If prizes are ever given for inconsistency, the New Zealand cricketers who toured England this year must surely be eligible for high ranking. When they left these shores it was hoped that they would acquit themselves well in most of their games and, perhaps, give the representatives of the Old Land some bother in Test matches.

But, some demon of mischief seems to have played havoc with all these high hopes. Matches anticipated to cause the New Zealanders more than a little trouble have been taken without any distress, but against teams which should have been easy for the tourists collapses have been the order.

Wallace and Moloney will return to New Zealand with experience of doing really well against class players; Tindill has established a reputation as a wicket-keeper much above the average, and Cowie has been referred to as the best fast bowler seen in England during the season. That, in effect, is the summary of play in England. The team members have proved popular because they put the game above the result, but New Zealanders will feel a little disappointed that more impressive performances were not established.

However, the tour has had the effect of the Australian Board of Cricket Control extending an invitation for the team to play a series of matches in Australia while en route home. In return it is hoped that an Australian team will visit New Zealand in the near future. The time for a visit by a strong Australian team is long overdue.

Precept and practice make for better performances in all branches of sport, and New Zealand cricketers need plenty of high class matches to raise the standard of the game in this country. Wallace, Moloney, Cowie and Tindill have shown that the younger generation of cricketers possess “what it takes” to make a champion cricketer, but if they have to wait years before they engage in further first class cricket, they may slip back in the standard of their play.

The Man Who Beat Lovelock.

Twelve months ago Jack Lovelock won the 1,500 metres track event at the Olympic Games in Berlin and so brought to New Zealand its first Olympic track crown. In that Olympic race was a young, inexperienced American athlete, Archie San Romani, who ran into fame a few short months later by defeating Lovelock when the New Zealander was en route to New Zealand.

San Romani's win was “written down” as a victory over an athlete who had achieved the success he had sought—the Olympic crown—and had no great incentive to run the race of his life. But San Romani is no ordinary miler! Competing under atrocious weather conditions on the Princeton track a few weeks ago San Romani defeated Don Lash and Glenn Cunningham in the second fastest mile race ever recorded. San Romani's time was 4 min. 71/5 sec., and Lash, who finished second, was credited with the same time, because he was only an “eyelash” away. Cunningham's time was 4 min. 7 2/5 sec. Although the weather conditions were vile, all three athletes bettered the world record established on the same track four years earlier—almost to the day— by Jack Lovelock. Lovelock has not raced this season, but in one appearance at an athletic meeting in England he made a hit as a starter in sprint events.

New Zealand Surfers to Visit Australia.

A tribute has been paid New Zealand by the invitation issued for a New Zealand surf team to visit the Commonwealth to participate in competitions and give displays on Australian beaches.

When the Australian team visited New Zealand last summer—(by the way, did we have a summer?)—bad weather prevented the general public from attending the displays in the numbers worthy of such outstanding watermen. Those who were fortunate enough to see the Australians “riding the breakers” saw something they will remember for years to come, and, although it is not expected that the New Zealand team will extend the Australians, the benefits to be derived from competition with the best teams in the world must be of inestimable value when the team returns to New Zealand and the individual members impart the knowledge gained in Australia.

Boxing in New Zealand.

When Young Gildo, the Filipino boxer, arrived in New Zealand a few months ago it was not thought that there would be sufficient opponents for him, but a revelation was in store for New Zealanders. Gildo is a “top liner” in the boxing world, and it is a feather in the cap of New Zealand boxers that two local lads, Billy Aitken and Jack Jarvis, have scored wins over the redoubtable visitor. Gildo, too, has done his share in bringing about a revival to the gloved sport.

At one time it was thought that there was not room in New Zealand for boxing and wrestling at the same time, but recent weeks have proved the inaccuracy of this assumption. Two nights of wrestling and one of boxing in the one week drew an attendance of over 4,000 enthusiasts in Wellington recently.

Negroes in Sport.

Alastair Cameron, the young Otago athlete, holds the “best New Zealand” performance at discus throwing with an effort of 139 ft. 3½ in., a performance good enough to win a British Empire title were Cameron eligible to represent New Zealand, but it pales into significance alongside the throw made by an eighteen-year-old American negro athlete, Archie Harris. Competing at Passaic a few weeks ago, Harris threw the discus to 175 ft. 8 in., to beat the world record of 174 ft. 2½ in. held by Willi Shroder, of Germany. Because Harris was not registered with the New Jersey Association his throw will not receive official recognition.

Until recent years negro supremacy in track and field sport had been limited to sprinting and long jump, but at the Olympic Games at Berlin last year the coloured athletes triumphed in the sprints, long jump, quarter-mile, half-mile and high jump, and now a negro athlete has broken the world record in a new branch of the sport.

The world record for 100, 200, and 800 metres is held by coloured athletes who also hold world marks in the high jump (6ft. 10 in.) and long jump. And a negro is heavyweight boxing champion of the world!

The Springboks.

Wherever the Springbok Rugby team plays, new attendance figures are being set and fresh problems are being faced and solved by the authorities responsible for the efficient staging of the big matches. Too few of us realise the organisation necessary to carry out a tour of this nature.

Catering for the influx of visitors to see the more important matches has meant the engagement of extra staffs at hotels, and restaurants, while purveyors of pneumatic cushions and thermos flasks have reaped a rich harvest. But, somehow, the day of big sales in souvenir ribbons seems to have gone. In catering for the travelling public, the New Zealand Railway Department has good reason to feel proud of its efficiency. It is on special occasions such as this that New Zealanders realise to the full the safe and sure service supplied for 365 days a year. Aucklanders were able to visit Wellington for the First Test as casually as if the Capital City was just down the line instead of fourteen hours and 426 miles away, and returned in time to start work again on the Monday without loss of time!