LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 19621, 31 January 1936, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Autographs of Wrestler. Among the many spectators at the

South Auckland Amateur Athletic Championships held at Hamilton on

Wednesday was Earl MeCready, the Canadian and Empire wrestling champion. He was busily engaged in signing autograph books between events.

Champion Thames Athlete. At the Otahuhu Amateur Athletic Club’s meeting last evening, M. C. Baker, of Thames, the Waikato 100yds and 440yds champion, won the quar-ter-mile event very easily from scratch in 51sec., which reduced the previous track record by lsec. Baker did not secure a place in the sprint event.

From Berlin to Puru. A much-travelled portmanteau, which rightly deserved the title of

“globe-trotter,” was amongst the freight carried on the Coast bus this morning, its surfaces being well plastered with travel and hotel stickers from many different countries. Those most prominent were from Berlin, Naples, Cairo, London, Vancouver, New York and Honolulu, and from the destinations revealed by the others it was evident the owner had travelled in practically every major country on the globe.

Dominion Highly Praised. “One often hears New Zealand travellers complain that this Dominion is not known in the United States of America,” Mr. C. S. Thomas told a representative of the Christchurch “Press.” Mr. Thomas has just re-

turned from a visit to California. “1 found New Zealand and New Zealanders highly spoken of wherever I went, and, although their knowledge of our country was a little fogged at times, they all seemed to know of its beauty and its advanced social legislation,” he said. The large number who saw the Dominion’s Christmas annuals was surprising, and the public owed a deep debt of gratitude to the news-

papers for the publicity thus given to the Dominion.

Naples Not Anti-British. That there was a complete absence of any ill-feeling toward the British in Naples was noted by Mr. D. Arnott, of Christchurch, when he visited the city on his voyage to England a year ago, and on his return recently. Mr. Arnott added that the Abyssinian

question seemed to be taken less seriously in England than in New Zealand. During his trip through the Suez Canal, however, he had seen a company of the British Grenadiers on its way to strengthen the garrison at Port Said.