Physical Degeneracy in New Zealand

New Zealand Tablet, 8 July 1909, Page 8

Physical Degeneracy in New Zealand

Commander Blunt, of H.M.S. Pioneer, has been relieving his mind of an uneasy burden of statistics which read strangely enough for a young people in a young, fres land that claims to lead the world in the smallness of its volume of poverty, and in the wide and general distribution of its wealth and comfort. The substance of tha Commander's plaint refers to the class of young NewZealand applicants for service on board the training ship Pioneer. 'In 1909 ' (he is summarised as saying) 'he reoeived 106 applications for enrolment on the Pioneer from young men under 22 years of age, and the majority between 18 and 19. Out of this number no fewer than 54 had to be medically rejected, and 25 of these were rejected on account of physical malformation. During last May and June he had received 111 applications for enrolment, and again the majority of them were between 18 and 19. In this instance 61 had to be medically rejected, and of these 26 were refused because of physical malformation. The percentage of rejections for physical reasons was higher than that of England, which was 42 per cent.'

These figures have a decidedly ugly look for a youne; land that simply does not know the problem of poverty as it is presented in older countries. Various explanations have been offered for this phenomenon of apparent physical djgeneracy. One questions the regulations and the examining doctors' interpretation thereof. Others find in the lop-sided carrying of burdens by children the source of malformation. Many place upon the school-desk the head and front of the offending. ' A well-known medical man ' (says the Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times of July 5) ' who has had a lengthy experience in the Dominion, states that a great deal of the present degeneracy is the result of complaints which were the -result of loose morals. The statistics given at the recent medical congress in Australia, he states, were quite alarming.. and some steps should be taken to cope with the evil.' Other medicoes reserve judgment. Curiously enough, after a long experience of the public school system, a Protestanx clergyman (Rev. A. C. Hoggins) attributes a grave allied form of degeneracy to the lack of moral and religious training of youth under the secular system. His verdict is given in Moral Instruction and Training in Schools: Tieport of an International Inquiry (London, 1908, vol. 11., pp. 317-8). • ' Religious teaching,' he says, 'is forbidden in all New Zealand schools ' ; a form of ' moral instruction ' (not based on religion or religious teaching) 'is required, but is practically at the discretion of the teaching staff; moral training, therefore, in practice, depends entirely upon the personal influence of the teachers, rather than on their formal teaching. The results can hardly be said to be anything but disastrous. . . The gradual dying out of the instinct of worship is admitted by all and regretted by most. It is true, that the general hign character of the schools is imparting an external culture and an intellectual knowledge of the higher ideas of life to their pupils; but that this, however much to be esteemed in itself, rests upon no permanent foundation, and is unable to bear the strain of the struggle of life, is proved inter alia by the enormous growth of every kind of gambling, and by the constant and portentous increase of sexual offences, even in" very young children, which, while it certainly is not caused by the system of, secular instruction, is equally certainly in no sense hindered by it.'