CANTERBURY ADAMANT Tennis dispute unresolved

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32860, 8 March 1972, Page 30

CANTERBURY ADAMANT Tennis dispute unresolved

(By

A. M. MENZIES)

The dispute between the Canter* bury and New Zealand lawn tennis associations over the payment by Canterbury of 15 per cent of the profit from the Benson and Hedges women’s tournament in Christchurch last December is unresolved.

The latest development took place in Wellington last Friday. Then, the president of the Canterbury Association (Dr W. J. Smith), the chairman of the management committee (Mr R. B. Brown), and another member of the committee, Mr H. Dillon, spent an hour with five members of the national management committee and its secretary. The New Zealand committee will not shift from its view that the tournament was an open one and the payment is due; the Canterbury committee is holding fast to its opinion that the tournament was not an open one. The matter will be discussed again .by the Canterbury management committee at its meeting next Monday when it will have before it a further letter from the N.Z.L.T.A. giving its reasons why the payment should be made.

If Canterbury then decides again to refuse payment, the ball will be back in the New Zealand association’s court. A sidelight on the strained relations between the Canterbury and New Zealand associations may have been provided at a meeting of the New Zealand management committee on Monday even*

ing when the manager of this year’s Davis Cup team was appointed. Of the three nominees, Mi J. H. Lockington received four votes, Mr E. D. White, three, and Mr Brown none.