FAMOUS SPORTSMEN IN STRIKE MELEE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17882, 25 June 1926, Page 14

FAMOUS SPORTSMEN IN STRIKE MELEE.

WRITING from London on June 20, the “Star’s” special correspondent said: — Some famous sportsmen were among the volunteers who helped John Bull to see the great strike through. Mr A. G. Wansborough, who stroked Cambridge to victory in the last boat race, was stroking a London motor-bus. So was Mr J. G. P. Thoma v s, the well-known motoring record-holder. Mr Graham White, the former aviator, drove an electric train on the Underground. Mr Seagrave, the motor-racer, was acting as a special constabulary despatch rider on a motor-bike. Viscount Curzon, the scorching M.P., had charge of the most efficient motor pool at the Horse Guards. “ Wakers," England’s Rugger captain, with his Harlequins in steel hats and armed only with knuckledusters, escorted C..1.D. officers in their.raids on “ Red ” headquarters. The lesson of the Great War was not forgotten, and each volunteer was, given the most appropriate job according to his physique and special training. A Demon Chauffeur. One of the best stories of all, however, and a true one, concerns a lively Irish Peer, who is a notorious offender against motoring laws. This young viscount offered himself as a special constable. lie said that he could drive a car. and when his ■ licence was produced the sergeant whistled. It was covered with fines, and finally endorsed with a twelvemonth prohibition. “ We’ll make you the inspector's chauffeur,” said the sergeant with a twinkle. His lordship duly paraded with his own big Yauxhall car, and presently in stepped the inspector, with orders to get a move on for an East End locality where there was trouble. The inspector saw the trouble all right, but he walked back, and demanded a new chauffeur, preferably one with a long grey beard. So the viscount was put on anothei duty. Eight hefty bobbies were jammed into his car, and he was told to hurry up to a neighbourhood where rioting had started. The constables put down the riot, but the viscount waited nearly three hours before he discovered that they had all walked back.

Says a writer in the Sydney “Bulletin”:—Queensland Football League (Australian rules) dealt drastically with a junior player accused of disorderly conduct on the field. The offender, a lad of 14 or 15, was alleged to have indulged in rough play and profane language. When cautioned, he coinmitted the unpardonable sin: he cheeked the umpire. That horrified official reported him to the league, which disqualified the boy for life. A deputation of his clubmates pleaded for his reinstatement, and was supported by several delegates, one of whom pointed out that the boy had already stood down for two Saturdays. The president mildly protested that the reduction of a life sentence to two weeks was rather a sweeping commutation, but the advocates of mercy carried theday. The youngster was called before the council, and after a stern rebuke, was dismissed with the admonition, “Go and sin no more.” The scene recalled the picture of a gigantic Scoutmaster addressing a tiny Boy Scout: “Wolf-cub Hawkins, you have been found asleep on your post, the penalty for which is death. For a second offence you will be fined tuppence. - ’ Not many people these days take so little interest in Rugby that they are unfamiliar with the names of football celebrities, but a good specimen came to light in a Wanganui hotel after the match with Taranaki. In -the bar a double-eyed Rugby enthusiast buttonholed a keen mptoring enthusiast, and for five minutes held him in conversation about Falwasser. “Falwasser,” said the motoring man, later to a friend. “For all I know he was talking about a new six-cylinder engine.”