SINCERE TRIBUTE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 30, 6 February 1939, Page 8

SINCERE TRIBUTE

PRESENTATION MADE

"I may have put a bit back into rowing, but I can never put back into it all I got out of it," said Mr. A. D. Bayfeild, retiring secretary of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association referring, at an informal gathering in his honour, to the many friendships he had formed during his 32 years' tenure Of that office. At the conclusion of the Wellington regatta on Saturday

oarsmen from many clubs throughout New Zealand gathered to pay tribute to Mr. Bayfeild's great services to the sport, and, as a tangible expression of gratitude, to present him with a handsome cocktail cabinet towards which all oarsmen in the country contributed. A tribute on behalf of Petone oarsmen was paid by Mr. T. Watson, club captain, who then called upon representatives of visiting clubs-to speak. Mr. E. J. Crotty, secretary of the Union Boat Club, Wanganui, and assistant secretary of the Wanganui Association, said that he had not yet met a more capable and conscientious man than Mr.' Bayfeild. He wished Mr. Bayfeild and Mrs. Bayfeild health and happiness in the future. I Mr. J. I. /Thodey, captain of the Star Club, said that Mr. Bayfeild held a position of high esteem not only among oarsmen in Wellington, but also as a citizen in the community. He had filled his position of secretary of the New Zealand Association in a manner which it would indeed be hard 'for a future officer to emulate. Mr. Bayfeild, he said, would not be lost :to rowing, as he still held office as chairman of the New Zealand Rowing Council. The president of the Wellington Rowing Association, Mr. W. J. Gaudin, who made the presentation, said that the work "Bay" had done for the New Zealand Rowing Association would not be realised for some time. He remembered Mr. Bayfeild as a hefty young man from the West Coast, who, immediately he came to Wellington, i made himself felt in the rowing world. He put his club on the map by becoming a member of the senior chaml pion fours, and later took up executive work. He had done his job without any fuss, and quietly and effectively. Mr. Baiyfeild. after referring to his association with the sport and the many great friendships it had brought him, said that during the years he was a member of the Rowing Association he did not think he had ever sat with a more honest lot of workers in administering anything, whether it was sport or business. The members of the New Zealand Association could always be relied on to do all that they could for the welfare of rowing in New Zealand. " ' ■ . Other speakers were Messrs. P. Stowers (Aramoho), C. Healey (Wanganui), and T. M.- Hinkley.