurement of English boys of seventeen is roughly 36. ■ inches more than that of boys of the same age in New South Wales, and that the chest of the Neo? South Wales boys at all ages is much narrower than that of the Washington boy. A comparison made between New South Wales and American girls was also in favour of American physique. The committee declares that a narrDW chest is a prejudice to longevity, and that great height is desirable only when the increase in weight is in proportion to that of chest girth. It has been argued that the Australian does not require such a big chest as the English city dweller, because the air he breathes is purer than the air of English cities, but the committee sets against this | the point that a greater height means more work by the heart and the muscles generally, and a greater loss of heat by radiation. The investigators, in short, regard the tendency of the Australian youth towards narrowness of chest as a serious national evil, and to counteract it, recommend the encourage-

ment of open-air pastimes, "in which the children will be induced to exercise spontaneously their intelligence as well as Jtheir bodily powers." The suggestion that openair pastimes should be encouraged in Australia is calculated to promote a smile, but the committee is quiet serious. It is admitted that the young Australian is very fond of outdoor amusements, but he prefers looking on to playing. The report refers to his love of lamp-posts as supports, his horror of walking anywhere if he can go in a conveyance, and "his inveterate custom of supporting the noble game of cricket and football by leaning across a fence or resting his manly form upon a shaded bench, while he bets upon the odds or barracks more or less enthusiastically." Whether this economy of energy is a cause or a consequence of the anatomical condition observed, the committee is not prepared to say. whichever it is, it should be discouraged.