ATHLETICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 33

ATHLETICS.

NOTES BY AJttATEUB.

The hon. secretary of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association has received from the Victorian Amateur Athletic Association the nine gold and silver medals won by the New Zealand representatives at the first Australasian Amateur Athletic Championship meeting, held in Melbourne in November last. The medals (says the Lyttelton Times) are very handsome, and were made in Melbourne from a design by Mr A. W. Jones, engraver, of Christchurch. The names of the winners are :— T. O'Connor, Auckland, two firsts ; D. Matson, Christchurch, one first and one second ; W. J. Moir, Christchurch, two seconds ; G. Galloway, Dunedin, two seconds ; and W. A. Low, Dunedin, one second. A meeting of the committee of the Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club was held on Friday evening, and there were present — Dr W. S. Roberts (president), Messrs W. J. Burk, W. A. Low, G. Turton, J. A. Harvey, and P. J. Ness (hon. .secretary). Apologies for absence were received from Messrs J. Sinclair Thomson, and J. Hutchison. The championships balance sheet was passed, and the secretary was instructed to forward it to the asso-

ciation. The total receipts amount to £182 3s 6d and the expenditure to £166 48 sd, leaving a credit balance of £15 19s Id. The principal items of receipts and expenditure are : Receipts — Gate, £131 10s 6d ; programmes, £25 13s ; entries, £22. Expenditure— Medals, £60 ; Ground Company (share of gate), £32 15s ; programmes, £14- ; advertising, £12 Is 6d ; printing, £7 lls 6d ; standard caps, badges, &c, £7 16s 6d ; band, £5 ; plant, &c, £3 10s ; gatemen, £4 ; gratuity (caretaker, Carisbrook), £2 2s. A suD-committee was appointed to draw up the club's annual report. Messrs A. Burk, J. Burk, and R. Bolton sent in applications to be reinstated as amateurs. The secretary was instructed to forward same to the association for consideration.

A singular case, involving family infelicities, came under the attention of the stipendiary magistrate in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, recently, the parties to the action being on the one part Harold W. Batger, the well-known athlete, who sued his mother-in-law, Mre Elizabeth Moeiler, hotelkeeper, Wellington, for the recovery of £50 for alleged breach of contract. According to the statement «of claim, the plaintiff in May last commenced an action in the court for the recovery of £100 by way of damages for breach of a certain contract entered into between Mr Batger and Mrs Moeiler on the occasion of the marriage of the daughter of the defendant with the plaintiff. The case was called on in due coarse, but was adjourned, it being stated an arrangement was likely to be arrived at. Subsequently plaintiff stated that he agreed to discontinue the action conditionally upon Mrs Moeiler immediately paying Mrs Batger £25, and also providing her with lodgings from May 17 until July 17 next, paying her 20a per week during a second period. The plaintiff said this contract had not been carried out. The defence was that although Mr Izard had, on the present proceedings being intimated, agreed to the contract, subject to approval by Mrs Moeiler, no deed to that effect had been signed by the defendant. The magistrate reserved judgment. An aboriginal named J. Marsh is credited with the performance of running 100 yds in even time at the Flemington grounds on the 9th inst.

The 10-mile A.A A. championship was run at Huddersfield on April 28. There were six starters, but G. S. Stowe retired at four miles and a-half and G. Crossland broke down at eight miles and a-quarter. Sid Thomas proved the winner, defeating H. Watkins by 15yds, and W. Roberts was third, 1000 yds away. Thomas's time was 51min 37sec, which has been only once b«aten since the institution of the race, and that occasion was in 1889, when he himself accomplished the distance in 51min 31f8ec. Commenting on the race the Athletic News says •.—". — " Sid Thomas is undoubtedly the most consistent performer we have ever seen in th 10-mile championship. In 1887, when only 19 years of age, he finished third to E. G. Carter, of New York, and A. Houlding, of Burton-on-Trent ; and the following year ran second to B. W. Parry, the well-known Salford Harrier; whilst in 1889 he reached the height of his ambition by being placed first, after a desperate tace with Kibblewhite, in the fastest time ever done in the championship — viz., 51min 31§ sec. After being second to W. H. Morton in 1891 the popular Raneleigh Harrier followed np with winning brackets in 1892-93, and added to these his performance at Huddersfield makes the feat of four wins (three successively) hard to beat. In fact, it is very long odds against such a thing ever occurring again."