Plaintive Note Struck in Tribute to the South By a Northerner

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26783, 28 May 1948, Page 4

Plaintive Note Struck in Tribute to the South By a Northerner

A correspondent of the Dominion, writing under the pen-name of “ Dejected Northerner,” says: “ Is it natural intelligence springing from Scottish forbears, plus physical superiority, early training, or something inherent in the soil, that gives southerners that extra quality which enables them to triumph over their northern brothers. We have long been accustomed to Otago and Southland leading the field—amounting to a virtual conquest of the north—in things commercial, professional and cultural, and now we have the spectacle of the same people dominating the more important fields of sport. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that under 13 per cent, of the

population reside south of the Waitaki —the dividing line separating the tritons from the minnows, so to speak. “ Otago now holds the premier Rugby honour, the Ranfurly Shield. They have lifted the Plunket Shield for cricket, despite the fact that comparatively few play the game down there; the best swimming talent is in Otago and has been for many years—the Yaldhurst Shield went down there recently. They produce the most successful brass band as combination and for individual items; have annexed the premier athletic shield; and, perhaps saddest story of all, a handful of southern horses appeared at Trentham at the last meeting and departed with most of the principal stake money. And so one could go on. In the north we have superiority in one thing only —numbers.”