BOXING.

RACE NIGHT CARNIVAL. LADBTJRY DEFEATS STEWART. At Olympia Stadium last evening tho J-imaru Boxing Association staged a race night programme. There was a lairh- good attendance, but liie quality ot the boxing was much below tliat of previous carnivals the Association lias staged. The.principal contest, was between J. Ladbnrv (England) and C. Stewart (Timnru) for the professional bantam championship of New Zealand. A spirited contest was anticipated, and it was expected in some Quarters ttaffile fight would go the full fifteen round.-, with a decision given on points, but as it turned out the contest was a fiasco, with only one man in tiie picture. Ladbury, who has had great experience, proved to be a veritable dark horse, and on his showing last evening, should have uo difficulty in accounting for any light-weight in the Dominion. He made the Tiniarn champion (Stewarts look a mere novice and bad he wished could have finished tho fight in halt a round. Stewart took a lot of punishment, and in tho third round gave up a. hopeless contest through an injury to his arm. The sndden conclusion to tlie affair was. most unexpected, and tho Boxing Association would be well advised to always have rn extra contest in reserve, so as to give their patrons a fair run for their admission money.

Tlie preliniinarr bouts also fell short of previous "curtain raisers," and there was not much of interest in the two of ihem. Below are given particulars of the three contests.

GUXX BEATS STOXE. Tlie first bout of the evening was ilio amateur bantam contest between JI. Gunn (Timaru) 7st lOibs. :nd J. Stone (Cliristchurch) Sst 2Ubs. Messrs J. O'Donnell and K. M- Ai"hur officiated as judges, j-nd six three-minute rounds were scheduled. In the initial round Gunn shaped very prettily, while) Stout* had an. awkward style of delivery. The tight, was fairly even, but Gunn had the best, of is if any. Round 2 was extremely quiet. Gunn tried to force matters, but his opponent never came up to the scratch. Guim again had we round on points. The half-way stage was very merry. Stone perceived that he was hopelessly out-classed as far as science went, and depended en a wicked looking right, which very it.rely connected, to end the session. Stone hit. the air frequently, Gnnn's footwork being admirable, and ho was the essence of coolness- Round 4 was of no consequence, the fighting bojng tame, although on one or'two occasions Stone scored a point or two. Round 5 saw Gunn aggressive, while Stone kept standing off. and at intervals s<>ung his right with great fore.-, only i o see- Gunn a few vards away. In the final session Stone "tried hard to connect but the Timaru bov was too clever for him. Tlies verdict in favour of Gunn was the only one possible.

MORRIS OUT-POINTS F.ASTOX

The second preliminary was Morris (KaiapoP 9st 91bs v. Easton (Oamavu) 9st ]olbt. This was a light-weight amateur r-oi.tost of six 3-minute rounds. Messrs K. G Kerr and J. Inine assessed the points.

'ihe opening round was very quiet. Easton had the bigger reach, hut he did not appear to bo in the best of condition. Morris on the other hand was not fighting up to standard. The second session was conspicuous lor too much holding, and the referee's cry of "break" became monotonous. Roth were offending, although Easton was perhaps most to blame. Any margin •"n points in this round lay with Morris. Round 3 saw both fighting vevy wildly, and there was little science shown. A few of the exchanges were of interest and Morris had a small margin in his favour when the gong went Round 4 opened very quietly, but livened up towards the end. Near the -finish Easton served a terrihle hard right to Morris's head, and the latter just missed it by inches. Honours were fairly even. Round 5. Morris fought strongly, and connected three times in succession. Easton immediately evened up the score, and at the gong the Oamaru boy claimed the honours by a point or two. The final session was very weary to witness, both slogging wildly. Easton's smother was most remarkable throughout this round, as it was in several others. The going could be written down as even, with Easton a shade in the lead. The judges verdict in favour of Morris was loudly applauded.

THE CrTTEF EVENT. LADEURV TOO GOOD FOR STEWART. In the professional contest ihe weights were given as J. Ladbitry (England) Bst S. Stewart (Timarn') Sst •libs. Messrs E. G. Kerr and J. 0?Donnell officiated as judges. Round 1. —A good deal r.f preliminary sparring was indulged in, Ladbury soon measured up his man, and quickly had him on the ropes twice in "succession. Half-way through the round Ladbury dropped his opponent with a right cross, a.nd Stewart was down for nine seconds. Following camo another right to the point, and the local man occupied the same time on the boards. On resuming Ladbury could have finished oft' the fight, but very sportingly ho gave his opponent a chance to steady up. Stewart was very groggy and'went down again shortly before the gong. In the second encounter Stewart seemed to be about finished and Ladbury did pretty well what ho liked. The result was a foregone conclusion. Stewart was plucky, but he was done. In the third and what proved to be the final round, Tiadbujy again took charge, and very early in the round Stewart dropped to the ground. On rising he complained about an injury to his left arm. He was obviously in great pain, and the contest was abruptly concluded.

Mr H. Goodwin officiated as referee, while Messrs R. Her in and R. R. Randle fulfilled the duties of time-keep-ers. Mr J. O'Leary was official announcer, and also as secretary looked after every detail to make the evening's sport a success.