THE FUTURE FOR LOVELOCK

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21939, 13 November 1936, Page 10

THE FUTURE FOR LOVELOCK

CONFERENCE WITH MINISTER MR PARRY SUGGESTS NO PLAN t After a conversation with J. E. Lovelock lasting the greater part of an hour. ! the Minister for Internal Affairs (the ! Hon. W. E. Parry) said yesterday that j he had made no definite proposition to | Lovelock for his future. The distinguished New Zealand athlete had, he said, made a great impression upon him, but until he had passed his final examination he was not likely to know exactly what might lie before him. “We certainly have a place for Lovelock in New Zealand,” the Minister I said, “but 1 would have no right to i attempt in any way to ask or to sugj gest his plans for the future. I did ! not feel that I should ask him what he proposed to do when he had completed I his studies abroad, to which he desires to return at the earliest possible opportunity. He will plan his own futUThe Minister said they had discussed the development of snort and the physical well-being of New Zealanders, and he had gathered that Lovelock was satisfied with the enthusiasm of the young people of the Dominion for athletic development, and that they were already on the right track. ‘‘l found him to be a young New Zealander whose unaffected charm of manner and outlook on sport and life in general was very interesting,” Mr Parry said. “I do not think I have met before a world-famous man such as he, who could so genuinely and so gratefully express his acknowledgment of kindness towards him. He is deeply grateful for his wonderful reception here, and I can say quite definitely that he has his heart still with New Zealand and New Zealanders.” OLYMPIC OAK NOT PLANTED PERIOD OF CONVALESCENCE IN CHRISTCHURCH Part of the ceremony during J. E. Lovelock’s period in Timaru yesterday was to have been the planting of the oak he won at the Olympic Games in the grounds of the Timaru Boys’ High School. Everything was ready for the event, except the oak, which was still harboured in the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch under the care of the curator, Mr J. A. McPherson. The oak tree, which, incidentally, carried Herr Hitler’s personal guarantee of its ability to grow anywhere in the world, is suffering seriously from the effects of its journey to New Zealand. Crossing the equator it entered into another summer and this has given a severe shock to its constitution. Mr McPherson said last evening that the tree had been placed in his care by one of the Canterbury Olympic athletes. He was satisfied that if it were planted out now its days would be numbered, but that like all hardwood trees it had to be acclimatised. It had four or five stems at the moment, and they would have to be grown into one strong leader. This would take two or three years and until then planting out would be most unwise. The oak was one of the dry area type peculiar to England and the Continent, Mr McPherson explained, and was distinct from the wet area oak commonly grown here. The name of its type was quercus sessiliflora and that of the common type here, quercus pedunculata. There was no reason why the new arrival should not grow into a fine tree, but extreme care would be essential. Meanwhile the tree is being for in the cool propagating house at the Botanic Gardens. Mr McPherson is willing to send it at once for care at the Timaru gardens should Timaru officials be prepared to have it there. FUND FOR PURCHASE OF SUITABLE GIFT ACTION BY OLYMPIC GAMES ASSOCIATION (PEB3S ASSOCIATION TEI.BC RAM.) WELLINGTON, November 12. To mark in a permanent lyay Mr J. E. Lovelock’s outstanding service to amateur sport in general and athletics in particular, the council of the New Zealand Olympic and Empire Games Association to-night decided that a fund be raised, the total proceeds to be remitted to the High Commissioner in London, to be administered by him, in conjunction with Dr. A. E. Porritt. for the purchase of a gift acceptable to Mr Lovelock. The method of raising the fund will be to circularise the parent body of every amateur sport in New Zealand, the national associations to work through the various centres, and the .entres through the affiliated clubs, which would receive contributions both from members and the general public.