792 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 
elements which detract from the advantages of hill climates There 
are the rarified air affording a lessened supply of oxygen, the heat and 
direct rays of an intertropical sun, and the absence of well-marked 
seasons, which perhaps afford the greatest vitality to the European 
races. The comparisons with which I now trouble you are between 
boys on the sea border and boys of the same age in England, according 
to Maclaren’s tables : — 
The average girth of chest of 
100 boys in England. 
At 10 years is 25 i inches 
11 
11 
26i 
12 
>5 
27| 
13 
11 
28* 
14 
11 
29* 
15 
11 
30| 
The average girth of boys from Townsville, 
Brandon, Port Douglas, Thursday Island. 
At 10 years is 24 inches 
(12 boys) 
„ 11 years is 24|- inches 
(9 boys) 
„ 12 years is 25\ inches 
(11 boys) 
„ 13 years is 26 inches 
(14 boys) 
„ 14 years is 27 inches 
(4 boys, 2 Bowen, 
1 Bowen 3li) 
„ 15 years is 28 inches. 
When the arms are placed horizontally, during moderate expira- 
tion, the circumference immediately under the nipple and the angles 
of the shoulder-blade should be equal to half the length of the body. 
'Now, in North Queensland I find that the half mean length of the 
bodies of 58 boys exceeds the mean circumference of their chests by 
1-hj inches. So, to that extent, a North Queensland boy is taller than 
bis girth of chest demands. 
North Queenslanders should not be sent to school at the early 
age of six, 1 bring the Eegistrar- General once more to my aid, who, 
in his last report, remarks, “It will be observed that, whilst children 
under five years comprise about two-elevenths of the population, they 
contribute four-tenths of the deaths, and the females in greater 
proportion than the males. Young people from ten to fifteen years 
of age, as is usually the case, were exceptionally free from "fatal 
illness.” So that the nearer to ten the better the health and strength. 
I am pleased here to congratulate Mr. Cross, M.L.A., on his sensible 
remarks that appeared in the Hansard of 24th October. He speaks 
with practical knowledge and pardonable satisfaction of the result in 
bis son’s case, obtained by what the educational authorities would call 
a very late beginning in learning. 
His own words are, “ From five to eight or nine years of age the 
bodies of children, and their brains, too, grow very fast, and the 
opinion of many experts was that sending children to school at a very 
early age was the cause of many of the diseases from which they 
suffered. He knew several persons who had tried the experiment of 
keeping their children away from school until they were eight or nine 
years of age, and the experiment had proved eminently successful. 
He had kept his own boy from school until he was nine years of age, 
and, though he had received no education at home, his progress had 
been wonderful.” I learn from the Hon. Eobert Philp that the 
minimum statutory age in New Zealand, South Australia, and Tas- 
mania, is seven years. 
