LIFE IN NEW CALEDONIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25173, 13 March 1943, Page 6

LIFE IN NEW CALEDONIA

VARIED SPORTING ACTIVITIES MANY DOMINION ATHLETES (From Our Special Correspondent) NOUMEA, Feb. 28. With the arrival of equipment, New Zealand units are busy organising their own sports bodies. With the exception of rainy days in the summer, this is a healthy climate, so that cricket, football, athletics, swimming, baseball, and practically all branches of sport may be indulged in. If the New Zealanders organised a few country race meetings they would prove a great success. The first cricket match was held last Sunday on a country racecourse. The ground was flat, but the previous Saturday afternoon was spent in preparation. The game, which was played on coconut matting, was between divisional headquarters and certain base units, and the latter won on the first innings. Major Stowell and Second-lieutenant Brown took most of the headquarters wickets, and Sergeant Scott was top scorer, while for the divisional team Sergeant Ingles was the best bowler, and a South Auckland representative cricketer the highest scorer. In the same area football grounds are being prepared, as well as an athletic track. One camp has already played the local team three times at Soccer on its home ground in the middle of a township, winning twice and making a draw of the third game. . ~ , Sergeant Gordon Hill, the Auckland long-distance runner, told me, “ We shall soon be in the middle of invitation interunit competitions in all branches of sport, and we hope to hold brigade sports soon.” On the subject of boxing he seemed to think two hard rounds sufficient at present. The Americans in their interunit competitions last winter limited contests to two or three rounds. There are some fine footballers here. Lieutenant Snow Bowman, of Hawke’s Bay, mentioned some well-known representative players to me, including Doug. Dalton, of Hawke’s Bay, Merv. Devine, of Wairarapa and Auckland, Fred Allen, of Canterbury, and four or five more of All Black grade. In spite of all the difficulties, I imagine that a picked team of New Zealanders would give a good account of themselves against an American football team, particularly if they got an American to coach them. Among other athletes here are a New Zealand Olympic runner who went to the Los Angeles Games, E. C. Brown, the Auckland representative cricketer, and Bill Dyson, breast-stroke champion. Already New Caledonian rivers have seen two or three swimming carnivals. One area recently competed with an American team. Swimming is the New Zealand Army’s most favoured sport, Week-ends are naturally the great time for recreation, and there are choices other than organised sport, in bathing, fishing, tramping, or riding in the Chame Centrale, where, preferably with local guides, deer hunting attracts small parties. The French also catch wild horses in the hills. The usual thing to do is to go out with French families, who are very hospitable and provide horses for their guests. A New Zealander, highly pleased with such an excursion, said the other day: "When three or four of us set out with our hosts the other day with a pack of dogs it looked something like a meet of the Pakuranga Hunt, though perhaps not quite so stylish.” The sending overseas of the volunteer contingent was in large measure due to the enthusiasm and initiative of the Caledonians living in the bush. New Zealand might do something to recognise the aid they have brought to the Allied cause by introducing New Zealand trout fry into some of these clean and agreeable streams, such as the Tontouta and the Huailu. It would be an appreciated gesture.