VISITORS FROM FIJI

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 21, 24 July 1936, Page 11

VISITORS FROM FIJI

HOCKEY TEAM ARRIVES IMPRESSIONS OF TOUR The sight of the sunlight glistening on the Southern Alps is one of the most vivid impressions that the touring Fiji women's hockey team will carry away when it leaves these shores, according to Mrs. J. M. Harvie, manager of the team, which arrived in Wellington this morning from the south to play a representative side here tomorrow. The team has played at Wanganui and at South Island towns, and passed through Wellington oh its way down, but this is the first opportunity the visitors have had to have a good look round the city. . | As nine of the members of the team had never before; been but of Fiji' the I visitors have found' the. tour Jull',qf interest. Trains were newito them, but in spite of the large amount of-travelling' that they have done since their arrival lin the country, the members of the team have been happily free of sickness. Mrs. Harvie paid.a tribute,to the hospitality with, which they had been received at all the towns visited, and also stated that the railway officials had treated the team with the greatest! courtesy and kindness. ; Conditions in New Zealand were 'very different from those prevailing in Fiji, and, the team had found that the , style of play required on the heavy, grounds encountered was different' 'from that to which, they had been accustomed. The teams they had encountered during the tour had all played good hockey, and the Eastern team, | which was played on Saturday, gave a beautiful exhibition. There were separate associations for the men and women players in Fiji, said Mrs. Harvie, and although the population, was. not great the players were all very keen on the game. There were- about 45 women players in Suva, and three teams. Play took place on Saturday afternoons, and in the evenings between 5 and 6 o'clock. Spells of 25 minutes were played with, a changeover, but no interval. The y uniforms worn by the players-included shorts and sandshoes with leather bars. The shorts were found to be statable to the conditions prevailing and gave the players more freedom. j I This morning the visitors were entertaied at morning tea, and this afternoon they were tohave been the guests jat a similar function.