BOXING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 175, 18 April 1908, Page 9

BOXING.

(By Mekcuey.)

'• ■_ ~ '-If. . The annual , general '.meeting- of : the . Wellington Boxing -Association--passed. off on -Tiiesday evening _.in of un--Jqo.ked-for and calm.,, It...was igfnerally understood- by.'those.'in' : the - : krio\y . that, a certain dissatisfied section of the Association'was to'be on hand'with the.'intenof making things .very- 'warm'.' for the ■ executive, over some .•.item's of ' expenditure ,in-;-the balance-sheet,"and a goodly :nnister •of members : turnod,np to adjudicate Von-. the disturbance.'.' However, the recalcitrants evidently' considered discretion Ijhe: : better part and failed to materialise.. -The 1 result was •that the meeting showed its' confidence'.in the management by rp-electing die officers practically eri bloc, the -only ' alterations' be-■ ing the election of Messrs. F. EL Taylor and C. E. Bridge to scats .on -tho management committee vice, Messrs. T. Taylor and Geo. Clarke/. : : . : ;-' .

It is the intention "of the Association to make the-opening tourney of -felie" season in June.; wholly' an amateur affair if sufficient talent v is. available, and td' this ( end' a subcommittee was'set-'up,'to : ascertain• exactly the 'class and ' numerical. strength of likely performers.- This desire' to' foster tho amateur section "of : the - !sport is:a laudable' one, as one, if not the main, object to be striven for'istho, popularising of tbe-noblo art as a pastime, and 1 not merely as a. spectacle, pro-, vided- by highly-skilled ' and highly-paid iin-port-ed artists.. Of course,;..as v/as said at the' meeting, this latter class of contest is necessary from an educative, standpoint, but the fact, should not be lost, sight : of ,that if the young New Zealahder is to ; benefit by the sport;-- ; ho'- can only do so by'active participation therein—not by- buying a ticket 'to watch others-doing his boxiiig for him. Tho. one brings, to pass the good that ',inusi follow the - practice' of a manly,, exercise—tho other merely creates a craving ,for . the \un-; natural excitement of a : gladiatorial combat or a bull "fight. / .