PIG STICKING

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21416, 7 March 1935, Page 9

PIG STICKING

*0 TH* *DITOa or THB PRBSS. Sir, —Poor "Monk," I am very sorry to have hurt his (or her) better feelings. But really he would bo doing much more good, to himself at least, by reading the daily paper more thoroughly and Improving his knowledge of worldly affairs, than writing on a subject of which he obviously knows nothing—at least, to judge by the mistakes made in a few lines of correspondence. First, every sportsman knows that a sucking pig would not be worth riding after, whereas a fit boar can give a good man and good pony plenty of excitement over a distance of two or three miles; and if the said boar has tusks and a stout heart it would not be as one-sided as it may sound. Second, bull-fighting is not indulged in in the south of France. Third, the pig is no more the national animal of the Emerald Isle than the potato is the national flower. I'm sorry for the present generation of New Zealanders if they cannot stand the sight of a little blood. Are we slowly degenerating into a lot of weaklings? If so, Heaven help the 1950 All Blacks! The British army and civilian population of India can enjoy the sport, and in a climate that isn't exactly a tonic for nerves. Surely we have enough British or Irish sporting blood ?n our veins to be able to enjoy this exciting sport, too. No, I think it would do sedate Canterbury and much too sedate Christchurch a lot of good to see the sport. And, blood or no blood, the Agricultural and Pastoral Association officials would probably find the gate doubled!— Yours, etc., WAIF. Dunsandel, March 5, 1935.