A £1000 WAGER.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume X, Issue 45, 5 February 1920, Page 2

A £1000 WAGER.

DONATION TO R.S.A. FUNDS. CONTRACT, A PROMISE, OR A REPUDIATION? As a sequel to , the sensational mountaineering incident which occurred some weeks ago, in which Miss Louise Mack, the celebrated war correspondent, who has been delivering lectures in various centres of the' Dominion, was reported to have been lost on the Tararua Ranges, an announcement appeared in the newspapers some days ago that Miss Mack had won a wager of £lOOO with a certain gentleinan, having proved: herself the first Woman to accomplish the task of crossing the range. It was duly announced that Miss.. Mack, in a spirit of patriotism redounding to her credit, had promised to put the amount oF the wager to the funds of the Returned Soldiers’ Association.* This action was made public, and Miss Mack’s generosity was'acclaimed. The latest development in connection with the incident places another aspect on the affair. It would appear that Miss Mack has now communicated With the Returned Soldiers’ Association, giving formally the details of the wager, stating that she had carried out her .part of the performance, and that the association had her authority to collect the amount from the . gentleman with whom she had made the contract. The Returned Soldiers’ Association, however, does hot regard the affair in the same light as Miss Mack, afid while, appreciating the spirit which prompted Mi 1 promise of the donation, has intimated that they will be only too pleased to receive, the money when the donor herself has collected it. It is understood that there has' been some hitch between the con-| tracting parties, the gehtleman with whom> the wager was said to have been', made claiming that Miss Mack did not perform her part of the contract satisfactorily, being carried over the ranges instead of walking *