OLD-TIME RUGBY.

GIANTS OF THE 'EIGHTIES. THE XATIYE TEAM. When the New Zealand native team arrived in England in 38S8, British footballers regarded the tour as something out of which they would get a vast amount of fun and but a moderate amount of recreation. That tec New Zealanders could play sterling, ding-dong Rugby was a secret known to very few. Before two or three matches had been played the news was all over the United Kingdom,, and the names of Tab. Wynyard, Pat Keogh, Davy Gage, and Tom Ellison were very soon something to conjure with. Here were men who could punt, kick, tackle, pass, and dribble as well as the best Blue ever turned out by Oxford or Cambridge. "THE BEST I'VE SEEN." Back in New Zealand the record of the tour was awaited with the keenest interest, and pioneers of the Rugby game heard with pride of the crushing defeats inflicted on brilliant and exclusive English fifteens. In a story recalling those old days, Inspector Cassells, of the (Shristchurch Police Force, and formerly of Whangarci (an oil Dunedin Pirates player), a great wingfoward himself in his prime, touched briefly on several aspects of the tour that are well worth recording for the benefit of Rugby enthusiasts of 1922.

"I had played against many of them before they left, and I had an adequate idea of their ability on the Rugby field, but when the team came back it surprised me. They were the best I have ever seen. Pat Keogh, in my opinion, is the greatest back who has ever donned a jersey. He was tricky, elusive, and resourceful, and a man of superb physique. He electrified the crowds wherever he played, and to see him score a try was the sight of a lifetime. He had every move planned like a chess champion. Once against Otago on the Carisbrook ground the native team got busy from the jump, scoring seventeen points in seventeen minutes. Keogh played half-back. He was a member of the Kaikorai Club.

THE DARK IRISHMAN. "Iveogh, of course, was not a Maori, but an Irishman. However, he was very dark, so they roped him in as a quarter-caste. Harry Lee, Tab. Wynyard, Tom Ellison, and Davy Gage wore all Wellington players. Tho last match I was in was Ponekc against Petone. I was wing-forward for Ponekc and Harry Lee was wing-forward for Petone. We bore the marks of that struggle for some time. "The record of the native team's tour through the United Kingdom will stand comparison. It is: — Matches played 7-1 Won 49 ' Drawn Lost 20 Points for .190 Points against 18S XOT MAXY LEFT. "The unfortunate part about it was that the season at Home was very miserable, with a lot of vain and sodden grounds everywhere. A3 a result many of the men died from consumpion on their return. There are not

many living now. Dave Stewart, who belonged to the Thames, is dead. So are Harry Loo, T. Rene (killed in a railway accident), W. L. Karauri, W. Warbrick (buried in the Urewera Country), Ihimairi (known as the "Smilcr"), J. Scott (the manager, who came from Gisborne), T. Ayton (the promoter), R. Maynard, C. Goldsmith (Taare), Tom Ellison (who scored tht greatest number of points), Joe Warbrick (killed while, acting as a guide at Waimangu); W. Anderson, Arthur V» Tarbrick (drowned at Okcwa, in Poverty Bay), Davy Gage (who died ie Wellington two years ago), C. Madigau (known as "Barlow"), and A. Webster.

ALL THAT ARE LEFT "Nehua is alive, living in Whangarei. His name, translated from tho Macr., moans buried. George Williams, an expoliceman, weighed in the other day at sixty-five; he lived in Otaki. Dick Taiaroa was down in Christchurch the other d:iv. W. Elliott works at the Newmarket Railway Workshops, Auckland. .T. Lavvlor was engaged as a coach to loach the team the Australian game for matches to be played in Melbourne. E. MeCau solan d went to Australia, and I cannot account for him. Pal. Keogh is alive. Tab. Wynvard is employed in the Government Buildings iu Wellington. IN A LONELY GRAVE "Some time back, when I w-mt through to arrest Rua, the Maori prophet, at a place called Maungapohatu, T came on a roadman at Muripara. fl<? told me his name was Warbrick, and [ asked him if he belonged to the wellknown football family. He said: 'Yes, I am Albert Warbrick, the only one of the five brothers who did *M>t go to England.' I asked him where Bill was buried —if his grave was in Australia. He replied, 'No; in the scrub over there.' I climbed through a fence, and there, in the heart of the Urewera country, I saw the grave of that great footballer, Bill Warbrick. It was a lonely spot, and the grave had no headstone of any kind. Perhaps it is not too late now to erect a memorial worthy of the deeds of a great athlete."