THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SPORTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12986, 29 November 1902, Page 6

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SPORTS.

People who walk with their eyes and ears open do not need to he told that the annual sports competitions of the publib schools are due again. ' There has been plenty of evidence of their near approach’ in all parts of the city and suburbs, where tlie young contestants, who seemingly have no objection to training under the public eye, have been undergoing their preparation. The idea of bringing together in open air competitions teams of boys and girls from the various schools was an ad-, mirable one, and the enthusiastic co-opera-tion of the teachers has made it successful in every way. The mere figures, forty teams of twenty children each in the displays, one thousand three hundred in the march-past, two thousand competitors, suggest that the gathering' will rapidly grow too big' to be readily handled. Hitherto the arrangements have been beyond reproach,.and we have no doubt that to-day the officials will carry out their huge self-imposed task with an efficiency born of enthusiasm and experience ; but if the popularity of the competition continues to increase, it will surely be found necessary to divide them. Lancaster Park to-day; and especially this afternoon, when the displays will he made, should be a sight to heal sore eyes and refresh tired minds. There is absolutely no sports gathering of the year in which the sport is so pure, the enjoyment so unalloyed, the general effect so bright, as in this meeting of school children. We commend it to the public as worthy of their support, and to the man or woman in search of pleasure as a source of genuine delight.