The Fatal Fight.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 197, 27 August 1901, Page 2

The Fatal Fight.

(To the Editor of the Times.) Sin, —Kindly allow me a little space to reply to your, correspondents B. F. Rothwell' and F.R.E. The latter appears to have a great down on horse racing, and thinks you devote too much of your paper to recording the various meetings throughout the colony to the detriment of temperance lecturers. But he forgets that the sporting community are no small power in Gisborne, and seeing they support your paper so liberally they have a right to be considered. And apart from this fact I can assure you, Mr Editor, that the lovers of the turf are not tho only ones who read tho racing reports. Every member of the community—aye, even Mr Peckover, seeing he road that prize fight —looks each morning to see whether any sensational dividends have been paid. Mr ltothwell is apparently a very sensitive man, or else a bounceablc one looking for light. I made no sneer at religion, and I do not sec why Mr Rothwell should attack me. I only contend that you should devote as much space to the sporting fraternity as you do to reporting tho doings of tho various churches. W«e it not for racing Now Zealand would not have been able during tho last two years to have shipped thousands of remounts to South Africa, and then what about our Carbines and Martini Henry’s of tho turf ? The fame of New Zealand racehorses is world-wide, and lias proved a great advertisement for us. Are not the leaders of the racing world in Gisborne the most prosperous men in tho town, over to tho front with their donations to charities and objects of a philanthropic nature. Why should they not be allowed to have a hobby in tho direction of keeping a few racehorses, just as much as many leading lights of the religious world have their hobbies ? Let Mr Rothwell and F.R.E. look after themselves and the sporting members of the community will do likewise.—l am, etc., Topthokn. Makaraka, Aug. 26th, 1901.

To the Editor of the Times. Silt, —The question of the correspondence in regard to the fatal fight recently reported in your columns was discussed at our house the other evening, and one elderly gentleman who was present gavo it as his opinion that reports of prize fights were more eagerly sought after than any other reports in the paper. He put it in this way : Prize fights and divorce proceedings are read by ninety-five per cent, of the people (the remaining five per cent, accounting for those who are blind or who cannot read) ; social gatherings, including weddings, by seventy-five por cent. ; Polico Court reports by seventy per cent.; general telegraphic news, football and athletics by half the people ; politics by 25 per cent, (chiefly old men). What we want is something new and entertaining, and after one has perused columns of solid reading, a brightly-written account of a prize fight is a pleasant change. For my own fancy, I should like to sec a few notes on astronomy in your paper sometimes. —I am, etc., Scientist.