PHYSICAL WELFARE AND RESEARCH

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 204, 26 May 1938, Page 10

PHYSICAL WELFARE AND RESEARCH

The National Council of Physical Welfare and Research, constituted by recent legislation to act in an advisory capacity to the Government, made its public debut on Tuesday at an inaugural meeting in Wellington, presided over by the Minister of Internal Affairs. There was a round of speech-making, and preliminary steps were taken for a Dominion-wide survey by district committees of the questions involved in the practical application of the scheme. The idea behind the Government’s legislation is to obtain the co-opera-tion of all those bodies and interests, official and unofficial, whose functions and activities bear upon the physical welfare of the nation, and by co-ordinated efforts raise the standard of the national physique. The aim is quite praiseworthy, but seems rather doubtful whether the result aimed at will be achieved by the methods proposed, lhe scope of the survey is very wide, ranging from sports grounds and bathing facilities to such matters as diet, physical training and social hygiene. So many interests are involved, including no fewer than four Government Departments, that it may be very difficult in practice to bring all their energies to a proper focus. Mr. Parry seems to have drawn his inspiration from a somewhat similar scheme introduced in the United Kingdom. In Britain the facilities for physical training and development of stamina are admittedly far below the requirements. The object of the British scheme is to provide the means for meeting the demand, and, incidentally, it is hoped, to improve the physique of the rising generations. On this latter point doubts have been expressed by Sir Farquhar Buzzard, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford. “I do not suppose,” he said in a recent contribution to the subject, “that anybody thinks the physical fitness campaign, even if-success-ful, will result in producing a nation bigger, stronger and of finer physique than it is at present. It will not turn a C 3 nation into an Al nation. It is reasonable, however, to suppose that the campaign will lead to better ways of living, more healthy ways of living, and better employment of leisure time.” If that is as much as can be expected, then it would seem that these results —in themselves highly desirable—could be obtained in this country by methods far less ponderous and cumbersome. The main point of attack on the problem—if it can be called a problem—is in the schools, where mental attitudes are created, habits formed, and recreations can be properly supervised. Results achieved in this sphere would have a lasting quality. While commending the aim, we have a fear that the scheme itself will break down under its own weight.