ROWING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15548, 4 March 1914, Page 6

ROWING.

NGARUAWAHIA REGATTA.

A QUESTION OF CONTROL. [to the SPORTS editor.]

As fche deadlock which has arisen between the Ngaruawahia Regatta Association and the Auckland Rowing Association is at present a fruitful topic of discussion in rowing circles, I should like the public to have a full statement of the position in order that they may be able to judge of the facts of the case. In running their rowing events the committee of this association have always recognised the necessity of and the desirability of, maintaining the laws of boat racing established by the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association, and have accepted the authority conferred by that body on the Auckland Rowing Association. The claims now made by the Auckland Rowing 'Association on regatta associations in general, and the Ngaruawahia association in particular, greatly exceed anything they are authorised to do by the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association. This year, on the rowing programme for the Ngaruawahia regatta being submitted to the. Auckland Rowing Association for the usual formal approval, our secretary was advised that the programme would_be passed on complying with certain new rules, viz.: — 1. The Ngaruawahia association must pay a fee of £5 ss. Could a more preposterous thing be imagined? The people who aire prepared to find money to the tune of over £100 to assist rowing along are required to further pay a fine of five guineas before the body governing rowing will be graciously pleased to allow the various clubs to compete for it. 2. The starter and umpire must be appointed by the Auckland Rowing Association. This the Ngaruawahia association is not prepared to accept. The Ngaruawahia regatta has been run by the officials of this association for 17 years without ,a hitch. There is a big native programme run simultaneously with the rowing programme, by a separate set of officials, and the two programmes have to be dovetailed into one another to avoid clashing, and a very slight hitch is sufficient to produce chaos. The programmes can only be carried through successfully "by thoroughly experienced officials who understand the details of each other's programmes. As I said before, this has been done for 17 (years without a hitch, and the committee of this association is not prepared for one minute to risk turning their regatta into a fiasco by giving charge of affairs to inexperienced officials appointed by the Auckland Rowing Association. 3. All entries and all entry fees for row-1 ing races at the Ngaruawahia regatta must be sent by the clubs to the Auckland Rowing Association, and not to this com-! mittee. This is claimed by the Auckland Rowing Association as necessary to comply with a rule" of the New Zealand Rowing Association, but this is absurd, as the rule in question merely requires the committees of rowing clubs to make a return of winning members to the centres every year, and has nothing to do with regatta associations ; also, the rule in question has been hi force since 1911 why wag nothing heard of it at Ngaruawahia at the 1912 and 1913 regattas? This association objects to entries going to Auckland because, as entries close three days only before the regatta, and as they would require to be posted on from Auckland, they would not be received in time the committee here to get the programmes printed. _ This committee also emphatically objects to Auckland receiving entry fees, even if only to pass on. All financial risk in connection with this regatta is taken by this association, therefore any interference by the Auckland Rowing Association with the financial side of the regatta is totally uncalled for. There are various minor points in dispute also, but these enumerated are the principal ones. This association is determined to continue to run its own regatta by its own officials, in its own way, while strictly complying with the rules of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association in its rowing events, and is not prepared to give way on any of the points mentioned, and I think any unbiassed critic will agree no self-respecting body could do so. If the Auckland Rowing Association is not prepared to give way, it is the intention of this committee to carry the rowing programme through under the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association's rules without their consent, and the first boat past the post will be paid in every case, without fear or favour. Next year, if the erased entirely from the programme, and sports making a better response to inducements offered will be subiiTaited. It is however, too late to take this course this year, and the rowing programme will 0 through.—Herbert Sampson, chairman Ngaruawahia Regatta Association. '