People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18991, 10 February 1930, Page 8

People and Their Doings .

Transporting Troops About Banks Peninsula : Whet: Anderson Beat Tilden : “ Doping ” Athletes And Players : The Trees In Cathedral Square.

ALTHOUGH the public probably expect to see something spectacular in the military operations to take place in the Akaroa Harbour, military men say that everything will be done as quietly as possible. The Canterbury Regiment will embark at Lyttelton on the Veronica, the Laburnum and the Wakakura, proceed to Wainui, carry out a landing and come back to Burnham. It is questionable whether landsmen, will be able to do much fighting if they have a rough sea passage. The little Wakakura, for instance* is to bring round about fifty men, and she is a bad sea boat. The captain guaranteed to bring the men round all right but he takes no responsibility for the amount of fighting they will do; for although his vessel is a trim little training ship she is not built for transporting troops. The Wakakura has a contingent from Dunedin on board at present. They will practise mine sweeping in the Akaroa Harbour to-day. A short time ago she brought up another contingent that left Dunedin on a Saturday night. They got off Oamaru on Sunday, but by that time most of the crew were looking so green that the Navy had to put into Oamaru to give them time to recover. 9 9 9 “DOPING” is rightly regarded as utterly unsportsmanlike either in regard to horses, hounds or human beings, and if the practice has grown in Australia, as a handicapper to the Athletic League says, a searching investigation is needed. Even the use of alcohol as a stimulant in athletic circles is generally frowned on. There are occasions, however, between gruelling lawn tennis matches, when a little brandy may be resorted to, and some New Zealand players to-day will take a spoonful of brandy in tea or milk at intervals in a match. But the reaction is so certain and deadly that no player in training regards it as a safe habit, and the fact that it is a mild form of doping has brought it into disfavour from the point of view of sportsmanship. But after all, it is a question of degree. An orange or a lemon in the middle of a tennis or a Rugby match, or even a sip of pure water is a stimulant that nobody could possibly frown on. But to make sure that such aids shall not

have an influence on the match, it is customory to make sure that both teams or contestants are equally serv-

9 9 9 ~fp HE first Englishman to beat Til- -*■ den” is a somewhat misleading description of the American’s defeat by E. C. Peters, an Oxford Blue, at Cannes. In the narrowest meaning of the word Englishman it may be true, but Tilden has had to strike his colours to Britons, the most notable occasion being when J. O. Anderson, the Australian, beat him 19-17 in the fifth set of an East v West marathon at Chicago in 1921. A good anecdote of Tilden when he was in Auckland for the Davis Cup contest in 1920 is worth telling. Into the dressing room one afternoon before a match there pushed a tall and somewhat eccentric figure who buttonholed Tilden with a life insurance proposal, but was very kindly fobbed off by the tennis champion. “By Jove,” said Gerald Patterson to Tilden, “you let that chap down lightly. I wouldn’t let anyone worry me like that before a match.” “Well,” said Tilden, **T’m a life insurance man myself when I’m at home.”. “In that case,” said Patterson, “I’ll insure my life with you. And I ought to take out a policy before I go on a heavy court like that again.” (Patterson’s allusion was to the heavy nature of the Davis Cup court after rain, for he was a big, heavy man whose movements on a heavy court were dangerously restricted.) 9 9 9 X>EOPLE who have visions of historical associations in the old trees in the Cathedral grounds will be disappointed, because they were planted without flourish of trumpets merely on a resolution of the Cathedral Chapter. Some individual in the background thought of the idea, but his identity is lost. However, many members of the Anglican community in Christchurch have been persistent tree planters. Notable among them was the father of Dr W. Irving, who planted the trees on the ornamental plot in front of the Limes Hospital. The unfortunate tendency nowadays, however, in official quarters, is to cut out and disfigure trees if they interfere in any way with public utility.

CHARLES EVANS HUGHES, who is to succeed Mr Taft, as Chief Justice of the United States, is Celtic on both sides of his family. T. P.

O’Connor used to tell of meeting a pure - blooded Welshman, a first cousin, of Hughes. But Hughes’s mother was the daughter of an Irishman named Connelly, a wellknown man in New York in the last century. Yet Mr Hughes is des-

crifeed as an American “to the last drop of his blood, to the innermost fibres of his being.” When he was standing for the Presidency of the United States against Wilson, a legend ran that a woman’s feud just gave to Wilson the small number of votes that were the deciding factor. The result, when the final returns were coming in, lay with California. In that State each political party had at its head, besides a man, a powerful and sensitive lady. The antagonism of these two members of the gentler sex was stirred on the occasion of a great social festivity, when one lady ignored the other. And Hughes had to go quietly gack to his law practice in New York.

Later, however. President Harding made him Secretary of State, a position that combines powers somewhat similar to those of Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. It was Hughes who summoned the historic Washington Conference on Naval Armaments.

9 9 9 'pHE war play “Journey’s End” con- “** tinues to be the most successful London production, and a deal of £24,000 has just been completed with the Theatre Ticket Agencies. All concerned, whether actors, stage hands, clerks, or call boy, may share in the fortune which is being made from the play if a proposed profit-sharing scheme is carried through. An effort is also to be made to band the actors together into a permanent company, giving them security of tenure. A second bonus of £IB3O has been distributed, l?ut the bonus system is not considered satisfactory, and so a profit sharing scheme is to be introduced.