The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1911 THE DAVIS CUP.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 152, 28 June 1911, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1911 THE DAVIS CUP.

Tor the came that tack* uaittanot, iter tht wrong th«S need* Tor the future in the diktemat, Am 4 the guo4 that nmM,

The contest for the Davis Cup has long since attained international dignity,'and the decision of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association to recommend Christchurch as the convincing ground for this great athletic event is j therefore, a matter of considerable public interest. When the American team was beaten in Sydney two years ago, the Australasian L.T.A., which has control of the game on this side of the world, agreed that the next | contest should take place in New Zealand; but last year, for a number of reasons, the arrangement fell through. Neither England nor America was prepared to send a team; but the Davis Gup, in spite of this, became the occasion of a heated controversy here. We j need not tight the. battle over again at length, but we may say this much, that the action of the management committee ' of the N.Z.L.T.A., in urging the claims of Wellington as the scene of the contest without being authorised by their Association to do so, and the subsequent action of several of the district delegates resident in Wellington, who ignored the express instructions of their constituents, and voted for Wellington, produced a most unpleasant impression upon that large section of the general public which takes an interest in athletic sports here. This year.we are glad to see that this particular difficulty will not arise. The offer of the Canterbury L.T.A. to pay £500, or SO per cent of the net takings, to the Australasian Association, and bear all the expenses of the match, seems a reasonable-one. And whatever advantages Wellington may possess by virtue of its central position are in our opinion more than outweighed by the better gro-unds "available in ChrigtchurchJ, and the probability of more settled and less boisterous weather than is usually experienced even in summer in the Empire City. The wish of' Wilding; our representative in the Cup contest, that the matches should be played in his own city may count for something; but the case for Christchurch as against Wellington seems to us sufficiently strong to justify the choice of the Association without falling back upon so purely sentimental an argument as this.

The -Davis Cup matches, as we have said, are among the most important international athletic events of the year; and New Zealand'has a special interest in them because Wilding, who now holds the All England Championship, is a New Zealander born, and it was chiefly through his prowess that the Cup has been retained' on this side of the world for the last two years. It must be, therefore, a matter for sincere regret to the Australasian athletic world that serious difficulties have arisen of late at Home over these competitions. It is hard to discuss the attitude that the British Lawn Tennis authorities have adopted over this question without criticising them severely.' But in the interests of true sport it is certainly .to be regretted that they have not displayed more' anxiety' to take part in these international contests since they lost the Cup: The rulers of Dawn Tennis at Home have .refused to send teams to "America or Australia Without a heavy ,guarantee; quite oblivious Of the fact that .players from Australia and New Zealand have frequently gone Home to play in the Cup matches at their own ex"pense and risk, and that when Wilding and Brookes Won the Cup in England •there was no thought or suggestion of a, guarantee. But the position that has •been taken up recently at Home is more inexplicable still." For the annual report of the L.T.A. actually suggests-—we had almost said threatens—that it may be advisable for England to arrange with America to allot the Davis Cup as the prize for an annual contest between these two nations, cutting out the Continental players and the colonies altogether. We cannot believe that the Americans would ever entertain such a, suggestion; for Mr. Dwight Davis, the donor of the trophy, though he may never have imagined that an American j or a British team would have to go cup hunting to the Antipodes, is too good a "sport" to modify the conditions of the, contest now; But the bare suggestion seems, to us to evidence lamentably bad taste and poor sportsmanship on the part of the British lawn tennis authorities. The proposal is discussed quite seriously in a recent number of "Lawn Tennis"; and we trust that the AllEngland Club and the L..T.A. will take to heart the advice of Mr. Burrows, get together the best team, they can make up in-England, and send- them to Australia, regardless of expense. They would not win the cup; ,but they would, do something to • repair the reputation of British sport and to prove that British players to-day are not unworthy of the high traditions of the game.,