Mind and Body

Southern Cross, Volume 17, Issue 15, 24 July 1909, Page 2

Mind and Body

(By "Physical Culturist.") THE PHYSIQUE OF NEW ZEALTANDERS. Owing to -the statement that a large number oi' the men applying impositions in the Australian squadron were physically unfit for the duties, and therefore had to be rejected, a public meeting was held last week in Christchurch (attended by numerous medical men and members of Parliament) to consider whether tne statements made by the Commander of H. M.S. Pioneer were fully justified. The meeting . came to the conclusion that while New Zealand was not by any means behind other countries in the standard of physique, there was urgent necessity for a proper system of physical training and medical and dental inspection in the State schools.

Mr F. A. Hornibrook, the wellknown and accepted authority on this subject, characterised the existing- state of affairs in the public schools as silly and unscientific, and urged the meeting to make the decision arrived at :—viz., That the Government of this country be at once approached with regard to instituting a' proper system of physical training in public schools. As this is a subject that should interest every man, woman, and child in the Dominion, I should feel that I was shirking my duty were 1 nest to take advantage of this column to urge upon my readers how important this question of national physique is. If any of the readers of this article will take the trouble to visit any of our local schools while the children are being put through ■ theit physical drill, and take special notice of the exercises, they cannot but be amused, and at the same time annoyed, at the authorities who' are responsible for the trashy exercises that the children are made to go through. When Eugen Sandow visited New Zealand some years ago, he was taken to an exhibition of "exercises" given by school children, at the conclusion of which he was asked what he thought of the performance. "Oh, it is very pretty, but why not give the children exercises to develop their bodies, and expand and strengthen their lung capacity." Watch the average lad trudging to anM from school, and ask yourself whether the existing system of training is satisfactory. ' Examine the teeth of the majority of school children, and you will find, dear reader, that they are in a shocking condition of decay. Go into the school and take notice of the -wretched way in which the children are made to crouch over the most idiotic desks that ever the brain of man could conceive. Why, nearly all the cases of spinal curvature in children at the present day (and they are numerous) are directly traceable to these abominable desks, and they

are generally kept in a most filthy condition.

I venture to say that not one child in ten attending our public schools knows the first rudiments necessary to a perfect state of health., Why, it is quite a rare occurrence to see a child with a properly erect carriage, and the child who knows how to breathe is, I think, quite extinct, unless it is the fortunate possessor of prvsicai culture parents. The so-called exercises performed in the public school drill-hour, or perhaps one should say pantomine hour, are laughable to a degree. Why, they simply consist of movements closely resembling a duck just out of water flapping its wings, and the children certainly look their part. The thought of apportioning different degrees of exercises for different degrees of heaith and physique in the children is entirely lost sight of, and sick and middling-well, young and old, lean and fat, all get the same sick movements, given by the teachers, who, in many cases vnow absolutely nothing about anatomy, and are incapable of knowing the physical requirements of the children under their care.

This question of national physique is perhaps the most important of present day questions, and if the parents do not see to it that their offspring get the required physical training, then the State must step in and relieve them of the responsibility. Remember that THE STRENGTH OF THE CITIZEN IS THE STRENGTH OF THE STATE. The British nation can, in this instance, take a lesson from 'Germany and Sweden. Tn these countries medical inspection of schools has been in vogue for years, and with great success.

It should be the wish of every inhabitant of our fair Dominion to see the children attending our State schools enjoying a perfect state of health, and. reforms of this nature can only be brought about by united effort on the part of the public, and it is the bounden duty of everyone of us individually to see to it that public interest is properly aroused on this most important question. The exercises given in .the gymnasium, which is generally connected with the higher schools, are not calculated to produce the degree of health that is necessary. Gymnastic exercises, such as trapeze work, the horse, etc., are not of a kind on which the mind can be brought to bear, and unless exercise is attended by a liberal- amount df mind power it is useless. Remember, I am not trying to discountenance gymnastics. To those who like the movements and are capable of performing them I have nothing to say. but as a means of building up a strong body both internally and externally from a weak condition gymnastic exercises are worse than useless.

More shou.d be taught about the science of breathing. Remember that the man who has a strong pair of lungs has the first essential to the re-building of his body.

The exercises generally called by the name of physical culture, do not include gymnastics, but are movements advised by such men as Eugen Sandow, Bernarr Macfadden, and others. These movements, with the mind control with them, are capable of changing a man's life. Thousands upon thousands of men and women in the United States and other countries -of the world, have been saved from a life misery by attention to proper methods of living as advocated by such men as Bernarr Macfadden.

Cannot the reader see how necesrary it is to spread the gospel of health the whole world over ? 3t will be patent to everyone who has the interests of humanity at ' heart that the sooner a proper system of training - and medical inspection of schools is. inaugurated the better it will be for "God's Own Country."