PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR OARSMEN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4213, 21 September 1874, Page 3

PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR OARSMEN.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —In the interests of the science of rowing, I beg for space to reply, to the letter of “ Amateur.” It is altogether beside the question to ask where my experience has been acquired, or what it may be worth. I leave that to the decision of some of the best oarsmen in New Zealand, who have known me for several years as an earnest advocate for the cause in which I have been interested from chi'dhood. “ Amateur ” says that if my opinion were adopted in rowing clubs, it would have the effect of decreasing the number of competitors, and perhaps of stopping amateur racing altogether. This is entirely contrary to the statistics of my own club, the number of its members having increased in an extraordinary degree since I had the honor to assume the office of Secretary three years ago, from which time no member has received one penny as the wage of his skill upon the water, although we have been fortunate enough to win some of. the highest prizes ever offered in New Zealand. With regard to “training expenses,” “ Amateur "is again atjfault. If a man who cannot pay hia travelling expenses is selected for training, the club either pays his way forthwith, or after the race is over ; and if a money prize is won in the race, it is received — not by the competitor, but by the Treasurer of the club, for the credit of the “ general fund,” alluded to in my first letter, and any loss which this competitor may have sustained in respect of the race, may be made good from this fund. This, I think. Sir, you will admit to be a different principle to the prize being held out to a needy amateur as a means of covering his expenses, which, if paid to him direct in the form of , a prize, would, in my opinion, debar him from entering as an amateur again. I am sorry to observe that “ Amateur ” further discloses a want of acquaintance with rowing matters by the statement that a man’s training' expenses in. one regatta would probably amount to £2O, while, the fact is that training for rowing need not cost one farthing, and indeed men are often considerably m pocket by it ; because, if in earnest, they are hound to deny themselves all' kinds of gratifications, which, in the ordinary course of things, form a serious item in the daily expenditure ; so that the necessity for an amateur to receive a prize for his “training expenses,” as set forth by “ Amateur,” is a fallacy. This gentleman concludes by stating his opinion that the distinction between amateurs and other classes of rowing men has been, established in order to prevent men who gain their living hy this exercise from rowing against others who would be inferior to them, on account of a different mode of life; but I entirely dissent from.thiq.yiow of the case. A boatman, or one whose trade is carried on entirely in boats, may be an amateur oarsman to all intents and purposes (there are many good specimens to whom ifi would be dangerous to one’s personal safety to offer a money prize), and he need not necessarily, on account of his trade) be more skilful in hoat racing than other classes of rowing men, who, again, need not necessarily belong to those “whose less healthy and more sedentary mode of life does not admit of the same advantages.” There is no distinction in this whatever. The real distinction is a matter of honorable feeling, and not one of classes. I do not profess to define what a “ professional ” oarsman may be ; but I do know what an amateur oarsman means, and, after having fortified myself by consultation with my friends, I strictly adhere to my opinion that any man who receives money in a venal manner for pulling in a public regatta should never afterwards be admitted as, and from that time ceases to retain the title of, an amateur oarsman. —T am, &c,, Oliver Wakefield, Hon. See, Star Club.