WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1921, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE SPUINGIKIKS. WORTHY OPPONENTS. (.Our Special C'lin'cspmuli'nt). WEM.INGTON, Sept. 10 Tlic South Al'ficaii loot I mill'is uro returnino home without the prize for which tliey come, the fortune of the came having conspired with the tenacity of the holders to deprive them of the coiisurnmation of their ambition, hut they are taking hack with them the warm regard of a community I that loves clean spoil and its strenuous exponents. Players from no other part of tlie Empire have done better and it is douhlful if any have done <|tiile as well. They not only have given a splendid exhibition of football, but they also have provided an admirable. demonstration of the best t radiums of the game, on anil olf the field Their record stands to slum the i|imlily of their play and their popularity with the public to prove the scrupulous fairness of their methods, dust wlint the measure of their ill lock may have been, it is ditlirult to say. hot it is certain they were unfortunate in having to play two of tests" oil sodden ground, tinder conditions to which they were wholly unaccustomed, and still more iiiil'ortunaie in never having been able, owing m injuries, to [nit their strongest team into the held. I.ESSOXS OK THE TOPI!.

In these circumstances it will not he euiioediiisj; 100 much to the visitors to say that, the drawn game on Saturday represented very fairly the relative strength of the best football in South Afriea and the best football m New Zealand to-day. In the early part of the game, for the lirst ten minutes or SO after the kick off. the All lilaeks looked as if their serious eight or nine days' t famine were goint' to enable them to establish a definite -npetiority. Inlt whioi the Spiinelioks had adapted themselves to the slush and mud they had none the worse nl the play and seemed to he rather more than holding' their own at half time. In the second spell the advantage drifted first one wav and then the other, but in tlie last tell minutes ibe All Blinks again asserted tbemselevs and a little luck would have enabled them to suin'. But a draw was the appropriate conclusion to such a contest and a proper distribution ol tlie honours. If New Zealand foothaU is as good to-day as it was tiiteen years years ago, then South Africa has made enormous stiides in the interval. THE SESSION. .Members of both Houses are arriving for the session, which opens on Thursday next, and the lobbies, though stiW occupied by all army of carpenters, plumbers, glazieis. furnishers and miscellaneous workers, are beginning to shelter little groups of political gossi pel's. 1 1 would seem from the attitude of Ministers that no great haste will he made with the prelittiinarv proceedings and I ha; the Address-iii-Reply may hold the Hoot' ol the House long enough to enable Mr Massec to speak his piece to the country through this medium. The Governor’s •Speech is likely to he even more uninformative and iiim-i ommit tal than usual, nolle of the Prime Mme'er's colleagues having shewn any disposition to plunge into controversial subjects during the absence of their chief, lint ibis, of course, need mu prevent members exploiting the whole held ol j polities, (last, present and Inline. A j liej\ peril towards hiipiaeity is pro- j vided by the general icingiiilinn of (lie inevitability ol llm session running j over the Christmas holidays. Having | to remain in Wellington to assist ill fhe i rtiiisaet ion ol an enormous amount of Government business the talkative member may lie tmsied to take toll ol lieeessit v hy making himself frequently heard.

FREEZING COMPANIES AND FARMERS. East week „M i A. 1). Mcl.eod, the inemher for Wairarapa wrote t,, th "Doniinioii” recount ing some ot the stories ill eiieohuion eoiU'eriiiiig; the 11 eat men I of the I'armei'S hy the freezing coin pa nies. The most striking of them was that the companies had lixed prices at a high level early in the season to suit the big men and tben laid reduced them to a. mm h lower level will'll the small men w'eie ready to send in their so <k. The fails of the ease, as t'c local companies have now clearly detgntisl rated, show the preference was just the other way about. The season was live or six weeks late iii opening, owing In labour troubles, and when the factories a<tuallv got to work, the big owners were' induced >n withhold their lat wethers till the funnels' lot; ol lambs ronld he handled. The evidence to this elicit is quite irrefutable. Mr Mel.end did tun credit ibis story, nor the nthers that woic being spread alnmt liv interested people, and as il Inins Oili he has done the companies a good service hy giving ih. ni an nppnrtimilv to disprove the principal fahle.