PHYSICAL FITNESS WEEK

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20735, 20 February 1939, Page 6

PHYSICAL FITNESS WEEK

This week is Fitness Weekj, when people throughout the country are invited to take part in healthful sports and to encourage others to do so. It is the first serious effort since the Physical Welfare Act was passed to organise healthy exercise on a comprehensive basis, and by the measure of its success it will be possible to judge whether the public yet fully realises the value of the movement. For the good of the nation it is to be hoped that the response will be commensurate with the need.

It is noteworthy that although many people expected a great deal from the legislation passed some time ago, the official body appointed under the Act has not done a great deal more than appeal to sports bodies and the public to make a special effort this week. Perhaps the council is hampered by lack of funds, but it has been in existence long enough to have made some material progress. Where is that spectacular assistance foreshadowed by the Hon. W. E. Parry when the legislation was before Parliament ? Have any additional facilities been made available to encourage the public to take healthy exercise ?

Of course the matter is largely in the hands of the people themselves, and it must remain so. If the urge for physical activity is not in them all the law in the world will not force them to become physically fit. Governmental authorities can but make the facilities available and emphasise the need for a physical!}- fit nation. The sports bodies have accepted the task with commendable enthusiasm, and a programme of healthy games has been arranged in the Waikato and elsewhere throughout the week. It remains for the people of all ages to show their appreciation of these efforts by taking part in or otherwise assisting the sports arranged. If they enter into the spirit of the occasion with zest, they will find they will have a greater capacity and a lighter heart for the tasks of the workaday week that follows. Fitness Week should do much to awaken the public conscience to the value of physical health.