TOO MUCH SPORT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 304, 12 May 1941, Page 2

TOO MUCH SPORT

MR SPENDER'S VIEW

AUSTRALIAN SPEAKERS HIT STRAIGHT FROM SHOULDER "I agree with the Acting-Prime Minister, that we are carrying sport too far at present," said the Minister for the Army (Mr Spender) in a speech in Sydney. "I believe in sport," he added. "I know the important part it plays in forming and building up character, as Avell as physical , health, and i know the value of cricket and football to our young men. "But, in the stage we have readied in. this wai, the; spectacle of large numbers of persons flocking to dog races is completely unreal. "Everywhere you go, you hear C/J big crowds at race meetings."' Bishop Pil,cher, Coadjutor Bishop of Sydney, agreed with Mr Spender. "There appears to be a large section of the community that does not realisie even yet the extreme gravity of the war situation," said thy bishop. "If thoy realised at all what oui own boys are going through in Greece they would ncit pursue their carefree pleasures as they are doing now." "I'f Mr Spender's idea is to stop all sport, he should be consistent and stop cocktail parties and dancing and pink teas," said the president. of the N.S.W. Rugby League, Mr H. Flegg. "While racecourses are occupied by the military, there are beautiful expanses of land which are still reserved by golf clubs, such as Rose Bay, where golfing interests resisted the extension of the airport. "I say from personal knowledge that it would be far better to put troops on this land, with its good drainage and sunlight, than in the Showground's low-lying stock boxes" Mr R. J. Bartley, solicitor, and committeeman of Canterbury Turf Club: "Mr Spender should, thank God for the racecourses. Clubs have handed otver their grounds free of cost to the Government for military purposes. There are more, than 1000 men billeted at times on. our course, which wo freely offered to the Gov 4 eminent."