Rowing Tournament.

Otago Witness, Issue 1704, 19 July 1884, Page 20

Rowing Tournament.

The rowing tournament which it is contemplated to hold about the middle of September this year promises to be a grand success, if we are to judge from the number of entries received, and the great amount of interest that is already being taken in the matter. Crews have been entered from the following offices and warehouses :— New Zealand .Hardware Company, Stamps Department, Telegraphoffice, Union Bank, H.M. Customs, Union Steam Ship Company, Colonial Bank (two crews), Railway Department, Surveyors, •Medical Students Otago University, Victoria Insurance Company, Otago Daily Timea and Witness' Company, Bates, Sise, and Co., Rattray and Co., P. Hay man and Co., New Zealand Loan and' Meicantile Agency Company, Scoular and Co. and Mackerras and Hazlett (one crew), Reid and Gray, Evening Star Newspaper, National Mortgage and Agency Company, Public Works Department, Dunedin Fire Brigade^ Otago University B.A'b, Sparrow and Co., Post-office. In connection with the tournament, general regulations and racing rules have been printed and distributed amongst the various crews competing, and altogether the affair seems to have been undertaken in a businesslike manner from the start. Mr W. H, Fowler, who was the originator of the proposal, deserves special praise for the enthusiaism he has displayed, whilo the Otago Rowing CJub have been exceedingly generous in granting the use of their boats both for practice and racing free of charge. The Club will, however, it is likely, be amply repaid for their present generosity by the stimulus that is likely to be given to amateur rowing by the tournament, and perhaps in a more direct way by a largely increased membership roll. An entrance fee of two guineas per crew will bt> charged, and out of this fund a number of very valuable trophies will be obtained for prizes. Besides these, however, a number of special prizes are likely to be secured. Two have already been promised— one by Mr Jacobs, a trophy for the best-dressed crew, to be decided by a committee of ladies ; the other by Mr Hislop, a gold medal for the stroke of the winning crew. The majority of the orews are already busy practising, and the boatshed occasionally presents quite a gay and lively appearance as the afternoon wears on, and crew after crew, clad in almost every conceivable colour, launch their boats with, " Yo, heave" O !" and glide away across the smooth waters of the bay. The weather has of late been just what might have been desired for rowing, and some days no fewpr than 10 crews have been out practising. The interest will no doubt increase as the date of the tournament approaches.