THE PHYSIQUE OF NEW ZEALANDERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2751, 4 March 1910, Page 7

THE PHYSIQUE OF NEW ZEALANDERS.

DEVELOPING A NATIONAL TYPE

In liis presidential address before the annual meeting of the British Medical Association, in "Wellington, Dr. Purdy touched on several matters of great national importance. Proceeding to discuss the formation of a national type in Now Zealand, the speaker suggested that probably no other oversea Dominion offered a better field for studying the effects of a healthy and natural environment on a people for the most part drawn from the British Isles. Whilst the country was probably too young to have developed a distinct typo, yet it was already a matter of ordinary observation that such was being gradually evolved. As in native races Maoriland evolved the highest type of savage, so enthusiasts hope that it will develop the highest type of the Anglo-Saxon variety. Certainly, if prowess in the field, both of Avar and of sport, count for much, then the- present typo of young Now Zealander bade fair to realise that hope, and certainly need not be ashamed to meet the- stranger Avitliin or without liis gates. One important factor in the rearing of a healthy nation was the possession of a Ayell qualified, avoll trained, and conscientious medical profession. “Hoav has residence in Now Zealand affected the people, the medical profession, and their rotation Avifcli one another ?” asked the speaker. “In dealing "with the first subject we find the same difficulty a s confronted the Royal Commissions on Physical Deterioration in England and Physical Training in Schools in Scotland, namely, that there is no past standard with which the present people can be compared. The Health Department in New Zealand has recontßT hoAA’eA r er, published some interesting anthropomethrie data quite as extensive as to numbers of children cx_ amined as that at the time available yo witnessess before the Royal Commission. Whilst the. average stature at- the ages of eleven to twelve of boys in the public schools in England, in 18S3, Avas 54.95 in., that of the cadets of the Auckland schools and King’s College \vas 56in at the same age. Contrasting the heights of boys at Marlborough College, England, with those of King’s College. Auckland, and Wanganui College. Ave find that between fourteen and fifteen the figures are 61.96 in for the famous English school, and 63in for the New Zealand schools. PHYSICAL RECORDS.

This interesting Avork of anthropometry might be extended, as the information is of great interest and some utility. Advantage might bo taken in examining cadets and those who undergo military training, and so getting extensive and reliable data- Avhich could lie compared with the figures available from other countries. Here I might mention that it would be worth Ayhile, in the interests of the race, as suggest - ed by Mr. Gray before the English Commission, to impose an anthropometric test for aliens, to provent the admission to the Dominion of people Avith degenerate physique. In reading the eA’idence given before the Royal Commission the.ro was one paragraph pleasing to dAvellers of the Dominion. SiV Lambert H. Ormsby, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, ami senior surgeon to the Meath Hospital, Dublin, stated: —‘I am a- New Zealander by birth, and I Avas there until I was fourteen, and my remembrance of the young colonials is this. There is no poverty there : none whatever. EA r erybodv can get enough and plenty to eat of what is good for them. Living an out-door life, as they do. the youth there becomes as strong as a horse. I am xdld oy medical officers who saAV the New Zealanders who Avent to the South African war that they Avere the finest body of men which came from any country.’ Noav, people most readily believe those things they Avish to be”true. So in the main, although Sir Lambert Ormsby may have shown a little of that trait which, to use an Irishism, seems indigenous to the Ncav Zoalander Avlien aAvay from home, yet we knoAv the statement ds evidence asto physical needs qualifying. For instance, the men of the first seven- contingents Avere picked men, selected from a large number of recruits. Prob. ably, for every man selected for the earlier contingents, at least two Avere rejected, not always of course on account of physique. Also, the latter contingents, more especially the tenth, Ave-re not up to the prcA’ious standard, sft. Tin minimum height, and 36m chest measurement on expansion. W© have also had a large percentage of rejections among New Zealand recruits for the Navy. Thus, although speaking generally one might not hesitate to dot the Ts’ and cross the ‘t’s’ of Sir Lambert Onnsby’s eulogistic reference to Ncav Zealand, yet we know we have a percentage —Avhat percentage we do not knoAv —of people Avith physical defects.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF

