AMATEUR ATHLETICS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13031, 5 February 1908, Page 8

AMATEUR ATHLETICS.

THE WALKING DISPUTE

ACTION BY WELLINGTONCENTRE.

(J-RB-S ABSOCIATIOS TKLRtiltAkf.) WELLINGTON. February 4. A meeting of the Wellington Centre of tiie Amateur Athletic Association wa*> held to-night, when the question of Kerr's walking was considered. It was (stated that Kerr had never wilfully broken the rule*, which he wa.s now quickly learning, and that ho was a fair walker. Ihe meeting d<cided to send Kerr with the New Zealand to tho championship meeting at Hobart. £20 was _.u.»-_r_i>ed in the room, and £UjQ more proini_*.-d if neede(L The Centre resolved to recommend the Council to remove the headquarters of the Association to Wellington.

(fKOM A COMIESI'ONUENT.)

WELLINGTON, February 4. Writing editorially ou tho attempt that is to be inside to have tho headquarters of the A.w;>ciation shifted from ChiisU-liiirth to Wellington. the *' Dominion " hays : —"The movement to have the headquarters oi the Association icmoved to this city, where athletic sports are flouri-Jiing vigorously, is a not unnatural outcome ol the present Councils grudging policy. I'pon the i\-;.vdoni ot .such a cliauge we offer no opinion. That is primarily a matter ior experts- AH tho circum-stanccs connected with the prctsent situation, make up a very .strong <!<•- fence of tho indignation of local athletes. The. running track has practically become tho bust remaining stronghold of true amateur" spirits in Australasia, and it is therefore a subject of concern even to those people to whom games aro not a matter ot faith and moraLs, that tho stronghok! shall not bo weakened by bad government." A '"Dominion eorrosnoiuleut makes a special complaint concerning the action of Messrs Batchelor nnd Green at the Now Zealand Championship Mooting. "Throughout tno Milo V.aiK." ho says, ••Messrs Ba-cnelor and Green paid no attention to any competitor save Kerr. They attracted notice first by their extraordinary antics, inasmuch as they kept on throwing themselves flat on the green, with their eyes a couplo of feet from tlio ground, in order to soo a 'lifting,' which, if it were takinc place, conkl only bo seen by an eye touching the grass, and capaole of perceiving a minute non-contact . of less than the hundredth part, of a second's duration. They attempted, that is to say, to observe an unob.servable thing, and to observe it from a position from which ©yon the latest camera oould not observe and record it. In the Three Milo Walk they paid no attention to Stubborfield until they had ordered Kerr off, and after that their pretence of watching Sttibberfield was highly ridiculous, as the man was walking so slowly that 'lifting' was impossioie."