N.Z. Tennis Tourney Well Umpired

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29723, 17 January 1962, Page 7

N.Z. Tennis Tourney Well Umpired

A PLEASING feature of the conduct of last week’s national lawn tennis championship meeting was the large number of qualified umpires who offered their serFor the finals, full

squads of linesmen were in attendance. This happy state of affairs was in contrast to those at the last two national tennis championships in Wellington and Auckland. At the 1960 tournament in Auckland there were, with the exception of a few visitors, no umpires at all, and in last year's Wellington meeting most of the umpiring was left to the playOver the last four years die Canterbury Lawn Tennis Umpires' Association has gained in strength, until it must be by far the strongest in the Dominion. At last veek's championship meetng, the fruits of this build-ing-up were seen in the large number of good umpires present

Canterbury is now in the happy position of being able to easily find umpires for major fixtures. Among the best in the province are R. B. McCallum, I. Ogier, D. Parris, S. T. Day, G. D. Moss, D. D. M. Stewart, R. S. Lane, R. France and Mrs D. McKinnel and Miss H.| Bryant. Miss Bryant and Mrs McKinnel are possibly the two best women umpires in the Dominion. At the national championships in 1959 Mrs McKinnel won the Salek Cup for the best women umpire, and Miss Bryant won this trophy last year. At last week’s meeting, the judges in this competition awarded the Salek Cup to a Dunedin competitor, Mrs G. de Bazin. Although Mrs de Bazin showed herself to be a competent umpire, she certainly did not appear to be as good, either in judgment or in calling of scores, as either of the Canterbury women.