NATIONAL PHYSICAL WELFARE

Southland Times, Issue 23945, 11 October 1939, Page 6

NATIONAL PHYSICAL WELFARE

AREA INSTRUCTORS BUSY The physical welfare instructors recently appointed to the Physical Welfare and Recreation Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs have now been in their districts for some weeks. Reports from their areas show that they are already making their presence felt in no uncertain way. Now that it has become obvious that the movement, far from being redundant at a time like the present, has potentialities for maintenance of national morale, the training of youths, entertainment of workers engaged in essential industry, and the wholesome and healthful relief from conditions of morbid tension that might otherwise arise, the instructors’ work is going on with unabated energy. Naturally, their differing qualifications have demanded that their work should develop along varied lines (says a statement issued by the Department of Internal Affairs).

Mr Lance Cross, the Waikato instructor, has been able to use his background of physical instruction and association with sporting bodies in that district to good advantage in the organization of leaders’ courses in Morrinsville, Te Aroha and Hamilton, and in the forming of new swimming clubs and other sports clubs in his area. In the Southland area Mr Lloyd Woods, M.A., has been busily engaged with the organization of the Southland Provincial Council of Sport. With the development of communications, it has become very evident that federations of sports bodies are needed to conserve common interests.

The women area instructors, having outstanding qualifications in physical education, are naturally finding their main bent in the training of local leaders in “keep fit” work, and their activities are acting as a stimulant in this way.

The Wellington area instructors, Miss Noeline Thomson, M.A., Dip., Ed., and Mr Stewart McNicol, of New Zealand University football fame, have found their time largely occupied in helping in “recreation week” activities. Wellington has taken up the organization of “recreation week” with particular enthusiasm, and this is naturally reflected in the demand on the area instructors.

These services, which are only a few of a very large number of varied activities, will give some indication of how the work of the area instructors is likely to develop. It should be understood that area instructors hav as yet been appointed to only three out of a possible total of 14 areas, as it is desired to learn from their experience how to organize the full scheme.