NOTES BY AMATEUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 57

NOTES BY AMATEUR.

A complimentary ticket for the South Canterbury Calcdon:an Society's sports meeting to hand from. I'l.e secretary is acknowledged with thanks. In recognition of his splendid performances on their track at Tbrox Park, the Glasgow Rangers' directorate resolved to present xV. yhrubb with something which in after years he can regard as a token of his achitA ements. J. W. Morton, th's English sprint champion, who will in all probability make the trip to New Zealand with other world's champions, made application at t-ie recent meeting of the A.A.A. for the 120 yds record of 11 4-ssec, made at the London A. A meeting 1 en September 24. The application was recommended to the Gontral Committee. Gungia Brahma, the well-known Hindoo wrestler, is reported to have left Melbourne for New Zealand, with a view to a match with Soott, the champion of New Zealand. 'Vfc a recent meeting of the Canterbury Centre, the Pioneer Club wrote stating that two protects made at the club's recent sports ir> cc. ling had been considered by the committee of the club, which desirr-d to obtain tho centre's ruling in the matter. The protests had been mado against the amateur status of two competitors, and they, with other members of the club, had given evidence befoTe the committee. The two runners protested against had admitted. Laving competed for cash prior to the club's meeting, and having failed to obtain reinstatement as amateurs. After a lengthy discussion of the evidenoe, it was agreed, on the motior of Mr North, seconded liy Mr Curtis, that the protests should be upheld, the men protested against should be disqualified, and the prizes for the races in which they were placed first should be awarded to the second and third men in each case. It was decided that the council should be informed of the centre's decision, and that all license fees, entry fee 3, and subscriptions laid to tho club should be refunded. Oxford University Freshmen's sports produced, on the whole, somewhat disappointing results (says "Veteran"), but, in accordance with oustom, improvement will assuredly oome later on, and too much importance mvist not be attached to those achievements which seem little more than mediocre. A performance which rose above the latter class was that of the Rhodes scholar P. M. Young (Oriel), who only just failed at sft Bin in the High, and succeeded at 20ft Bia in the Long. Another Rhodes scholar in W. E. Sohutt (Brasenose), who ran half a mile in lmin 58 4-ssec and two miles in, 9m in 40seo in America, will undoubtedly give a better taste of his quality than that indictated in the Freshmen's sports by his 2min 4 3-ssec in the Half-mile and 4min 44 3-55«.0 in the Mile. "Whether or not he will shine as a cross-country runner in England remains to be seen. , At the Fielding Athletic sports on Monday the Sheffield Handicap, of 120 yds, was won by D. Nicholson, with E. A. Jones second, and G. E. Kinsey third. At the Waikouaiti Caledonian sports on. Monday the 220 yds was won !jy Christie, with Titchener second, and the Half-mile by Tilchener, -with Christie seoooid. THE FUTURE OF HANDICAPPING. Replying to the toast of the A.A.A. at a complimentary dinner tendered Alfred Shrubb in England recently, Mr T. Abraham, one of the founders of tho association, said he always felt the greatest pleasure in re-plying to that toast, for his listeners could take it from him that there was no body of sportsmDn anyu-here carrying- on their work in so straightforward and busi-ness-like a manner as did the Amateur Athletic Asociation. He proceeded to give a sflceteh of the history of athletics as they lay within his recollection since 1870. Fortunately, he said, competitors in those days were of a distinctly better class than those of the present time. This was assured by the definition of an amateur which then prevailed, and which debarred labourers and mechanics from participation in amateur athletics. Mr Walter Platt told him that he had seen as many as 50 men competing in a scratch race, for which the first prize was a silver medal. Under such conditions athletics must have been pure. Prizes and gate-money, however, increased, a lower class of competitors crept in, betting — the biggest curse of modern sport — and "roping" became general, with the result that it was found absolutely necessary for some controlling body to be formed. Mr Abraham proceeded with interesting reminiscences of the. meetings which led to the present A.A.A. being formed, and the objects it set itself to achieve, alluding afterwards to the various crises through which it had passed up to this date. He then went on to make suggestions for the improvement of the present system of handicapping. Here, he said, he know he was doing something which might vex his most intimate friend's, but acquaintance with the inner workings of the association had matte him emphatic in his conclusion thajt in spite of all the reforms introduced and- good work done by the Handicapping Board of Control, the present system required considerable amendment, a- number of reforms being absolutely necessary in tho interests of sport. Consta-it as the meetings of the board had been, and despite the attention of a committee, and the conscientious woik of

