ATHLETICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 167, 15 July 1911, Page 16

ATHLETICS.

The Wellington correspondent of the "Weekly Press," in last week's issue, goes out of his way to cast an undeserved slur on the officials of the Auckland centre of the N.Z.A.A. Association. The Southern writer seems to have got hopelessly mixed between the Auckland centre and 'the Auckland Amateur Athletic Club, and whereas his remarks would have some truth in them as applied to the latter body, they are totally underserved as far as the centre is concerned. In one paragraph the writer says: It is on record that a subcommittee of the New Zealand Athletic Association Council wrote to the Auckland centre at the beginning of thie season, urging the centre to move in the direction of forming new clubs. The sub-committee's efforts, however, met with poor response, hence the present difficulty. This is anything but fair, and for the benefit of the correspondent of the "Press," I would like to point out that Mr. Frost, secretary of the Auckland body, wrote to every town of any importance near Auckland, asking that an amateur club be formed in their district. This entailed an enormous amount of work, but as a result a strong club was formed in the Waikato, which held a very, successful meeting last month. Perhaps my Wellington friend expected Mr. Frost to journey round the country at his own expense, and delivel lectures on the advisability of formin" clubs, and this no doubt Mr. Frost would probably have done, that is, if he had been in the position of a "Rockefeller* or "Carnegie." The Auckland centre as at present composed is a real live body, but unfortunately is greatly handicapped for the want of funds, and that amateur athletics in Auckland are not on a satisfactory basis is through no fault of the centre.