IN TOWN AND OUT

Southland Times, Issue 25343, 23 July 1935, Page 6

IN TOWN AND OUT

NEWS OF THE DAY Tennis-Cricket Carnival. A blue penant fluttering above a red from a flagstaff on H. and J. Smith’s building yesterday , proclaimed the opening of the tennis-cricket queen carnival contest. Miss Isobel Provan is the tennis princess and Miss Nancy Barber the cricket princess. The tennis colour is blue, the cricket red; and first blood in the contest has been drawn by the tennis supporters. * » * * Flax Being Planted. “If the flax-planting operations at Daffodil Bay continue the sight of the hundreds of glorious blooms each spring will soon be a thing of the past, said an Invercargill horticultural enthusiast to a Southland limes reporter yesterday. “I visited the bay a few days ago and found that flax was being planted where the daffodils bloom so profusely. There is plenty of vacant space available in the vicinity, and it is a mystery to me why the area containing the daffodils should have been selected for this purpose.” * * * * “Latest New Zealand Delegation.” Commenting on the New Zealand delegation which had been sent abroad in recent times while proposing die toast of the New Zealand Rugby team at Mr N. A. Mitchell’s send-off in the Federal last evening, Mr L. R. Lopdell said they had sent Mr Forbes and Mr Coates to England to try to right the trade balance; previous to that a delegation had gone to Ottawa about a tariff wall, and now they were sending another delegation in the All Blacks team. “And I do believe they’ll do more good than any of them,” added Mr Lopdell amid laughter. ♦ * * * “Scrum Machine” Fcr All Blacks. On the voyage to England on the Rangitiki the All Black forwards will be coached in scrum work by means of a “scrum machine” of the type used in coaching a number of school teams in Great Britain. This device, which is arranged to take the weight of a full scrum with three men in the front row, has strong springs to indicate the degree of weight applied on either side. Mr Meredith ordered it by cable and it was shipped by the Rangitiki, which arrived at Auckland last week. When is was unloaded, Mr Meredith, in consultation with the chief engineer of the Rangitiki, had it placed in position ready for use as soon as the forwards find their sea-legs. The case in which the scrum machine arrived from London was addressed: “V. R. Meredith, manager, New Zealand All Blacks.” Before the case was shipped some stevedore or watersider had added in large printed letters the words: “You can bring your All Blacks Home, but you can’t beat Ireland?”