ROWING.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 156, 31 December 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROWING.

TO THK EDITOR. Sir — Under the heading of " A trihnlo to llanl.vn " you reprinted from tho Sydney iMoining Ifenild v letter higncd Fram-is \V. L. Adams, in which fionie rather swooping assertion!* word made uh to the iinprnvoinents in rowing effrcti'd hy the o\rhainpinn, und in which the nld school of oarsmen (the TJenforth's and Harry Kelly's) wero contemptuously spoken of as mutton beads. Who Francw V£. L. Adiim.s may bo J know not, hut as an old oarninan I know that the special points claimed hy him as originated by Hanlan were axioms of rowing lon^ before Hanlaii was known to the aquatic world. lie nas not " the first mnn who perceived that the legs and back being stronger than the arms and ahouhlorg, they should bo used as the principal ineniH of propuisirn." Not only wii.s the fact recognized, to my knowledge, over 20 years ago, but good coaches were moßt awjiduous in inculcating it, and in teaching that tho work wan to ho dono by tbo logs and body, the arms leing treated as animated ropes. That the introduction of Hlidingßcats,swivol rowlocks, &c, has thrown much more work on to the legs and body is undenialilo ; but did Hanlan invent tho xliding scats I- No ; the real originators of the sliding Feats were tho " old mutton hoad-i," tho ItonfortliH and Kollys, who used to grease their pants and slide on tho lixod aeaU, which were widened to allow tho nooosHary space. "Honour to whom honour is duo." Hanlan is donbtlc-m a perfect scmller and an intelligent man ; and his finished sculling, fine physique, and plu«k, intelligently used, have placed him in the foremost riuik, anil he co'tainly marks an epoch in tho history of rowing, as claimed for him by Mr. Adams. But is Mr. Adams right when he aay.s that Beach marks no epoch f I say, no. Trickott, Layeoek, and Beach mark an epoch, and a vory important one, as the first Australian eleven marked an epoch in the history of cricket, ami as (he color ial boys who have taken honours at tho English Universities mark an epoch in tho hictory_ of education. They provo that transplanting lias not injured the good old English sf~>ck, and that tho colonies can produce men able in all respects to hold their own against the world. lam, Ac, J.W.D. 2!) th Decombor, 1837.