the official hf.ndicappers, instances of inconsistent handicapping had been repeatedly discovered. Under present conditions, he maintained, similar flaws would also occur. After paying a high tribute to the work and abilities of Mr Shingler. chairman of the board, Mr Abraham went en to outline the scheme which he thought would place han1 dieapping on a more satisfactory footing. Be proposed (1) that the handicapping of all meetings should be under the absolute direction of the association ; (2) the association to receive all fees, and pay the handicappers a fixed salary ; (3) all handicappers to meet each week and be collectively responsible for the work perf ormed ; (4) the handicapper to be the servant of the association, or to act as secretary of any club whose member^ competed at the association's sport=. Sooner or later, he went on, some alterations would have to be made. Other retorms wore, no. doubt, desirable, but once they got a thoroughly satisfactory solution of the handicapping problem they would remove from cpmpetitors' minds all suggestions of unfair treatment ; so that instead of "faking"' to improve their start, men would probably consider it better policy to show their true form every time they ran, which would be to the advantage of cvery- • body concerned. The system would do ' away with the temptation of falsifying entry forms, to which there was at that moment a case hanging in the air with respect to a North Staffordshire runner. It would thus do away with much of the association's unpleasant work in dealing with offenders. • CALEDONIAN SOCIETY OF OTAGO. Arrangements have been made with Mr R. Irving whereby Messrs A. A. Cameron, of Partick, holder of all world's records, aiTd G. TI. Johnslone, of Aberdeen, will appear at the Caledonian Society's annual gathering on 2nd and 3rd January next, and give executions of their prowess in wrestling, hammer and ball throwing, etc. They will also enter for and compete in all handicap events. They will compete in a special heavy-weight wrestling event, the prize for which has been subscribed by the directors of the society. Mr A. A. Cameron is recognised as the world's premier athlete, and at Pitlochry succeeded in establishing four world's records for heavy-weight events. With the 221b ball his throw was 100 ft 9in, and at Aberdeen he beat that record by 3ft 4iu. This throw was, however, down hil 1 , which discounts it, and it cannot be accepted as a record. With the 161b hammer at Pitlochry he threw 122 it 10£ in, and with the 561b and 281b weights he accomplished a distance of 34ft lin and 66ft llin respectively. As a wrestler he has also won fame, and of • him Hackenschmidt is credited with having as* id if Cameron knew as much as he (Hackenschmidt) did he would not think of tackling him. For many years Johnstone has been recognised as the best heavy-weight athlete in Scotland, a worthy fohower of the world-famed Donald Dinnie, whose records he has again and again broken. At nianjr Scottish gatherings Johnstone has accomplished feats which have stood unparalleled iintil he has had to foo-w the knee to Cameron, with vrhom he says himself he nor any other man has not the ghost of a chance. It is several years since the Aberdonian put up a record of 119 ft 6in with the 161b hammer — a record which he him- • self defeated this year. At Tain he reached 79ft 4in with the 221b hammer, and at Pitlochry in 1896 ho established a world's record (or the heavy hammer which was never touched until this year, when Cameron lowered, and he himself all but beat it. These are the doughty champions which the ■ Caledonian Society has secured at a sum which will require a very considerably augmented attendance to repay them for their enterprise. Since Donald Dinnie was here no such athletes have appeared south of the line, and in tlie person of Cameron a syreater man than Dinnie is now amon? us. It is to be hoped that the public wi'l recognise the society's enterprise by turning out in numbers. A . treat is in store for them that this generation may never again have an opportunity of par- , ticipating in. WRESTLING MATCH. The crowded house on Wednesday night at the Alhambra Theatre to witness the second bout between H. Pearce and M. Powley conveyed unmistakable evidence of the great amount of interest which is taken in athletics in Dunedin. The men met to contest for a purse of 50sovs presented by Mr A. Moss, and , the conditions were that Pearce was to throw ! Powley three times in 90 minutes, whilst if the latter obtained one throw during the period mentioned he was to be awarded the match. The contest was brought off in rounds of 15 minutes' duration, with a two-minute spell, or three-minute spell in the event of a fall being obtained. Mr T. Sonntag acted as referee and Mr W. Marshall as timekeeper. The nien entered the stage at about 8.30, and after 1 arranging preliminaries at once got to workPowley was inclined to be aggressive from the outset, and kept his opponent fairly busy. Occasionally he would get out of difficulties . by converting defence into attack, but Pearce, I on the other hand appeared to occasionally | have liis man in jeopardy, but probably owing to lack of condition was unable to pursue the advantage gained. After wrestling about 47 minutes Pearce got his opponent into difficulties, and although the latter cleverly attempted to extricate himself he was finally brought square on the carpet, and the first and only fall obtained was registered. Shortly after the call of time being made after the fall Powley had Pearce in trouble, and in endeavouring to bring the latter to the carpet he was thrown violently across some chairs, with the result that he received injuries which caused the match to be termdnated and the victory i awarded co Powley. Dr Evans afterwards 1 examined Pearce, and stated that Pearce had I received a severe contusion of his right elbo-w I joint, from which it will probably take some time to recover. It was an unfortunate ending to a contest which was fought in a splen. did spirit, and although Powley gained his win as the result of an accident he deserves not a little credit for the plucky manner in which he attacked his opponent. Pea.rce is undoubtedly a master of the game, and a great deal of sympathy was expressed with him oa account of his accident.