RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32566, 27 March 1971, Page 24

RANDOM REMINDER

ALL TOGETHER, NOW!

From time to time our assistance is enlisted in the promotion of some worthy cause, but most of the requests cover familiar territory. However, the other day we had a letter from a Christchurch citizen who has discovered that it will be possible to hold the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch at a very much lower cost than was' first estimated. He sets his ideas out, thus: "Sb now boxing is to be held in the Town Hall, along with wrestling and weight-lifting. This makes clear that the whole of the Commonwealth Games could be centred on a single block. After all, if

there is room for three other sports, then surely badminton could be accommodated as well. The track cyclists could use a circuit round the seating, and the road race could be so many times round Victoria Square. No hills, though—a pity. Track and field athletics would be the same circuit, truly an all-weather surface, although the shot, discus, and javelin would cause one or two problems for the bowlers, competing on the grass of Victoria Square. Swimming, though not under a roof, would obviously be in the Avon River, and the shooters would fire towards bulletproof windows placed specially in an adjacent

shop, there are obvious advantages: three hotels within 100 yards, even if one of them is a tavern; extremely close to the centre of town—the opening and closing ceremonies would be in the Square; and if the athletes ran short of anything, there are any number of shops nearby. The Bowker Fountain would provide an aesthetic background. And finally, the gathering of al! the children of her old Empire would surely bring a smile even to the chiselled features of Queen Victoria.— FRED ” The organisers, Fred adds, are at liberty to incorporate any or all of these schemes in their revised planning.