NEW ZEALAND PHYSIQUE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14144, 2 March 1910, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND PHYSIQUE.

Last year Commander Blunt, of H.M.S. Pioneer, stated that whereas 42 per cent, of candidates for the Navy were rejected at Home, over 50 per cent, were rejected in New Zealand. This surprising statement naturally caused some uneasiness as to the physique of our young men. However, judging from a letter handed to us by a man who. spent over twenty years in the Marines, the position is not so serious as it was thought to be. It is explained that the method of recruiting for the Navy in the Old Country is to send non-commissioned officers of Marines to all the large towns. These recruiting agents soon become proficient in selecting candidates, being able, to detect every external defect, such as deficiency in height or chest measurement, defective eyesight or teeth, varicose veins or flat feet. It is very much to the interest of the recruiter to present only sound candidates for medical inspection, for should the doctor reject a candidate from any external cause, the recruiter has to pay his fee, in addition to any other expenses, such as railway fare, that may have been incurred. The reult is that in the case of nearly all rejections, internal defects are the cause. It is the doctor's rejections that appear in the returns. One recruiter in the Old Country is said to have rejected more than 90 per cent, of the men applying for admission to the Navy. A newspaper, commenting on the New Zealand figures, said it was almost incredible that six out of every eleven men should be rejected, but our correspondent thinks that if British figures for all causes, and not for tre medical examination only, were taken into consideration, it would probably he found that New Zealand was 'far ahead of the Old Country. If there is no preliminary anamination in Now Zealand, and condidntes go straight to the doctor, the correspondent thinks that we hare a good deal to be proud of in- the fact that 50 per cent, of the candidates pass.. We may have, hut somewhat the figures do not look grand for n YOimq: country. .And if th'o Applanation is cor.reoi.vfc simply relieves our anxioty at the expanse of the Mother Country.—"Press."