ALL BLACKS AT SEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 361, 23 May 1928, Page 7

ALL BLACKS AT SEA

AUSTRALIAN PORTS OF CALL SUCCESSES AT ADELAIDE By THE SUN'S Special Correspondent S.S. Euripides, Fremantle, May 8, 1928. Before we leave Australia, on the last stage of our journey to Africa, a few notes anent the doings of the team in Adelaide and Fremantle, and also some general happenings, might be set down. I think all will be glad when we feel the heave of the great Indian Ocean, and leave the last of the Australian ports. Delightful interludes they have been, seeing mostly for the first time these young cities and sea ports on the Australian coast. Now the last of the passengers has come aboard, the numerous activities which are usual on an ocean liner have begun, sports, dances and concerts, and we feel a ship’s company: a miniature society, indeed. One thing one notices is the very determined effort made by the old-established conventions, eagerly carried out by never-failing devotees, to kill Time. Poor Time, what has it done to be teated in this way? And yet the wholesale slaughter goes on. Every kind of game which the ingenuity of man has devised for restricted spaces can be observed to flourish in the “cribbed, cabined, and confined’’ environment of a ship. One breakfasts at 8.30, walks around the deck nine and a-half times with a set look on one’s face, thus completing the required mile or whatever is the required thing, then begins the round of deck tennis or quoits or golf. VOCAL COMPETITION Deck golf or croquet, as played by the All Black team, depends directly on one’s power to shout one’s opponent down. Finesse and tactics are subordinated to will-power and lungs. The morning may be said to pass by without any clear-cut advantages either to Father Time or to the passenger, but some good work can be got in after lunch until afternoon tea, when one 'may sleep steadily and be wakened by a delicately subdued gong being beaten down the passage-ways, to rouse other time-killers besides oneself. Dressing for dinner and other kindred social amenities, all these are first-rate weapons in the eyes of the lethallyminded. Yet there is a perfectly good library on the ship, and many opportunities for rest and thought. When, too, every hour brings a change in the face of the sea or the sky, and unsets are glorious beyond the power of cold words to describe, one can realise the essential beauty of a sea life. Of course, “mal de mer” casts a shadow over some people’s power of enjoying the sea, and others are sometimes in dread of all the various mishaps that may befall. Thus fear once again takes his toll on human actions. In Adelaide we berthed at a place called Outer Harbour, which is some distance from Adelaide. You get into a queer train which always has the engine going backwards, or so it seems, and are rattled and shaken

along - . The contrivance has a most j amusing habi" of stumbling as it enters and leaves the innumerable poky stations, the prehistoric braking system no doubt being responsible. All is well when you adapt yourself to the necessity for taking a firm grasp of the seat at all doubtful moments. Gentlemen are requested not to spit on the floor or put their feet on the seats. Fine, £2. ALL BLACKS AT CRICKET One of the most delightful happenings so far was the Adelaide cricket match. The stewards of the Euripides were anxious to show New Zealand footballers that England’s national gam© was the only ethical one. Unfortunately, in people of the cricketing calibre of Burrows, Nicholls, Lilburne, Dailey, Carleton, Kilby and Sheen we had representatives of no small “ beer.” New Zealand batted first and Eilburne and Nicholls had 100 cn without being beaten, so that the game changed in the quick manner such an informal one may, to an afternoon’s pastime with the sun beating down in his best South Australian manner, and some of the best local brew' on tap. I would not have you believe that friend Bacchus took charge of the revels, but there was that spice of fellowship which a New Zealander always attempts to create, and which was not possible when one’s steward presided over the coffee in the lounge, or took one’s order for lunch. However, not to be outdone, the ship’s sportsmen challenged us to Soccer, and a team of 11 drawn from the backs of the team played a ship’s eleven. Again New Zealand was successful, but the “Pommies” made a stern fight for it, the score being 3-2 after a full hour’s play, in which the fitness of the New Zealanders overcame the science of the Englishmen. Adelaide itself is supposed to be the most beautiful of the Australian cities. It certainly is well constructed and I is a progressive place—but we have all voted unanimously in favour oi Perth, with her handmaiden, Fremantle. There is a spice of something more refined and homely, more delicate, in this Western city. The River Swan, with its graceful bends and quiet reaches of blue water, touches chords in one’s responsiveness that others fail to reach. Certainly we have had excellent weather, with the thermometer not far from the SO degrees mark. Even the immense stacks of wheat which extend for fully half a mile along our particular wharf, seem to be radiant with rich sunshine. The Mayor of Fremantle, after hearing of our arrival, gave us a municipal reception on Tuesday, May 8. The usual courtesies were exchanged. Kindness was shown also by Pat Hanna, of the “Diggers” Company, who entertained the team as his guests on Tuesday evening at his vaudeville entertainment. AT THE RACES On Monday, however, the day of arrival, we were all guests of the West Australian Turf Club at their May meeting. A brilliant day and a charmingly pretty racecourse were

the primary ingredients for our enjoyment. Then there were the bookmakers—and to a New Zealand total-isator-fed punter, the bookmakers can be compared to mother’s milk. That, however, is a simile which cannot be strained too fax—shades of Otto FriecLlander and Dick Martin, and other stalwarts of the ring, rise and protest against its use. Some of them aren’t so ugly, but the general theme suggested by the faces, is that a blunt instrument has been used somewhere. As usual, most of us being strangers in a strange land, we were taken in, but there were no serious financial re-shufflings, one way or the other. New Zealanders will know by no"' that our first match at Capetown is fairly definitely impossible, but this will occasion no regrets. There are a few minor injuries that have been got at training, but nothing of a serious nature.