SPORT AND PASTIME. Cycling.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 102, 27 October 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

SPORT AND PASTIME. Cycling.

[By Dagonet.J

The granting of l a permit by the com- ' mittee of the Wellington Centre of New ] Zealand League of Wheelmen to the Wairarapa Club (Masterton) to hold a race ' meeting on Boxing Day was only a fair thine in face of the fact that Carterton has had the permit for that day for the last two y^ars. In st district like Yv airarapa, Boxing Day is the holiday of the year-— everybody keeps up Christmas and Boxing Days in the country— while holidays like Prince of Wales's Birthday, Queen's Birthday, etc., are only celebrated by a section. Consequently both clubs wished to hold a gathering on the day when a good "gate" was a certainty. The rule should be to give each club turn about, thus avoiding jealousy and recriminations. The darterton Cycling Club will no doubt see the justice of this, and do its best to assist the neighbouring club to hold a successful race meeting. The rules of the New Zealand Cyclists' Touring Club were amended at the recent annual meeting to enabie new members to join the club without payment of entrance fee. The purely nominal subscription of 5s per annum will therefore entitle cyclists to share in all the privileges of the club, and in view of the early approach of the holiday and touring season this concession, will doubtless attract a large number of new members. The club has completed arrangements with a large number of hotels throughout tho colony, and has prepared maps of Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and Southland districts which are obtainable at its offices, Featherston-street, as well as all sorts of useful information with regard to touring in various parts of New Zealand, and for its enterprise in this direction deserves the support of all cyclists. In renewing the agreement for the accommodation of members of the j^ew Zealand Cyclists' Touring Club, Mr. Gallagher, the proprietor of the Spa and Lake Hotel, at Taupo, mentions that he is having a cycling track made to the Huka Falls from the "Spa." This will enable cyclists to go on from the Falls to Wairakei without returning to the township, and should prove a' great convenience and saving of time to cyclists touring via that route next summer. I omvinformed by the Hon. Secretary of the New Zealand Cyciists' Touring Club that the report, of which currency was given last week, to the effect that Mr. Green, Chief Consul of the Club at Christchurch, has resigned in consequence of the attitude taken up by the O.T.C. towards the Cycle Boards Bill, is incorrect. Mr. Green had resigned his position for, private reasons some months before the Bill was heard of. f The Spring Carnival of the Auckland Cycling Club is taking place this afternoon. The Auckland Cycle Paths League has 200 members on its books, and only one month has elapsed since formation. A week or two ago a telegram from Auckland brought informatioa that owing to the efforts of • the newly-formed Cycle Paths League, permission had been given by certain local bodies for cycles to be ridden upon footpaths in suburban localities by persons wearing the League badge. Unfortunately the League and the local bodies had forgotten the fact that they were powerless to alter the law on the subject, and a youth has been fined for riding upon a footpath. His plea that the League had arranged matters did not satisfy the Magistrates, who, however, took his excuse into consideration, and fined him Is and costs. The Cyclist, the leading organ of the sport and trade in England, says : — "The reiterated proposals to levy a tax on cycles have attracted the attention of The Civilian; a 'paper circulating amongst Civil Servants, which devotes a long article to the subject. The difficulties and irritation of collecting a direct tax are held to be fatal to its imposition, and an indirect tax is advocated upon pneumatic tyres to the amount of 7s 6d on each cover, payable by manufacturers. From a purely Civil Service point of view this may be the easier tax to collect, but it is nevertheless open to even graver objections than the direct tax proposed by the rural councils. It would open the door for the committal of fictitious offences, the discovery of wkich would necessitate the presence of an. army of tyre inspectors on the public roads and at popular cycling resorts." The Ohristchurch C.C. is trying to arrange another race between Reynolds and Sutherland for its December meeting, and will offer a large sum for the attraction, besides providing pace for both competitors.