SOCCER.

THE SOCCER ASHES OF AUSTRALASIA.

(Referee.) "The Ashes" will no longer be a symbolical term in Soccer circles throughout Australasia. When the. New Zealand team won them from. Australia last season in the best of three Tests, the ashes of cigars smoked by George Campbell, captain of New Zealand, and Alec GlbD, the Australian captain, were plced in a plated safety razor case presented by Mr. W. A. Fisher (then secretary of the Queensland Football Association) to Mr. Harry Mayer, manager of the N.Z. team. Mr. Fisher had been handed the case before sailing in 1914 for Gallipoli. Mr. Mayer conceived the happy idea of making it the container of those actual ashes. He had the case mounted in a handsome casket of Australian and New Zealand timber, and presented it as a. trophy for competition in the Soccer Tests between Australia and New Zealand. "Bury the Hatchet." In forwarding me the above infonna-

tion and a photograph of the casket, Mr. Mayer says: —

"I notice you give us a blast in The Referee in reference to the upset with Australia over the Canadian tour. Nobody regrets that the dispute has occurred more than the New Zealand Football Association Council, but its members are unanimously agreed that we have been very unfairly treated by the 0.F.A., who took the management of the tour out of our hands without even consulting us. Mr. Graves accompanied the 1923 team to Australia for the sole purpose of co-operating with the C.F.A. in regard to the Canadian tour, and when we sailed we understood the C.F.A. would do nothing without notifying him. "I sincerely trust the strained feeling existing will be. settled amicably, and"'tlint the Australian and N.Z. governing bodies will work in harmony in future.

"We are busy just now arranging for the visit of a Chinese combination. Funds are low, but money is being raised on guarantee from all the local associations of New Zealand.'' Footballers in Australia will agree with Mr. Mayer when he says he hopes the two countries will bury the hatchet. Next season a British team will visit Australia and New Zealand and,_ later on, it is hoped, Britain will receive a side from these shores. The success of the British visit here depends almost entirely upon the manner in which Australia and New Zealand co-operate, and who would like the British manager to go back and tell the parent body that Australia and New^ Zealand ar© not "playin"speaks? ' °

As I pointed out last season, it is up to the O.F.A. to assert itself and not be dominated by any factions