The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1915.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3998, 3 August 1915, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1915.

The disgraceful scenes that have just taken place i» connection with the recruiting campaign in Sydney have, it will he observed, evoked vigorous protests from all sections of the public in New South Wales. One might suppose from what has appeared on the subject that the hoteling down of Mr Holman at two such large gatherings means that there is a somewhat widespread ieeling in the capital, of the Mother State against extending full assistance to Britain and her Allies in their great hour oi peril. ft is, however, more than likely that the real explanation of the incident is to he found in the growing personal unpopularity oi: the N.S.W. Premier, in the nature ol his remarks, and in what may have been regarded as the inappropriateness of such an occasion as a big boxing contest for the making of such an appeal. As regards the loyalty of the people of Sydney as a whole there can, we think, he no possible shadow of a doubt. On the whole recruiting in that State has been quite as successful as in'any other portion of the Colonies. Then, again, in the matter of gifts oi treasure to assist the Empire's cause Sydney leads easily over any other city in the Commonwealth, as is once again shown by the higher results that were obtained in that city as compared with Melbourne or any other city in connection with the Australia Day patriotic appeals. For an explanation of what led to the scenes in question one must, therefore, look in another direction. It is certain, wo should say, that nobody would suggest that recruiting has been unduly difficult in the ranks of devotees of sport m Australia any more than it lias been in tJiis Dominion. As things have turned out it is really noteworthy the way in which athletes and patrons of the different branches of athletics have, rallied to the call: “To Arms!” What is then (as wo have already opined) the most feasible explanation of the unhappy affair is chiefly that Mr Holman is no longer a widely popular statesman. fn this regard students of Australian polities will have noted for some time past that, whilst Labor as a whole remains fairly satisfied with the Federal Labor Government, a large section of the supporters of Labor in Now South Wales have become discontented with the Labor Ministry as at present constituted in their State. Tin’s feeling of hostility towards Mr Holman in particular is, as must ho well-known, reflected iu a movement having for its object the establishment of a new Labor party in Now South Wales. One can also imagine judging by accounts as to the. mood of patrons of boxing contests in particular, that a. public, speaker would require to he extremely popular to secure on such an occasion an uninterrupted and patient bearing. It would seem that prior to the actual contest onlookers display the utmost impatience if what they regard as unnecessary delay should occur; whilst, when a match is in progress, excitement runs very high. As a rule, too, patrons of this class of athletics have to pay fairly dearly for their sport and, consequently expect as much of the period of a. tourney as possible to he eventful. This would all go to show that anybody who might attempt to address at any length such a. gathering would, at least he regarded as wasting time and ho would suffer a severe rebuff if, in addition to being unpopular with a section of the gathering, lie showed lack of fact in handling his subject. Nobody, of course, would believo that the crowd by whom Mr Holman was howled down consist-' ed only of “young loafers” as lie- interred when ho found that it was certain ho was not going to got a hearing. Probably most of those present would, in other circumstances, have listened with the utmost attention to recruiting appeals by speakers for whom they have a greater respect. The' incident will, however, also servo to show the danger which the continued attraction of sport may be to a nation at. such a- critical 'juncture. History records that at least one great Empire fell on account ol'.an inordinate lcfve of ease and pleasure- Might it not also have been the case that if

A Recruiting Campaign Incident.

the present groat struggle had been delayed Britain, too, might have found to her sorrow that excessive indulgence in athletics—and, what is worse, the widespread habit of attending sports gatherings regularly merely as spectators—does not prepare a nation to meet and defeat another big nation winch has trained its citizens principally in the art of war.