ROSE'S TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 71, 24 March 1926, Page 11

ROSE'S TOUR

t DEPARTURE DELAYED

FUND BELOW EXPECTATIONS

ATHLETIC COUNCIL DISCUSSES POSITION.

The arrangements made for the Hew Zealand champion distance runner, R. A. Rose, to leave for England, via America, by the Makura on' Tuesday next, were cancelled by the New-Zealand A.A.. Council this afternoon, and it is' no,W proposed that Rose and a companion shall leave by the Aorangi from Auckland on the 13th April. The postponement was considered! necessajy in view, of the present \ ■tate of the. B. A. Rose Fund and the. difficulties confronting . tho council, - ■ • At the outset of the meeting a statement of the approximate result to date of the appeal for funds to enable R. A. Rose,to be sent to England with a view to meeting Paavo Nurmi and other champions was drawn -up, and this showed that about £575 had been contributed. .There were a number of quarters from which no information" had yet been received. * Those present at the meeting were Me«!ir».:B. W. M<Villy (in the chair), ' J. Wi Henan, r. Wilton, H. Austad, E. Guy, G. Lusk, R. Connop, W. Morton, L. A. Tracy t,hon. secretary) and Gor-. ton (organiser of the R. A. Rose Fund). 1% was reported that permission had been received to hold a street collection 'in aid of the B. A. Rose Fund in; Wellington oi Wednesday next. DELAY OF A FORTNIGHT. "I think'we are all perfectly satisr fled.that it is impossible to get Rose. away by next Tuesday," remarked Mr. ■ J,. W, Heenan, when a report of the ; progress made in. obtaining the funds necessary, to sendß. A. Rose and a companion abroad had been presented to the meeting. Continuing,- ho said that as the main Wellington, and Wairarapa efforts to collect funds were being mado on the 30th and 31st instant respectively, it would not be until the beginning of April that ihe council would be in a position to know exactly the state of the fond. The delay of a fortnight in sending Rose would not prejudicially affect Rose's chances of competing in his best form at the English A.A.A. championships in July. By going straight' through to England after sailing',' from Auckland on the ' 13th April, Rose would' arrive almost as soon as was proposed under the former decision to send him by the Makura, to spend a fortnight in America and then go on to England. ' It was true that Rose would miss the op- . portunityV of a few. training .'.runs, . but. that would' be offset by the opportunities for exercise oh board ship afforded by the gymnasium on the' Aorangi. The extra fortnight in Hew : Zealand, would give both Rose and his companion more time to arrange their affairs, and would also give the council a sadly needed opportunity of coneidering carefully the details of the. tour. ..Only fifteen days, had elapsed since the decision to send Eose abroad, and in that short period the council had been concentrating on the work in-. volved in launching the, appeal and furthering it. The organisation so far had accounted for nearly & 600 in contributions. A OPJCPANION ESSENTIAL. During further discussion Mr. Heen'an suggested that if the total contributions up to the 10th 'Aprii made an insufficient sum it would possibly mean that Bose would have to be sent by himself. The Chairman: ",No; that is hardly the esie. We would have, to call it off. I. do riot think that the departure of Rose by himself could be entertained. It would not be fait to hinu I-made it elear »t oneof the-early"meetings in connection with the project that we could not send him pa! a 'world's, tourby himself." . : , .On the.motion of Mr. Heenan, it was decided that R. £. Rose be not sent:by the Mltoira on Tuesday' next, in view of the present state of the fund-and the difficulties with which the council haa: been confronted in.raising the neces-' ■airy money, and. that, in lieu. cf the : arrangements previously: madey : passages be booked for Rose and: a companion'by the Aorangi leaving Auckland on the 13th April. Th« chairman stressed the importance'■ of making every possible endeavour to raise the necessary funds. '' We have to look the thing scjuarely in tho face,*' he said... "The'money has not come In "nfearly as quiekly?as we hoped ,it would do." . fTAtEBIEKTS BY ROSE. During t*>e meeting a discussion was taken in committee on the question of a companion :" or Rose, with special reference to statements which had been published. The - following : statement by Rose to the council was subsequently made available for publication:— "With reference to statements attril>ut»d to me by the Press of Dunedin, I desire to state that reporters came to me tad. asked ine.if I knew who was ' going as my companion. I told thorn that I had nothing to do with it and thai I h*d no word from the New Zealand Council, not even about the.'com-- ■ panion or myself going definitely, I emphatically say that I expressed no preference at all. I mentioned nobody." It was" also stated that Rose had denied ' making reference to "top-hats."