ROWING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 187, 2 May 1908, Page 9

ROWING.

' 1 : ■'■ - (Bv MeSCURV.) ' ' 'According, to an, exchange, ;the : crews rowing. in' Australian, waters are. liable' to escitenionts whilst N exercising that aro denied our local crows, and ■whiclc must: be ;appreci.atcd as brightening up. the "femuition grind" (as Mr. Mantalini. would have termed .it .had .he been an oarsman) of a'hard traiii- • ■ing row very acceptably.; I append the account of , the incident','in; question:—"Our. Terth .correspondent 'writes, on' April .9:— .'The eight-oar crew chosen; to represent W.A.': in the interstate eighkoared championship, . while "training on the Swan River last' Monday -evening,I'came1'came in contact with a carpet snake oft. Gin. long, which was swimming across the river. The reptile attached'itself to one of tlid oars, and.'was.; killed: by-the' coach, and is now drawing large crowds in a shop window.. On Wednesday evening, while doing a spin a sunken,'pile wa's .encountered, and.a hole some 20ft. long torn in a new boat belonging to the AV.A: Rowing Club. Tho crew swam'to' land in "safety.' Fortunately it .was not the, boat which is to was injured.;. Tho, crew continues do. good work I ."'' '■' :■/ " ■' ' :• r : i Fog.well appears to, be having no. difficulty in raising , the. stake- money for ;his forthcoming 'race, with' Thorougligood,' for '- the Championship of Australia;' .During a meet- • ing'of his supporters, in Cora;ki an amount of £120 was guaranteed'ill; the'rooin. ■ :.'\Georgo. Wkelch,- of Akaroa',' the:''amateur champion sculler of New;. Zealand, is. si!ill" awaiting an opportunity-• to ■enter :;the'; professional"'ranks, .says the Weekly '.-Press:" His 'backer, Mr. Martin G. Daly:, has not yet received 'an answer to . the letter 'he wrote to R. Arrist on March 2, asking him if he' still wished' to row a match with Whelch, and it is expected that, within, the next few days . Mr. Daly will communicate with Webb with the object of arranging a match .for the Championship of! the - World. Whelch has been resting from training since' the Napier regatta, but his Occupation —tliat .of . waterman—of itself ; keeps ': him in; fairly good form., It is understood tlk/t no difficulty will be experienced inraising . any.' reasonable amount of :stako ir.er.ej in Akar-'-n. ■ "Victor, V. of . the.;" WAnsaiuii Herald," thus comments, on the foregoing is'very strange that r Arnst, who declared himself to bo so desperately anxious to secure, a rrce' with, someone, liasnot'yefcreplied to,■AVl-elfclils challenge. Here was-, a.,.chauce' for, hirn vto prove what he can do in a match race, and incidentally to pick up' a couple of,hundred I pounds,;providing ho is ns gocd as' ho .liinisolf,. and some of his supporters consider, him ;t : n be.. With regard to the statement- that Whelch's backer isi expected to comiiiur.ieato with Webb in the course of. a few days with the object 'of' arranging a match the Championship of tho World, I rnay" point biit that Arnst's deposit of £100 is still hbJS.'bvtho editor of.this journal-waiting to.be coverod by . the champion, who, according to the' conditions governing championship .: contests,' is allowed' three'months in which to accept a bona fide challenge such as Arnst's, or eJse to forfeit the title. ; Needless .-to .say iWebb has not the intention of forfaiting, and will, accept Arnst's'.challenge within the next two or three weeks. lii ; the meantime, it is c-f' ro use Whelch." challenging . Webb, as-Webb has to give Arnst . the fiist raco 'providing .the latter, really means business, and "(C have, no reason to think- that be as not in earnest. \ Anyway, his.money is up. ' The strangest divorco.caso ever heard in these Courts (writes our Chicago correspondent) was one^in which a Mrs. llickart applied for a divorce'from; her husband, who is 'secretary • of ;a local football club, on" the ground that tho club in question lost too many games during the season: ' The husband in evidence stated that- tho only happy moinonts in the grief-laden'house came when his men won.—" The. Evening Standard." Tho English A.A. championships, are scheduled for July 4 in London, and, as far as can be ascertained, tliey aro all open events. If this is soi'.'would it "riot-'bp a good idea if Kerr and .Murray, were entered . for their respective events';at the meeting? ; Even if they were not quite wound up in their preparation by that time, the eompeti- ] fcion would bo an excellent-■ pipe-opener,- and would bo 'very iiseful in e"iiablirig them to ' ;auge the merits of their likely opponents in the big events. To Kerr the walking sxperienoe would be peculiarly valuable, and i [• hope, tho Council wili take the necessary stops to enter .themia tiuuv . : ,