LAWN TENNIS

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 127, 31 May 1935, Page 14

LAWN TENNIS

TEAM FOII AUSTRALIA

MATTER DEFERRED

The council o£ the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association spent a considerable time at its quarterly meeting last night in discussing the question o! sending a team to Australia next summer, but it was finally decided to defer the matter until the next quarterly meeting to enable delegates to consult their' associations.

In a report, the management committee suggested that a preliminary discussion on the matter should take place, so that delegates would be in a position to report to their associations and obtain instructions. The question could then be decided at the annual meeting in August.

The report stated that the maximum cost of sending a team of four uien and four women with a manager to Australia was estimated at £450.

To open the discussion, Mr. N. A. Foden moved that the management committee be authorised to make arrangements to send a team to Australia.

This was seconded, but as an amendment Mr. G Pownall moved that after a discussion the matter should be referred back to the associations for consideration, the matter to be daalt with at the next quarterly meeting. AGE OF PLAYERS. When discussing the quarterly report, Mr. A. G. Henderson said that the New Zealand Association had been criticised for not sending promising players to Australia to give them the opportunity of gaining experience and improving their standard of play. Later, Mr. Henderson said that the suggestion had been made that players selected for the tour should be limited to 23 or 21 years of age. New Zealand, he said, would not derive the same benefit from the tour if older and experienced players were sent. Dr. A. E. Park said that the only benefit to be derived from sending a team to Australia was one of educational value. MATTER FOR THE COUNCIL. Mr. Foden objected to Mr. Powriall's amendment. He.thought it was a sign of weakness that, the council. should refer the matter back to associations. The council of the New Zealand Association was .the parliament of tennis, and it was a matter for it. He altered the motion to read: "That the management committee be not authorised to send a team to Australia." (Laughter.) The expense killed the proposition, added Mr. Foden. Mr. G. A. White said that when the matter was brought before the management committee it was too late for the committee to give it the' considered judgment it deserved. The chairman, however, thought the matter should come before the New Zealand council with the object of making a recommen-

dation to the management committee. The experience of sending players to England in the hope that they would return to New Zealand and stay here had proved a "washout." Once players got to England they stayed there if they got a job. For the development of New Zealand tennis they had to look to Australia. There was £2000 put away, and it would not "break";! the association to spend £450 on sending players across the Tasman. YOUNG PLAYERS SHOULD BE SENT. Mr. W. P. Walker reminded the meeting that the Australians—Hopman, Crawford, and McGrath—had all reached their present standard through being sent on tours while .they .were young. He was greatly in favour of sending young players to Australia. "I would like to see two young men and two young women tour Australia next summer," he said.

The chairman (Mr. T. E. Hickson) said he thought the object of the management committee's report was to give the delegates an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the matter He doubted if there were many delegates present who had received instructions from their associations, and he felt that in the interests of tennis generally the matter should be deferred until the next quarterly meeting. Delegates should have the opportunity of consulting their associations. In his opinion it would be unwise to spend £450 on sending a team to Australia just to satisfy newspaper critics

After further discussion, Mr. Pownall's amendment was carried.