The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1924. THE CHINESE FOOTBALLERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 August 1924, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1924. THE CHINESE FOOTBALLERS.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia. Norman by. Okaiawa, Eltham, Patee, Waverley, Mokoia, Wbakamara, Oiianga/, Meremere. Eraser Road, and Otakeuc Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake,

The visit to liawera of the Chinese Association football team has been awaited with much interest by sporting enthusiasts, and no doubt there will be a very large attendance at the match to-morrow afternoon if the w r eather is fine. International sporting events are an important development of fairly recent times, and .since the war there has been a desire to increase the number of visits from teams from overseas countries and to return those visits. The men who have come to New Zealand to try conclusions with our Association players are representatives of the Chinese universities, men who may do much within the next few years to raise China to a higher plane, and who will help to carry Western civilisation to the teeming millions of fellow citizens and lead them along the great highway of peace and progress, for which the Asiatic nations wait. These men have come to New Zealand to play football, but it is inconceivable that they can pass through the Dominion and see only a marked field of play, a ball, eleven opponents, a referee, linesmen and crowds of spectators. They will see far more than that; they will realise that here in a beautiful land is a modern State which will impress them with the great advantages of the British democratic system, and it is to be hoped that they will learn through their contact with the Dominion and its people things that will be of benefit to the great nation which they represent. No one who reads can fail to note that China has made much progress in the last few decades, and though there are serious divisions as to who shall govern these will ultimately be overcome and China shoxxld rapidly become a more powerful and influential nation if she adopts more democratic methods of government. The travels of her men of culture and education abroad are important to China, and, in welcoming the students who have come to our shores, the people of New Zealand recognise, that they are representatives of a very old country and of the

world’s oldest civilisation. One talked with a local a lew davs ago about the visit, and one could not but note the fact that he saw in it .something more than a football tour. “Yes,” he said, “football good fun. Much better we have fun than fight. War is no good; we should all be friends.” The visit- of the students will enable them to take back with them good reports' of their pleasant experiences, and will help to build up a friendship which in. years to come, when China composes her differences and takes her place in the world as a great Power, will be most desirable. Reports from places at which the visitors have appeared show that the members of the team are clever players, and that not only have they the true sporting spirit, but are most interested in the land which they are visiting. W© hope that to-morrow's match will prove interesting to both teams and to the spectators, and that the visitors will carry away with them good impressions of .Taranaki and her people.