DISSATISFIED

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 199, 6 August 1931, Page 2

DISSATISFIED

AMERICAN ATHLETES CAPTIOUS,

TREATMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

Wellington, August 5.

’Dissatisfaction with their treatment and the conditions of amateur athletics in New Zealand was expressed by the three American University athletes, Kiser, Rothert and Simpson, who toured the Dominion under the auspices of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, on their return to San Francisco on May 14. The team went to Mr. C. G. Krogness. the New Zealand Association’s representatives in America, and ventilated their grievances. The athletes complain that the tour was too strenuous. Several meetings were held at towns which were so small that a fair income from attendances was impossible. In a number of towns the accommodation they received was only third and fourth best. At the time they felt that the association was giving them as little as it could, but still maintaining a good appearance itself. The athletes said they were well treated regarding expenses, with a few exceptions. One wns a question of clothing expenses. Their clothing deteriorated rapidly on the trip, and thev understood that they would get 50 dollars apiece at the conclusion of the tour to meet this expense, but at the end of the tour the request was refused. They stated that Mr. Tracev, secretary of the New Zealand Council, gave them £1 to last them for the last four days of the tour, with two towns still to visit and about 700 or 800 miles to travel. One impression that thev received was that co-operation. which should exist between local centres, was absent. and that tho development of amateur athletics was under n heavy handicap by a lack of harmony. Tho association’s reply, prepared by Mr. R. W. MeVilley. states that the tour was arranged to give the visitors as ntueh leisure as possible and of seeing things in which they wore interested. It was difficult to derstnnd how the tour could be des cribed as too strenuous. The association’s object in arranging meetings in smaller towns was primarily to give a fillip to amateur athletics in

localities where professionalism had ruled. No complaints had been made about the accommodation during the tour. Requests for clothing expenses were declined solely on the ground that it might endanger the status of the visitors, all of whom were kept had really felt a deep obligation to the visitors, all ow whom were kept in kindly remembrance. Nevertheless, the association could only express regret that the team discovered so many shortcomings during their brief sojourn. The letter concludes: “Very probably, if we were looking seriously for tho cause of the captious, destructive criticism, the aid of a microscope would bo unnecessary in making the discovery.”