ATHLETICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 6 (Supplement)

ATHLETICS.

Tho Aratapu Athletic Club will hold their annual sports meeting on Saturday next, February 1. The programme will include a championship raco for Austrians. It is understood that the recent Australasian Athletic Championship Meeting will result in a profit of something like , £100. Against this a loss of somo £30 to £40 was contracted on the New Zealand championships. '' ' " ,

Although many of our local athletic enthusiasts have expressed. their willingness to lend financial assistanco to the proposal to send G. W. Smith and W. .P. Simpson to England, nothing has so far been done in the direction of forming a committee to go into the question of ways and means. The secretary of the Auckland Amateur Sports Club informs me that a valuable addition has been made to the club's fine collection of athletic pictures by the presentation during the week by Messrs. A. Jones and Mann of a series of snapshots, covering the principal events at the recent New Zealand and Australasian championship meetings. The shots, which number 34- in all, and are splendid examples of tho high state of perfection reached in snap-shotting, arc artistically grouped on two stiff -card- i boards, and when framed will rank among the finest pictures in the clubrooms, and at the same time will form a capital record of the two important athletic gatherings in question. . - The question of doing away with the present system : of club competition for the championship shield at the annual championship meetings, held under the auspices of the N.Z.A.A.A., and the substitution of a competition by districts, was again before the council of that body at its recent meeting. Tho principle of a district competition Was affirmed, and a special committee, consist-: ing of Messrs. Batchelor and Ritchie, was set up to report as to the district to be adopted. Several members of the council were of opinion that the provincial districts should be followed, but others pointed out that that -would bring about inequalities, and would result in a province with but one club having to compote against another province with several clubs. To bring about a, fair subdivision of the colony into athletic districts will require a good deal of consideration. As far as Auckland is concerned it may be pointed out that we have all along relied on the one club, and are likely to continue to do so.

According to a Christchurch exchange, A. 0. Barrett, the Victorian walker, recently covered three miles on> the asphalt at Lancaster Park in 21m. 425.:, walking' " oil his own." The time is only 5 4.-ss. outside tho Australasian record, held by himself, and reads rather' too good for a man who, according to report, has not had a shoe on since competing at the Australasian championships, when he had to content himself with a second to D. Wilson, who won in 22m. 21s. Would the " go" have passed muster in the presence of Messrs. R. Coombes and J. Mahon, who judged the walking events at tho recent championships? At a recent meeting of the council of tho New Zealand Amateur Athletio Association, the championship standards were altered as follows:—"22oyds flat, standard, 22 4-ss. (replacing the 250 yds standard); one mile fiat, increased from 4m. 30s. to 4m. 325.; one mile walk, reduced from 7m. ss. to 7m.; threemile walk, reduced from 23m. 30s. to 23m. 20s. ; throwing 161b hammer, increased from 100 ft to -130 ft; putting the weight, increased from 37ft to 38ft 6in." Although only finally adopted at ■ the meeting in question, the standards, as revised, were in force at the recent New Zealand championship gathering, and it will bo remembered that at the time I drew attention to the disparity between the standard set by the New Zealand A.A.A. and tho A.A. Union of Australasia in . the hammer-throwing, the former having decided on 130 ft, while the Australasian standard stood at 100 ft. The latter was altered at the Board of Control meeting in Auckland to 110 ft, but at the time of writing I was not aware of the alteration, not having been present at the meeting when it was decided upon by the Board. The New Zealand is—as I then pointed out— high, as outside Madill I do not know of another amateur in the colony who could hurl the 161b implement 130 ft, while in Australia the only two who suggest themselves as equal to this feat are O'Reilly (New South Wales) and Hawkcs (Queensland). Among others, the following new rules have been adopted by the council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association:—"All amateur athletes must register, their names and addresses with a local officer, or the secretary of the N.Z.A.A.A., and unless they can produce their certificate (for which an annual fee of Is shall be paid to the association), they shall not bo allowed to compete at any meeting, the programme of which has been approved by the association." (This rulo shall not apply to schoolboys.) "It shall bo necessary for a representative of the association to be present at the meetings of non-affiliated bodies, which have been granted a permit to hold amateur events—such representative to be appointed by the Permit Committee of the Council." The object of tho first-mentioned rule is to increase the revenue of the association, past experience having proved that the association must find more revenue than the annual subscriptions from affiliated clubs bring in.