“N.Z. SPORTSMEN OWE LOT TO AUSTRALIANS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 326, 11 April 1928, Page 7

“N.Z. SPORTSMEN OWE LOT TO AUSTRALIANS”

MR. COATES'S COMPLIMENT farewell to cricketers (Special to THE BUNJ WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, bade an official farewell to the Australian cricket team this afternoon, and spoke ir. highly enthusiastic terms of Che great value of their visit in further cementing the bonds of friendship between the two sister Oominions. With Mr. Coates was the Miirster of Public Works, the Hon. K. S. Williams. Mr. Coates said he would like to express, on behalf of both the Government and the citizens of New Zealand, the pleasure they had all had in having the Australian team among them, and to express the Lope that the visitors had enjoyed the time spent in this country. “I am only mildly expressing the views of our people when I say that the Australians, and particulaily the Australian cricketers, are especially welcome here. New Zealand sportsmen owe a lot to Australians, especially in the cricket world, and our appreciation and gratitude of the assistance, support and general attitude, on every occasion, of the Australian cricketing world, in assisting New Zealand, cannot bo overstressed.” Apart from fostering the spirit of sportsmanship among the younger generations and acting as an incentive to the Dominion's younger players, the team’s visit did an enormous amount of good in bringing together the representatives of two countries, enabling them to understand one another better. He sincerely noped ihat the interchange of cricket iearns with Australia would become a regular thing in future, and he congratulated the visitors on the enviable reputation they had earned as ambassadors from their country.

The manager, Mr. W. C. Bull, replied and paid a high tribute to the unequalled hospitality the team bad met everywhere in New Zealand. As a m mber of the Australian Board of Control, he promised to try to .induce his colleagues to arrange regular visits between Australian and New' Zealand teams, every two or three years.