NATION’S MEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18764, 22 July 1935, Page 6

NATION’S MEN

DOCTOR DOUBTS FITNESS MILITARY TRAINING WANTED Referring to the question of defence at the annual meeting of the Feilding branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, Dr. F. 11. Cameron said lie was not so much concerned with the matter from the military aspect, but lie deplored the lack of physical training which a non-military outlook in the country brought about. To-day it was very rare to find a youth who had a chest expansion of over 3iti., and it had occurred to him that the association might interest itself in a move to bring about some form of military training Other than the purely voluntary system that was in vogue at present. The influence of the League of Nations might be felt in the world for many years in the avoidance of conflict, but at the same time it was something to know that there was; a nation of physically fit men to draw from in cash of need. It was thought by Mr. S. Thompson that the cure would he found for physically unfit boys in the Government finding wtrtk for them instead of their being loft to walk about leading an inactive life.

Mr. C. B. McClure referred to the position as it affected the boys undergoing training at the Feilding, Agricultural High School. All these boys were mea-' surcd twice during the year, and it was not uncommon to find their, development, whs such that at the end of the year their chest expansion was five inches. No further comment was advanced on the subject, the discussion then lapsing.