CALEDONIAN SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 15

CALEDONIAN SOCIETY.

THE PROFESSIONAL ASPECT. WARNING NOTES. The forty-evemh annual meeting of' diroctors and mpmbern cf ihe Cakdoniau Socie'y of Otago was held at the ExecL'or Hotel 'on the 14th ir.^r. Mr D. M'Pherson (prt-i.r'enf) ct-cupicd tlio chair, and about 50 other peri<tlr:nen were nrtsent. The Cluirnmii ovpi-ossccl regret at the pprioiis illntc>s which lia<( o\er(akcn their secretary (ilr \V. Roid) He hoijed it would '.on p»^-. and rnable him to continuo the food work he had been doing 1 for the society for so many years. Might he be at 1m jx^l veiy soon again. Ho movod that a letter of svmpatny be sent to Mr Reid with the hope that 'he would .-oon be back again. A!«o, that a Jotter of the «anie bearing b-> sent to Mr Sligo. ])r Macdonald reported ihat Mr R°id was making 1 rapid piogress towards rc-co\c-rv. Another member of ths society. Mr SJ:go, who liac) been ill, would pull through. Ho seconded tlio motion, which \\<\i carried uiiiMinnou-ir. 'J'h.> annual rc-ijoit arc! iialance sheet com kinu] tho fo'lowin^: riw 1 >oar was not d good one for sport. hea\\ outgoing-! discounting an imva-O' in th<> roc -nt takings, and the ground «i- not in the s-t.iio e\pocl^<l. 'I he rpport a!-'j stated thdt wh'.n tho V\ llkie fti.ot «?»cr \u> a.lju->tt'l tho R.iilw,i.\ Department had :isvoe4 to <.jrii)Tle(" tho embankment to tli^ 1 tockt\"s ?a' i^f lftio'i. 'J'hc ;;p.nu.il pa-'h-i ii.^ and r^otia! Jia.l !>ce:i n ))i onouncPil «UCfr-b Th" *"a»h cle'iie.'it s>hiki! i ov. to rlomiualo c port in c\irv diioetiop. anil wln'.o the Guni'S Committr-o liatl r-c»n unab'p to lower priz-> moiipv, it had, f<n- tl:<> fii>t tun,-, to pay ou f ->Klp juflgp 1 - Own I,'1 ,' to »»\c Uont tlr.iin;ige the ground had boen p!a\ablo for all football inauhe-. Pnt.pcct<- were fa\oural>'<\ ai<l i'f>g«*'at!ot ~ weiv pending for xii" v- ' of the giMUT'ls foi tl.e c\onmgs of each holirla\ dining the va-on. 'J h« vo.si” ir:in-.iciion- ol:oue<l «i piofit of £81 11- 2d. against £177 1, 41 I i^t \r-ai, but a = £209 7i lUI w.i- t| put on ii>aint< nanco the ]ioiitnn wa- b'irei ilna ir appeared. The n»r fund. stoc<l at £773-1 12^ Qd. Th • .-tnnual gatlir-n'ny Lionel a cL'bu of 3s 3d. £3^6 ha\irg b^-n o\po!»l'd in priz-. money. The Pret-'d.-nf <ii'l h" m\i l'a<l to apo'offwj for hinis 'If. He had been 'O busy for thp la.=t s '\ week<. end. moie. esppcially, during tiie li«t 10 •laj'- I hat he had not been able to g.\e tho attf>nt:ou to the aflTa-ire of tlir> so-cictv »h»r he tonld have, wwhed. He had practically nothing to saj about the rcrort, and balance fehc-et, because ho iia<l only boon able io dance at them. Tliej might, however, take it that progress was satisfactory. He mo\cvl the adoption of the annual repoit and balance sho^t. Mr A. Gilliee seconded tho motion, an<l epoke of the good work done by Mr Charles Ppeight Though the president had been absent the affairs of the «ocicty had not by any moans been neglected. Mr J. Brown said that there was a good <J«?al in the report calling for congiatulation. The officers had. at> uvaal. (\ai& good work ; there was one a^x-ct, howni er, which <HA not call for «"lf-congratulation. »nd that was the annual gathering of the

