NEWS FOR WOMEN American Woman's Interest In Rugby

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28169, 7 January 1957, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN American Woman's Interest In Rugby

A keen interest in sport, including Rugby football, American football, baseball and athletics, is displayed by Mrs George C Grubb, of Los Gatos. California, who arrived in Christchurch yesterday with her husband. On a world tour, they have just completed a journey round Australia after attending the Olympic Games.

California was virtually the only place in the United States where Rugby was played, said Mrs Grubb. It had been introduced there by an All Black team in 1913. Rugby was the official game between Stanford University and the University of California for about nine years. However, when the game did not spread to other parts of the country, the universities went back to _ playing American football as their official game, although Rugby was still played as a secondary game. “I saw a cricket match in Sydney and although it was not as slow as I thought it would be. it appeared to be a game for the batsman and bowler with the rest, standing around. No doubt I would appreciate the game if I understood it better,” said Mrs Grubb. , __ Los Gatos, where Mr and Grubb live in what they described as a “rural residential area,” is about 50 miles south of San Francisco. Tt is the centre of a large fruit-growing industry. The climate is mild with long, warm summers and an annual rainfall of about 25 inches. Every summer, many hundreds of seasonal workers, including many Mexicans, came to the area to work as fruit packers and in the processing plants, said Mrs Grubb. Some of the Mexicans returned year after year to the same orchards and set up camp in the grounds. The fruit was dried, canned, frozen, and some of it was delivered fresh for the American market. Mrs Grubb said that on an acre on their property they had 50

fruit trees, including pears, peaches and plums, which supplied the household needs for jam and fresh fruit.

In recent years there had been a marked development of large suburban and country shopping centres, mainly because of the shortage of parking areas in the cities, said Mrs Grubb. Supermarkets which handled meat, groceries, fruit and vegetables attractively packaged and displayed in large refrigerated windows, had also been built in many areas.

Most women in California could drive and, because cars were comparatively cheap, it was not uncommon for a family to have two vehicles. Mrs Grubb said. The number of cars on the roads had greatly increased and the authorities were continually constructing wider and better roads. The money for the roads came from a tax on petrol, which cost about 2s 6d for the slightly smaller American gallon.

The State law in California required all children to remain at school until the age of 18 and this had a tendency to lower the standard in high schools, as some of the pupils attended just to fill in time, said Mrs Grubb. On the other hand, many children received an education which they otherwise might not have had Slightly less than 50 per cent, of those attending high school went on to university, but less than half of these completed the courses.

“New settlers have been arriving in California at the rate of about 1000 a day since the end of the war and consequently there has been a vast rise in the school population which the authorities have found difficult to cope with.” said Mr Grubb. Funds were provided for education by a city and county tax on property, he said. Mrs Grubb said she and her husband had greatly enjoyed the Olympic Games, largely because of the friendly reception they had received in Australia.