A REAL SPORT.

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1923, Page 8

A REAL SPORT.

SHEEP DOG TRIALS t ENTHUSIASTS FOREGATHER. — 5 c The conclusion of the Otamatea t Sheep Dog Trial Club's competitions t on Tuesday evening was followed by a banquet in the Paparoa Hall. It s was very well attended all the tables j being occupied. i After full justice had been done to j the repast provided by the Paparoa ladies the loyal toast was honoured. ( In proposing the health of the judge, the president, Mr E. K. Finlayson, 1 stated that they had a good judge who . had come a long way to assist the , club. He was an easy man to work , with and gave the members of the 1 committee every assistance. His son was usually a competitor at their ( trials, but this year they missed him . and hoped they would have him again in the future. They were very much , indebted to Mr Butler for accepting the request to judge at the trials, and they were very thankful to him for coming along to assist them. Mr Butler in reply returned thanks for the kindly manner in which his health had been drunk and also for the kindly manner in which he had been treated. For the last three years he had sent entries to this club, but for some reason had not been able to come along himself. His son, however, had held up his end of the stick. He thanked the ladies for their treatment and the stewards for the manner in which they did their work. He was somewhat disappointed with the working 'of the dogs, but nevertheless there was not a bad dog on the ground. They were all toilers and for this class of country they were the proper stamp, and many of those which competed were fit to take part in the bigger trials. The chief difficulty with many competitors was that they really required to learn to understand their dogs. The first essential was to understand the dog and teach it like a child would be taught at school. Nothing was gained by roughly treating a dog. He exhorted the younger men not to be disappinted when they lost, but to take notice of the successful competitors, and learn from them. There was no need to use too much stick on sheep dogs and to make broken hearted slaves of them. When lie got the wire-asking him to act as judge he was about to go to Mohanga trials, but he gave that up to come north. His son George wished to be remembered to the northern sheep dog men. Mr H. McCarroll proposed the toast of the competitors. It required many competitors to create public interest, particularly when many of them were local. He was particularly pleased to see so many young competitors at these trials and he noticed among the competitors faces which were familiar. These men had supported the club year after year, and in some cases unsuccessfully. Besides this, some of them came from long distances, and one ■ could not help admiring those who gave up so much of their time in the interest of the sport and who accepted their losses in the most sportsmanlike spirit. He was particularly pleased to see that the cup which he had ' given was Avon by a northern man. He > instanced Messrs Finlayson and Clotr worthy as competitors who had frequently competed at trials and who had s not given up hope, and this year they had met with success. Mr 11. B. Sloane in reply returned thanks for the royal time they had received as visitors and said he would be glad if the Whangarei club had the 1 opportunity of reciprocating in Wha- • ngarei the treatment they had received here. He was somewhat disappoint- " ed with the work of the dogs at first, [ but that was nothing to be' wondered at. The clogs happened to be having a day off. He was glad to meet Mr Butler as a judge. They had had him - with them for many years as a com--3 petitor and he was sure they would - have as good an opinion of him as a judge as they had had of him as a com- - petitor. He was satisfied that as a 1 judge he would give them a fair go. e He congratulated the staff on the man- '• ner in which they put the sheep out. r He especially congratulated Mr Leach on the manner in which he carried out r his work as horse steward. The com- > mitteemen had done their work well and the ladies had as usual done their part splendidly. He considered the club was on a good wicket, and he felt sure that if they kept going as they " were doing there was nothing but success for them. Mr C. H. Finlayson said that he was pleased to return thanks on behalf of the competitors. They had been very n well treated since their arrival, and k he hoped the Whangarei club would n have the opportunity later on of re- ). turning seme of the kindness extended s to them. e Mr T. Clotworthy also returned I thanks. I Mr George Smith, proposed "Kinn dred Societies." In this back counn try, he said, they had to make their own sport, though they were not quite so isolated as they used to be. Amongst them still were many of the good old I sports. They wanted the young men 4 to become good sports. He heard some of the ladies say they were sorry they could not be with them that evening. L ~ No class of sport could be run without the ladies. He hoped in future they would have with them tho ladieß, who

