NATIONAL PHYSIQUE

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 231, 27 September 1916, Page 9

NATIONAL PHYSIQUE

A MEDICAL OFFICER'S OPINION. NEW ZEALAND STANDARD UNSATISFACTORY.' : . . (From Onr Wellington Cotresponent.) WELLINGTON, •- Tuesday. New Zealand has been priding' itself bo long on its national physique that it would be a terrible affront to its amour propre for anyone to public! v suggest that its young men are not the finest in the world, the healthiest, the strongest, the most enduring, the very iest raw material for the manufacture of soldiers. Vital statistics, the success of picked athletes on the field of eport, the achievements of the Dominion's representatives at the front, the reports -ef doctors and the compliments of politicians hare encouraged the idea that I " on the physical side the boys and youths of this country, taken as* a whole, are unequalled by those of any other part of the Empire. But a medical man who ihas been examining recruits since the outbreak of the war, and keeping records of every case passing through his hands, ihas formed a much less flattering opinf ion of the national physique. In the South Island, where he id practising , , hi , has fotmd a quite undue proportion of men with deficient chest measurement poor muscular development, and impaired vitality. They do not fail to reach the required standard through any definite organic trouble, lie says, but, ■ for the most part, through a deplorable "fiabbiness," which makes them quite unfit for active service. In the majority of cases they follow no sport, except a<3 spectators, they have not learned to ride or swim, and they have no out-of-door ambitions beyond, perhaps, the possession of a motor bieyde. Men oi th's type, of course, come chiefly from the 1 towns, but they are not co rare as they v ought to be in the country districts, and the doctor thinks it would be a very good" thing if the •'rejects" who fail to satisfy the demands of the- Minister of Defence were handed over to the Minister of Health for kindly advice and ' treatment.