LONGER LEGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 244, 15 October 1935, Page 6

LONGER LEGS.

Legs are growing longer in Japan. It has been discovered that tlio average height of boys of sixteen is now over an inch and threequarters more than it was in 1000, although at twenty-five the gain is only slightly less than an inch. Girls of fourteen have gained nearly two and a half inches 011 the 1000 average, and even at twenty-four maintain a gain of an inch and a quarter. There is also an improvement in weight and chest development, but the change is observed most not so much in longer or broader bodies as in longer legs. Experts who have been giving their views in the Japanese Press provide various explanations (says the "Manchester Guardian"). Some think that the adoption of Western styles of clothing is responsible because they give much more freedom of movement than the old Japanese dress. Others think the most important influence has been the habit of sitting 011 chairs instead of 011 the floor. Having become used to chairs and desks at school, bovs and girls find it harder "to sit squarely on their feet," and the only time ihev do so nowadays is when they eat their meals. Then most parents, we are told, 110 longer require their children to sit on the floor in the "traditional polite manner." Also it is said children eat better food—the result of the rise in the standard of living. It is noticed that town children have grown more than country children. For this a curious explanation is found which has certainly the merit of novelty. The Japanese, we are told, "110 longer can afford to sit and wait for an opportunity in life to come or for customers j to patronise their establishments." For it is I to be remembered that in the city "eompeti- 1 tion is keen and efforts to boost business count for everything," so presumably legs grow longer because there is more running about. • The hotter the pace of life the taller we grow. Clearly modern-city life has its compensations.