CHILDREN

Every medical man and Avoman knows that although the health conditions of the children in this country aresuperior to those at least in the larger centres of Great Britain, yet there is still a. percentage of children requiring medical attention before they are physically capable from getting benefit from education in schools. Certainly, every dentist can alarm there is a large percentage of children Avifch carious teeth. Noav Zealand has the reputation of being a little ahead of other countries, but in inaugurating medical inspection of schools avc are lamentably behind. Thus avc find Sweden has had a system of medical examinations of school children since 1868: Austria and Hungary 1873, Russia 1881, the Argentine 1888, Norway 1889, France 1892, SAvitzcrland, Japan, and Germany 1898, Ron mania 1899. Massachusetts 1906, and England in 1908, had all put in force regulations for medical inspection. In some cases municipal enterprise had anticipated State legislation. Thus' in Brussels, since 1874 physicians Avere at Avork, oculists and dentists Avere also employed. At Cairo, Egypt, a school physician Avas appointed in 1882, Avith two assistants each of whom has charge of 5000 school children. In the Britains beyond the.seas, Tasmania has been the first to- initiate and carry out medical examination, and lias been followed bv South. and Western Australia. As all authorities, both educational and medical, are agreed on the utility of efficient medical examination of school children, all must equally agree that treatment must folloAV as the. natural corollary of the discovery of disease or defect. Of course in Ncav Zealand the majority ot parents Avould not only be willing, but anxious to seek medical advice for their

children Avlien the advisability Avas 'shown therefor 'by -soon© authoritative statement. At the- same time, one must recognise that a certain percentage Avould not, either from apathy, ignorance, or lack of means. In such cases a child is already penalised by having a negligent guardian, and should not further suffer because the father or mother docs not call in a radical practitioner.

“WORKING FOR EXTINCTION.” Certainly, a thorough medical inspection of schools, thorough it should be, as it is not worth doing at all if. it .is not done avcll, Avill mean at first .increased Avork for our profession. In the end of course, as more markedly so for the dentists, it will moan less, as from year to year the defects of each generation of school children are corrected. Suppose, for instance, all children had their teeth attended to by dentists, and Avere trained in mouth hygiene. As these children grew up there Avculd be feAver and fewer adults requiring dental attention. But- the medical profession has always been one Avhich has gradually been working to its oavji extinction, and it recognises that from a national point of vieAV the medical ■ -examination and treatment of school children cannot be neglected by any people or country which is anxious to occupy a. commanding position in either peace or Avar. But the function or the doctor in the school should not be limited merely to physical examination and treatment —there is an even Avi'ior scope lor his services. Even at the expense of dropping some other subject out of the syllabus, in the interests of the national health, the most important asset" of a country, the teaching should be general of hygiene and temperance in schools, as outlined in the scheme suggested by the Board of Education, England, a copy of which, I understand, has been circulated among bead teachers by the Noav Zealand Department of Education. It Avill be necessary for tile doctor first to teach the teacher the principles of hygiene, and gradually 7 to develop a different- point of view as regards the aims of education, making the first requisite to be health. It must be recognised that- the school is really the nursery of the nation. It is generally estimated that the children bctAveen five and eighteen number about a quarter of the population. Owing to ignorance or apathy of parents, children must- be tciiifiyht the most elementary habits of cleanliness, the use of a pocket handkerchief, the habit of nasal breathing, the cleansing of teeth; in a Avord, to bo healthy and cleanly. This preliminary training could be done in kindergarten schools. It is really more useful for a child to learn to breathe correctly than, hii learn the names of the capes or New Zealand or any other item of geography. In the teaching profession, a premium should bo put on a knowledge of. hygiene, more especially as applicable to schools, and stress should be? laid thereon as a qualification for teacheiship. Seeing that most if not all of tile other British States have established branches of the Royal Sanitary Institute, such a branch or branches should be established in New Zealand, lbe (■ranting of certificates for proficiency in hygiene sufficient to qualify for the a-social©ship should be a stimulus to students to specialise in school liygione.