ROWING MEN AND OTHER MATTERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIX, Issue 14610, 18 February 1908, Page 5

ROWING MEN AND OTHER MATTERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —-As a constant attendant at the Canterbury regattas for the past quarter of a century, and one who still dorives some pleasure in witnessing a keenly contested boat race, I wish to raise a note of protest against tho conduct of a few juvenile rowing ; 'men" on the return journey from Little River on Saturday night. lam not unfamiliar with the adage that "Boys will be boys," but I decline to subscribe to the doctrine that the grossly indecent, obscene and even blasphemous utterances, which were used in the firstclass smoker on the return journey from Little River on Saturday night could bo regarded as a permissible or even excusable attribute in a respectable youth. Such reprehensible conduct calls for the prompt interferenoo of those responsible for tho management of our rowing clubs, and more especially for those directly concerned with the decent and orderly conduct of the Christchurcfi Regatta.

I should be sorry to think that worse. conduct than that to which I refer ever formed the subject of an inquiry by the several football authorities in the dominion, and should be equally sorry to suppose that the gentlemon having control of our local aquatic affairs are less exacting in this respect than are their friends who control tho kindred sport. Whilst not at all unmindful of tho odium that will, in certain quarters, attach to' me as the writer of this letter I shall cheerfully accept the burden if this duly meditated act should be the means of assisting in the creation of a better order of things. Let me then hasten to -make my position clear. I have no wish to- pose as one possessed of a superabundance of saintly qualities, nor have I. yet reached that stage in life when the innocent fun of a number of high-spirited youths, in the full- possession of their health and strength, becomes intolerable. I raise no objection to a certain amount of " horseplay " in a railway carriage reserved entirely for men. These have been an. ever-present corollary to ench " return " journey as lung as 1 can remember, and are perhaps a perfectly permissible dkplay of that exuberance of joy which"one cannot fail to admire; but I decline to believe- that such harmless frolic need have associated with it grossly indecent songs,' shocking obscenity and even blasphemous parodies, such as wero uttered in the carriage of the excursion train on Saturday night, and it is to this phase of the conductthat I am now protesting. The chief offenders were clad in the colours and wore the badge of the particular Christchurch rowing club which in my rowing days was regarded as the most, "respectable" in the aquatic I world, a fact which makes the incident I all the wore regrettable. They, or at-1

least some of them, were members of a crew representing that club, and to my mind their club officials and the officers of the regatta will be lacking in their duty to the patrons of the fixture if they, by a policy of masterly inactivity, neglect to let those " cultured " young men know that there are people who resent such conduct, and that a firstclass railway carriage, even though it be a smoker, is not a place to' be compelled to listen to language that would disgrace the stokehold of the worst ocean tramp visiting our shores. That is strong language I know, but T havo no intention of modifying it, and whilst I a m attaching --a nom de plume to this letter you are at liberty to- supply my name to anyone sufficiently interested to request it.—l am, etc., DECENCY.