NOTABLE SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26782, 27 May 1948, Page 8

NOTABLE SERVICE

MR H. HARRIS HONOURED UNION FOOTBALL CLUB FUNCTION Mr H. Harris, who has retired from active service as an officer of the Union Football Club after 58 years in the club, was the guest of the club at a complimentary dinner in the Crawford Lounge last night. The president, Mr R. Knox, occupied the chair, and there was a large and repre sentative gathering of members of the Union Club and of sister clubs. Among those present were Mr R. W. S. Botting, president of the Otago Rugby Football Union, the secretary, Mr E. S. Wilson, and Mr V. G. Cavanagh, sen., who was contemporary with Mr Harris during most of his 50 years as a member of the Management Committee of the Rugby Union. Proposing Mr Harris’s health, Mr H. C. Williamson referred to his activities in the sporting world and on behalf of the city generally. “ I do

not think any man in New Zealand has done more for Rugby football than Mr Harris,” said Mr Williamson. The speaker added that Mr Harris had joined the Union Club in 1890 and had been a member of the Otago Rugby Football Union from 1897 to 1948. He was treasurer for 11 years and president for 11 years, he was a sole selector and member of Otago Selection Committees, as well as being a New Zealand selector, and had brought honour to the club and the province by being selected as comanager of the Maori team which toured France and Britain in 1926. He was a representative player in his day and a delegate for many years to the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Mr Williamson said that Mr Harris had been a member of the Dunedin Amateur Boating Club, had played cricket, and was a promnient bowler. He had been chairman of the Brass Band Contest Committee since 1910, was a prominent member of the St. John Ambulance Association, and had been a member of the. Mammoth Art Union Committee, which had’ raised a large sum for the laying out of Logan Park. Mr Harris had also been associated with numerous patriotic and public bodies, and old soldiers would remember his association with the committee responsible for raising funds to build the Returned Services' Club. In short, conclude Mr Williamson, he had not only done great work for Rugby, but he had played his part in civic activities as well. “ The stalwarts who put the game in Otago on the map are no more than names to most of us,” said Mr Botting, speaking on behalf of the Otago Rugby Union. ” but to me, Mr Harris represents the tradition they laid down, and he had carried out right well.” Mr Botting added that it was due to men like Mr Harris. and Mr Wilson that, the Rugby Union had secured control of Carisbrook, and he did not believe any man could have had a more varied record in Rugby than Mr Harris as player, selector and administrator in the very widest sense. His knowledge, experience and judgment had been of inestimable value to the union, and he enjoyed the respect, esteem and affection of all with whom he had been associated. Further tributes to Mr Harris’s services were paid by Messrs Wilson, Cavanagh, J. King (sister clubs), J. Frood (Referees' Association) and W. H. Saunders (St. John Ambulance Association).

The patron of the Union Club, Mr J. Hope, made a presentation to Mr Harris on behalf of the members, referring especially to his outstanding work on behalf of the younger players and Rugby generally. 1 Mr Harris, in reply, said that anything he had done for football or for any organisation with which he had been associated was because he felt it was his duty to help along his old club and to do anything he could for the city in which he was born and had lived. He added that he had begun his career with the Montecillo Club, and when it became defunct he joined the Union Club. On his retirement as a player, he felt it incumbent on him to do what he could to further the interests of the game, which he regarded as the best any young man could play. Items were given by Messrs Roi Don (pianoforte selection), Frank Cherry (song), Frank White (character song), and Ken Smith (cornet solo). Mr Don was the accompanist.