The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1931. THE BOWLING TOURNAMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 14, 17 January 1931, Page 8

The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1931. THE BOWLING TOURNAMENT.

SLAVERY AND THE LEAGUE.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do. 1

Though Auckland has not exactly lived up to its best line weather reputation this week, the. bowlers have pursued the even tenor of their way, without taking too much notice of our meteorological eccentricities, and the tournament is proving a pronounced success. And so it should be. For the enthusiasm which is so marked a feature of bowling contests everywhere is quite •enough to carry the competitors through a wet afternoon, and many of the players gave exhibitions of judgment and skill that were more than enough to make even onlookers forget that the turf was not dry and the sun was not shining all the time.' y

It is rather a remarkable fact that the general public displays relatively small interest in bowls. No one who has learned enough about the game to follow a match intelligently would be inclined to deny that a vast amount of practice and patience, and the acquisition of very exceptional dexterity and skill, go to the making of a champion. Yet no bowling green is ever overcrowded by the sight-seeing public. If the many hundreds of bowlers who have competed on the Auckland greens this week were tennis players, even if there had not been half a dozen first-class men among them, the tournament would have been regarded almost, as a national event, and thu grounds«would have been rushed accordingly. But the general public has apparently not yet been educated up to bowls, and the players are largely left to their own devices.

.But if the public is lacking in interest or. zeal, the players are not. There is no game which makes any pretension to be regarded as a test of physical or athletic prowess which arouses keener rivalry or stirs up stronger emulation and enthusiasm among those who take part in it. And, as a matter of fact, the players have every possible justification for the excitement that they Avork up over the run of the bowls and the measuring of heads and the counting of points. Quite apart from the keenness of vision, the delicacy of touch and the soundness of judgment needed to make a first-class player, a champion at bowls must possess a capacity for summing-up a. situation, an ability to make and act upon rapid decisions, and a degree of courage and resourcefulness that, otherwise applied, should make him a success in almost any sphere of practical life. And it is the consciousness of these things, inarticulate as it may be, that compels the true bowler to take himself and his game so seriously. v

But, after all, for anyone who lias ever played bowls there is no need to justify this delightful game on psychological 01* philosophical grounds. There are few forms of healthy exercise in which moderate physical exertion, under pleasant conditions, and the attainment and exhibition of dexterity and skill, are so happily combined. Moreover, bowls, like cricket and football, can claim that it is for the most part a team game, demanding co-operative effort and self-suppression, and therefore possessing a high disciplinary value. No wonder that it has become the ideal pursuit for men tired of the day's business round, or eager to find some healthy hobby after a too strenuous public or commercial career. But perhaps the greatest charm about bowls is found on its strongly developed social side. There is no other game which promotes sociability to the same degree, or which brings men into such constantly close and amicable contact with each other. Bowlers throughout their country and, indeed, throughout the world, are bound together by a mystic tie of comradeship, a delightful social freemasonry which it is-hard to parallel in any other form of sport, and. this alone would have been enough to explain the great concourse of players from every bowling centre in New Zealand and Australia that has filled the Auckland greens this week, and to ensure the success of the tournament.

- Recent revelations regarding slavery in Liberia might give the impression that the League of Nations has been remiss in regard to this matter before. Such an impression would be a mistaken one. More than five years ago the Slavery Commission of the League reported that slave-trading and slave-, raiding existed in sixteen areas, of which Liberia was one. Representations were made to the Liberian. Government, which denied that such conditions existed. To this denial the Commission replied: "The Liberian Government may declare .itself to the contrary, but in view of• available facts it seems rather a futile proceeding. It cannot be long before certain facts are published, and this denial will then look exceedingly foolish." To New, Zealand belongs the credit of commencing what Lord. Cecil rightly described as "a landmark'in the history of slavery." For the League was committed to an attack on slavery in,ail its forms" by the acceptance of the resolution moved by Sir Arthur Steel Maitland in his capacity as one of the delegates :of this Dominion. The slavery resolution of 1922 was followed by vigorous action. In 1925 slavery was openly practised in Arabia, Liberia and ..other areas. The evidence showed the immensity of the task before the League. Figures were produced showing that the number of slaves was well over a million, and later evidence, has given" much larger figures. The great difficulty has been to get the Governments concerned to pass the necessary, legislation and to get that legislation made effective when it has been passed. But the work has been started, and; it now has the full weight and strength of the League's organisation behind it.