Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1894. PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN STATE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6891, 1 February 1894, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1894. PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN STATE

j SCHOOLS. At a meeting of the Citizens Institute in Wellington on Monday last, Dr Chappie read an interesting and instructive essay on " Physical Education in our State Schools." The doctor commenced by saying that efficiency in education assured that the utmost use was made of all known means by which the mental, moral, and physical powers wore developed. These powers should be developed to the full extent, and every known method of train, ing the faculties of the mind and body should be intelligently used, in order tha fc a pupil who had finished his primary school curriculum should be equipped with the fullest advantages, prepared to follow any calling in life he might choose. The lecturer pointed out that the majority of those attending the public schools were destined to be artizans, tradesmen, and laborers, to Avhom a good physique and sound strong muscle, were their only souroe of Avealth — iudeed, their only means of obtaining a livelihood. Physical education improved the health, developed the body, broadened the chest, hardened the muscles, purified the blood, invigorated all the'' vital organs, and trained the brain. The doctor might have added, and made life enjoyable. The lecturer held that it was clearly the duty of tho State to bestow a uniform training that would give equal advantages to all, and that common justice demanded that physical education should have a place in our primary school curriculum Mental education, he said, would thus be greatly facilitated, tbe memory become more retentive, the brain, more active, more clear, and more susceptible to impression. Much the same haß been frequently said before, but it cannot be repeated too frequently. Comparatively few parents give sufficient attention to the physical education of their children. They are content if the whole period of youth is given over to mental stuffing. In tho improvement of the physical powers, tlie youth of botli~seies are left to shift for themselves. Pr, Chappie expressed the opinion that

natural exercise was not sufficient to develop satisfactorily the muscular system of the body and promote a healthy manhood and womanhood. Physical education has justly been defined as the regular, systematic, and scipnti6c exercise of ali the muscles and muscular system of the body. The lecturer suys that ib can only be applied under a comprehensive system, under which a gymnasium, ample playground, and swimming baths should be attached to each school. Physical education should, in his opinion, be taught by Stato school teachers, not during play hours, but should bo " allowed to replace some of the brain stuffing which now masqueraded under the name of educa tion." Tho doctor places swimming in the front rank of exercises, as the following extract will show: — "There was absolutely no exorcise at once so pleasurable, so invigorating, so healthful, and so productive of physical development, as swimming. Every other exercise to which the body could be subjected paled into utter insiguificance when we contemplated the far-reaching advantages of that health-giving recrea tion. In swimming the whole body was exercised, every muscle was at work,, and was working under increased pressure — the pressure of the water being added to that of tho air. The chest, practically a hollow cavity, had to bear increased pressure in common with the rest of the body, and so counteract its tendency to yield to that pressure. The respiratory muscles were called upon to act more rigorously, so that, besides the increased action of the chest muscles arising from the body movements in the water, there was an additional strain put upon them from the necessity of keeping the lungs expanded." The doctor "said the exercise strengthened the muscles, expanded the chest, and with the expansion the lungs acted with greater freedom, and were thereby enabled to resist much of the insidious desease that so readily attacked them. The great advantage of bodily cleanliness was secured by the practice of swimming. In Dr. Chappie's opinion, no other exercise was so free from unhealthy after-effects as judicious swimming, as there was no perspiration during the exercise, and as the clothes were off, and consequently free from the dampness accompanying other exorcises, there was practically no danger from chill. That was a matter requiring constant vigilance in most other athletic practices, and the prevalence of rheumatism and catarrhs was evidence of constant neglect of an important law of health. Dr. Chappie thought that in au insular country like New Zealand, where so much' of our transit was by water, 'where beautiful harbors, lakes, and rivers were so numerous, the necessity of being able to swim was greatly accentuated, and it should be as great a reproach to a New Zealand youth to be unable to swim as it now was to be unab'e to sign his own name. I Dr Chappie is of opinion that so pressing is the need of physical education that the State should subsidise the erection of public baths wherever practicable. There are few, if any, places where better natural advantages for salt water bathing exist than at Gisborne, but as yet the place is without swimming baths. Our climate is during the summer months somewhat enervating. The best corrective is a plunge on the river or on the beach. If there were proper swimming baths here for every person who now enjoys the healthful and invigorating pastime of swimming there would be a dozen. Although the town may b9 said to bo surrounded with water, the majority of our boys and girls are growing up without learning to swim a stroke. If sufficient attention had been paid to the art, the lamentable sacrifice of two young lives which occurred from drowning in the neighborhood of Gisborne within the past few weeks would most probably not have taken place. We trust a public movement . ...'ll 1 .. r..,i. *„ , :.]. ..v. |, Mi swimming baths, in order that all, young and old, may enjoy the healthful and lifesaving practice of swimming. The necessary expenditure would not involve a large sum, and in a hundred ways the cost would be recouped. Swimming is the best of all exercises everywhere, and it is one eminently suited to our climate and surroundings.