The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 19. SPORT AND PROGRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 19 August 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 19. SPORT AND PROGRESS.

'New Plymouth is particuhiiiy jovtuuate | 'in possessing the hue recreation and sports grounds il doe*. No other town 'in the colony, it can truthiully he said, lis so well oil' in ve*pea of thy natural ( beauty ol ils breathing spaces. it id ii truism that a prophet lias little honor jia his own country, and il is a like i truism that the people of New Plymouth jdo not appreciate their beautiful grounds half as much as strangers. A visitor jwrts looking over the Uecreation U rounds and Western Park last week. lie was much impressed with them. "But, linid he, "is Now Plymouth strong enough lo justify the outlay.' It can leailily be understood thai any one interested in sport would be profoundly impressed after viewiug the two grounds with their terraces rising one above the other like Komim amphitheatres,capable of accommodating thousands of spectators, and the visitors query was the natural outcome oi an observant mind. Vet the reply lo the question needed not an instant's reileelion Decidedly and emphatically the allirmative was the reply. Not that it, need be expected that at the present time both grounds could be filled with spectators at the same time, but judging from the progress of the town and district and its I future development as au oceanic port, and ere long as one of the chief centres of the Dominion, the time should come when not only these vast spurts arenas but the racecourse as well will be iilled with crowds of eager spectators the athletes of to-day and their kindred spirits —watching the feats of prowess and bkill iu those games which have made Great liriUiiu and her colonial children the great Empire it is.

Nome there are who may tpu'stion t. dost.' relationship which exists betwec eport and progress. Doubtless the. have. their reason-, but the fact aliU rt nains tliat throughout the man housamls vi years thaj> hav lap-ed biiK-c man can be traced to luiv ixisted on this earth the one donimaii eature of his career lias been the desir o excel above his fellows. It is this Ilia lus made history, art anil civilisation vith all its attendant codes and ethics \«rj\in and again it has led to tlie ris mil fall of kingdoms and the evolutioi >f heroes. It has brought out all th:i s best- and sometimes all that is woi'S n humanity, but the tormer has pre railed, jh it ought, and ita preponder nice is ever on the increase. Not al .he wealth of invectives against, ani leuundation ot' sport can alter the pro pea* of the past, though they may »erv< 'he purpose of purging sport of thos( dements which sometimes threaten it: rood name and the end it has in view Lt b the same forceful and indomitable spirit which lias raised sports to the pre sent position that is showu in the pur suit of commercial, industrial and pro Sessional concerns. \\ ell directed ener ry, perseverance, skill and determine iion have achieved and will continue to idvaucc the fame of members of our Empire and others throughout the >vorld. There are, of course, some initanees of healthy minds in unsound jodies—and the reverse. As a general jrlneiple, however, it is the combination if soundness in mind and body that uakes the real man—the history-making machine.

Looking back into the remote ages o antiquity wo tiuil that the earliest trace of man ill the paleolithic age (or eve farther back into the little-known Eoccn period) show tlmt lie was not morel; content to kill the monster lie encounter ed in his struggle for existence, nor t conline himself to the work of fashion ing stone implements of destraetioi merely for the purpose of slaughtei The fact that lie was proiul of his rud skill in slaying a mammoth is evidence by the fact that with much labor h I made a record of his prowess by mean of a rough sketch of the animal effect e(l by means of a sharpened Hint opei ated on one of the large bones of th victim. So it lias been through all th incalculable ages since. Strife for nv.u tery has been the centre spring of ir volition and progress, and still is. Ih prime necessity of the untutored savag wns vigorous liealtli, failing Dial he sue cumbed to the inevitable. It was case ol the survival of the fittest though all this lias been changed ill ill past era, the underlying principle is stii paramount. The same powertul stinm Ills to go olio better than our nciglilio incite* us to put forlh the best ol' ou energies in all departments ol' life. Ivi valry is the essence of trade, and just s much will a community progress in pre portion tu the extent which this stimu lus is applied, and according to the mat ner in which it is directed. It is th proper use that is made ol a means l mi end that is all important. Abuse may creep in, but they can be deal with cll'ectually. Then, again, il isaid thai at the present time too nine! time is often devoted to playing loollnill, hockey and cricket, and indulging in other sports. 'i here are two sides to the question. The playing field is one of the best assets of a nation, and its use is fraught" with the best results.

Little wonder, therefore, that in every township in the colony is to be found u recreation ground. The exuberant spirits of youth and adolescence must tind a vent in some direction or ailother, and it io far lietter to let the safety valve be that of play than hooliganism. The greater the prosperity uf a district the more energy will be displayed in outdoor sports of all kinds, and, by pariiy of reasoning, the nionskill shown in play the greater success will be achieved in industrial matters. One of tile chief reasons ior the existence of that deeply-rooted confidence ill the future of Tarauaki is the energy dis; played by the residents Waugauui may well be proud of its aquatic champion, and other centres may rejoice in their own peculiar advantages. So long as we take care to build up a healthy, vigorous race there need be no fear uf the natural expansion of our prosperity, if, and when, the period arrives in which a decadence is seen in manly sports, so surely will thai epoch mark the moral, physical and intellectual retrogression of the people accompanied by a downWard trend uf material prosperity. May its advent be deferred for ull time.