NOTES BY AMATEUR

The sub-committee appointed by the Otago Centre for the purpose of organising amateur athletic club'.s in country district report that a fair measure of success has been met with. The necessary membership having been obtained, it has been decided to form an amateur atJhletic club at Milton. The members of the centre purpose visiting Milton this week, when the first general meeting- of tho new club will be held. It is anticipated that clubs will shortly be formed at Palmei6ton and Lawrence. From the secretary of the South Canterbury Hairiers corace to hand the third syllabus of the season. Our Tunaru friends are nothing if not enthusiastic, and they have drawn up an interesting series of club runs. On September 27 the South Canterbury Harriers hold their Five-mile Championship. A scaled handicap is to be run in connection with the race. On Labour Day a grand road race- over 12 miles, from Temuka to Tiinaru, open to all amateurs, will be run. Thk is the nearest approach to a "Marathon" yet instituted in New Zealand, ami the race is certain to attract a deal of interest. Every encouragement is given the sport of harrier running in the columns of this newspaper, not only in the pv-blication of reports ot club runs, but in the insertion of fixtures. . Now. it is only reasonable to expect a little consideration on the other side, and in this connection I would ask secretarieb to hand in their reports of club luns promptly, otherwise they cannot be published. News of a somewhat surprising character tomes from America, to rh-» effect thatKelly. •» 19ycd'old student of Univer«itv of Oregon. 1* now the holder of the 100 yd« amateur record, having at Spokane, Wash- • neton. on June 23, \»on the "100"' from a big field oT sprinters in 9 3-sscC, thus equalling Aithur Duffey's performance treated in May. 1903. Since Duffey'6 time 3 have been expunged from the records of the Amateur Athletic Union owing .to the American tij» inter's admissions as to professionalism. Kelly will now be the r-ecog-nUed holder of the 100 yd« record— that is, provided everything is in order and this iime pa=«ed by the A.A.U. of America. It •< claimed for Kelly that on the same dffy iip idn the 100 yds in 9 3-seec, the young athlete tied the 22QyJa records by peeing .jver tHe distance in 21 l-ssec. His next surprising i:erfornißnee w.i^ to put ur> 23ft 9m in tli? Broad Jump. Kelly must be a wonder. Think of it: 100 yds, 9 3-ssec ; 220, 21 1-5-ei : Broad Jump, 23ft 9in ! Wo" re taking our hats off now to a young man of old Tipperary (says the American coi respondent of Sydney Referee). Every year the Amateur Athletic Union pi\es a field day to determine who is the foe-st all-round athlete in the country. This year the fifld day was held on June 23 at BrooUine, Massachusetts. T. F. Kiely, of Tippeiary, jjio\ed rh» best. The Irishman won the shot put at 37ft lOin, flung the hammer 142 ft 10m, hurled the 561b weight 30K 9in, won the 120 yds Hurdles in 18 2-56o<\ and the Bread Jump with 19ft lOin. John Brtxkrnus. only 20 years old. of South Bead. Indiana, wa-- a close s-eoond to Kiely, in the matter of point". In the mile run the boy trailed Kiely for the fir»t lap then shot oui in the lead, leading tlie Tipperary man by 100 yds at the half and more than 200 at the finish. On June 30 th? «r-rne shifted over to Chicago. Illinois. C. UifcVn. of the Ch-eago Athletic Club, bi-oke a record in throwing rlie discus 129 ft 7in. The thoHsands who had poured out to .-<ee the contests were thiillerl by tbe hot footiny for fir?i honours 111 th<» Marathon Race. T. J. Hicks, of Jio>t<jii, Ma.*«.ichu«jfts. wa* returned t"he winner in the last hundicd yards, making t'tio 25 n.ile.s 111 3hr 2niin. 13m in faster than tlie year before Under the leading "The Lessens of the Olympic (James"' a writer in Baily's Magazine .suggests that in future it would be more economical and more healthy from a Training point of view to charter a good steamer from London to Southampton, taike all the- British athletes out in her, anchor in Phalerum Bay about jj week before the games begin, and make her the permanent lioadquait^rs of fhe team both for food and sle-ep. The writer estimate* that half a guinea per day for each athlete ought to tie a liberal estimate of the daily cost. By the way. the writer seems to think that the next games (the series originated by Baron Pierre <\o Coubertin) will take place u« London in 1908. I thought that they were to be hold in Rome. It is also definitely slated that the King of Greece had announred thi next of the Athens tcries for 1910; in fact, the Greek Parliament has framed a law that the gamef shall 1m- lopcited e\ery four years. The following are the results of the French amateur championships, decided a few days before tho mail left: 100 Metres, LoMour- time. 11 l-550e. 400 Mctms. Lpsieur; time. 52 3-s,ec. 800 Metros. Douboui-Rh; time. 2nun 6 2-ssee. 151 X/ Mot.ns IVnilevard; time, 4min 12 3-s=*c. 400 Metres. Hurdle-,; time. 58 4-s?re. 4000 Metres Steeplechase, Bean ; time 13min 55 sec. The results of ihe Belgian chainpior«.hips aie intonating by comparison with the French:- 100 Metre-;. J. Konings; time, 11 l-s«ee 1500 M<-t)e=. J. Lrsa<?e ; time, 4min 15 3-snPc. Half-mile. G. Delaige; time, 2min 3 2-s=eo. High Jump, L. Dupont, sffc 8m Lori" .Jump. G. Martens: 21ft lOin. Pole Jump, Perrofoki: 10ft Bin ; Putting the Shot. Hnbinon: 39ft Bin. Quartermile Ja<obovit<; time. 52 2-5~e C . 120^ (is Hiinllfs. J. Frere; tune, 17 l-ssec. 100 in<-h I is about 110 yards, and 1500 metres about, 1&40 yards. Wi<lmor. Vive New South Wales sprinter, who toim-d Now Zealand with Slirubb and DuftVy a couple of years ago, plays fiveeiKhih for Balmain, Sydney. Tlie Tf-n-rnile Team Championship Eoad Race of the Sydney Harriers was decided in Sj-dney recently. In all 60 runners took i-art, fhe winner turning up in H. E. Moigan. of Warriekville Harriers, who covered the distance in 58min 30«ec. The reams' placing resulted in East Sydney Harriers bsing fir-i. with Warriekville Harrier*! second. In connection with the dispute between the New Zealand Amateur Athletic A*=<jciaimn and the Victoiian and New South Wale* *>\r\- the Shrubb Duffc-y tou»". "Hai hit, 1 ' of the Au'tiala-ian, says; —

