WHAT A MESS!

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 40, 16 August 1937, Page 10

WHAT A MESS!

SCENE AT THE PARK

LIKE A BiG RUBBISH TIP

PAPER EVERYWHERE

Nowhere could there be found a better representation of a large-scale rubbish tip than Athletic Park presented this morning. Mere words cannot do justice to the mess; it had to be seen to be realised. ! Under Mr. C. Collyer, the custodian, I and with Mr. Harold Murphy, a mem- ; ber of the management committee of ■ the Wellington Rugby Union, also pre- : sent in a supervisory capacity, an early . start was made with the cleaning' up, : but'though extra men had been put on i to augment the usual staff and they had kept, hard at it all morning, really- • only1 the fringe of the big job had been touched by midday. , By this time the central portion of , the terraces on the1 western bank had been raked fairly clean and work was' proceeding at other parts of '.the ground. 1 Fires had been lit—twelve or more of. ! them—on the western bank side, and. . were. sending up columns of bluish j smoke. There still remained much food for the flames, which were finding 1 some difficulty in making quick work ■ of their job on account of the damp- ■ ness of much of the material. i By midday good headway had also '. been made with the removal of the • section of the seating accommodation within the enclosure, for which benzine boxes were extensively used. The erection of these seats was let as a . contract job, and 2000 boxes which ; were obtained from- an oil company ■ were used, and today they are being stacked to be taken back. In addition to the benzine boxes,. 900-odd banana and other fruit cases were purchased. The banana cases were purchased by the Rugby Union at 5d each, and they are being sold back to a fruit and produce auctioneer at 4d each. They thus, cost the Rugby Union Id each, and the auctioneer to whom they have been sold back has made Id per box ■ on the deal. A GREAT MISCELLANY. . Apart from the central part of. the western bank, the rest of the terraces • on this side of the ground, at the two ends, and also in the enclosure was a mass of torn, crumpled, and damp, muddy newspaper, and a weird collection of other articles that people with a long wait ahead of them take to football matches and leave behind them. Among the debris .in the enclosure ' immediately in front of the grandstand were a battered leathercase, a couple of thermos flasks, minus tops, and also the liquid contents, . a number of beer bottles which the boy gatherers had missed after the game, an old coat, pieces of oil cloth, and a number of cushions, none very, pretentious and some that had been fashioned out of sugar-bags and stuffed with straw. None of ths cushions lying in this part of the ground could ba regarded as a prize. WHERE PEOPLE BUILT. The most ' interesting part of the ground was a made-up strip in the northwestern corner just in-front, of tha custodian'.s house. It was littered withbricks, bars of iron, an • oil ■ drum- or two, and a wheelbarrow. Whence came "the: bricks?. They were, carted there from :a rubble tip in-theigully down below, some 60 or-70-yards.awiay. Hundreds of bricks had beeri brought from the gully and more brawny and ambitious individuals . had between them contrived-to drag up great lumps of masonry, the shifting of which possibly at any other time they would have declared was not a task, for'/ human beings, but one fdr a crane. At any rate, up from the gully these big masses came on Saturday. It was just no trouble at all. After the bricks or- masonry had been brought up into position the job was not completed. When the situation ' became such that those in front of them had to get higher to obtain a view of the ground those at the back; had to build. Today, still, standing, were piles of bricks' that had ' been built up in this way and across the top of some of them were boa Yds, every bit of which would be occupied on Saturday. Resting on the top of one pile was a- narrow iron bar and the occupiers of this "stand" must have perched on it something after the stylo of birds. The wheelbarrow came from the grounds of the custodian's house. Among other rubbish.in this part of the ground were two empty bird-cages, which had come from the yard of a shop in Rintoul Street. LITTER IN GRANDSTAND. The grandstand at a glance, com* pared with other parts of the ground, looked quite respectable, but a closer examination revealed that the £1 seat people and the others who saw the match in the comfort of the stand also left a lot of litter, and, moreover, left a quantity of mud on the seats. The cleaning up of the' litter in the grandstand will probably mean a good two days' work and it will be necessary to wash down the dirty seats before next Saturday. A number of men were engaged from, the State Placement Office to assist in the general spruicing up. of the ground. With the custodian and his staff, 29 men all told were engaged this afternoon in cleaning up, and 'there were others dismantling the temporary seating accommodation in the enclosure. It will probably take until the end of the week to put the ground in shipshape order again. Fortunately, for residents anywhere near the park, the wind has not risen. If a strong northerly had blown, much of the paper would have gone into backyards in Berhampore and Island Bay. ' ' \ TOUCH FLAGS SOUVENIRED. Many people- took souvenirs of their visit to the park home with them in the form of mud on their footwear and clothing; others "souvenired" the touch-line flags and the supporting poles went with them as well, only three or four of the poles being left. All-the small flags around the ground disappeared. There were some people who badly wanted to pay a visit to the ground yesterday, no doubt with the idea of "getting down"' on something and in particular some of the boards ■ and cases in the enclosure. But the custodian was on the job, although he ihad a busy time keeping people out. It was1 a wonderful match, and yesterday Mr. Collyer looked out on a wonderful mess. He is accustomed to a job like this, however, so much so 1 that if the thousands who were there on Saturday had not left a mess for him to clean up he would have been a disappointed man. As things are his faith in human nature remains firm.