On the 24th May, 1929, a team of athletes representative of the N.Z.U. left by the Marama for Sydney. It was a small band with a most important mission: the inception of athletic contests, similar to football, between the New Zealand and Australian Universities.

Before giving a detailed account, it is interesting to know the history leading up to this departure.

In 1926-7 V.U.C. was fortunate in having an ex-Olympic representative of Great Britain as honorary coach. Two N.Z.U. records, the mile and high jump, stand as monuments

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to his capabilities in this capacity. Mr. E. V. Dunbar was transferred, however, to a higher post in Sydney, and his fertile brain conceived the idea of inter-colonial contests. It took him a long time to interest Sydney, but success at last came, and Sydney issued an invitation to V.U.C.A.A.C. to send a team. As some of the star performers had either retired, married or were injured, the full strength of our team was so weakened as to necessitate communicating with other colleges. Only one had the courtesy to reply early—in February. The others were interviewed at Tournament and were keen. V.U.C.A.A.C. offered the control to N.U.S., thinking it would be but too pleased to show its worth. The offer was rejected on the plea of lack of time. V.U.C. went ahead with negotiations, definitely committing itself to see the trip through. Negotiations with the other colleges for equal financial support brought the knowledge that contributions would be forthcoming only if the N.U.S. was in control. One of its members, a very southern one, adopted a most unfortunate, and, in the face of V.U.C.'s hard toil of the last two years, a most ridiculous attitude. Fortunately it was quite unofficial, but he should have had more sense than to let it get in the, Press and tend to create a prejudice against the N.U.S. itself. Its other members, however, appreciated V.U.C.'s attitude and supported it. V.U.C. did the work on the understanding that N.U.S. looked after the finance, and we were a special committee- and thus after much useless correspondence came back to V.U.C.A.A.C.'s first offer, and all was well.

V.U.C. may feel proud of the fact that a contest of such importance had its origin in the work of some of its members and supporters. It is only fair to mention Mr. Dunbar's and Mr. McCormick's names in this connection.

An account of the trip, by one of the V.U.C. members, is here given.

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Sydney Trip.

The following team left New Zealand on 24th May:—E. K. Eastwood, J. N. Goodson, F. S. Ramson, V.U.C.; D. W. Bain, D. C. Harley, H. A. Henderson, E. B. Taylor, C.U.C.; J. Webber, O.U.

Arrived Sydney 28th May. Most of team felt to a certain extent the effects of the boat trip, but with a run on the Wednesday and Thursday had settled down for the meeting on Saturday.

First meeting held on Church of England Grammar School grounds at North-bridge. Heavy rain overnight had soaked the ground, and frequent showers during the day made conditions unpleasant for running. In spite of this, good times were, registered in most events, and the State team was beaten by seven events to two. This victory was very heartening, as, although the State team was not in the best of training, it included Norman and Hunt, two Olympic representative runners.

The results were:—100 Yards: J. N. Goodson (N.Z.). 220 Yards: E. K. Eastwood (N.Z.). 440 Yards: E. K. Eastwood (N.Z.). 880 Yards: J. Webber (N.Z.). One Mile: E. B. Taylor (N.Z.). 120 Yards Hurdles: F. S. Ramson (N.Z.). Long Jump: N.S.W. Shot Putt: N.S.W. Hammer: H. A. Henderson (N.Z.).

On Wednesday, 5th, met Australian University team on University Oval, Sydney. The Australian University team was on paper a particularly strong one. and lived up to its reputation. The N.Z.U. team won only one event, shot putt (H. A. Henderson). Although beaten in most of the events, the N.Z.U. team gave a good account of itself and nearly all the events were closely contested.

Mr. E. V. Dunbar managed the team, and was assisted by a member of the team, E. B. E. Taylor. The team is indebted to Mr. Dunbar for his unflagging enthusiasm, his assistance on the track, and his generous support for their entertainment.

The results are:—100 Yards: J. B. Rowe (A.), 1; E. M. Davidson (A.), 2; J. N. Goodson (N.Z.), 3. Time, 10 3-Ssec. 220 Yards: E. M. Davidson (A.). 1; E. K. Eastwood (N.Z.), 2; R. Tynan (A.), 3. Time, 22 4-Ssec. Quarter-mile: A. H. Young (A.), 1; E. K. Eastwood (N.Z.), 2; C. P. C. Reilly (A.), 3. Time, 51sec. Half-mile: W. Fenton-Brown (A.). 1; C. Grant (A.). 2; J. H. Webber (N.Z.), 3. Time, 2min. 1sec. Mile Run: A. J. Hillhouse (A.). 1; E. B. E. Taylor (N.Z.), 2; L. Nichterlein (A.). 3. Time, 4min. 29 1-5sec. 120 Yards Hurdles: O. E. Worth (A.), 1; F. S. Ramson (N.Z.), 2; C. R. Wallace (A.), 3. Time, 16sec. 440 Yards Hurdles: H. White (A.), 1; C. R. Wallace (A.), 2; F. S. Ramson (N.Z.), 3. Time, 59 3-5sec. Broad Jump: O. E. Worth (A.), 21ft. 7½., 1: H. H. M. Finemore (A.), 21ft. 2½n. 2; F. S. Ramson (N.Z.), 20ft., 3. Shot Putt: H. A. Henderson (N.Z.), 37ft. 7½in., 1; R. C. Mackay (A.), 37ft. 3in., 2; page 66 I. H. Seppelt (A.), 36ft. 8in., 3. Hammer: M. Rosenblum (A.), 113ft. 8in., 1; T. B. Dodds (A.), 108ft. 5½in., 2; H. A. Henderson (N.Z.). 107ft. 10in., 3. Medley Relay: Australia (C. Grant. A. H. Young, J. B. Rowe, and E. M. Davidson). 1; New Zealand (J. H. Webber, E. K. Eastwood, F. S. Ramson and J. N. Goodson), 2. Time, 3min. 43sec.