With the Maoris On Fijian Tour

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 82, 16 August 1948, Page 5

With the Maoris On Fijian Tour

MR W. S. HENDERSON REVIEWS HIS TRIP Whakatane’s Mr W. S. Henderson, manager for the Maori Rugby team during the Fiji tour just completed, got home last night. He still has not'quite got over the strangeness of the setting off the first match in Fiji. “Can you imagine every spectator dressed in white tropical outfits, all of us in short sleeved shirts, all minus singlets on July 24 watching a football match?” he asked. Well, can you? ' That first game, against Northern districts, was played in a typical island setting on a hard field ringed by palms and other tropical trees, and only three chains , from the beach. The Maori team won 36—0. Delamere, on one wing, scored four tries and the other winger two, which shows the team must have been working like clockwork. All the Fijians started in boots, Mr Henderson said, but at least five shed the unaccustomed footgear as the match progressed. “They were made to wear boots only because of our visit,” he ■ explained, “and naturally suffered from blistered feet. I asked some of their officials why they did not let them continue against us in bare feet, and was told they made their men wear boots because with sprigs they were actually 25 per. cent better off on account of added ground grip.” As will be recalled, Mr Henderson and Hi Ranapia were two of those who had to stand down on account of the flying boat’s not being able to take the whole party, but the manager claims they had the better of it, getting a luxury trip in a new Pan-American Skymaster, which had everything the traveller could desire—including a very attractive air hostess! It gave them a good look at Norfolk Island on the v;ay over, so that the crew could, familiarise themselves with the emergency landing strips there: “By the way,” he said, “Stewart McKenzie and Tom Hall will be interested to know that I met Capt Appleton of the N.S.S. Co. on the Skymaster, on his way to London on a businessholiday trip.” Entertainment throughout was on a lavish scale, Mr Henderson . said, and the Fiji Rugby Union, as well as the people there did all they could to make the visitors welcome. At the second match, against a European side,'Ranapia had his first run for five weeks, and went quite well. There all the visitors were introduced to the Governor, Sir Brian Freeton. Mr Henderson sized him up with an eye for football talent and remarked that he was very tall and looked the makings of a great lineout forward.

/ Our boys got a bit of a jolt up' north when they just managed to hold the Rewa-Suva Fijian side to a 3-all draw. That game ■ got a bit rough, and fists were filing freely at times. In the last three minutes the Maoris suffered three casualties, and R. Hohaia, Wellington forward, had to go to hospital with a leg injury. With only nineteen players in the party, Mr Henderson was a bit worried at that stage, and cabled the N.Z.R.U. for reinforcements —an extra inside back and a forward. The Fijians, he said, were marvellously fit and faster than our team. He described the native feast and welcome which, he said, included the greatest array of warriors doing spear and club dances, and girls singing and dancing that- had been assembled in Fiji for 10 years. “As the big shot of the party, so to speak, I received the traditional whale tooth,” he said, “but of course it was meant for us collectively. The feast that followed was an all-native preparation—and was it a feast!” He described about ten luscious courses. Talking of a later feast, he got around to the kava question. “This kava,” he remarked, “is not easy to take, but I’m told -you acquire the .taste for it. There must he something in that, because nearly all the Europeans and Fijians drink it from 10 a.m. t® 12 noon. All the big business houses .serve it, > too, but no-one touches it * after noon.-”

He met a lot of people over there who had relatives and friends in New Zealand, including Sir Claude Seton (Chief .Justice) and Lady Seton, Whose nephews, Jim and Dave Setpn, of Rotorua, have both played Rugby for Bay of Plenty. ‘ At Lautoka, he met Miss Hutton, who was at one time on the Beacon’s staff. Two of the Fijian cricketers who were in New Zealand last year, Ratu Edward and R. G. Thahaban asked him to convey their regards to two local cricketers. L. R. Spring and W. McKenzie, against whom they had played at Rotorua.

Suspension of Proctor just before „the first Test- was a blow, both to manager and team, and the announcement was not very well received amongst the players, but they won the test 32--6. Mr Henderson 'said he felt the Fijians were a bit | restrained on that occasion because , there hacL been complaints about over-vigorous tactics and some oj. the refereeing. He thought .perhaps the Fiji people had stressed the matter so heavily that the home players seemed suppressed. ' The whole country got a great kick out of Fiji’s one-point win in the second test, and for that reason Mr Henderson, said he was not much concerned at the loss. >_ Tlibugh he says Fiji is “.quite a country”, Mr Hfenderson is glad to get back “Where you pay more than twice the taxation, where whisky is a luxury, and where you can sleep without having to rely on trade winds to make sleep possible.” He says the hoys who went with him share that view, hut they all agree they had a grand time, -si nm jCoq* spuouj apßur ptra member.