society. The figures showed the receipts and expenditure to be almost equal. Thh led one to consider whether there was not an element of risk ; if in the event of a gathering being marred by wet weather the society might, me^t witfi a loss. He had often thought that th.-» Caledonian Society had departed from r'Ee principle for which it was started. — (Applause.) They must see whether tin's could not be altered. They had been induced to off-ey cash prizes, and the question arosa whether it was worth the society's *hile to do this. , Their sports was taking a trend towards a i huge professional gathei ing. Piofessionaliam ate like a canker into the heart of 6port. It was made a business of. What the : society should do was to encourage the love of athletics, which was innato in the human breast. Their own tons dkl not enter tho competitions. Why ? Simply because it was a professional gathering. Therefore tha society was not carrying out the object for which it was c=;tablisl»ed. 110 for one would be in favour of running the risk of putting a etop to the existing system and making it purely an amateur gathering. The public did not support the gathering us well as it might be supported Th»ir officers had to co round hat in haii<l in onder to prevent the gathering fiom resulting in a 10--. By aboli^lrng pix>fo,'-,iona'ism tli^y would bo fo>tcriner th<j health and the interests of their own lad-. I.el Lh'" society «-co that their 'ontj' mu-cles were do\ doped and th^v would be doin^ a ast amount of good in their own city. — (Applau-".) S"\ ci.il orhcrs spoke in support of tr-« l/jotion, arj'l in a similar strain in repaid to the profr-Mon-al a-p"ct Mr J. Og^' ?• 'i 1 1 1 thai if tiiov woie go.ng to knuckle <lown to Rthktic or oUxt unions they might a, well ctop altogether. Mr J. M-DoikiVl =ai<l he believed it might be w iso if it wa« rna»l" a recommendation to tli» iijconrng oflice-loarers to <l-> tomeihing in the diioction indicsited by Mr Brown 'I iiev might consider the advi'sabilitv of having a oiio-tlav gath-enng «n<l to confining th"ni»el\es to the ))urpoeve for which the .vci'-lv was oiipinat<d. Ai pre~ent there v. as nothing to prevent some h\ol% -sno-rf =iri' l -n — youiiij b'oocl — <oni<ie#aTuii? «.iid cotnivu; in to outvote the old government. Ho hop<<! that the incoming authority wov.kl consider the advisability of taking '•tep', to <aM the society fiom what rnipht be a -\eiy deplorable itate of affairs Mr Speight pointe'l cut that tho effecis of wet weather at th" «vr>cie'y's gatli< k ring li-Tid Ixeii taken into coniidt lotion for a iiuiiilxr of years. If it was the wish of the meeting Uiat th-e society sl.ou'il reduce its pi ize money, he was prepared to move +h.at it be an instruction to the incoming committee to reduce the prue li 3t3 t by £100. -(Di^ent.) The Chairman viiA this mntter might b" taken at a later meeting. The report and balance sheet were adopted. The election of officer* resulted as under: -President, Mr Charles Snoi<<ht; senior vice-president, Mr Alex. Gillie-; iunior -wet? president, Mr John M'Donald; hon. treasurer, Mr C F. Grecn.=latle (reo!«oto<l); s<>oretarv. Mr William Roid (reelected); auditor. Mr W. E. C. Reid; candidate^ elected by the directorate — Messrs Alex. Begg A. F. Brown. R. Chisholm, George Collie. James Crawford, A. Dempster, L. Dickel, D. M. Fea, Alexander Ken-

nedy, John M'Donald, P. Miller, W. E. C. Reid, R. Harper, J. A. Hopcnaft, D. L. Hutton, D. Mathieson. D. M"Kay, and R. Sandilands. Mr M'Pherson vacated the chair in favour of the new president, Mr Speight. The health of the outgoing president was drunk with musical honours, and the proceedings merged into a very enjoyable social evening- pas«cd in song and story. Mr J. K. Macfie figuring a« accompanist.