"It may be as well to explain the difference in a few words. Throe partners (Victoria* New South Wales, and New Zealand) entered into a joint venture, and as the main points were covered by written agreement* One partner (N.Z.), without asking the concurrence of the other two, and without their knowledge-, expended moneys considerably in excess of these agreed terms. The other two naturally object, and becai • « they coincide in this objection are in ' collusion' — which is very, very wrong of them, of couree, — and the party in fault sets up to be the injured party. The same party (N.Z.) received 'one-half of the benefit of Ac joint venture, and only seeks to bear 'one-third' of the cost. As to the detention of the money in Sydney, snmce it to say that New Zealand took advantage of the courtesy of Victoria in advancing over £40 to deduct all that New -Zealand considered itself entitled to, including sums Victoria has objected to." Since the carrying of no-license in Ashburton sport has been somewhat on tha wane, as publiqans were among its principal supporters. With the object of encouraging sport and getting it on a better footing, tho No-license Council has offered to donate towards the expenses of the two meetings (New Year's Day and Easter Monday) held by the Amateur Athletic Club the sum of £20. If either day is wet and tha club's funds suffer thereby, the council ■will give another £5. The American high jumper, J. K. Bax« ter. recently snapped a. tendon when helping to train the University of Perm sy Hani* . students for the inter-collegiate jump. Aa • Pennsylvania relay games six men did well over 22ft 3in in the long jump, and tha winner did over 23ft. A good story used to be told in Manchester foot-racing circles of "Choppy" Warburton tli3 world-famed trainer. la tbe old days he stood at the top of the long-distance runnera, " his training power* being tremendous. He was once training} for a long-distance race on a .track neao Manchester, and after stripping one even* ing for a spin, asked his trainer how fap ho had better go. "Oh," said the latter, "koep on till I tell you to stop." And '"Choppy" started. After watching him for a few miles, the trainer was invited by a friend to join in a game of billiarc's. He went, ana game succeeded game nntil bedtime cams, and the trainer toddled home, forgetting all about his Spromising pupii. Next morning he thomght he wouldl explain hL forgetfulness to "Choppy" andl apologise to him. ''Choppy" had not bc>!i home, he was told. Hurrying down^ (o the tiat-k to see .whether by chance Warburton \»a» tliere, he heard the pud of » light step as he turned the corner of the pavilion, and the next moment .he stare*! aghasl ! "Choppy" was still running ! The committee of the Civil Service Harriers and Amateur Athletic Club decided on Monday -evening to abandon the proposed IC-mile cross-country handicap. The count of the poor entries received for the decision was reluctantly arrived at on acrace from numbers of other harder clubs. As the cost of the race, the prizes for whtch were en the most liberal scale, wculdi have boon very considerable, the members of the committee did not feal justified in carrying out tbe rnce. It was decided to wute to the New Zealand Council of the Amateur Athletic Association through ."the Otago Centre pointing onfc the injustice dene to (lie o!uO6 race "by the remission o£ the licence fee in the Port Hoad Race. The Port Chalmers Harriers ran off their 440 Yards Handicap Race on Saturday, six facing the starter. F. Andrews, from the 28yds mark, kept the lead till within a few yards of the po&t. when A. Ballantyne, with 16yds start, drew level with him, and won a .well-contested race by about ai yard ; D. Bauchop, from scratch, was closer uo third. After the race fcho pack had a, run o\er the Port Chalmers-Pelichet Bay Road Race course as far as St. Leonards and buck. The thanks of the club are due to STr K. Bauchop for .handicapping and to Mr Smith for acting as starter. The Wellington Centre of the New Zoiland Amateur Athletic Association ha» agreed to ihe proposed agreement between the Utter and the New Zealand Athletic Union as to suspension, diacyualificatior.fc. reinstatements, etc. It is proposed to hold the provincial intor-sohool carnival on December 30. and 135 Sta*e schools and colleges in Wellington province have been communicated with. A conference of masters will be held shortly, when a programme embracing athletic competitions, calisthenics, physical drill. <•!<?., will b« drawn uo. It was decided to recommend to tho council that, in soorinsr championship points at future meeting", one point; additional be allotted to all competii. is breaking standard time. SUCCESS OF AN AUSTRALIAN ATHLETE. BERLIN. Aug!i«t 13 Healv won the IGO-metre Chaniplr-n*hi';> ?i Hamburg, and the Kaiser's Cup, over IV.a «anie distance, iv 67sec.