Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9015, 30 March 1888, Page 4

The deification of the heroes of the prize ring, which seems to be growing in prevalence among fashionable circle* in the mother country, would appear to indicate a recrudescence of the brutality of days gone by ; and a little encouragement of the worship of brute force, would probably give a footing to the culte in colonial life; but, if th e prize ring is regulated as it was'yesterday at Otahuhu it will soon become unpopular with the disciples of tC "noble art," There is' «,meth £ peculiarly ludicrous in the idea of the police feeling the gloves, and rejecting these and selecting those for the- use J the pugilists; and then, afu-r the champion and would-be champion had been practising for a little, telling the they had had enough, and then direct" ing them to withdraw. The climax of absurdity was reached when the p o ]: officer, being asked why he had stin J3 the fight, replied, " Oh, it's no iiM J all ; one of the men can't fight. e " tl assumption being that if the couple "f prize-fighters had only acquitted them selves a little better they might ).■ gone on for a little longer, It alnw appears to have been as heroic ° encounter as a French duel a*'! the presence of a medico to rexto , the wounded, completed the burled up The whole thing was wanting in mht savour, and must have been generally expected to be so, for it had failed to attract the scum and ruffianism of th > city for whose special delectation such things are commonly made and pro vided; and the spectators on the oca sion were mainly of the harmless classes of society lor tins we are no doubt indebted at once to the bent of public sentiment and the vigilance of the police, for happily we have not reached that stage of degradation in the colony at which either the law or the consensus of decent people would give countenance to such a brutal exhibition as was desired if not intended on this occasion That the pugilists meant business is clear from the style of glove first presented ; and if only themselves were concerned it is scarcely too much to sav that if they had " fought-to-the-finislr' of both of them the world would have been none the loser. But it is beyond any doubt that the exhibition of such vicious bruising and maiming of the human form has the tendency to stimulate the low animal instincts of those who are spectators, and renders them less suited for fitting in to the quiet and orderly ways of society, and to such training we owe the wife-beaters, the garotters, and all those whose feelings are blunted to the sufferings of others. The tendency of all such brutalising scenes in which mere force is exalted, and indifference to the physical sufferings of others is displayed, is to undo the effects of all those humanising influences which have raised society from the level of savage life; and while the most degraded strata of society, which are but little elevated above the brute, may naturally take pleasure in such animal prowess, with many others who have mingled among the refinements of life the affectation of a liking for such things is often mere swagger. The tendency, however, on all is bad, and even persons of naturally humane disposition, who may be drawn to see such bruising matches by the supposition that it is manly to be so affected, must have their feelings inevitably blunted, and they become worse and more unfeeling husbands and sons and brothers, and worse members of society than they were. As protectors of the public wellbeing, the police therefore rendered good service to the commonweal in preventing the low exhibition intended, and more so in making it laughable ; and though, as we have said, no great evil would come of it if these two fellows got away by themselves and "fought to the finish"' — both, we trust that the police, as well as sound public sentiment, will prevent them from polluting society, by mauling and mutilating each other's vile carcase, in the sight of their fellowmen.