ilid so much for tliem during the two lays of the trials. Though not much accustomed to sheep dog work, he was delighted to see the manner in which the dogs worked during the two days of the trials He had worked cattle dogs all his life, bnt thought it a fine thing to encourage the sheep dog trial club. Mr Carey said that it gave him pleasure to respond to the toast, particularly because the ladies had been mentioned by the proposer. Without their help sport would be very dead. In this country all classes of sport were catered for They had football, cricket, tennis, and so on. At the present time they were interested in the sport of running sheep dogs. This was a quiet sport, but very interesting, and he th,ought they should do their utmost to encourage the young men to take an interest in trial wprk. The Whangarei club this year had a special class for youths. Mr T. Wilson, also replying, said he could not adequately thank them for the manner in which they had responded to the toast. He could not help looking back to find what they were aiming at. The origin of all sport was to achieve excellence, and to do so they must introduce the spirit of competition. This was so in every line of sport from racing horses down. There must be that desire to win in order to be successful. Everything was measured by comparison and it was possible to under-rate the value of excellence in sport, and he would not suppress the fun which was usually associated with it. By encouraging the sheep dog trial sport they were increasing the usefulness of the men who were training the dogs. The trained man was much more useful than the untrained. In all this work they were exercising an influence on the younger generation. One of the first lessons for the trainee was to give him good tools. "Give a young man a duffer of a dog," he said, "and he will dislike the work." It was essential to give them good dogs. Great judgment, great patience and great skill were required in selecting the animal to give to the boy if the boy was to be encouraged. ' This was the one important principle in order to bring out the highest standard of excellence. The work done now by the dogs would be considered marvellous when compared with that done before the work of training began. There were no iegrets in participating in sport and the best and most lasting friendships were often made on the fields of sport. At this stage Mr Butler stated that in the Eangitaiki .there was a dog trial club which worked with calves, so lie invited Mr Smith to bring his cattle dog down there. He also stated that his championship , dog King was bred in North Auckland, the sire being Mr M. Whitelaw's Kep. Mr Sloane also expressed pleasure at being able to go home with Mr H. McCarroll's shield, particularly with the dog that had won it. Mr Butler, the judge, in proposing the toast of the president, described him as a very modest man. From what he had seen of him he could say that he was the right man in the right place. He was not a man of many words, but he knew what he was doing. The success of the club lay in the president, backed up by a strong committee and lie was able to congratulate the club both on its president and on its committee. In reply Mr Finlayson stated that he had a terribly, good committee to work with and the assistance given him by the late president had enabled them to have a couple of very good days. It was gratifying to see so many people turn out to the trials and to know that everything went off- so well. He took 110 credit to himself. Mr Dodds proposed the health of the ladies. For the last four years they had had' the assistance of the ladies. They could not do without them. They had given a splendid spread and had done it so willingly. He wished to thank the ladies of Matalcohe for the manner in which they had , done the catering on the ground and the ladies of Paparoa for the manner i, in which they had catered for this function. He had attended the Whangarei trials and could testify to the splendid manner in which the cateri ing was done by them. As long as i they kept the ladies with them the trials would be a success. The big 1 gest hurdle the committee had to gel t over was that of the catering, but th€ 5 ladies made it easy for them. t Mim E. Jenkins thanked the gather ' ing heartily for the manner in whicli - they had received this toast. Th( ladies were very pleased indeed tc 3 come to the assistance of the club, anc E hoped they would have the privilege r of doing it again. He thanked Mi 1 Dodds for the flattering remarks he I had made, and though the ladies had - denied themselves some of the pleasure I of seeing the dogs work they neverthe less were glad to be able to render the I club such service. ' Mr J. Sloane proposed the health oi Messrs Smith Bros and Mr Kirk - thanking them for the use of their pad c docks. Messrs Smith Bros, had giver j the committee full authority to inak( t whatever use of their farm they wantI ed to. He knew Messrs Smith Bros , and Mr Kirk and knew they were al ; ways keen to help along anything ol T use to the district. Messrs Smitl Bros, not only worked themselves, bul t also took the members of the com / rnittee to their homes and enterta-inec 3 them.

;l —■ j Mr George Smith assured the club ' that it had given them great, pleasure j to assist the club. Mr William Smith said he was very pleased to see the work done by the dogs. It was marvellous to him to see how efficiently they worked. Mr Eossiter proposed the toast of the visitors, coupled with the names , of Messrs E. G. Broad, H. Carey, M. ' White]aw, A. Rolfe and J. Thompson. ' On behalf of the club he extended a I hearty welcome to all the visitors and lie could assure them that the success r of the trials was in no small measure s due t'o their enthusiasm. The visitors named all responded. ' Mr Aiken proposed "Success to the Committee,'' without which, he said, a there would be 110 trials. The come mittee working that day was practically that which had been doing the work all through. He could say from e his knowledge of them that rfothing was too much trouble for them. He .. was glad that this class of sport was one in which the public could take e interest without wishing to have 0 money on it. The president specially thanked the e members of the c'ommittee for the r assistance tHey had given in making e the trials such a success. ( l Mr Martin endorsed the remarks , e made by the judge regarding the prej. sident. Tlie president always did his e best to promote sport. The president thanked Messrs Rodlf ney Coafces, Dodds and Finlayson c Bros. (Maungaturoto) for the loan of the sheep. n Mr E. Jenkins proposed the health e of the secretary, who, he said, had come to the club's assistance and given | 3 his time very willingly. Mr Petley [' was not a man of liberty, but he had if rendered excellent service, h Mr Petley, in response, stated that [t he had received every assistance to | i- carry the w"ork through. He had done d his best and he hoped everything had been successful. He hoped next year

to give a pup to be won by anyone in the North under 25 years of age. Mr E. Finlayson proposed the toast of the late secretary, Mr Butler, "who was 'one they were proud to meet. Though he was their late secretary he came out with a red> white and blue ribbon that day and helped the president and committee. A half-penny, issued ni Jamacia, was found by a resident of Palmerston North amongst some ,-liver he had received in change from a local shop (states an exchange),. The coin was innocently handed ovor as A shilling pieco and the mistake is a natural one., rts the half-penny piece is a dull white in colour and the si/e of a shilling piecc. The coin was minted in 1893 and bears Queen Victoria's head on one side and a coat of arms with "Jamaica, half-penny," on the other. ••