The Sun WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1928 AN ODD DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 291, 29 February 1928, Page 8

The Sun WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1928 AN ODD DAY

THIS is the oddest day of the year—the day on which, once only every fourth year, except the last in each century, even though its number can be divided by four without remainder, the year leaps forward a day and puts the calendar right again for a spell. As experts explain, Leap Year is the term used for a year containing, roughly, 366 days, or one day more than the ordinary year. The extra day lias many historical associations. It lias been the plaything of emperors. February was first introduced into the Roman calendar by Numa Pompilius when lie extended the y?ar to twelve months. Its name arose from the practice of religious expiation and purification among the Romans (wlio needed a great deal of such practice) at the beginning of this month. Numa doomed February to have one day less, three out of four times, than even those months which were to consist of thirty days. So he commanded that it should have only twentynine days, excepting in leap years, when, by the intercalation of a day between the 23rd and the 24th, it was to have thirty days. This seemed fair enough for everybody, hut it was not good enough for Augustus. When it came that emperor’s turn to immortalise his name within his own time and apparently for ever, he insisted upon adding an extra day to the month which he named August. August could not have thirty-one days without some other month losing a day. On the principle that one emperor’s turn deserves- another, Numa’s purifying month was shorn of a day, though it could least spare it. Later, when calendar revision became the sport of kings and reformers, it fell to the lot of poor February to regain its lost day every fourth year. Things might have been better arranged had Mr. Sidey lived as a Roman Emperor at the beginning of calendar reformation. He certainly would have saved daylight somewhere, and might even have devised a longer midsummer. As things are, however, February 29 nowadays is really no different from an ordinary day of the same month or any other day. It is to he regretted that the day is not utilised by all the progressive days as a day of great service, or failing that, as the only day on which bad polities, the high cost of living, and robbing by taxation, would he tolerated in order to confine the recurrence of these unpleasant evils to once every fourth year. Something of this sort of Leap Year commemoration would be more beneficial than a repetition of the stale joke about the rights of spinsters in winning a man not worth wooing, and mock tears over lost birthdays, which are better lost at or about the middle stage of life. There is no end to the scope for making February 29 tire day of djys. For example, a Cabinet meeting to-day, if it resulted in abolishing summer-time unemployment until next Leap Year at the least, would be a splendid commemoration of an odd day. As for the real meaning of the word February there is much need even in this corner country of the world for religious and political expiation.

YE ANCIENT GAME

ADDED zest is lent the ancient game of bowls in New Zealand, where it has a surprising number of votaries, by the visit of the South Australian team which yesterday defeated a team representing the executive and past executive officers of the Auckland Bowling Association. Bowls is not merely a game for the aged and infirm, as some scoffers would imply. A glance at any of Auckland’s many bowling greens on a Saturday afternoon would reveal many young and middle-aged men using their “woods” with all the enthusiasm of a cricketer wielding a bat or a Rugby man pouncing on the ball. Bowls gives other present-day popular games a long lead in antiquity. It was in vogue in England in the 13th century, and the Southampton Town Club has maintained its green since 1299. The game was once proscribed by Statute, as it was held to interfere with the practice of archery, which, in its turn, was regarded as essential for the defence of the Realm. This notwithstanding it grew in popularity and even enjoyed the favour of Kings, Henry VIII. being an enthusiast. And on July 19, 1588, so ’tis said, Sir Francis Drake refused to go forth to smash the Spanish Armada until he had finished his game with Sir John Hawkins. Sir Francis lost the game, by the way, possibly through being so rudely interrupted. It is interesting to note that the sturdy Scot came to the rescue of howls when the game later fell into disrepute. In the days of the Restoration howls was regarded as “a pothouse recreation,” from which evil plight it was delivered by the bowlers of Scotland, who drew up the code of laws which now practically governs the game in the British Empire. Bowls is now on a very high plane, of course; an eminently respectable and absorbing relaxation, highly recommended by the medical faculty as a palliative for obesity and a cure for jangled nerves. May the tour of the visitors be pleasant and their presence beneficial to the game in this country!

THE RED CROSS

ADioxxNGUISHED visitor to New Zealand, Brigadier-General H. F. Bateman-Champain, Secretary-General of the British Red Cross Society, is touring on behalf of the League of Red Cross Societies, a body which has for its object the encouragement of national Red Cross Societies to continue their operations in peace time. Brigadier-General Bateman-Champain had a long and distinguished record in the fighting forces before accepting his present position, and he had frequent opportunities of seeing the splendid work of the Red Cross in the war. Now it is his desire that the peace work of this society shall be stimulated. so that it may not decline in virility. There are branches of the British Red Cross in cities throughout New Zealand, and these work in conjunction with that everuseful institution the St. John Ambulance. In Auckland, the Red Cross, among other activities, maintains the Evelyn Firth Home for crippled ex-soldicrs, supplies comforts to hospital patients, and provides a special cook and special foods for the patients in the T.B. Shelters. The splendid work of the local Red Cross workers during the war will be remembered with gratitude. It is now the aim of the Red Cross to devote special attention to caring for ex-soldiers who need medical and material assistance, and to help, wherever possible, in alleviating sickness and suffering among the civil population. There is little doubt that the public will appreciate the worth of the Red Cross as generously in peace as it did in war.