People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18961, 7 January 1930, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

Dean Harper : A Pioneer Aviator : The Likely Winner Of The N.Z. Tennis Championship : Second Riders Who Have Completed The Course : What Clothes Will Do.

DEAN HARPER’S interest in Christ’s College old boys who

went to the war was one of the things that made a place for him in the affections of many men of that generation. His interest was not limited to old boys whom he had met, for he communicated with all of them, and inquired particularly for

the men who came back. Dean Harper’s very keen interest in religious education was frequently exhibited in his attendance at the prize-giving ceremonies of schools outside the Anglican communion.

A N , AVIATION pioneer has gone west by the death of Captain the Hon Hugh Grosvenor, A.D.C. to the Governor of South Australia. He received fatal injuries in a crash at Melbourne yesterday. A keen airman, Captain Grosvenor made a lone tour round Australia last year. He happened to be in the Northern Territory when news was received that Moir and Owen were missing, and he immediately commenced on the search for the crew of the Vickers Vellore. It was Captain Grosvenor, who owned a Gipsy Moth, who set the fashion of vice-regal flying in Australia, and in Captain Grosvenor’s Moth the Governor of South Australia (Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven, V.C.) was able to see much of his huge territory that would otherwise have been unknown to him. !Hni !sHi isnl would you do if you suddenly learnt by cable that the girl you wanted to marry was about to become the wife of your bitterest enemy? inquires an English correspondent. This problem of psychology and social etiquette was admirably solved by a young American who learnt that his would-be fiancee was on the point of marrying in London. He sent this cable: ‘‘Do nothing until you have seen me in my new dress-clothes.” The girl was so delighted by this that she broke off her engagement with the Englishman and married the American. They are extremely happy, and no wonder. A man who could send a cable like that in such circumstances is obviously the perfect husband. ]\j[R ALFRED HILL, who is revisiting the Dominion to promulgate a scheme for the advancement of music, will always be remembered for' his inspired Maori melody, “ Waiata Poi,” whic’’ has caught the spirit and time of the poi dance with unusual fidelity. He was deputy-conductor of Verbruggen’i orchestra when it visited New Zealand, and as a compliment to him Verbruggen always allowed him

to conduct the "Waiata Poi** whenever it was played, which was at every performance. And not only did Mr Hill throw himself heartily into the job, but the orchestra caught the right spirit, and ended up on the final phrase—a long drawn out “ a-a-a ” with a magnificent musical slide to which the trombonist did full justice. mmm DISCOVERY at Baden of burial places dating from the fourth and third centuries before Christ recalls the fact that a seventy-six-year-old professor of Egyptology at University College, London, has set out to dig up some of Solomon’s buildings, P 4 Q B.C. At Beth-Pelet, far from civilisation, he and four students, with some hundreds of Bedouins, will spend the winter excavating. Lady Petrie, who has accompanied her husband on tyenty-five expeditions to Egypt and Palestine, will stay in England this tim-2 to raise funds. Last year, when she was there helping her husband, they employed about 400 Bedouins, and, acting as foreman, she paid out at the end of every week nearly £l2O in wages alone. They had to send men with camels eleven miles to get drinking water. In King Solomon’s time, Beth-Pelet was a great fortress comjnanding the only pastures for twenty to thirty miles on the high road from Egypt to Israel. m si n ATTENTION has sometimes been called to the fact that women golfers have big hands, and it is true that a great many good golfers do have big hands, but this is probably the reason why they find play easier. One woman, at any rate, who takes this view is Miss Molly Gourlay, who holds the English and French golf championships for 1929. Another thing which she says golfers are suppo£2d to have is what she calls “ foot and mouth disease,” for “ footing it all day and mouthing it all night.” She certainly never talks about golf unless she knows that people are interested; but she has other pursuits, and considers her golf a very tame affair beside her flying and m*. tor-car racing m m for being late at the tee, Hagen and Diegel have set the golf world talking afresh. This is not Hagen’s first offence. When Taylor had a first day lead on him in England, he turned up half an hour late for the second day’s play, and the effect on a highly nervous player like Taylor was to deprive him of any chance he had of winning. It was generally believed that Hagen had played a psychological trick on his opponent, and he lost a certain amount of caste for it. This subject was debated recently in Christchurch in connection with tennis, following the defeat of a player who had waited three-quarters of an hour for an opponent for a ranking match. Even first-class players agree

that there is a strain on the waiting man that his opponent does not suffer. The fact is recognised in bowls, where a game can be claimed by default if one player is more than fifteen minutes late.

incident which is reported by A cable from England yesterday, in which a horse fell in a steeplechase and was remounted by the trainer’s daughter, who completed the course and gained second place, has had frequent parallels, though usually the second rider has been a mere man. There is special provision for such occurrences in the National Hunt Rules in England, as w’ell as in the New Zealand Rules of Racing. All that is necessary is that the horse shall jump all the obstacles with a rider, who must be of sufficient weight. The English rule provides, also, that the rider must be “qualified according to the conditions of the race.” This is a rule which may have a very wide interpretation, and possibly it is on this account that the officials of last week’s meeting in England have found it necessary to appeal to the National Hunt Committee to decide if the horse ridden home by the trainer’s daughter is entitled to second money. Last July, at the South Canterbury Hunt meeting, Handy led most of the way in the principal steeplechase, but fell at the second last fence. After some trouble he was caught by his trainer, B. P. Brooker, who rode him over the last fence and got second money. There was an even more notable incident of the kind in the New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase as far back as 1881, in which there were only four starters. The Agent fell near the end of the race, and Sailor Boy finished second, but was disqualified for missing a fence. F. Hedge, who already had won on Clarence, mounted The Agent and rod* him past the post for second money.

ANGAS will bring more than the North Island tennis championship

back to Christchurch, for his defeat of Malfroy, after several unsuccessful attempts, will give him a prestige in the tennis world that he has lacked hitherto. All along the line, Malfroy has been regarded as the possessor of the subtler tennis

brains, while Angas has depended more on shock tactics, with nothing behind them if they failed. Canterbury players, however, knowing how much he has still to learn in compaii son with stylists like Geoff have confidently predicted that Mk would improve steadily with age. and, if his defeat of Malfroy spells improvement, he must be regarded as a likely winner of the New Zealand championship. He will certainly go on to the courts confidently enough.