SWIMMING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18551, 8 November 1923, Page 6

SWIMMING.

NOTES AND COMMENTS, A. BORG TO VISIT AUSTRALIA. At the Auckland Swimming Centre's meeting the chairman. Mi. A. J. Fernandez, while remarking on the falling-off of public interest in last season's carnivals suggested that more outside talent be invited to appear here. , . ... Certainly visits from champions of other lands do a great deal toward improving finances and the standard of swimming. The public is always anxious to see a recognised export in action, and. besides, such a visit arouses enthusiasm among , local swimmers intent upon improving their style. Aroe Bore, the Swedish champion, has accepted an invitation to visit; Australia during the coming season, and it only reqnirea a little initiative on the part of the local management and Aucklanders will have the pleasure of seeing one of the world's best distance men. Australians have a treat in store in the meeting of Charlton and Berg. Perhaps Charlton or Christie would be prepared to come across the Tasman if approached. , , Authorities declare that "Boy" Charlton rapid rise to fame is mainly due to the' opportunity he has had of watching visitors like Boss Langer. Kealoha, Harris ant] Bthelda Bltiibtry. By the overwhelming superiority of these great swimmers, all exponents of the American crawl Australia realised that her once famous Australian crawl" was out-of-date. Now the juniors are applying the continuous leg action and Charlton is the first to shine.

North Island Association Needed. In New Zealand, also, swimming has made great headway among the ladies since 4 he visit of Ross in 1920. They are registering times which compare favourably with the world's best. . . Mention of visits from overseas raises the question of the torimug of a North inland association. It is ridiculous that Auckland should always have to obtain the New Zealand Swimming Council's sanction when visits are planned and be threatened with suspension, as was the case after the Australian ladies' appearance here in March. The formation of an association would also save the local centre and the clubs considerable expense in sending championship teams away. In three successive years funds have been drained because our teams had to be sent to Dunedin. Wellington, and Timaru. respectively. With the arrangement of swimming championships similar to that of boxing championships each town would have the opportunty of seeing the Dominion's best swimmers performing • more f requontly than at present since there would be two meetings, one for the eliminating hcafta and the other for the finals. Both need not bo held in the one town, and the expense of sending finalists only to the locality agreed upon would not be anything like that caused by the despatch of a whole team. Overloaded Championship List. Another matter that needs investigation is the large number of events on the Dominion /championship programme. It would be an improvement if jmnior and senior races only were held, as is the case in Australia. Some oppose this idea on the ground that promising young»juniors are precluded by having to compete against older juniors. But the system has worked satisfactorily elsewhere and, besides, very few school champions develop into national champions. Recently more events for ladies and juniors were added to the championships programme, and this over-burdening happens every year. It is time the council revised the list of events and set it on a permanent footing. i tckotroke promises to become popular and is one of the Olympic events., and it is quite probable that some centre will be clamouring for the addition of this style to the list of ladies' and juniors' events as soon as it has a likely candidate. It is pleasing to note that no club programme will be approved in future unless a water polo match is added. This seemingly is the only way of arousing interest in the game, as the practice games on Saturday nights are very poorly attended.