TENNIS ON SUNDAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18197, 16 September 1922, Page 11

TENNIS ON SUNDAYS.

DISCUSSION IN DUNEDIN.

A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. [Bt •TEIJtGIUJ'ff.—OWN COBKESPONDENT.] DUNEDIN. Friday. Ai the conclusion of the ordinary business of the annua] meeting of the Otago Lawn Tennis Association last night, the question of playing tennis on Sunday was brought up by Mr. Q. J. Black, one of the delegate!* "from the Roslyn Club. Mention of the subject resulted in a lengthy discussion, and the individual views expressed revealed the fact that there was 1 a large body of opinion in favour of the innovation. 4 , , Mr. Black said that although he was not personally in favour of Sunday tennis he would like to have it discussed by so representative a meeting in order that the opinion of the association, as a whole, might be ascertained. He would also like to know whether it was permissible for club members to play on their own courts ; on Sunday. j Mr. S* W. Brown, the new president, said that, in his opinion, it was a matter for the clubs to decide. If the clubs allowed their own members to play that, was their own affair. _ A delegate asked if the association could stop people from playing on its courts on Sundays. *•'■ ... ~» The chairman said the association could take action in that ca»e. Mr. J. Miller said the . association should express an opinion. It was not a burning question just now, but it would be a live question in a year or two.. '% The chairman ha was I against Sunday tennis, and opposed it so far as the association's courts were concerned. Peoph? could do as they wished on their own courts, but his.term of office would be short if there was'going to be Sundav plav on the association's courts. Mr. J. Tl Cooper moved: "That it be a recommendation to the new committee, that this association shall not allow tennis to be played on the association's courts on Sundays." He did not say, he added, whether the motion represented his own opinion or not, but it would show the feeling of the association generally. Mr. B. B. Couston said he did not think the motion went far enough. They should ask the delegates present for a straight-out expression of opinion. Sunday tennis was bound to come in Otago, bub what they understood as the "Continental" Sunday would not come. Ho : bivw no harm in people playing tennis on I courts that were secluded from the public I gaze, but it had to be remembered that there were courts on which Sunday tennis \ could never be permitted. From the personal point of view, it was a matter for the individual conscience. The motion, on being put to the meeting,, was lost by a substantial majority.