THE CANTERBURY CRICKETERS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1547, 3 February 1879, Page 3

THE CANTERBURY CRICKETERS.

To the Editor of the Globe, SlB, —I have waited with a considerable amount of interest to see what steps the Canterbury cricketers would take to welcome their brethren of the bat on their return from their Australian tour; and it is with considerable surprise I now learn that nothing whatever is intended to bo done. This is not as it should be. It says little for our admiration of British pluck that a movement las not been made long ago to meet these gentlemen at a dinner, or on some similar public occasion, in order to testify our appre elation of their services. The way in which they have been allowed to return from their Tictorian trip—the first of the kind ever undertaken by a Hew Zealand team—is in my opinion, little less than a disgrace to our local cricketers. Had it been in Dunedin or Auckland the result would have been very different—the reception of the men would hare been worthy of their achievements. To treat the team as it has been treated is not the way to infuse such a feeling into the cricketers generally as is likely to induce them soon again to leave their own shores to do honor to the cricketing reputation of How Zealand. Though not a cricketer myself, I think their treatment, or rather want of treatment, since their return will remain a standing reproach to Canterbury unless some steps are taken to repair what has evidently been a very palpable oversight. Yours, &c., SPECTATOR.