THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 127, 31 May 1937, Page 6

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By THE MEW ABOUT TOWN.)

"Touchstone" writes: Sporting reporters are always on the look-out for some new and expressive word to fit a new manoeuvre

in play of any descripSPORTING SLANG, tion. There was a time when "feint" was used in Rugbv for what is now "dummy.'' To sell a man the dummy is horrible American slang. To sav that a man •dummied" his way across the goal line for a try is much worse than to say that he feinted. The word 'dummy" owes its popularity to the fact that it faintly suogests ridicule and discomfiture for the player who has been out-manoeuvred. Another Rugby term is 'propping" —pure jargon. It means stopping suddenly, using the legs as. a prop, for the purpose of changing direction quickly and unexi>eetedly. This word has some merits, for prop comes from the Swedish "proppa," and. one of its meanings is to stop. The coined word "jink" is highly descriptive. How often fcas a Rugby player "jinked" his way through tlie opposition. Jink is not an English word, but it is not so worn as dodge, and therefore it passes muster. In tennis a new and objectionable word has appeared. It is pacy—a paey player or a pacy shot. There is no such word in English, and it is a poor substitute for fast. Pace may be fast or slow. Shakespeare says: To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. A good story is told of the late Mr. Justice Alpers; when he was a teacher at the Ohristchurch Boys' High School. There were three hoys named Morrow attending the school, but they came to the city by a conveyance that arrived late and they had a dispensation to enter their classes late if they did so unobtrusively. It ww when two of them were sidling in along the back wall one morning that Mr. Alpers made his bon mot. Stopping in the lesson, and fixing them through his monocle, he repeated Shakespeare's lines with dramatic effect, much to the delight of the other boys. A writer in a London fashion periodical mentions the possibility of a radical change in men's hats. He does not say whether the male headgear in future FELT HATS. will vary much from present shapes, but he intimates that the colour scheme will be extended considerably and that "te potae" will be available to match one's complexion or suit. There have been many attempts to get stubborn man to go in for something a little more colourful to place on his top-piece, but practically all have been failures, although the old hard-hitter, or knocker, which was once the correct thing, has given way to the soft felt. The latter when it came into vogue some years ago was very popular with certain individuals on racecourses. It was once legal— it is now, as a matter of fact—to make up sweeps on racecourses, and so popular was this form of having a little gamble that clubs had included in the race books perforated sheets, giving the names of the horses in the races. These sheets were used by those promoting sweeps, and on all parts of the course before a race men eould be heard calling out "Sweep here." And the felt hat. Well, the routine was simple, but effective. The promoter would take any felt hat. and as he tore the horses' names from the sheet of paper and rolled the slips up he would drop them into the hat, which was always held above the head. What could be fairer? Many things. You see, in all soft felt hats there is a dent running lengthwise across the top. If you turn the hat upside down the dent makes a partition dividing the hat into two compartments. Let us assume Gloaming was in a race and looked a certain winner. All that the promoter of the «weep had to do when dropping; the slips containing the names of horses into the hat was to drop Gloaming in one side of the partition and the remaining horses in the other side. Xaturally a confederate would have first draw, and it was not difficult to feel in the hat and draw Gloaming, because Gloaming was the only slip on one side of the partition. Yes, there were other uses for felt hats than as headgear.—Johnny.

A cable message last week announced that the Japanese had declined to participate in the international whaling conference in London, naively stating that "it WHALES. would be more advantageous for Japan to remain outside." Which means, of course, that the threat of extermination to the whale has not yet been removed. For a long while whaling in the Atlantic and the northern seas has been regulated by international agreement, though the nations did not move till the whales had become so scarce that operations threatened soon to be uneconomic. It was then that attention on a wholesale scale was turned to the well-stocked southern ocean. Over ten years ago the New Zealand Government made an abortive attempt to control whaling in the Ross Sea. In the 1925-26 reason it received some £2000 in license fees from the C. A. Larsen Company. At about the same time another Norwegian concern, wishing to operate in the Falkland seas, was refused a license by the British Government. From that time the go-as-you-please policv started. The Norwegians decided to operate without a license on the ground (presumably valid) that it was operating outside territorial waters and was therefore subject to the consent of nobody. The example was promptly followed, and in 1927 an unlicensed factorship, the Xielson Alonso, appeared in the Ross Sea. The Larsen Company then realised that it was under no obligation to pav fees to the New Zealand Government, and New Zealand was forced to the conclusion that it was powerless to profess any effective control. Towards the end of 103."> the Tonan Man:. mother ship to five whale chasers, made the Japanese debut in the southern ocean, and since then the game of mad destruction has gone merrily forward, and Australia and New Zealand have had to watch a deletion that they have been powerless to check. The inventive genius of Svend Fovn. who evolved the gun for shooting whales, has made destruction a much more wholesale business, and this. combined with modern equipment in everv department. has changed whale chasing into mere annihilation. The whale gun had been thought of many years before Foyn perfected it. Tn IS4O Captain Le Francois, in charge of the French whaler Nancy, operating from New Zealand, experimented' with a harpoon gun. His failure to perfect it preyed on his mind, and he took his life. —B.O'N. OPPOSITION ODES. HONEST GEORGE. Out of the thick of the battle. Where he has struggled so long. Here is a personage that'll Sing now a calm sort of song. Loud was the wrath and invective Once thai was poured on his head: In office, blunt yet effective. Now in the background instead. Bearing the heat and the burden « "When the depression was voung: Xever New Zealanders heard an Angry complaint fmm his tongue. He, who by nature was kindly. Circumstance forced to be hard: Critics, all judging him blindly. Held l.im in angry regard. Facing a thankless task boldly. Meeting but scorn for his pains. dropped, like a pilot, so coldly. Bravely he lays down the reins. Always the thought he can treasure Never he failed in the test— May you enjoy, then, vour leisure: Honest George, here's all the best! —SINE AD.