AFTER THE BATTLE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 236, 5 October 1917, Page 3

AFTER THE BATTLE.

A SPOUTS MEETING AT THE 1 fim>kt. s 1

(From Malcolm Ross, Correspondent with Is'.Z. Forces iv tlio : Field).. July, 1917. After thsy had fulfilled their con- ■ tract in the Battle of Messines the Now Zealanders came out of the line for a rest. Strictly speaking a rest doe* not necessarily mean cessation from work. The force lias still to be fed, and there is still much work to i do, if not for your own unit, for someone else's. Some of the New Zealanders have recently had experiences ot | a somewhat novel kind. Instead of tbo old stalemate trendies, there were 5 open spaces that permitted of con- 5 siderable patrol work, b9th by day and { by ni<^ht. They went into the thing ; thoroughly front the start, ajid ac- | quitted themselves splendidly. tn- , fortunately one ctuuiot go into do- ; tails, but "one of their dare-devil adventures may be mentioned. An officer and "one other rank" went out in broad daylight, and wandered down the streets of a village still m German occupation. The Bocho must have been indulging in an afternoon % sleep or an overdose of his favorite ; beverage. At any rate lie was not on j the gui vivo. Going into one of the •. houses the two New Zealanders found j four Germans there. One fled, but i the other three were made prisoners, j and proudly marched back into the j New Zealand lines, where this new > "stunt" was hailed for a time with much merriment and a considerable incredulity. ' Bat,1 to return to the sports meeting. One day the great majority of oiir men were taken away from their rest billets and told off to various jobs. It w.is thought his would interfere with the success of the sports meeting. With characteristic decision a,nd promptness, however, the New Zealand Command, sent motor lorries many miles there and back to take the "competitors from these units to the sports. The meeting lasted four days, and there was, at times, an attendance of about 7(J00. Indeed, the crowd was so irreat on one day that rho field in which tilie sports, took place would not comfortably bold it. The Corps Commander and several visitors from other Divisions attended. The first day was devoted to the boxing events, for which there were 62 entries. i\n excellent ring had been built up in the middle of the field, k> that the spectators had a good view of the contests. The winner of the heavy- ; weigh.6 contest proved himself a sound boxer, whiie the winner of the lightweights was ,a man with a great. punch, who won each of his fights in : 20 soco'ids. Somewhat appropriately 1 the heavy and light weight events i were won by the Military Police, ; which fact wilt no doubt be duly noted j by those delinquents who, on occa- ; sums, have a reputation for bumping j up against authority. i The second day was devoted to j swimming, in which there were ten 1 events. The authorities were lucky i iv finding an old gravel nit full ol: ' water, and in this the various events wer<i decided. Fifty yards in diameter . and twelve feet deep, it answered the j purpose quite well. -There were 279 i entries in one race alone—the fifty yards dash. T'nc event was rushed through ,in heats of twelve competitors at a time. As soon as twelve mon were mustered they were started across the pond, and another twelve were ready hi a few minutes to follow them. The pond was thus kept in a coTistant state: of commotion. There were several ex-New Zealand champions among the competitors in the swimming c/onts, and considering all tha circumstances quite good times were made. Tho 'third day—Sunday—was devoted to a. "gymkhana," the entries for many of the events) having been limited to so many per brigade. JTh.e great feature of the day was the jumping event- for n.c.o.'s and men riders. There were no fewer than 73 entries for it, and the jumping was quite good. The Maori won the tug-of-war—a tremendously popular victory ' Practically every battalion of our Force .has now had its sports meeting since the Battle of Messines, and onebrigade had a three days' meeting of \ its own. One day was devoted to , football, one to boxing, and a third to running and jumping. Ar>nrb from the physical benefit to hte Force such event:-; as theso have tho Force such events as these have an excellent mental effect, for the men talk about them for days before j and days afterwards, and, for the

tinio being, forget about th'o war. j Tho following is the prize list for j the Divisional sports:— j GYMKHANA. j 100 Yards.—Dvr. W. J. Doull 1, Pvt. Darby 2, Sfcr. Reid 3. Time, 11 2-ssec. ' Long Jump.—Lieut. F. V. Quaine j 1, Cfcipt. F. C. Hr.bbard 2, Corpl. T. , Guy 3. Distance, 19ft. lin. j 220 Yards.—Dvr. W. J. Doull 1, j Dvr. McCormack 2, Dvr. Dormer 3. 440 Yards.—Pvt. Darby 1, Gun. | Chapman 2, Pvt. Sutton 3. ' High Jump.—Corpl. J. Hill 1, Lieut. D. K. Duthie, Hanson, Rope, 2. Height, sft. 2in. Three Miles Cross Country.—Pvt. E. W. Oobeldick 1, Pvt. Ballantyne 2, Oorpl. Bmeralie 3. N.C.O.'s and Men's Jumping. — Bradley 1, Scott 2, Browne 3. Officers.' Jumping.—Ca.pt. Power 1, Lieut. R.ac 2, Capt". Grant 3. 880 Yards.—Pvt. K. W. Cbbcldiek 1, Gun. Chapman 2, Pvt. Palmer 3. Obstacle Race.—Corpl. Hill 1, Sergt. Anderson 2, Dvr. Edmonds 3. Mule Steeplechase.—Dvr. Goodwin 1. SWIMMING. n 0 Yards Dash.—Capt. McNab 1, Pvt. Cbndsll 2. 100 Yards.—Lieut. Ilogan 1, Pvt. CobeldHc 2, Pvt. Gnllacher 3. 200 Yards.—Pvt, Campbell 1, Pvt. Bailey 2, Spr. Hutcheon 3. 410 Yards.—Sp.-. Hurty 1, Pvt. Clissaml 2, Pvfc. Paul 3. 100 Yards Breaststroke—Dvr. Doull 1, Pvfc. Atkinson 2, Pvt. Snow 3. Diving Competition.—Bomb. H. C Nolan 1, Sergt. Goldingham 2, Bomb. Shu 3. Raft Race.—No event. Cork Bobbing.—vPt. Cheescman 1, Rf'in. McEwan 2, Spr. Evans, Rfm. Rive.ll 2. BOXING. Light Weights.—Winner. Pvf. ?1. W. J/eokie; runner-up, Pvt. W. H. Barnes. Welter Weights.--"Winner, Py*-.. Imwlftss; runner-up, Sergt. R. "^ikldle Weights.—Winner, Cni-.pl. P. Majming; runner-up, Spr. V. P. Holt. Li'j'jit Henvv-woigiits. --- Winnfr. i Corpl. W. /\. Senior; ruruior-iip, Dvr. i Bain. ] Heavy Weights.—Winner, Corpl. 'W. G. Mattlicwsou; runner-up ; P'.'t. } R. Jamiesoa.