ON A TROPIC ISLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 69, 22 March 1928, Page 11

ON A TROPIC ISLE.

LIFE AT OCEAN ISLAND.

PIJMfTY OF iroXT

FIVE FOOTBALL TEAMS

A Chinaman running for his life with something tucked under his arm, and a gesticulating mob of islanders and Chinese in pursuit, amid wild yells of hundreds of onlookers, is a aight that is often seen at Ocean Island. The tumult and the shouting dies when the Chinaman in the lead planks his burden on the ground.

A stranger to Ocean Island is perplexed by such a scene, but those on the spot explain that it is merely a football match in progress, and the excitement is due to the fact that the crack player of the Chinese team, with all the wiles of the Oriental, has merely handed out A dummy pass to a dozen islanders preparatory to sprinting for the line. "Plenty of sport down there," remarked Mr. W. P. Trenear, of Sydney, who arrived from Ocean Island this' morning by the steamer Gambia River, to link up with the Aorangi on his way back to Australia.

Mr. Trenear said that although Ocean bland was close lip under the equator and has a circumference of about six miles the members of the staff and employees of the phosphate commission have quite a happy time. The climate it healthy but hot, although occasionally breezes fan the lonely outpost. Sport has a prominent place. There are three football grounds and five football teams. The islanders have two teams and the Chinese two, while the fifh team is made lip from the European residents. Swimming is another pastime, the venue feeing the boat harbour, although care haa to be taken is the sharks which haunt the neighbouring waters are both and hungry. The white population & * lot of tennis, and Mr. Trenear eontiders that they have the best courts ht has seen in his life.

Just 163 miles away is well-known Kitirti Inland. Should an Ocean Island Wildent wish to speak to a friend at tht other phosphate island, it is a simple process. You merely give a "tingle" on the wireless telephone, and then wait for your friend to reply. Mr. Trcnear mentioned that to show that the Ocean Island arrangements wero quite up-to-dftte. There was also wireless to keep them in touch w*h the outside world.

Mr. Trenear explp'ned that there were plenty of fine roads on the island. It Wll this fact that led the islanders to the belief that the time was opportune to start motor cycle racing, but before the order for racing machines was placed, the commissioner, probably with earnest intent to safeguard the lives of Ocean Island citizens, held out a restraining arm, and an island speedway is still a dream of the future.