TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 63, 12 September 1911, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

With the Auckland-Wellington matcn on Saturday last the Rugby local Rugby football and it* season practically Management, closed. In many respects it has been an interesting season. Fine weather has smiled on players and spectators alike, and incidentally on the Rugby Union. Not a single Saturday's gate has been lost at Athletic Park through a postponement of matches on account of the weather. This, we imagine, must be something like a record. I& the season in any other respect a record one? Is the standard of Wellington football higher than it was ? Is the game maintaming its hold on the public? Is the visible supply of young players, adequate, either in quantity or quality, to fill the gaps left by the inevitable retirement of the Veterans ? To these and kindred questions we regretfully believe that the only truthful answer must be in the negative. Football has undoubtedly j deteriorated, and ie losing some of its hold on the public. The circumstances i of the Auckland- Wellington match will give an indication. The day was perfect for the spectator and the meeting of Auckland and Wellington is the most popular fixture of the season. Yet on Saturday the attendance wa* not what ife ueually ia at such a match. The quality of tho play was a long way below that of previous contests. The club contests and the defeat by Taranaki all tend to prove a distinct deterioration in Wellington fo<Tfc" ball. Nor does there -seem much hope in the rising generation. The results of junior grade Rugby this season ate disappointing in the extreme, There has been nothing like the interest taken in it by the young player that'there used to be. For this, as for some other regrettable features, the authorities themselves must be held a good deal to blame. They have not encouraged junior football a* they should do, if wiey want to maintain the standard of the game. They have neglected the lower teams in the senior grade as well, and have as yet done little or nothing to provide proper accommodation for played en th« outside grounds, as at Miramar. Alt they seem to have cared about is the Atheltic Park and it* "gates," and even here, though most of the members of the Management Committee have been in attendance every Saturday, the public is far from satisfied. Season ticket-holders have complained about being ousted from their regular seats to make room for numerous "dead heads," and the general body of the spectators regards ft as ah imposition to be asked to pay one shilling for admission to a cup match. The fact seems to us to be that the Management Committee is sacrificing the game for the gates. Rough play is still allowed to continue unpunished through the blindness or weakness of referees, with tho inevitable result that players are beginning to fight shy of the game. In. respect of fine clean football the T&ranaki team, which defeated set an example local men might well follow. Altogether the potation is so unsatisfactory that- the meeting of delegates to-moTrow evening should press with vigour its enquiry into tho management of football during the season. The time is surely ripe for B<mie meaeure of tefoThi. It is just a et*p from tha woodblocka and the roar of Lamb- ( Vandalism ton - quay to the in a Garden, grounds of Parliament. The discerning eye may there see the hand of spring busily getting the raiment of the deciduous trees out of winter's press. Mated thrushes and blackbirds flutter through the glades of light and shade. Daffodils have roused from a long sleep in their cosy beds, and they have lifted up bright faces to greet the suh. The wayfarer strolls in from the glare of the street, and' the birds and the flowers tell that life in this old -world is still good. He returns neit day hoping to see a merry increase in the family of the golden daffodils, and hi* eyes have s mist of sadness put upon them. He came for joy, and goes sorrowfully »\ray. Overnight many a sunny head has falleh. Vandal hands have worked havoc among •pring's children. Born to play with the ! gentle breeze,- the sunbeams, and the j bees for a fortnight, they have been I smitten after a few houts' smiling at tho world about them. The heartless robbers are not coarse rnfflahs from the streets. Perhaps a Minister may order a dish of the golden heads for his own and his friends' delight, and cheerfully allow the general public to go hungry. It is whispered that member* of Parliamsnt are parties ta the desecration of the garden. Whoever the culprits are, the plfts are despoiled systematically to the regret, heart deep, of many ri Wellington's citizens. Few people here have ground for a garden. Wellington is not a ga?den city. The Botankat Beserve and a few little public plots here and there otter some warm colour to the people, but tha reserve » compwatively remote from the heart of the rity. Parliament grounds are conv«ni« ent, and they have a wealth of plant life to give pleasure to nature-lovers. It is* a democratic Parlia-menfc, pledged to the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number. Why should not that policy apply to the garden*? Why should not the flowers be permitted to give their tidings of *gladn«g» to the \ rnsftj ruth*; than the to&t ' i