A NATIONAL GIFT FOR MR. LOVELOCK

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 45, 17 November 1936, Page 8

A NATIONAL GIFT FOR MR. LOVELOCK

The discovery that Mr. J. E. Lovelock’s athletic distinction is supported by outstanding personal qualities of sportsmanship and citizenship has assured for him a more lasting esteem than that customarily bestowed upon the hero of the hour. This is manifest in the hints and direct suggestions to the Government that, upon his qualifying in medicine he should be offered a public appointment in New Zealand, in which his professional knowledge and track experience might be made available for the benefit of New Zealand youth at large. Sundry Ministerial remarks —those of Mr. Fraser at Blenheim on Saturday, for instance—-seem to indicate that the Government would be pleased to take advantage of Mr. Lovelock’s services if they were available; and he himself has expressed in general terms a wish that his life’s work may lead him back to his own country. It is impossible at this stage to expect anything more definite on either side. For the time, being the Government has made a kindly and generous gesture by inviting Mr. Lovelock to visit New Zealand .'as its guest, and he on the other hand, by the spirit and manner of his acceptance, has won golden opinions from athletes and others wherever he has gone. Shortly he will be leaving again for England. The New Zealand Olympic and Empire Games Association feels he ought not to be allowed to go without some tangible indication of his country’s regard. That feeling will be shared by a great majority of New Zealand sportsmen and sportswomen, and the association’s appeal for funds “for the purchase of such a gift as would be acceptable to Mr. Lovelock” should meet with a ready response. The success of an effort of this nature depends more upon the number of contributions than upon their size. While no doubt donations of L 5 will be gratefully received by the promoters, their desire is rather that the mass of active players of games—and of those who have been players—should be more humbly represented in the gift which it is proposed to make to the Olympic champion. It may be assumed that the presentation is to be made with Mr. Lovelock’s consent, although all who know him will agree that consent must have been grudgingly given: he dislikes “fuss” of all kinds. But it is one of the minor penalties of fame that he should have to submit to receiving the applause of those whom he has so worthily represented. , And for the moment it is one of the privileges of sports-loving New Zealanders to be able to share in providing a permanent memento of one of the most stirring contests and most remarkable victories in the whole history of foot-racing.