“PRESS THE BUTTON AGE.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18011, 23 November 1926, Page 8

“PRESS THE BUTTON AGE.”

To tie Editor. Sir,—ln yesterday’s “ Star " a cable from London said that Dean Inge described the present as a " press the button ” age. He said that every physical change at present in progress in our bodies appeared to be degenerative. Teeth had decreased both in size and strength. Jaws were becoming too small to hold teeth. Eyesight had deteriorated. Baldness in middle age was -increasing deplorably. In the crowded cities of the Old Country, one is not surprised surely to find conditions such as those described by the Dean. Can New Zealand and Australia, however, claim that they* are turning out fit men and women? There is room for grave doubt on the point. The other day (November 161, Australia’s Defence Department published figures showing that in one year almost one-third of the Senior Cadets examined for admission to the citizen forces were unfit for military training, while nearly a quarter of the trainees examined for the Cadet force were rejected. Yet Australia, like New Zealand, is continually boasting about wide, open spaces, and of youth’s glorious opportunity in a new and unfettered Country. Our " reject ” figures are just as bad. There is something wrong. Is it diet or cigarettes or general slouchiness, too much lounging round racecourses, or hereditary weakness? Reform is urgently needed, and the efforts now being made by the Health Department (assisted by such newspapers as the "Star”) cannot be too highly commended.—l am, etc.. BREATHE DEEP.